For more NHL playoff coverage please visit www.truehockey.com
If you love the game of hockey then you love watching Blackhawks forward Dave Bolland play.
If I had to pick one guy as the most underrated player in the world I would select former London knight Dave Bolland.
I made this statement to a visible member of the Blackhawks organization several weeks ago and he was in complete agreement.
Bolland may not be of the flashy variety but he’s as smart as they come. There are little things that separate NHL players apart and Bolland brings a complete package. He certainly showed his value to the Hawks in Game Four after missing 17 games with a head injury.
There are a lot of “Superstars” in the NHL who you can’t win with unless they are surrounded by players who allow them to play their game.
Joe Thornton is a superstar player but in reality he probably isn’t a go-to -guy. Doesn’t mean he won’t win the Stanley Cup, he could win the Conn Smythe one day, but he needs the right players around him to allow Jumbo Joe to do his thing.
For me it’s all about work ethic and details. Coaches want players who simply have a knack for hockey. May sound a little too simplistic but many of you reading this knows it’s true.
Bolland falls in this category. In fact he’s probably the leader of the pack. Here’s a guy that knows when to lift an opponents stick, when to use the boards, how to create time and space, and has a feel for every situation that takes place during a game. He knows when to push and when to pull back.
The Chicago Blackhawks have a number of players who receive much more recognition than Bolland. Guys like Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp from the second they jump over the boards are hunting, looking to score the next goal. There’s nothing wrong with this as these two are world class goal scorers and two of the best in the league.
A guy like Bolland isn’t hunting for anything, he’s reading everything on the ice. He could probably be a goal scorer if he wanted to but his responsibilities as a shutdown Center limit some of his production. Don’t forget he scored 57 goals and 130 points in his final OHL season. The difference between he and some other shutdown forwards is that he odes have the ability to shift his focus and execute offensively when he gets chances. He can spend an entire game shadowing the top line on every team but still find a way to capitalize in the offensive side of the ice.
For Blues fans out there, I would put Alex Steen in the same category although maybe not to the same level as Bolland. The same can be said for a Manny Malhotra in Vancouver who is out with a serious eye injury. Both Steen and Malhotra are great players who are as responsible as they come in all three zones.
I’ll never forget several years ago bumping into former Blues assistant coach Don Granato who was scouting for the Toronto Maple Leafs at the time. The Rockford Ice Dogs were playing and were loaded with future NHL players. Guys like Versteeg, Byfuglien, Skille, Brouwer, Bickell, Fraser, Barker, Hjalmarsson, Crawford, and Hendry were on the team along with Bolland. We were discussing the Rockford roster and he raved about this Bolland kid who he had rated much higher than Jack Skille who was the seventh overall pick just a few years earlier. Turns out Granato was right as Bolland is a huge part of the Chicago team and should receive Canadian Olympic consideration in 2014.
Chicago finds themselves in a deep hole down 3-1 in their series with Vancouver and face elimination tonight. The hole is probably too deep to dig out of but if you plan on staying up late be sure to keep your eyes on #36 for the Hawks. He was a huge part of their run last spring to a Stanley Cup and remains one of the best kept secrets in the NHL.
For more NHL playoff coverage please visit www.truehockey.com
More to come,
Andy Strickland
[email protected] 
St Louis Blues Blogger •1380 ESPN • 
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