NHL Preview - Chicago Blackhawks

Chicago Blackhawks

2015-16 season: 47-26-9, 103 points Lost in 1st Round Western Conference Playoffs	Head Coach: Joel Quenneville (2008)
3rd Place Central Division	General Manager: Stan Bowman (2008)
3rd Place Western Conference	AHL Affiliate: Rockford IceHogs ECHL Affiliate: Indy Fuel
Cap Space: $2,398,206

News

• Traded Andrew Shaw's rights to Montreal for two 2016 2nd Round Draft picks
• Traded Teuvo Teravainen and Bryan Bickell to Carolina for a 2016 2nd Round and a 2017 3rd Round Draft Pick

Players Lost in the Offseason

POS.	Player	New Team	Contract
LW	Andrew Ladd	New York Islanders	7 years, $38,500,000
LW	Tomas Fleischmann	Minnesota Wild	PTO
LW	Garret Ross	Arizona Coyotes	1 year, $600,000
RW	Dale Weise	Washington Capitals	4 years, $9,400,000
RW	Tim Jackman	Retired
D	Christian Ehrhoff	Free Agent
G	Michael Leighton	Carolina Huricanes	1 year, $700,000

Incoming Free Agents

POS.	Player	Old Team	Contract
RW	Jordin Tootoo	New Jersey Devils	1 year, $750,000
D	Brian Campbell	Florida Panthers	1 year, $2,250,000
D	Michal Kempny	Avangard Omsk (KHL)	1 year, $700,000

2016 Draft Picks

RD	Pick No.	POS.	Name	Junior/College/Club Team
2	39	RW	Alex DeBrincat	Erie Otters (OHL)
2	45	D	Chad Krys	U.S. National Development Team (USHL)
2	50	LW	Artur Kayumov	Russia U-18 Team
3	83	G	Wouter Peeters	EC Red Bull Salzburg (Austria)
4	110	D	Lucas Carlsson	Brynas IF (SHL)
4	113	C	Nathan Noel	St. John Sea Dogs (QMJHL)
5	143	LW	Mathias From	Rogle Jrs (Swe-Jr)
6	173	D	Blake Hillman	University of Denver (NCHL)
7	203	D	Jake Ryczek	Waterloo Black Hawks (USHL)

Top Three Prospects

POS	Name	Draft Info	Current Team
RW	Alex DeBrincat	2016 2nd RD (39)	Erie Otters (OHL)
RW	Mark McNeill	2011 1st RD (18)	AHL/ECHL
RW	Ryan Harman	2013 1st RD (30)	AHL/ECHL

Projected Lineup

Forwards

POS	Name	Age	Nationality	Free Agent Year
LW	Tyler Motte	21	USA	2019 (RFA)
C	(C) Jonathan Toews	28	Canada	2023
RW	Nick Schmaltz	20	USA	2019 (RFA)
LW	Artemi Panarin	24	Russia	2017 (RFA)
C	Artem Anisimov	28	Russia	2021
RW	Patrick Kane	27	USA	2023
LW	Richard Panik	25	Slovakia	2017 (RFA)
C	Marcus Kruger	26	Sweden	2019
RW	Marian Hossa	37	Slovakia	2021
LW	Andrew Desjardins	30	Canada	2017
C	Dennis Rasmussen	26	Sweden	2017 (RFA)
RW	Jordin Tootoo	33	Canada	2017

Defensemen

POS	Name	Age	Nationality	Free Agent Year
D	(A) Duncan Keith	33	Canada	2023
D	(A) Brent Seabrook	31	Canada	2024
D	Brian Campbell	37	Canada	2017
D	Niklas Hjalmarrsson	29	Sweden	2019
D	Erik Gustafsson	24	Sweden	2017 (RFA)
D	Trevor van Riemsdyk	25	USA	2018 (RFA)

Goalies

POS	Name	Age	Nationality	Free Agent Year
G	Corey Crawford	31	Canada	2020
G	Scott Darling	27	USA	2017

Extra Skaters

POS	Name	Age	Nationality	Free Agent Year
RW	Vinnie Hinostroza	22	USA	2018 (RFA)
D	Michal Kempny	26	Czech Republic	2017 (RFA)
D	Michal Rozival	38	Czech Republic	2017

