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The 2009–10 Chicago Blackhawks season is the club's 84th season in the National Hockey League (NHL). The season began on October 2, 2009, with a pair of games against the Florida Panthers in Helsinki, and ended on June 9, 2010, when the Blackhawks defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 4–2 in the 2010 Stanley Cup Final, giving the organization its first NHL championship since 1961 and fourth overall. For the first time since the 1996–97 season, the Blackhawks made the playoffs in back-to-back seasons. ==Before the season== The Blackhawks were coming off one of their best years in recent history during the 2008–09 season, going 46–24–12 and finishing with 104 points. They finished second in the Central Division and fourth in the Western Conference. The Blackhawks' 46 wins were their most since winning 47 in the 1992–93 NHL season. The Blackhawks’ reached the 100-point mark for the first time since 1992–93 season and improved by 16 points over the past season, when their 88-point total left them three points away of a playoff berth. They were the only NHL to improve on its record in each of the previous four seasons. The Blackhawks made it to the playoffs for the first time since 2002 and it was their second playoff appearance in the previous 11 years. In the playoffs, the Blackhawks defeated the Calgary Flames and the Vancouver Canucks before losing to the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference Finals. It was the Blackhawks' first appearance in the Western Conference Finals since 1995. The Blackhawks, however, had a turbulent off-season. The Blackhawks saw Assistant General Manager Rick Dudley resign from his position and join the Atlanta Thrashers as associate general manager. On July 1, 2009, the Blackhawks made a significant acquisition to the team when they signed five-time NHL All-Star Marian Hossa to a 12 year contract worth $62.8 million. At the time, it was the most lucrative deal in team history. The signing of Hossa by the Blackhawks coincided with the departure of the team's leading scorer from the previous season, Martin Havlat, to the Minnesota Wild. Other key additions for the Blackhawks were John Madden and Tomas Kopecky. Along with Havlat, Nikolai Khabibulin, Samuel Pahlsson and Matt Walker were notable losses for the team. Shortly after signing Hossa, the team disclosed that he was still rehabilitating a shoulder injury he sustained during the previous post-season. He underwent shoulder surgery and ended up missing the first 22 games of the season. During the off-season, The NHL Players' Association (NHLPA) filed a grievance, stating that the Blackhawks missed the deadline for giving qualifying offers to restricted free agents. This caused General Manager Dale Tallon to quickly sign eight players to make sure they did not end up as unrestricted free agents. The mistake proved to be a large influence in the removing of Tallon as general manager. He was replaced with Stan Bowman, the assistant general manager and son of Hockey Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman. The NHL also investigated Hossa's contract as well. The Blackhawks named Kevin Cheveldayoff, the general manager of the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League (AHL), as assistant general manager. The team also promoted Assistant Coach Marc Bergevin to the position of director of player personnel. In August, the Blackhawks saw star player Patrick Kane embroiled in controversy when he and his cousin were arrested in Buffalo, New York. Kane was apprehended in the early morning hours after allegedly punching a cab driver when he claimed to not have proper change for their trip fare. Kane was charged with second-degree robbery, a Class C felony and fourth-degree criminal mischief and theft-of-services, both of which were Class A misdemeanors. He pleaded not guilty. On August 17, Kane apologized for the arrest. Kane and his cousin appeared before a grand jury on August 19. While they were cleared of any felony charges, the two were still indicted on misdemeanor assault, theft and harassment charges. Kane and his cousin reiterated their not guilty pleas when appearing in court the next day. On August 27, Kane and his cousin pleaded guilty to noncriminal disorderly conduct charges, and were both given conditional discharges. The Blackhawks entered the 2009–10 season with high expectations. Bob Duff of NBC Sports predicted that the Blackhawks would finish with 101 points, finish second in the division and be a fourth seed in the Western Conference.〔 Jim Neveau of The Hockey Writer's wrote that the Blackhawks would win the division and be a second seed in the conference. * 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「2009–10 Chicago Blackhawks season」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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