The six former Boston Bruins of the Chicago Blackhawks boast

Ryan Donato knows a tough question when he hears one.

The question is: Which team has the larger fan base, the Chicago Blackhawks or the Boston Bruins?

Donato, a current Hawk formerly from Bruin and the Boston area, sighed deeply and ran his hands through his hair.

“It’s so hard to say because either way I’m going to offend someone,” he said.

He chose a “middle” answer: “I’m going to be a Blackhawks fan.”

However… “The Bruins fans will tell you more openly, I can tell you that,” Donato continued. “Blackhawks fans will be a little more polite.”

Nick Foligno agreed.

“Boston can be a little more ruthless, but you kind of like that, don’t you?” he said. “I used to hate playing in Boston, but I also love it.

“And then when you get there, you enjoy having these fans by your side. The same goes for Chicago.”

Donato and Foligno are two of six former Bruins who will face their old team Wednesday night at the United Center. The others are Taylor Hall, Pat Maroon, Craig Smith and Tyler Bertuzzi.

It was an alumni week of sorts for the Hawks, who also have several former Maple Leafs and played in Toronto on Monday.

“All the guys that played in Toronto had extremely good games moving their feet, which gave us a lot of (offensive) time in the zone,” coach Luke Richardson said Wednesday morning. “We’re hoping for it again tonight, a lot of former Bruins and two Original Six teams, it’s always pretty special. We are in the West. They are in the east. You only get one chance in this rink.”

Foligno, whom the Hawks acquired with Hall in a deal with the Bruins in 2023, said that “there’s a little more juice” when facing a former team.

He said these encounters bring back memories with coaches and other staff members, a chance to meet old teammates like David Pastrnak and Charlie Coyle – and a chance to earn bragging rights.

“It’s always a little more emotional that you played there and then you want to show where you went… we have something better ahead of us here,” Foligno said. “So it’s in the competitive nature of all of us.”