Chicago Blackhawks Year in Review

2011 was a pretty good year for the Blackhawks. There were things they did well and things that they could've done much better.

The first memorable part of 2011 for the Blackhawks was Patrick Sharp, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, and Patrick Kane making the All-Star game. Patrick Sharp was a write-in and won the MVP trophy for the night by getting four goals.

The next memorable part of the year was the Blackhawks final day of the season. If they beat their bitter rivals, the Red Wings, they would be in the playoffs. They failed to do so, however, and had to wait and see if the Minnesota Wild would be the Dallas Stars. The Wild ended up winning and the Blackhawks made it to the playoffs. They would be playing the Vancouver Canucks, a team they had played the two previous playoff years.

The first three games of the series were lazy, unphysical, and plain bad. In the next three games, the Hawks were much better. Game 5 was probably the best game for the Hawks in the entire series. Game 6 was won by a Ben Smith overtime goal. As Blackhawks fans, including myself, celebrated I secretly thought to myself that the Blackhawks had hit their peak in the series. Game 7 started bad as the Blackhawks gave up an early goal. They stayed behind the whole game until with about a minute and half left, on the penalty kill, Hossa and Toews lead a little breakaway and Toews came up from lying on the ice shot the puck in, fell again, and then got up and celebrated. It was a true showing of what the Blackhawks captain can do. Unfortunately, the Blackhawks would not win the game despite Corey Crawford being fantastic in overtime.

Next was the long summer, something that the Blackhawks hadn't experienced in two summers. Players like Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith appreciated the rest and stepped up their game. New players were added including Steve Montador, Jamal Mayers, Daniel Carcillo, Sami Lepisto, and Sean O'Donnell. Crawford, Frolik, and Stalberg were all re-signed. It was a good offseason for Stan Bowman and the Hawks were ready for a good 2011-2012 season.

The season started okay, but got much better as the first month passed by. The Blackhawks not sit atop the standings and were the first to 50 points. Crawford and Emery are both playing fantastic. Toews, Sharp, and Hossa are among the top goal scorers in the league. The Blackhawks are doing great and have a ton of room for improvement. 2011 was nice, but 2012 has a chance to be great.

Blackhawks win 5-1

With Sharp's baby girl in attendance, the Blackhawks bounce back from a loss with a big win at home. The first period was good hockey and neither team could pot a goal. The second period started bad as the Hawks had a bad penalty kill and gave up a power play goal. Later in the period Brunette circled around the back of the net and tried to dish to an open Toews, but Toews never touched it and Brunette got the goal. 21 seconds later Sharp led a breakaway, faked the shot, skated forward and shot the puck into the back of the net. This was the turning point of the game. Stalberg would score a third goal in the third period, then Toews scored the empty net goal to win the game. With about 30 seconds left, Stalberg led a breakaway and passed to Bickell who scored. It was a great game for the Hawks all around and a great way to bounce back from a disappointing loss in Pittsburgh. Corey Crawford was great in net today and got the first star of the game. 

Brandon Pirri was recalled from Rockford and centered Sharp and Hossa the entire game. He got penalty kill and power play time and proved that he deserved it. He had no points, but played a very good game. He will probably stay up as long as Kruger is out with a concussion and maybe longer if he continues to play so well. 

Now that Crawford had a fantastic game it will be a tough decision on whether Emery will start or Crawford will start on Monday. Coach Q has a lot of time to decide, but it will be a tough decision. 

Stalberg was good again tonight. This is his second good game in a row. Coach Q said that he moved him from the top line to see if he could help get the third line going. It worked as him and Bickell both had goals and Stalberg had two assists. It's nice seeing him succeed and hopefully he continues to play well on Monday.

Canadiens @ Blackhawks Preview

The Blackhawks play their second game in that many days tonight. Last night did not go very well, but hopefully tonight will be different. Montreal has a new coach and have not won since he started coaching. Corey Crawford is back in net for the first time in six games. Emery was having a great couple weeks, but with two games in two nights, Crawford will get the start against his hometown team. The defense was bad last night, but hopefully they play better for Crawford tonight and help him get the win. Chris Campoli returns to play at the United Center for the first time since playing for the Hawks last year. Hossa has a 6 game point streak and looks to continue you that tonight.

