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 after 10 games

Through the first ten games the Blackhawks look impressive during some games and sloppy during others. Some old problems and some new problems are haunting the Hawks. They still don’t play in the third period when they have a lead, Toews has had another slow start, and they can’t seem to get the power play working. Granted, through the most recent games they have been better on the power play and third period play, they are still lacking in some areas. It’s a good thing that the good outshines the bad to this point. Kane at center has been very successful, Hossa looks to be back in it, until the recent suspension Carcillo has looked very good, the checking line is probably one of the best and yet unnoticed in the NHL. Corey Crawford is solid in net and there is no sign of a sophomore slump. All these good things and yet, the Blackhawks are under the radar. With the surprising success of the Leafs, the dominance of the Capitals, the failures of the Bruins, and the great play as always by the Red Wings, the Blackhawks have gone unnoticed and yet in those ten games they are 6-2-2. A pretty good record considering that fact that last year they were 5-4-1 in their first 10 games.

There is obviously more the Blackhawks could be doing and they probably will improve in the future. Toews is starting to heat up and Keith isn’t in as big of a slump as the beginning of the season. The Blackhawks only have two true losses. One of those losses was the very first game of the season, which was a preseason game for the Hawks and regular season game for the Stars. They were outplayed all over the ice. After watching that game, I was worried. Absolutely none of the players looked ready to lay and the big season I expected looked like it would be a disappointing one just like last season. The next few games were a little more convincing, but the game against the Bruins was a realization. The Blackhawks still had some of the same problems. They didn’t play in the third period. The Blackhawks have a good team that can go far in the playoffs. They have great players and great teamwork. This team can win the Stanley Cup if they fix some of their problems. If the Hawks continue to play the way they have, they will be very successful this season.

Offseason Moves

The Blackhawks made a lot of moves this offseason and I decided to talk about them all at once. The July 1st signings were all good in my opinion. Stan Bowman added some maturity to the locker room and added some toughness and grit to the team by adding Dan Carcillo. Granted, he also added penalty minutes to the team by adding Dan Carillo, but if Dave Bolland is healthy all year his badass penalty killing should make that a non-issue. There were other moves besides the initial unrestricted free agent signings that impacted the team.

The first is that Viktor Stalberg was re-signed. I'm not sure how I feel about this. He is a fast and smooth skater, but he doesn't have a great shot and seems to just skate around. I absolutely hated when he was on the top line with Kane and Toews during the playoffs. If he has a good season, I'll be happy about this signing. If he does what I expect him to do, I won't be very happy about this.

The second move is the Hawks re-signing Michael Frolik. Frolik came to the Blackhawks right before the trade deadline when Jack Skille was sent to Florida and the Hawks got Frolik and Alexander Salak who will probably be the backup goalie this year. Frolik started slow with the Blackhawks, but he seemed have the same problems as Skille. He couldn't finish at the net. He had chance after chance and couldn't score. Eventually, he got his first Blackhawks goal and after that he was a pretty good addition to the team. He scored a crucial goal in Game 6 of the playoffs this year and I think he has a lot of potential. I can't wait to see what he does this season.

The third move is the Hawks signing Sami Lepisto. He played for the Coyotes and Blue Jackets last season and was signed to a one year deal by the Blackhawks. From looking at his stats he seems like a good addition to the team. The Hawks have eight good defensemen that will be fighting to fit into the 6 defense positions. Yes, one of those guys is John Scott who probably won't see a lot of ice time this year, but he is still on the roster as a defensemen.

The signing of Lepisto lead to the finally move of the offseason to this point. That move was the decision to not re-sign Chris Campoli. He was acquired from Ottawa for some draft picks before the trade deadline last season. While he was with the Hawks he was a good addition to our defense, but he was going to be asking for too much in Stan Bowman's opinion. Stan decided to let him go and not re-sign him. I don't think this is in any way related to his turnover that lost Game 7 of the first round of the playoffs this year. He was asking for a raise and Bowman didn't want to give it to him.

Overall, I like what Bowman has done this offseason and this team looks very good going into the season. I like that he left cap space in case the Blackhawks needed to sign a center sometime during the season if Kruger or Sharp couldn't do the job. It is always good to have a little cap room and Bowman managed to have that and have a pretty good roster going into the season. Great job by Bowman this offseason.