Now I admit to being biased, growing up in Chicago (though I no longer reside in the Windy City), I have been a die-hard Blackhawks fan since I was old enough to know what hockey was. And September 22nd marks the start of the NHL pre-season. The Blackhawks will take on the Tampa Bay Lightning in Winnipeg. Luckily I will be able to watch the game as Comcast will broadcast the game. I know, you are all relieved right?
The biggest question however facing all 'Hawks fans this year is how bad will the results of the salary cap purge of the off-season hurt the team. While many will argue that most of the players lost were average at best, there are a couple of those so-called average players that were anything but. Take for instance Anti Niemi. His was a Cinderella story of sorts. While playing for the Finnish team we had gotten him from he did not see much ice time. Even when he was a Hawk, he spent the first half of the season watching Cristobal Huet play. But when he did get his chances in net he proved more than worthy.
Neimi started 39 regular season games during the 2009 - 2010 regular season. Of those 39 games he posted a very good record of 26-7-4 with 7 shutouts! That is one hell of a record. And the playoffs and finals were no different as he helped to lead the team to a championship. And now he is gone. Replaced by none other than Marty Turco. Don't get me wrong, Turco is a very good goalie. I can remember many a game in the past where he beat the Blackhawks. Now that he is on our side, I can only hope that his age will not catch up with him.
Some of the other noteable players now missing from our roster are Dustin Byfuglien, Kris Versteeg, Ben Eager, Andrew Ladd, Brent Sopel, and Colin Fraser. There were others of course, but in my mind these were the most noteable. And the fact remains that although these guys were not the backbone of the team they stepped up huge during the playoffs and really became players that our stars could count on, especially Byfuglien.
Byfuglien was huge down the stretch. He was one of those players that when he stepped it up to that next level in the playoffs he made everybody feel it. Throwing his huge 257 pound frame around the ice, disrupting the defense, screening goalies and even putting the puck into the twine. I think out of all the players on the team he was the one who stood out the most as someone who came from nowhere. No team was ready for him. He became such a presence on the ice during the playoffs that teams were forced to gameplan around him. And when you have players like Kane and Toews being opened up because of Byfuglien getting in everyone elses way, that is a recipe for victory. And it worked, cause we have a new flag hanging from the rafters to prove it.
Only time will tell how all the trades will work out in the long run. But we did get some decent rookies and we still have a solid bunch of guys that we did keep. Of course Patrick Kane and Johnny Toews are locked up for many years to come. Hopefully they have had some time to work out with the new guys and build some kind of chemistry. Because every team in the league will be gunning for the Hawks looking to knock them off their perch. They will have to rally around their stars, get the rookies to leave some blood on the ice, and keep Turco strong in net. If they can do that and a few other things they should be ok. Repeating is harder these days then it ever was in the NHL due to the salary cap changes of years past. We will have more on that later. Keep the faith. Blackhawk nation would like another run!