I think the Hawks can win this game. The Habs are struggling. The Blackhawks offense showed some fire and finesse last night in the third period, if that continues through tonight the Blackhawks can easily get a win. Crawford will have to be solid in net tonight, and I think he will because he showed last year that he was better when it seemed like he was losing his job. A good team effort in all three periods is what the Blackhawks need to win tonight. 

Blackhawks win third period, lose game.

The Blackhawks ended their five game win streak with a loss against the Penguins in Pittsburgh. The first two periods were the most frustrating and aggravating periods of hockey that I have ever watched. (This is excluding losses in the playoffs the last three years) The Blackhawks actually came out and were playing hard and well in the first ten minutes, and then something happened. Kruger got destroyed by an illegal hit that was not penalized. John Scott came to his rescue and got in the a fight and made Engelland bleed. He received a minor for instigating and a 10 minute misconduct. This lead to a power play goal for the Penguins and they didn't ever look back. The Hawks continued to take stupid penalties and play terrible defense. Emery was fantastic, but was not helped at all by the defense. The offense wasn't much better either, not capitalizing on power plays. After two periods, I was absolutely done. I wanted to turn the game off, but I couldn't because it was the once a month occurrence that I actually got to watch the Hawks on TV and I couldn't pass that up.

The Hawks came out firing in the third period and scored early. The captain got the goal even though it was meant as a pass to Stalberg. Then Stalberg got a real goal which was set up by some great passing from Kane. So, pretty much, Stalberg was the MVP of the game for the Hawks. That doesn't happen often. After those two goals, the Hawks were still behind one and had so many chances in the second half of the third period, but none of them went in. Fleury was fantastic and even with a power play to end the game, the Hawks couldn't score.

This game was pretty pathetic for the Hawks. The defense was terrible and Keith was forced to play 30 minutes including 7 minutes of penalty kill. The Blackhawks still have a game tomorrow against a struggling Montreal team. They should be able to get the win. Crawford will be back in net and maybe the defense will decide to actually play well in front of him. Despite being the best team in the NHL just a night ago, they have many things that need to be fixed. Kruger is hurt for an indefinite time period and that leaves the second center spot open. Kane can probably go there for awhile because he played well at center, but that's still a hole in the team. The Hawks could also use another defenseman.

The Blackhawks are a long way from the Stanley Cup. They were on a five game win streak, but Pittsburgh kindly exposed that the same problems from the beginning of the season are still there.

Goalie Controversy?

Ray Emery is set to start again tomorrow against the Sharks. Earlier in the season, when Emery was struggling, he was only set against the "easier" opponents. That's a lenient term because any team can win any night, but coach Q felt more confident with him in net against a weaker offense. Now Emery is being put up against a very good offense. There must be a reasoning behind playing Emery more often, but it may not be exactly what it seems to be. It's true that Crawford has struggled recently. He hasn't has as good of numbers as expected and has started to give up softer goals. Emery has been playing better in the past few games and is actually making a lot of good saves. The obvious conclusion is that Emery is playing more than Crawford because he is better and maybe Q wants to make him the starter similar to what is happening in Vancouver right now. I don't think that's the case, though.

I think that Quenneville knows exactly what he's doing by playing Emery more than Crawford right now. The first thing he's probably thinking is that Crawford could obviously use the rest because earlier in the season Q was afraid to start Emery because he had bad start after bad start. Now that Crawford can actually rest, Quenneville is going to do it as often as he can. The second thing is that he knows Crawford is in a slump, so he is trying to figure out how to get him out of it. When did Crawford play his best last year? When he is fighting for his job. If Emery continues to start continuously, Crawford is going to realize that he has to fight for his job and get with it.

There is no goalie controversy in Chicago, because Emery still isn't the starter. Crawford is the starter and he's a good one. All goalies need rest and by playing Emery more, Emery is getting better and starting to get in a groove. You can argue that by playing both of them equally and maybe even playing Emery more, the Blackhawks goaltending is better than it would be without a "controversy". You could also make the argument that the Blackhawks could have one of the best goalie tandems in the league at the end of the year. Blackhawks fans shouldn't be worried about Corey losing his job right after signing a big contract or becoming like Huet became. Sitting on the bench for a few games is making Crawford better. 

1st Quarter Grades for the Blackhawks

We're one quarter of the way through the season and it's report card team. Which players have gone above and beyond and which ones have disappointed? I'm going to tell you.

