from Rick Telander of the Chicago Sun-Times,

You win three Cups in five seasons, including possible back-to-back Cups? You’re a dynasty. Maybe you’re not the Shangs or the Mings, but you’re more than a hiccup.

Do the Blackhawks want to play the nasty Blues in the opening round, starting in St. Louis on ­Thursday night?

It doesn’t really matter. To win the Cup, you beat whomever steps in front of you for the next two months. At some point, you’ve beaten everybody who’s beaten everybody else....

It’s all doable. Not easy. But possible. Likely even painful. There’s a bull’s-eye on the chest of every Blackhawks star. They are the defending champs, after all. As Kane said of being singled out for special treatment by the Blues, “I would expect that, even if I wasn’t coming back from injury.’’

No, it’ll be hard, very hard. And long.

But no dynasty was easy. And none was built in a day.

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