Blackhawks finally have a schedule they can love

Now, this is a schedule the Blackhawks figure to endorse.

Ever since the Circus and Ice Show trips vanished, the Hawks have been hit with a brutal in-and-out-of-Chicago type slate that drove players and coaches crazy.

Talk to anyone about it - from Jonathan Toews to Joel Quenneville to Anton Forsberg - and they wouldn't hold back.

"It just seems like everything's chopped up now and it's brutal," Toews said last October. "I mean that wore us down quite a bit (in 2017-18)."

Well, Toews and Co. must love what the NHL did for the Hawks in 2019-20.

After playing the season opener Oct. 4 against Philadelphia in Prague, Jeremy Colliton's squad gets to enjoy a two-week homestand against San Jose, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Columbus, Washington, Vegas and Philadelphia.

There will be plenty of time to bond on the road, when in February the Hawks have 11 of 14 games away from the United Center. Their longest trip of the season (five games) is Feb. 9 to 16, beginning and ending in Winnipeg.

Other highlights include:

• Florida Panthers coach Quenneville returns to the United Center Jan. 21.

• The Hawks won't see the defending champion St. Louis Blues until Dec. 2 at home.

• Tampa Bay - the Presidents' Trophy winners - visit Nov. 21.

• Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins play at the UC March 25.

• There are no games Jan. 22 to 31 (all-star break into the Hawks' off week).

• Looking for a fun road trip? Consider Nov. 13 or Dec. 10 at Vegas. Nashville's a lot of fun, too, and the Hawks play the Predators Oct. 29 and Nov. 16. (Go in October if you can - Nashville's a zoo on the weekends).

• The biggest oddity? That's a 3 p.m. Friday game at home against Colorado Nov. 29.

• The Hawks close out the season at the Rangers April 2 and at the Islanders April 4.