Brian Bickell C+
Bickell gets a C+ because he did well earlier this season, but has played terrible hockey lately. He has some great linemates and prove that he could score early in the season. Lately, he looks awful and will likely be replaced by Ben Smith on the third line as soon as Frolik comes back.

Dave Bolland B
Bolland was also very good in the beginning of the season, but has had a few injuries and hasn't produced as much since he's been back. His line was the best one on the team for the first two weeks of the season, but hasn't scored as much since. Bolland is still trolling and being awesome, but doesn't quite get an A because of the injuries and fall off of his line.

Andrew Brunette B-
Brunette was signed to improve the Blackhawks power play, and technically has done that. The Blackhawks power play has struggled, but with 4 power play goals this season, Brunette has improved the power play by getting his butt in front of the goalie and getting some ugly goals.

Daniel Carcillo B+
When Carcillo was brought to the Hawks, many people, including myself, was not on board and thought that he would be a punk that would be suspended most of the time and not really contribute to the team. He has surprised, though, he is now on the second line that is centered by Kane and has been a solid contributor in the top 6. This is much more than people expected, but he doesn't get an A because he has had some bad games including the first game against the Canucks.

Michael Frolik B-
Frolik has played better this year, but still isn't getting the puck in the net. Along with his other linemates, he played well in the beginning of the season. Now he's injured, but should be back soon. With the possibility of a new linemate when he comes back, maybe he will start to produce again.

Marian Hossa B+
Hossa was great with Kane at the beginning of the season, but has been moved up to the first line. He's now with Toews and gets his chances, but hasn't been producing as much. Hossa always plays well and plays hard. I'm really happy that he hasn't had any injuries yet this year.

Patrick Kane A
Kane has adjusted to his new position very well. I was one of the doubters of putting him at center, but he has proved that he plays the position very well. He wins faceoffs, plays defense pretty decently, and dishes out the puck very well. Kane matured and improved his game a lot over the summer and is now a true leader on the Blackhawks. He is probably the player that I'm most impressed with this season.

Marcus Kruger B+
Kruger stepped into the role he was given on the Hawks very well. When Bolland was out, he played well and tried to produce. His efforts kind of killed the momentum of that line, but he still played good hockey. I think he has a lot of potential and the more experience he gets, the better he will be.

Jamal Mayers B+
He's been basically exactly what I expected. He has done well on the fourth line and has gotten in some fights. Him and Carcillo are doing a good job at enforcing and also contributing on offense and playing defense. He's been a nice addition to the Hawks and I'm glad he's here.

Patrick Sharp C+
Sharp got off to a bad start this season, but improved a little bit. I'm still not impressed with what he has done so far this season. Last season he went above the expectations and scored the most goals on the Blackhawks and maybe that's why this season looks so bad, but I just think he is underachieving this year. He can do a lot better than he is doing right now.

Ben Smith A-
With only a few games in the NHL this year, it's hard to say whether he has been good or not. He could have a good chance to produce with good linemates. There will be more to say about Smith after he has some more games under his belt.

Viktor Stalberg A
Stalberg has played much better than I expected this season. He has been playing on the first line and has actually been playing well. He is scoring goals and is accenting Jonathan Toews very well. Toews is being a good captain and center by using Stalbergs strengths, speed, very well. Thanks to Toews, Stalberg has become the player that most Blackhawks fans hoped he could be, but never thought that he would actually become. I am happily surprised by Stalberg this season.

Jonathan Toews A
Toews has played like the Blackhawks captain should. He has played very well both dishing out the puck and scoring. He has 19 points already this season and is 24th in the league in that area. He's been very good helping Stalberg become a much better player as I just mentioned. He's been playing good two-way play, as always and has flat out helped the Hawks win games.

Niklas Hjalmarsson B
Hjalmarsson's normal defensive buddy was not signed for this season and is now playing in Florida. It has shown on the ice, because Hjalmarsson hasn't been playing as well without Campbell there. He struggled with Leddy as his partner and still hasn't found his niche. He is still a good player and will probably get into a groove soon.

Duncan Keith A-
Keith has played some very good games, but has also had some very bad games. He will be back with Seabrook when Seabrook comes back and that might spark Keith's game and get him back to playing his best hockey. Keith is back to playing Norris trophy defense in most of his games. He leads the league in TOI and that sometimes affects his game, but will still be a Norris trophy candidate.

