CHICAGO — As a player, Robert Kron was solid, but no different than any number of Czech journeymen forwards who scrabbled out a living across the hockey world. Joni Pitkanen, on the other hand was a Finnish defenseman who didn’t quite live up to the high expectations of a fourth-overall selection but was nonetheless a significant contributor to three teams before an injury ended his career.
One a forward, one a defenseman. One a first-rounder, the other a fifth-rounder. They didn’t have much in common until this weekend, but now Kron and Pitkanen are joined together in a significant way.