March 3rd: Black-eyed Blackhawks

On February 25th, the day after Patrick Kane went down with an injury, many wanted to declare the Blackhawks out of Stanley Cup contention. Sure, the pre-season Western Conference favorite had probably built up enough steam to limp into the playoffs, but without their top goal scorer, it would be an early exit for sure.

That is, of course, until you look at the rest of the Chicago lineup. With Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, Marrian Hossa, Brad Richards, Brandon Saad, and so many more studs on this team, there is plenty of firepower to keep the Hawks competitive. Plus, the trade deadline left even more room to patch up the fill the hole left by “Showtime”.

Antoine Vermette was the big catch for the Blackhawks at
the Trade Deadline.

The acquisitions of Antoine Vermette from the Coyotes and Kimmo Timonen from the Flyers fill two of the biggest needs left on the Chicago roster: a center who has a high face-off percentage and a veteran defender who has fresh legs. This works to add depth to a team already known for wave upon wave of skilled players.

What, during the offseason had been a terrible void has turned into a dominant strength, as the Blackhawks have strong talent on all four lines at center. With Toews, Vermette, Richards, and Kruger, there is a good chance Chicago will start every faceoff with the puck.

While this by no means makes the Blackhawks the unwavering favorites to win the Cup, it does keep them in contention long enough to potentially get Kane back for the second or third round of the playoffs. A team that includes all that talent, PLUS a fresh Patrick Kane should most certainly catch everyone’s attention.

Rather than attempting to find a single player to score the points left by Patrick Kane, the Blackhawks would benefit most by seeing a slight uptick in performance from all of their stars. That smallball philosophy (to share a term from baseball) is absolutely possible for a team who hasn’t gotten their money’s worth from Patrick Sharp in recent weeks, and who have the opportunity to increase scoring opportunities for their centerpiece, captain Jonathan Toews.

In their first game after the trade deadline, the Blackhawks did just that. A five goal flurry, led by three points by The Captain showed just how badly the Blackhawks want to stay competitive. With goals from four different Hawks, the team shared the star power and contributed big, making a statement for all of those who thought their dominance was over for the year.

For the remainder of the season, the Blackhawks will play 10 of their 18 games against teams outside of the playoff picture. That bodes well for a team trying to fight their way into the second seed in their division. Lucky for them, the Blues have also seen a flurry of defensive challenges, most recently a streak in which opponents have scored four or more goals in four of the last seven games.

More than any other skill, though, the Blackhawks have been there before. After coming a single shot away from the Stanley Cup Final last season, the Hawks core remains from not one, but two championship runs since 2010. You just can’t bet against a team that has the track record of the Blackhawks the last half decade.