Nick Leddy A
Leddy has been very impressive this season and on certain days, is the best defensive player on the ice. He has improved a lot since last year and is ready to be a top defensemen. Hopefully he can spark Hjalmarsson's game when they start playing together again.

Sami Lepisto B
I can't really give Lepisto an honest grade because I haven't seen him play much. He played a little in the beginning of the season and looked fine. Nothing extremely impressive, but nothing bad. He's been just what the Blackhawks signed him to be. He plays in the third defensive pairing every few games and does his job.

Steve Montador A
Montador has been a pleasant surprise for the Blackhawks. He's a little slow, but has played good defense and has scored some very important goals. He's one of the reasons that the Blackhawks power play is starting to get better than it was before. He might start coming back down to earth soon, but I'm still impressed with the last few games he has played.

Sean O'Donnell C+
I haven't seen much of O'Donnell this season, but what I have seen of him has been bad. One of the biggest showings of his bad play was the first game of the season. It might have been because he was a little rusty, but I wasn't impressed. I haven't seen anything from him this season that should make me happy to have him on the Blackhawks.

John Scott B-
John Scott has been, well, let's just say that he didn't get a C because he has shown flashes of getting better. But he also doesn't deserve anything above a B+. It would take me too much time to explain all my feelings about Scott.

Brent Seabrook B
Seabrook has been playing well this season despite being away from his buddy, Duncan Keith. I think that he'll play better hockey when they are reunited later this week. I'd like to see a little better hockey from Seabrook, but he's basically done a fantastic job this season.

Corey Crawford A
Crawford has been playing amazing this season. He has had to play a lot more than he expected because Emery hasn't been a very reliable backup. There are no signs that he is going through a sophomore slump and he looks like a premier goalie right now. He has had bad nights, but has been a solid goaltender all year.

Ray Emery C-
Emery hasn't played very much this season, but hasn't looked very impressive when he has played. Granted, Emery hasn't had much defensive help when he's between the pipes. I'd like to see how well Emery plays when the defense actually decides to show up, but so far this season I haven't been impressed by Emery's play.

Crawford Locked in for 3 Years, thats Crawesome

Turco was supposed to be the guy this year. When he couldn't get that done, Corey Crawford came in and showed the Blackhawks that they had a gem they didn't even know about.

I have to admit that I wasn't sure if Crawford would be a good goalie. I was afraid that using two goalies would kill both of them, because they wouldn't have confidence in themselves. Luckily, Turco handled this whole situation like a veteran should and became Corey's best friend on the team. The pictures of Turco mentoring and talking to Crawford after wins and losses were amazing. The leadership shown by Turco this year will be missed.

In the playoffs, Corey played even better than he did in the regular season. The first three games were a little shaky, but most of the goals were not his fault. He got into his rhythm starting in game 4 and in game 5 got a shutout in Vancouver. What happened in game 6 to force OT was not his fault and we got the win. His best game was game 7. He stopped so many great shots. The Blackhawks needed to win that game for him, because he played so well. He stopped everything. The OT goal was a breakaway and a great shot. There was nothing Corey could do. If he had made that stop, I would have married him.

Going into the off season the most important thing to do was to sign Crawford. They took care of this right away and now we have him for 3 more years. I predict at least one Stanley Cup team led by Crawford and Toews in those three years.

Crawford, Leddy, Smith, and Kruger were all super-rookies this year. Crawford is locked in for 3 years now. Leddy is here for awhile. Smith will be her for a long time, because there is no way Bowman gets rid of him. Kruger is not certain, but I think he will stay. I like the way the Blackhawks are going in the next three years. Smith has the same qualities as Toews and Kane on the ice and I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the second line with Hossa all year.

Crawford is a very important part of this team and will get better in the future. He did have flaws this season and even in the post-season, but he is young and will get better. He will get used to playing in the NHL and will become our franchise goalie. I don't think his play with the Blackhawks will end in 3 years either. If he plays well, which I expect him to, Bowman will be sure to keep him. I love Crawford and I feel so bad for doubting him in the beginning. It is obvious now that he is a great goalie and will help the Blackhawks win a lot more games than they did this year.