It’s been a long summer without the catchy “Chelsea Dagger” ringing through the streets of Chicago. Well, sports fans, good news: the months of below-.500 baseball are over. In addition, the tipsy start to the Bears season hasn’t left us with the best feeling about Chicago sports as of lately. Looks like the NBA and NHL are starting just in time.

This season’s Blackhawks team can be described as one with championship potential, like last year. The team faces excellent competition in the Western Conference, as division foes St. Louis, Minnesota, Dallas, and Colorado could all make a deep playoff run.

As many of us remember, last year the team made it past two of those opponents before getting stopped in Game 7 by the L.A. Kings. Minnesota and Dallas have been improving each year, and the Avalanche surprised everyone last year, and there is a good chance they will remain one of the league’s upper-tier teams.

In a year where Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane each got blockbuster deals, the Hawks core has largely stuck together. Recent moves include bringing back winger Daniel Carcillo and the trade of defenseman Nick Leddy, done to get under the salary cap.

Perhaps the biggest move of the offseason is the signing of center Brad Richards, who can hopefully center the second line and fix what seems to be a yearly problem for coach Joel Quenneville. Richards was on a Rangers team that made a cup run last year, scoring 51 points on the season and remains a potent veteran option on a fairly young team.

It is not fair to expect Stanley Cup or bust for this team, but they are certainly capable of bringing home another title to the city of Chicago. That being said, they will face stiff competition from a loaded Western Conference that could be up for grabs late in the season.

Overall, the Los Angeles Kings and the Blackhawks seem to be the best teams in the league, and it is a fair bet to have them in the conference finals in the playoffs. This team, coming off a strong year that ended at the hands of the Kings, seems poised to return to cup-winning form, and hopefully, they will be in that form in June.