#2: 2016-17 Blackhawks
Could it be an immediate overreaction so close to the moment? Perhaps. Still it’s hard not to see this is a colossal failure for a great team. Understand the backdrops. The Blackhawks are three-time Stanley Cup champions at this point. They feature future Hall of Fame talents like Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Marion Hossa. To top it off the team finishes with the best record in the Western Conference at 50-23.
If that weren’t enough they’re facing a Nashville Predators team they already beaten twice in the playoffs over the previous seven years. Perhaps that made them go into the series a bit overconfident. Still, it was an ugly affair. They couldn’t score a goal until the third game and gave up a two-goal lead in the third period of that same game to fall in a 3-0 series hole. This was a team that looked nothing like the battle-tested groups of years past.
