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When I was in junior high school, my family had Chicago Blackhawks season tickets. At that time, the Blackhawks were actually a pretty decent team. They challenged for the division title nearly every season, and were practically a shoe-in for the playoffs. So needless to say, I followed hockey closely back then.

One of my favorite players at the time was center Jeremy Roenick. He was the Blackhawks' first round draft pick in 1988 (8th overall), a talent-laden year that also saw future stars Mike Modano, Trevor Linden, Teemu Selanne, Martin Gelinas, and Rod Brind'Amour selected as well.

Roenick came up in time to play 20 regular season and 10 playoff games that year. Right off the bat, fans could see that Roenick was something special. He was only 18 years old at the time, and played with all the exuberance and zeal of youth. He had 18 points (9 goals and 9 assists) in the regular season, along with 4 points (1 goal and 3 assists) in the playoffs. As a Blackhawk fan, I was extremely excited to see Roenick developing so quickly. I couldn't wait for the next season to see what the young man would do next.

I'm happy to say that Roenick didn't disappoint. He appeared in 78 regular season games for the Hawks, and tallied 66 points in that span. He also played in 20 postseason games, notching an incredible 11 goals and 7 assists for Chicago. It was clear that Roenick had never heard of the "sophomore slump" and that the Blackhawks actually had a legitimate superstar in the making on their team.

Roenick's point totals with the Blackhawks would continue to increase. He scored 94 points in the 1990-91 season, then broke the coveted 100-point barrier for three consecutive seasons, from 1991-92 through 1993-94, scoring 103, 107, and 107 points in those years. He also topped 50 goals in both 1991-92 and 1992-93. These seasons in Chicago would be Roenick's most prolific as a scorer. In fact, he has yet to top either the 50-goal mark or the 100-point plateau since then.

The good times ended after the 1996 season when Blackhawks' ownership decided to trade Roenick rather than pay him the lucrative contract that he (and many fans) felt he deserved. Roenick was subsequently traded to the Phoenix Coyotes for Alexei Zhamnov. Zhamnov never quite lived up to expectations (averaging only 53 points per season in 8 years with the Hawks), while Roenick did a little better with the Coyotes and then the Philadelphia Flyers. However, Roenick never did quite recapture the scoring touch he exhibited during his glory years with the Blackhawks. The most he ever scored after leaving Chicago was 78 points in the 1999-2000 season with the Flyers.

I remember the Roenick trade like it was yesterday. It was the first time in my life that, as a sports fan, I was actually affected by a team's personnel moves. I liked Roenick so much that I couldn't imagine watching Blackhawks' games without the familiar #27 out on the ice. I had seen other stars traded away from Chicago teams, but I never felt personally connected to those trades. For some reason, the Roenick trade was different. There was such bad blood and animosity between the two sides that I couldn't help but feel affected.

So you can imagine my surprise when I read a story in the Chicago Tribune yesterday that quoted Roenick as saying he is interested in returning to the Blackhawks to play out the final seasons of his career. He will become a free agent in July, and he has asked his representatives to contact the Hawks. The team is still owned by Bill Wirtz, the man who traded Roenick away in the first place, so I don't know how likely it is that Roenick will actually be able to come back to Chicago.

I think it would be a good move for the Hawks to sign Roenick. I know he's 36 years old now, and that his point production has declined dramatically. But I think a lot of fans haven't quite gotten over the first trade, and would love to see JR back in a Hawks uniform. I don't know how feasible it is from a business standpoint, but I can't help but feel that Wirtz owes us one. Signing Roenick would be adequate payback.