Rozner: Blackhawks-Caps would be huge in June

It will be billed as the game of the year, the match of the millennium and a certain Stanley Cup Final preview.

It's the Blackhawks vs. the Capitals at the UC Sunday.

It's the defending Stanley Cup champs, loading up with trade after trade, against the Presidents' Trophy winners as Washington runs away with the regular season title.

There's just a few things wrong with making so much of a single regular-season game that isn't even in conference, let alone a crucial division tussle.

It's really all about making the playoffs and both teams are certain of that. From there, it's anybody's guess.

Teams have gotten in on the final weekend and won the Cup, and teams that win the Presidents' Trophy have won only two titles in the past 13 seasons (Detroit in 2008 and the Hawks in 2013).

But the game is reminiscent of a contest in 2010 around this time, when Washington visited Chicago in what many felt then was a preview of the Stanley Cup Final.

Washington was first overall in points and the Hawks were third. Going into play Saturday, the Caps were first and the Hawks were third. In 2010, it was Game 68. This year, it's Game 64.

The Caps won the regular season in 2010 and led the league in goals scored, setting a franchise record for wins (54) and points (121). It was a veteran team with a hapless coach (Bruce Boudreau) and a 50-goal scorer (Alex Ovechkin).

In true Boudreau fashion, the Caps blew a 3-1 first-round lead over Montreal and lost in seven games.

Considerably different now is that Washington has a terrific coach in Barry Trotz, who never should have been fired by Nashville, and a terrific goaltender in Braden Holtby, who's getting some support for MVP around the game.

In 2010, the Hawks were a young group that made it to the conference finals against Detroit the previous year, finished third overall during the regular season and still had much to prove.

When the two clubs faced off in Chicago on March 14, 2010, the Hawks dominated the first period and built a 3-0 lead going into the final 20 minutes. The Caps then scored 3 goals in a span of 2:16 in the third to tie the game, and won it overtime.

You may remember the game for Ovechkin getting tossed 12 minutes in for a dangerous push from behind on Brian Campbell, who left the game with a broken collarbone and didn't return until Game 4 of the first-round series against Nashville.

The Hawks had two tough series against Nashville and Vancouver before sweeping San Jose in the conference finals, and then winning their first Cup in 49 years when they beat Philadelphia in six games.

Much has changed since then. The Caps are still searching for a winning formula and the Hawks have won three Cups, a modern-day dynasty in the salary-cap era.

Remaining from that first Cup are only Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Niklas Hjalmarsson.

No team has repeated since the 1998 Red Wings and for the Hawks to go back-to-back they knew they needed help, finding a top line winger in Andrew Ladd Thursday night, and adding Dale Weise, Tomas Fleischmann and Christian Ehrhoff on Friday.

The Hawks are better than they were a couple days ago. You can see Ladd fitting in with Toews and Hossa, the second line remaining intact, and actual top nine wingers in Weise and Fleischmann playing on the third line with Teuvo Teravainen.

That's an upgrade from the fourth-line players who have been playing on the top line and third line.

The fourth line can be Marcus Kruger - when he returns from injury - between Andrew Desjardins and Andrew Shaw, who is much more effective as a winger on the fourth line.

There's still time to find another defenseman before Monday afternoon's trade deadline, and there's no doubt GM Stan Bowman is working the phones hard as he attempts to fill another big hole, despite saying Saturday morning that he was probably done.

The trades have already been big and if Bowman can make another large move it will be far more important than who wins Sunday's game.

Regardless of the outcome, little will be learned from one match even if these two teams meet again in June to contest the final series of the postseason.

But these certainly are two of the most entertaining teams in the NHL and the league would probably love nothing more than a Washington-Chicago Final that pits the league's marquee franchise against its marquee player.

Now that would be a big deal.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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