Season Outlook

• The 2015-16 Chicago Blackhawks were the latest installment of a franchise that has been the epitome of success and consistency in recent years.  They put up 100 points again last season, despite finishing third in the division, and were eliminated in seven games by the St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference Quarterfinals.  They were guided offensively by Patrick Kane, who had his first 100 point season and became the first U.S.-born player in NHL history to win the Art Ross Trophy for leading the league in scoring and the Hart Trophy as MVP of the league.  They also got a solid season from rookie Artemi Panarin, who came over from the KHL and skated on Kane's line and won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year.  As good as specific players were last year (Kane, Panarin, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson, and Corey Crawford), I'm seeing an alarming issue with the Blackhawks that continues to get worse each year.  They're Corsi For Percentage was just 50.3, so they possessed the puck just over half the time of a game.  This number has gotten worse nearly each year since 2011-12, and last season was the lowest in that span.  The Blackhawks have also continued to fall victim to salary cap restrictions, which has resulted in the core of this team becoming almost entirely different from the one that won their first cup in 2010.  Gone are Dustin Byfuglien, Kris Versteeg, Andrew Ladd, Patrick Sharp, Brandon Saad, Andrew Shaw, Troy Brouwer, and Nick Leddy.  The Blackhawks have had to rely on unknown commodities to fill the holes left by these players leaving.  They'll have to do that again this year as Nick Schmaltz and Tyler Motte will be the next rookies Chicago will call up, and they'll both have the opportunity to skate on the top line with Toews.  This will be the norm for the Blackhawks for several years going forward as they're already without much financial flexibility and they'll have to re-sign Panarin following this season.  Their struggle is that both Kane and Toews are signed to $10.5 million contracts and didn't offer a hometown discount like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, or Steven Stamkos did.  There is something to be said about this because all of these players deserve the money that Kane and Toews got, yet the three who signed a team-friendly deal chose to allow their teams to have the flexibility to build around them and valued winning over a massive contract.  The Blackhawks are also paying veteran Marian Hossa over $5 million per year through 2021 and will have to hope that he is taken in the Expansion Draft next summer.  I think that the Blackhawks will be a playoff team again this year, but you can see a time in the near future where they struggle to be better than some of the younger teams in their division and conference.  It's hard for a team to remain elite and continue to lose players at the rate that they've done.

CAT.	Goals For	Goals Against	PP %	PK %	PDO	Corsi For	Corsi Against	Corsi For %	oZS%	dZS%
Stat	235	209	22.62	80.26	101.0	4584	4533	50.3	52.0	48.0
Blackhawks’ Rank	9th	10th	2nd	23rd	4th	14th	14th	14th	9th	9th

PDO= Even Strength Shooting Percentage + Even Strength Save Percentage

Corsi For= Shots + Blocks + Misses while in possession of puck

Crosi Against= Shots + Blocks + Misses while not in possession of puck

Corsi For %= Corsi For/(Corsi For+Corsi Against) -> Above 50% means that team controls play

oZS% = Offensive Zone Start Percentage

dZS% = Defensive Zone Start Percentage

Breakout Candidate

• F Tyler Motte - Motte will enter this season as a rookie, having played the last three seasons at the University of Michigan where he had a stellar career.  Last year, he put up 32 goals and 56 points in just 38 games against competition that is constantly getting better.  I think that if Motte actually gets the opportunity to skate on the top line with Toews, he will be a great fit and could have a solid season with a decent point total.

Regression Candidate

• RW Patrick Kane - First of all, I think Kane is an elite hockey player and I love watching him play.  That being said, there haven't been a lot of 100 point seasons in the NHL in recent years. Even in Kane's career, he has only scored the 106 points, or above, that he had last season only one other time in his "professional" career, all the way back in 2006-07 when he played for the London Knights of the OHL.  His previous best point total in the NHL was 88 points and he's never really come close to matching the goal output he had last season.  Although I think that he will regess, I'm talking a regression back to around 90 points.  He'll still probably have an excellent season and will still remain an elite player in the league.

Bounceback Candidate

• RW Marian Hossa - Hossa had a down year last season, only accumulating 33 points in 64 games and just looked slow compared to the competition.  The previous season he had 61 points, which has been his relative norm for season outputs in recent years.  While skating for Team Europe at the World Cup of Hockey, Hossa has looked much better, protecting the puck against the opposition and even appears faster.  I think that Hossa will have a better season than he did last year, which is good news for Chicago, who needs Hossa to get back to his averages.

*All statistics and information come from: rosterresource.com, thehockeywriters.com,

hockeydb.com, hockey-reference.com, and generalfanager.com