Season Preview: Chicago Blackhawks

Season Preview: Chicago Blackhawks

A tough start to the season last year led to the firing of 3-time Stanley Cup winning coach, Joel Quenneville, replaced by Jeremy Colliton. The change didn’t lead to immediate success but a late charge brought them back into the playoff conversation, eventually missing out on the postseason by six points. The Blackhawks finished the season 20th in the league and 6th in the strong Central division. 

Additions: Zack Smith, Kirby Dach, Alex Nylander, Robin Lehner, Andrew Shaw, Calvin de Haan, Olli Maatta, Ryan Carpenter

Subtractions: Chris Kunitz, Artem Anisimov, Henri Jokiharju, Cam Ward, Marcus Kruger, Gustav Forsling, Dominik Kahun

Forwards:

The Blackhawks have some really strong top-end talent with the sixth best top-6 forward units. Jonathan Toews had a big bounce-back season and will look to keep that going while Alex DeBrincat had a breakout season and Dylan Strome showed that he might just be able to translate what made him such a high pick in the 2015 draft. The Hawks also made some trades adding Zack Smith, Ryan Carpenter, and re-acquiring Andrew Shaw, who won multiple Cups with them in 2013 and 2015, to give them better depth. 

Defense:

The Hawks have revamped their d-core this summer adding both Calvin de Haan and Ollie Maatta while shipping out promising young defenseman Henri Jokiharju. Adding the two of them to a group that includes Duncan Keith and Erik Gustafsson, who had a great first full season, gives the Hawks a strong defense on paper.

Goalies:

In the net, the Hawks added one of this years Vezina trophy candidates in Robin Lehner and will also have a healthy Corey Crawford entering the season. Both goalies are in contract years and will be expected to battle it out for the starting role. Lehner is in for a bit of a shock though after seeing the eighth-fewest shots from the slot last season since the Hawks gave up the most from that area. Both goalies have their question marks but if either one of them gets hot they can steal some wins for this team. 

The Point Prediction:

We’re really liking the late charge we saw from the Hawks last season and love the additions they’ve made. For those reasons we have them bouncing back from last year and not only competing for a playoff spot but passing the Stars and grabbing the top wildcard spot in the West.

 

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)