The Chicago Blackhawks have had many great players play for them but not many people talk about Brent Sopel and his importance.
The majority of Brent Sopel‘s career was spent with the Vancouver Canucks. Well, that may be true but some of the biggest impacts he had in the National Hockey League came with the Chicago Blackhawks. It was only three years but it was a three-year span that he took full advantage of. He was with the Hawks from 2007-2010. He was with them for a trip to the Stanley Cup Final which they would win over the Philadelphia Flyers in six games.
Sopel was one of those depth defensemen that was a perfect fit for a Chicago blue line that was so good. Players like Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson, and Brian Campbell made up the top-four but a player like Sopel can’t go unnoticed. Sopel didn’t have great offensive statistics but they were good enough to complement a defensive play as a depth guy.