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Take it all with a huge grain of salt.
The Blackhawks prevailed last night in a glorified scrimmage versus the Red Wings' lower lines and defense pairings. It's really hard therefore to arrive at any conclusions about anyone or anything. Defensive breakdowns were frequent, including a pretty complete failure by the Hawks in the third period, allowing the Red Wings to score three goals and tie the game..
But . . .
On the positive.
Scott Darling looked sharp, providing a reminder of how quick he is at his size. And how well set the Hawks are in net.
Marko Dano is going to be a good player for the Blackhawks. How good, and in what specific role, hard to say. There were a couple of moments where he, Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa looked a lot like the Harlem Globetrotters half court game. Individually, you can tell see Dano's grounding as a hockey player, how smoothly he skates, using his body to shield the puck, recognizing teammates.
He wil integrate well with Toews and Hossa who both looked great last night. The ageless Hossa was dangerous all night. Toews scored on a scorching wrister.
Teuvo Teravainen has arrived. He looks bigger and stronger and a LOT more confident with the puck. In addition to scoring a goal, he also at one point was a one man show with the puck.
And the Hawks now have an abundance of guys you can plug in as effective fourth and borderline third line players, who are tough to play against: in addition to the absent Marcus Kruger and Andrew Shaw, Andrew Desjardins, Ryan Garbutt, Kyle Baun. I was also really impressed with Ryan Haggerty. Haggerty will almost certainly start the season in Rockford, but he has speed and plays hard.
On the "meh" side of things:
Artem Anisimov. He did nothing last night to change my opinion of him—he's sort of like Antoine Vermette, a guy you can plug in on your second line if need be, but better suited as a third liner. I've seen AA a lot over the last few years and he is what he is (at least so far): well-schooled, defensively responsible, pretty much non-physical.
The defense. OK. If this is the year, as I was told, the Hawks think David Rundblad will put it all together, then Rundblad still needs to go out and find a game in his own end. In fairness, Rundblad looks a bit more confident up and down the ice, and it wasn't even a "real" game, first outing of the season, and Rundblad wasn't the only victim. But.
Trevor Daley was as advertised—more of a Brian Campbell-style player in how much he becomes a fourth forward in certain situations and in his overall mobility. He should be fine, especially playing with Niklas Hjalmarsson.
I watched two players fairly closely: Jan Hejda and Lubomir Visnofsky. Both still skate well and can make plays. Neither was perfect. Hejda in particular got beaten for position around the net a couple of times, with his man scoring at least once. Not good. But, this was Hejda's first game as a Hawk, and his body of NHL work suggests as long as he can still skate, which he can, then he should be fine.
To me, the defense is the big question of training camp and preseason. You know who your top 4 is. The questions surround spots 5-7, where the candidates are Hejda, Visnofsky, Michal Rozsival, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Rundblad and Erik Gustafsson. I don't believe the Hawks signed Hejda and Visnofsky to PTOs as a favor to either player or 29 other GMs, so they could just show their wares to the rest of the league in Hawk sweaters. Both are being given consideration as possible Blackhawks for the season. Likely, one or the other, not both, would make the team. And the early favorite might be Visnofsky, primarily because of his skill on the power play, a perennial need for the Hawks.
Look for the Hawks to send more of a lower line/AHL type lineup to Detroit tonight, where they will face the Wings' better players. Maybe we learn some more tonight.
I'll be back tomorrow.