It has been six years since the Chicago Blackhawks last skated in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the lineup from that 4-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 at Rogers Place has changed in almost every possible way.
Only one player from that team is still on an NHL roster in Chicago’s orbit: Patrick Kane. The franchise’s second-leading scorer has come full circle after 16 seasons with the Blackhawks, a stop in Broadway, and three seasons in Detroit. Kane is back in the Midwest, and he remains the only active skater from that playoff group still in the league with postseason Blackhawks experience.
The rest of the group has scattered far and wide. Five players from that night are now retired, including two of the biggest names in franchise history.
Jonathan Toews closed the book in 2026 after taking 2020-21 off, returning for two seasons, leaving as a free agent in 2024, then spending one year with his hometown Winnipeg Jets. Duncan Keith, the former Norris Trophy winner, stayed in Chicago until 2021 before the Blackhawks sent him to Edmonton. He played one season with the Oilers and retired in 2022 at 38.
Slater Koekkoek’s career ended in 2022 after he signed with Edmonton right after the playoff loss and split time between the NHL and AHL from 2020 to 2023. John Quenneville, who last played in the NHL on August 18, 2020, finished his pro career in 2024-25 with Tappara in Finland after a brief stop with the Rockford IceHogs and a stretch in Europe. The five-man retirement club also includes Toews and Keith as the headline names from that roster.
A number of others are still grinding away in the NHL, just in different sweaters. Dylan Strome is with Washington and has two years left on his deal.
Olli Määttä, who spent only the 2019-20 season in Chicago before moving on, is now with Minnesota after Calgary traded him there in July 2026. Alex DeBrincat, once a Blackhawks scorer and later Kane’s teammate in Detroit, is now with the Red Wings after another blockbuster in 2023.
Kirby Dach has dealt with health issues throughout his seven NHL seasons, limiting him to 306 games, but he remains with Montreal and recently matched his Chicago games total. Connor Murphy was the last Blackhawks skater from that 2020 playoff series before Chicago sent him to Edmonton in March 2026, and he has since signed a five-year extension with the Oilers.
Three more are still looking for their next NHL stop. Adam Boqvist, now 26, has played for three teams since leaving Chicago in 2020 and most recently spent a year with the New York Islanders.
David Kampf stayed with the Blackhawks through 2020-21, later signed with Toronto, and split the 2025-26 season between Vancouver and Washington. Brandon Saad, a two-time Stanley Cup winner with Chicago, is also a free agent after a season and a half with Vegas.
Across 15 seasons and 984 games, he’s now searching for another deal.
Not everyone from that team is done playing. Dominik Kubalik is still in Switzerland with EV Zug and continues to represent Czechia internationally, including the 2026 Olympics.
Matthew Highmore moved on to Vancouver in April 2021, later played for St. Louis and Ottawa, and now skates with the Hamilton Hammers, the AHL affiliate of the New York Islanders.
Ryan Carpenter has not appeared in the NHL since 2024, but he has spent the last two seasons as captain of the San Diego Gulls and remains listed in that role heading into 2026-27. Calvin de Haan, after 13 NHL seasons including three with Chicago, last played in the league in 2025 with the New York Rangers and now plays for Rögle BK in Sweden’s SHL.
In Other News...
Blackhawks Face An Early Lineup Gamble With Bedard Out
Connor Bedards absence for roughly the first month of the season leaves the Blackhawks with a familiar early-test scenario: how to keep the middle of the ice stable while one of their top centers is out. Chicago will spend training camp and the preseason sorting through options, and one of the more interesting ones involves Roman Kantserov, whose offensive reputation has been built on the wing.
Kantserov is expected to get looks at center even though that is not his usual spot, giving the Blackhawks a chance to see whether his game can translate to a more demanding role down the middle. The evaluation matters because once Bedard is back, Chicago may need to decide whether Kantserov stays at center or slides back to wing, making this early stretch a small but meaningful roster experiment for the season ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Blackhawks Suddenly Have A Real Goalie Battle Brewing
Drew Commesso is heading into his fourth pro season with the kind of momentum that can change a goalies standing in a hurry. The 24-year-old has spent most of his time with the Rockford IceHogs, where his play has been steady enough to keep the Blackhawks interested, and his brief NHL look last season gave the organization a better sense of what it might have in the pipeline.
Chicago has already made it clear Commesso is in the mix for the backup job, which gives training camp a little more edge than usual on the depth chart. For a goalie who has worked his way up mostly out of sight, the next stretch is less about proving he belongs in the system and more about showing he can force the Blackhawks to make a tougher decision than they expected. [Read more 🡒]