’Hawks count on Saad’s big return

CHICAGO — Maybe it was correlation or maybe it was coincidence, but Blackhawks star Jonathan Toews' production the last two seasons during 5-on-5 play was below his lofty standards without Brandon Saad playing on his left side.

Outside of a monthlong period last season in which he played with Nick Schmaltz and Richard Panik as his wings, Toews had a rotating cast of linemates. Over the last two years, it seemed as if coach Joel Quenneville gave every forward in the Hawks system a shot at the topline left-wing spot.

Meanwhile, for the first time in his Hawks career, Patrick Kane had consistent linemates for two seasons in Artem Anisimov and Artemi Panarin. Kane won the Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP in 2015-16 and finished tied for second in the NHL in points last season. But before Panarin and Anisimov came to town, it was Kane who had to make do with ever-changing linemates.

In making the trade Friday with the Blue Jackets to bring Saad back, the Hawks are returning to that dynamic. Their hope is Saad can help boost Toews' game back to the elite level while Kane still can be his productive self despite the loss of Panarin to Columbus.

“We got it in our minds that [Saad] would be a perfect fit on Johnny's left side,” Quenneville said. “With Kaner, the one thing we've been fortunate with over the years, no matter who he plays with, that line seems to find a way to be effective and productive. I don't know if they'll be producing at the same rate, but I know that Kaner finds a way to make it happen, no matter who's playing at center or on his left.

“It really adds a one-two punch and hopefully we get consistency and predictability . ... It's almost like we never changed Kaner's situation at all.”

Anisimov, the big-bodied center the Hawks craved before he joined the team in the first Saad trade, is still here but now the Hawks have a hole on the left of Kane's line.

Quenneville said Schmaltz likely will get the first crack at replacing Panarin on that line. Schmaltz’s game blossomed during the second half of last season, especially when he played alongside Toews. Schmaltz also took a brief turn as the center on Kane’s line when Anisimov went down with an ankle injury for the last six weeks of the season. That move didn't stick, but Quenneville is likely to go back to Schmaltz at left wing.

The Hawks — who won the Stanley Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2015 but have lost in the first round the past two seasons since trading away Saad — are more secure on their top line with Toews and Saad, whom the Hawks felt they needed in part to replace Marian Hossa.

Hossa, 38, will sit out the 2017-18 season and might be forced to retire because of a progressive skin disorder, the team announced this past week.

“I remember watching [Saad's] first couple of years and it seemed like he was getting better every single night,” Toews said. “He could make the big play and it just seemed every night he was pushing to get better and better.”

Now Saad is going to push Toews to get better. Or at least that's the Hawks’ hope.