It didn’t take long—and that bodes very well for the Blackhawks’ playoff hopes. But for now at least, it appears Joel Quenneville has found the right combinations on his top two forward lines and defense pairings.
This is remarkable in part because he struggled all season last year to do the same—and never really got there.
The easy and obvious reason to point to is improved blueline depth, with the addition of Michal Kempny and Brian Campbell. While that’s indisputable, if anything, the Hawks are thinner upfront than they were last year.
So let’s go deeper.
But first a mea culpa for my relative darkness the last few days, much of which has been spent on Boeing 737’s with garbage, or non-existent, WIFI. Yes, the Hawks have taken at least a point, with no regulation losses in 11 straight games, and by just about every metric—including especially record—they are the best team in the Western Conference this morning.
How did we get here? A few observations.
1) The curative power of rest
Look no further than the nearly 38 year old Marian Hossa, assigned to the scrap heap by many fans and writers last year, riding a four-game goal streak, on a point per game pace for the season and +7.
Jonathan Toews is not ripping it up quite so much but he also appears to have regained a step over the offseason.
Finally Brent Seabrook, who along with Hossa and Toews, was the other Hawk core player written off by many last year as being on the decline. Seabrook leads all Hawk defensemen at +9, with 10 points in 16 games. And bear in mind, like last year, Seabrook has gotten the babysitting assignment with the Hawks rookie du jour.
To my mind, this points to the old maxim that bigger players need more rest or run down a little easier. And I think that’s generally true. All three of these guys looked like they were skating in Quik-Crete last year. All three are having exceptional seasons after their longest summer of rest since 2012.
2) The “New… Top 6
In some ways, the top six is strikingly and ironically similar to last year’s: Hossa, Toews, Patrick Kane, Artem Anisimov, and Artemi Panarin, with a rotating clown show at left wing on Toews’ line.
The difference appears to be the subtle flip flop of Kane and Hossa at the right wings. Look how much business Hossa is doing this season off rebounds around the net, often uncovered. Just my theory again, but I think this is in part due to the defensive focus that Panarin attracts, in addition to the hard shots he and the Hawk defensemen are getting on net. At least three of those have landed on Hossa’s blade for easy tap-ins this season.
It makes you wonder why Quenneville did not try that last year. Hard to say. But he didn’t. Now he has. And it’s working.
3) Tougher to play against
About the last thing anyone predicted when the Hawks shipped Andrew Shaw off to Montreal was that the Hawks would become a tougher team to play against. But they have. No one is nominating Jordin Tootoo for the Hall of Fame, but this summer pickup by Stan Bowman is standing out now as a really nice bottom 6 upgrade. Tootoo can skate, is pound for pound strong with a low center of gravity and knows how to play the game by keeping it simple. Factor him in with Andrew Desjardins and Dennis Rasmussen, and you have some hard-working, "it’s gonna be along night," lower line grinders.
But that’s not all. Hawk fans and bloggers (myself included) have spent a lot of keystrokes discussing the finer (and less fine) points of Nick Schmaltz and Tyler Motte. But one rookie who needs to get some props is Ryan Hartman. I felt going back to the summer that Hartman was a sleeper factor for the Hawks this year. And he has been. Like Tootoo, Hartman has enough ability to pitch in offensively. But he is tough as nails and draws a lot of attention from opponents. He is a bit of a Kenny Linseman/Andrew Marchand/Shaw type player.
4) The blueline adjustment
Early this season, the first 7 games or so, the Hawks struggled defensively. It was easy to point to Michal Kempny getting the deer in the headlights look with the puck on his blade, or fellow rookie Gustav Forsling overhandling the puck in pressure situations.
But while Duncan Keith remains the “engine… of the Hawk defense (and some might convincingly argue the offense as well), three names stand out this year: Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Campbell.
To my eye, Campbell has lost a step. At the same time, he is a much smarter, steadier player than he was when he left Chicago in the summer of 2011. Like an aging pitcher who’s lost his fastball but developed the rest of his repertoire to compensate, Campbell is now able to be more of a glue player. Flopped to the right side, he is perfectly complementing Keith, who still does not appear to be 100%.
This in turn has allowed Hjalmarsson to slide in with Forsling. And who better to tutor a young Swedish defenseman than the two-way fixture of Team Sweden’s blueline, and a consummate pro, in Hjalmarsson.
Meanwhile Seabrook’s stick and style are a nice foil to Kempny.
This, also is working.
Meanwhile, you have a grab bag of serviceable spare parts in Trevor van Riemsdyk, Michal Rozsival, Tootoo and Vince Hinostroza (in an energy role).
5) Crawford and Darling
On the rare night off for Corey Crawford, Scott Darling is proving himself to be a technically imperfect, but clutch and effective backup. Meanwhile, Crawford, through his own hard work, maturation process and the tutelage of Jimmy Waite, is making a strong case for his first Vezina Trophy.
As always, it should be noted that for every streak that happens, one ends. This one will too, and the Hawks will face more adversity this year. The long Circus Road Trip starts today, often a bellwether for the whole season, where the Hawks face tough teams like Winnipeg, San Jose, Edmonton and Anaheim.
But the trend remains the same: because of a rested core, some smart adjustments, and a couple of offseason adds, the team is banking points and confidence—while also providing on the job training to a number of rookies.
I’ll have a Jets preview tomorrow,
JJ
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