Why it's so difficult for Stanley Cup champions to repeat

When the NHL postseason begins Wednesday, the Chicago Blackhawks will attempt to do the impossible: capture the Stanley Cup for a second straight season.

OK, so we're being a bit dramatic here. It's not like they're attempting to time travel, dodge bullets or jump into hyperspace.

But history says it's will be difficult for coach Joel Quenneville's club to accomplish something that no team has done since the 1998 Detroit Red Wings.

"It's really, really hard to repeat," Marian Hossa said. "I had a chance to be on the (2009) Detroit team when the guys tried to go back to back. We were so close to doing it, but it didn't happen …

"You (basically) play 82 Game 7s because everybody tries to measure off you as a top team. We don't get any breaks. It's really not easy to play 82 games and then the playoffs (at such a) high pace to be ready."

This repeating business didn't used to be such a big deal. A whopping 10 teams did it from 1974-92. Heck, from 1976-88, only three franchises hoisted the Cup at the end of the season - Montreal, the New York Islanders and Edmonton.

Now? It's a totally different story.

A new era

By far the biggest reason it's so difficult to repeat as champions in the modern NHL is the salary cap, which was introduced for the 2005-06 season. Title teams are often decimated just days after celebrating, and that has been the case for the Blackhawks.

In 2010, the Hawks said goodbye to Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd, Kris Versteeg and Antti Niemi, among others. After last season, Patrick Sharp, Brandon Saad, Johnny Oduya, Brad Richards, Antoine Vermette and Versteeg were all traded or deemed too expensive to re-sign.

Those repeat champions of the 1970s and '80s never dealt with this dynamic, so when a powerhouse squad was assembled it was able to stay together and dominate year after year.

In this era, general managers like the Hawks' Stan Bowman are putting together a jigsaw puzzle on a monthly basis.

Think about it: Before last season ended, Bowman signed Russian phenom Artemi Panarin. Then, days before free agency began, he traded for Artem Anisimov.

During the season, it was all about clearing enough cap space to make some shrewd moves at the trade deadline, so Viktor Tikhonov was waived, Trevor Daley was traded to Pittsburgh, and Ryan Garbutt went to Anaheim.

Bowman then got busy in late February and brought in veterans Ladd, Dale Weise, Tomas Fleischmann and Christian Ehrhoff.

With each move, coach Joel Quenneville and his staff slid new pieces into the puzzle. The end result was a slightly uneven, yet impressive, 47-26-9 season, one in which the Hawks finished third in the Central Division … the same spot they finished last season when they won it all.

Lady luck

What if referees called a penalty on the Los Angeles Kings' Justin Williams for whacking Nick Leddy's stick out of his hands seconds before Alex Martinez's shot bounced off Leddy for the game-winning goal in Game 7 of the 2014 Western Conference finals? Would the Hawks have prevailed and repeated? Would we be looking at a possible four-peat this year? We'll never know.

What if the Hawks don't score 2 goals in 17 seconds the year before in Boston? Do the Bruins prevail in Game 7? Again, we'll never know.

What if Brent Seabrook doesn't bury a shot in Game 7 to eliminate the Red Wings two rounds before that amazing Cup Final with Boston? Does Bowman make some knee-jerk, franchise-altering moves? Maybe. Maybe not.

The point is, so many things have to go right to win a Stanley Cup. Talent can take a team a long way, but it helps to get the bounces.

"When you go through it and you win, you know you've got a lot of things going in your favor," Quenneville said.

And it certainly helps to stay injury-free.

"If you can stay relatively fresh and relatively healthy, it really enhances your chances," Quenneville said. "I know that we got breaks last year in each of the four rounds against the other teams and what happened to them."

No doubt about that as:

• Nashville lost standout defenseman Shea Weber and forward Mike Fisher in the first round.

• Minnesota lost second-line winger Chris Stewart and fourth-line winger Justin Fontaine in the semifinals.

• Then Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop suffered a torn groin in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final and was never close to 100 percent again.

The Hawks? Well, they finished the postseason drive with nary a scratch on the fender.

Things may be different this time, though, as the Hawks have been dealing with late-season injuries to Corey Crawford, Andrew Shaw, Artem Anisimov and Marian Hossa. With any luck, all four will be 100 percent and no one else of significance will go down for any length of time.

After all, this is one team that certainly doesn't have its gas tank on full.

"Playoffs are a grind; there's no other way (to put it)," Duncan Keith said.

Other factors

Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Andrew Shaw, Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Corey Crawford have all been part of the Hawks' deep playoff runs the past three seasons.

And make no mistake about it - those extra 65 games have taken their toll compared to players who have hung up their skates by late April.

Think about the Kings, who missed the playoffs last season after winning it all in 2014. Or Dallas, another team that didn't qualify for the 2015 postseason. Or St. Louis, which keeps getting bumped off in the first round.

"Lots of teams got a long summer to prepare for the new season," Hossa said. "They've got the jump, enthusiasm."

Let's also not forget there isn't much separating the playoff-field talent. Twelve of the 16 teams finished with between 93-104 points - or basically 5 victories over an 82-game season.

"Last year we won, but who knows if we wouldn't have got by Nashville, they could have won the whole thing," Keith said. "They're out in the first round. That's the big thing.

"You look at the series this year starting, and there's not going to be any series that are easy. Every series is tough and every team wants to do the same thing."

Which is to lift the most famous trophy in all of sports.

Despite the long playoff runs of years past, some injuries and some up-and-down play, Blackhawks fans should realize this: Their team is probably the one no other team wants to face. And it's an awfully confident bunch.

"We've got a lot to look back on and see what our team has done throughout the years," Brent Seabrook said. "We haven't had great finishes the last couple years as far as wins and points toward the end of the year, and we've (still) been able to find a way.

"That's the biggest thing with our group - we're looking forward to the playoffs; we're looking forward to getting in there and playing the best hockey that we can.

"We do have a lot of confidence in this group."

• Follow John on Twitter at @johndietzdh.

Year, Champion Next season

1997, Detroit CHAMPIONS

1998, Detroit Out Conf. semis

1999, Dallas Lost Cup Final

2000, New Jersey Lost Cup Final

2001, Colorado Lost West. CF

2002, Detroit Out first round

2003, New Jersey Out first round

2004, Tampa Bay Out first round

2005, NO SEASON

2006, Carolina Missed playoffs

2007, Anaheim Out first round

2008, Detroit Lost Cup Final

2009, Pittsburgh Out Conf. semis

2010, HAWKS Out first round

2011, Boston Out first round

2012, Los Angeles Out West. CF

2013, HAWKS Out West. CF

2014, Los Angeles Missed playoffs

2015, HAWKS ???

<b>Tough task</b>Repeat champions in major pro sports in the last 20 years:

<b>NHL</b>Detroit (1997, 1998)

<b>MLB</b>New York Yankees (1998, 1999, 2000)

<b>NFL</b>Denver Broncos (1997, 1998)

New England Patriots (2003, 2004)

<b>NBA</b>Chicago Bulls (1996, 1997, 1998)

L.A. Lakers (2000, 2001, 2002)

L.A. Lakers (2009, 2010)

Miami Heat (2012, 2013)