No team has repeated as Stanley Cup Champions since the lockout and advent of the salary cap.

The Chicago Blackhawks have never repeated as Stanley Cup Champions.

Expect to hear this a lot this season.

But the fact of the matter is this: After hearing about the Hawks' Stanley Cup drought for decades, it becomes everyone else's problem for a year.

We'll still have to listen to everyone bemoan the fact that the Hawks had to jettison an awful lot of talent due to the salary cap. But you know what? They would have had to drop those contracts anyway if they hadn't won the cup. Maybe not as many, since Jonathan Toews wouldn't have gotten his Conn Smythe bonus and Antti Niemi wouldn't have been looking for a gigantic payday.

However, if you believe the Hawks would have been better off not winning the Cup, please, for the love of God, find some other website to read.

So what will the upcoming season hold? Here's our thoughts on where the Hawks' title defense will shake out...

FORK: At this point two years ago, the Hawks were in the midst of a playoff drought. Now they've won the Stanley Cup. This was a rise faster than anyone logical would have figured upon. In fact, you can look at the season as if the Hawks had gotten the Cup on a credit card, and now the bill is due.

As far as salary goes, the Hawks really don't have a middle class. They've got guys making a shitload of money, and guys making league minimum. What this means is, for the most part, you get what you paid for. Toews, Kane, and Keith will all now be paid in line with their abilities and contributions. There are also going to be a lot of guys, particularly up front, who are going to have to get a lot of on-the-job training. Other than Dave Bolland (and maybe Tomas Kopecky), the third and fourth lines will all be players who spent most of last season plying their trades elsewhere.

Fortunately, the Hawks are in a position now where they have the talent to at least make the playoffs and challenge to repeat as Central Division Champions. So they've got 82 games to gel and become a viable Cup contender again. And here's a hard reality for all our newer Blackhawks fans...anything other than winning the Stanley Cup is a regression.

I agreed with Chris Block's prediction on the Puckcast a couple weeks ago...the Hawks will win two playoff rounds this season. I just hope one of them is against Vancouver.

CT:  Ah, the salary cap.  The NHL's quest for cost certainty for its franchises has resulted in the dismantling of one of its most popular championship teams in years.  Yeah, it sucks, but these are the rules and its hard for me to get too upset that the Hawks lost a large chunk of cap space because their 22 year old captain was good enough to win the Conn Smyth trophy. 

This makes the 2010-11 season very unique for the Blackhawks.  They will defend a title for the first time in almost 50 years.  They have two top line of forwards that would be the envy of any team in the league, and a bottom six that will be made up nearly entirely of untested minor leaguers and Edmonton castoffs.  The question will be whether Joel Quenneville can coach those boys up.  Will the Hawks be able to roll 4 effective lines this year, or will the youth and inexperience frustrate Q into riding his top two lines through the season (it isn't much of a stretch to think that the Hawks could move Sharp back to wing and slide Bolland between he and Hossa to make one hell of a checking line should the new guys not prove up to the task)?

The good news for the fans is, it should be fun to watch.  In addition to seeing the usual great hockey from Toews, Kane and company, we'll get to find out in real time if Viktor Stahlberg can figure out how to use his size, if Jack Skille has any of that promise left in him, if this group of guys are going to be able to keep the shots down in front of Marty Turco.  Luckily there's continuity on the blue line, because the Hawks are going to need it.

Barring major injuries, I see this team losing a dog fight of a series in the second round.  But hey, what the hell do I know?