Back and lack: We know some names, but we don’t know much about this year’s Blackhawks squad.
The classic sweaters remain the same, and so do many names on the back of them, but for the first time in almost a decade, we really don’t know who these Blackhawks are.
After years of dominance at best, and a certainty of competitiveness at worst, the Hawks enter a season without assurances of either. It could be good, bad or ugly.
From the onset of training camp, there has been spirited talk of a renewed sense of purpose, of working out even in the early days of summer so these Hawks can be in the best shape of their careers. The goal? Avoid a repeat of last season, which contained a little good, a lot of bad and was ugly by the standards the organization has set for itself.
But even the drive to start the season in peak physical condition can be viewed in light of an uncomfortable truth: The Hawks need to be in incredible shape to make up for what they lack in talent. Or as legendary coach Herb Brooks told the fabled 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, “You don’t have enough talent to win on talent alone.”
Of course, there is talent. The Hawks still have a strong core in Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Alex DeBrincat, Nick Schmaltz and Duncan Keith. Not included in that group right now is Brandon Saad, the biggest enigma in camp. He’s coming off a season in which he struggled to 35 points (18 goals, 17 assists), an 18-point dip from his career high of 53 the previous two seasons with the Blue Jackets.
Incredibly, Saad is still only 25. There’s no reason he can’t be the same relentless two-way forward who was a major reason the Hawks won two Stanley Cups in his first stint with the team. Coach Joel Quenneville initially had him playing with Kane and Schmaltz in camp before trying him on the third line with Chris Kunitz and Luke Johnson, then moving him back for Saturday’s preseason finale. After Thursday’s preseason game, Quenneville assessed Saad’s game as “ordinary.” That’s worse than it sounds. Saad can’t be ordinary if the Hawks hope to be competitive.
Slowly but surely, goaltender Corey Crawford is making progress as he attempts to come back from a debilitating concussion that cost him the final 3½ months of last season. Symptoms persisted through the summer, he said, and he wasn’t able to get back on the ice until shortly before camp began.
There’s no indication he has had any type of setback, and his on-ice sessions with goalie coach Jimmy Waite have increasingly moved beyond the cautious workouts at the beginning of camp. That said, Crawford still hasn’t practiced with the team, and it’s far from clear when he will play in a game.
It’s easy to suggest the Hawks’ hopes hinge on Crawford, but at least he’s replaceable, in theory. Maybe the Hawks are headed for a repeat of 2010-11, when 35-yearold Marty Turco was signed to a one-year deal to be the starting goalie only to get supplanted by Crawford, who entered that season with four career starts but blossomed into one of the NHL’s best goalies.
Like Turco with the Stars, Cam Ward has spent his entire career with the Hurricanes and has had a terrific career by any measure. But at 34, his best days are behind him, and it’s possible he’ll move into a backup role even if Crawford can’t return.
Neither Anton Forsberg, 25, nor Collin Delia, 24 — the other two goalies left in camp — is considered a high-end prospect like Crawford was eight years ago. But they are young and have shown signs they could succeed in a starting role.
There have been some fun roster battles during camp, though that doesn’t include 18year-old Adam Boqvist’s bid to make the team. Despite being the final defenseman cut, Boqvist was likely always going back to juniors and never would have been in the running if Connor Murphy (back) and Gustav Forsling (wrist surgery) were healthy.
The depth forwards are still jockeying for position, with John- son, John Hayden, David Kampf and Andreas Martinsen likely leaving Dylan Sikura as the odd man out. Dominik Kahun was initially part of this group, but he earned a spot on the top line with Toews and DeBrincat and easily made the team.
So days before the opener, the roster is just about set. The difficult task of putting last season behind them remains.
“It was a long-term thing throughout the entire year, but our expectations were still high and I’d say they’re even higher this year,” Toews said. “So we’ll set lofty goals for ourselves, we’ll be realistic about how we’re going to accomplish them and we know that there’s a lot of things that we have to correct and we have to improve upon if we want to accomplish that.”
Can the Hawks make the playoffs in a tough Western Conference? Don’t count them out. Can they win the Stanley Cup? It would take a miracle.