By Michael Kelley ’14 & Mick Kowaleski ’14

As of this past Wednesday, the Chicago Blackhawks held the best record in the NHL at 16-0-3. 

Kelley:  After the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 in overtime on Monday night to stretch its opening points streak to 19 games, forward Patrick Sharp said,  “Without sounding arrogant, it’s just business as usual.”

No, Patrick, go ahead and sound arrogant, because what you and the Blackhawks are accomplishing is downright incredible – there is simply no other way to describe it. The overtime win was their third game in four nights. The one-goal game was their thirteenth this season.

Emerging as the early Stanley Cup favorites, the Blackhawks are just about halfway to re-writing the record books. In the 1979-80 season, the Philadelphia Flyers amassed an amazing 35-game unbeaten streak. In fact, the Blackhawks have already set the new season-opening points streak record.

Especially in this lockout-shortened season, the Blackhawks are setting themselves up for a deep playoff run. Having 35 of 38 possible points, the playoffs are already in sight, and once a berth is clinched, Head Coach Joel Quennevillecan begin experimenting with different lineups and combinations.

Kowaleski: This is by far the best season opener since the 1979-80 Flyers’ season. However, let’s remember that Philadelphia also lost that year’s Stanley Cup in six games to the New York Islanders. To use a more recent example (albeit in a different sport), the New England Patriots went 18-0 before losing in the Super Bowl to the New York Giants.

To summarize, just because the Blackhawks are off to an extremely impressive start does not guarantee them the Championship. It doesn’t even guarantee them the top seed in their Conference. In the West, for instance, the Anaheim Ducks have gotten off to a start almost as impressive as Chicago’s, going 13-3-1 in their first 17 games. In the East, thebrawlin’ Bruins of Boston are 12-2-2, and the Canadiens are 13-4-3. All of the teams could give Chicago trouble, so don’t crown them yet.

I will give them props for allowing the league-lowest amount of goals per game (1.8) while juggling two goalies. Corey Crawford and Ray Emery have done a tremendous job in supporting the 4th-ranked offense in professional hockey. If they can keep up their output, I wouldn’t put it past the Hawks to string together a good playoff run.

After being benched last season, Alex Smith now has a chance for redemption after being traded to the Kansas City Chiefs. 

Kelley: Of course, this trade is not official until the new league year begins in two weeks from this past Wednesday. But unless something ridiculous occurs, this trade is as good as done.

Good for Alex Smith, though. For years, Smith faltered until Jim Harbaugh arrived in San Francisco and helped him revive his career. But as we all know, Colin Kaepernick was just too good and too athletic to pass up for the starting role and unfortunately left Smith with an open spot on the bench.

It’s not as if Smith is a bad quarterback. In fact, in his last 26 games, Smith had a 20-5-1 record with 32 touchdown passes, 10 interceptions and a 95.6 passer rating.

Now on the Chiefs, Smith will have an opportunity for a true redemption story. Can he follow in Joe Montana’s footsteps, who left for Kansas City after the emergence of Steve Young, and lead the Chiefs to an AFC Championship game in his first season? I doubt it… but you never know – such is life in the NFL.

Kowaleski: You know how disappointed I was that Smith was benched after his injury. Kaepernick may have led the 49ers to the Super Bowl, but there was a more disconcerting consequence to the quarterback change in San Francisco.

I’m not a fan of players getting “Bledsoe’d”—that is, losing their job after sustaining an injury. Especially in the current NFL landscape, when concussion danger awareness is at an all-time high, it does not set a promising precedent for players who sustain head trauma during a game. Why would you admit to having a concussion if you if it meant your job was in jeopardy? Why not just try to shake it off, take the field, and deal with the brain trauma 20 years down the line?

With that being said, Smith is going into a pretty favorable position in K.C. Most of the Chiefs’ problems last year could be attributed to awful QB play and atrocious playcalling. With Smith under center, new coach Andy Reid at the helm, playmakers Jamaal Charles and Dwayne Bowe on offense, and a stingy defense, I’m keeping Kansas City on my radar for possible surprise playoff teams of 2013.

That sounds worth the second-round pick that K.C. gave up for Smith.