During the 1990’s, Jeremy Roenick was the Patrick Kane of the Blackhawks. The 1990’s Blackhawks were not the dynasty Kane and Jonathan Toews skated to. The 1990’s Blackhawks were a scrappy bunch that made it to one Stanley Cup finals and lost. They were a tough group to face in post season. Roenick was that young wild goal scorer who had spunk and a lot of words. Kane was a wild renegade when he first started with the Blackhawks. They both could light the lamp. They both are American-born hockey players that are two of the best all-time. They both had all the chicks wearing their jerseys. Kane we know will get to Toronto some day. Since 2012, Roenick’s name has been kicked around like a used car by the Hall of Fame committee for over a decade. Finally Jeremy got the call at a Starbucks as he was getting coffee. He recognized the Toronto area code so he picked up the phone not knowing who it was and got the news he is in the 2024 class to be enshrined in the Hockey Hall this November.

Jeremy Roenick was drafted in the first round by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1988 NHL draft, number 8 overall. Roenick was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He played the center position. He made his NHL debut later in the 1988-89 season. Roenick would play 20 seasons in the NHL with 5 different teams. Roenick played 8 seasons in Chicago & then played six seasons with the Phoenix Coyotes, 3 seasons in Philadelphia, 1 season in a Kings Uniform, and then finished his career in San Jose playing for the Sharks for 2 seasons. Roenick played in 1,363 games in the NHL scoring 516 goals. He dished out 703 assists as he racked up 1,216 points. Among American players, he is 4th in points in NHL history as Mike Modona is number 1 with 1,374, number 2 is Patrick Kane at 1,284, and then number three is Phil Housley with 1,232.

With the Chicago Blackhawks, Jeremy Roenick scored 267 of his goals. He had back-to-back seasons where he racked up 50 goal seasons. His first was the 1991-92 season. The second was the 93-94 season. In those two seasons he had back to back years with 107 points. It was the 1991-92 season when the Blackhawks went all the way to the Stanley Cup finals. The Blackhawks won the first series of the post-season versus the Blues, 4 games to two. The Blackhawks then swept their archrival Red Wings & then won the conference sweeping Edmonton. They were red hot winning over ten games straight in the playoffs. Roenick in 18 games in post-season had 12 goals that season with 10 assists. The Blackhawks were loaded with talent. The Blackhawks had Ed Belfour who was one of the best goalies in the league. One of the top defensemen in the league with Chris Chelios. The Blackhawks had some star players like Steve Larmar, Michael Goulet, Dirk Graham, and Stu Grimson. They had the dictator as the head coach in Mike Keenan. It looked like the Blackhawks could win their first Stanley Cup since the 1960’s. Instead they met their maker in Mario Lemieux and the Penguins who took the wind out of the Blackhawks sails after erasing Chicago’s big lead in game one. The Blackhawks were swept and never got back to the Cup until Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews made a dynasty for the Indian sweater. Then eventually after the 95-96 season Roenick would leave town as he got paid by the Coyotes and played his final season wearing the Indian head sweater. Once again cheap and bad ownership in Chicago let their star get away because they don’t want to pay them. The Blackhawks at the time had a real miser running the show in owner Bill Wirtz, the Scrooge of the Windy City.

After the Blackhawks, Jeremy Roenick would have a pair of 30 goal seasons in a Coyotes uniform. He had a steady of 20-something goal seasons for awhile. His goals dropped under 20 in his last season in Philadelphia as he had 19 goals in the 2003-04 season. That was his lowest goals scoring season at the time since his rookie season when he only played 20 games and scored 9 goals. Roenick’s last two seasons in San Jose he had combined 18 goals. Then he hung up the skates after the 2008-09 season. After his playing days, Roenick joined the media and gave his hockey analysis in-between periods. In 2019, he had a fall out with NBC over a morals clause in his contract. In Chicago, he has been doing a local pizza commercials for the last few years that televised during the Blackhawks games. When he got the call he was shell-shocked. He was speechless and in tears as he thought he had no chance of ever getting in the Hockey Hall of Fame. I read the last 4 months he has done some soul searching trying to get past some of the days he might want back in life. Trying to enjoy family and friends more because they have been with him for the ups and downs of his life. As you can’t take nothing for granted in life. Finally making it to the Hockey Hall of Fame is worth celebrating with the people you love. For old number 27 or some of the times he flipped that number around to 97, he had a heck of a hockey career. He could put the biscuit in the basket with some of the best ever for sure. His mouth caused him problems with guys on the ice for sure. Some fans he probably alienated because of his attitude. When he worked out with Chris Chelios during the off-seasons, Roenick returned to the ice the following seasons and played every day like it was his last game on the ice and gave it all. The 1990’s Blackhawks you think should have a few of those guys in Toronto or jerseys retired by the Blackhawks. Those teams were tough to beat in the post-season and played hard. Again having a cheap ass as an owner is the result of not winning any cups to add another piece or two to get the talent you did have over the top. Great memories indeed by JR. Congratulations, you finally made it to the kingdom of hockey. The Hall of Fame!!!