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This has been a good weekend for Hawk fans.
What was a tortuous end of the summer, weighted down by the Patrick Kane Saga, and salary cap gridlock, has worked out fairly nicely with a salary dump deal to Carolina, the re-signing of Marcus Kruger and a PTO contract for Jan Hejda.
Suddenly, you can begin to see a pretty good hockey team emerge over the next few weeks, even without Kane.
Heck, the Bears only trail the Packers by a point.
There are still some holding out hope that the Kane legal issue miraculously vaporizes in the next week or so, he comes to camp at some point—and is in the lineup opening night. More and more however, it appears the Hawks will start the season without Kane.
Either way, however, it is his second line that, to my eye, is critical to defining what kind of team this is this year.
2/3 of the first line is set. And features two of the game's premier two-way forwards in Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa. So whether you pencil in highly touted rookie Artemi Panarin on their left flank, or say a dark horse like Viktor Tikhonov or even Bryan Bickell, you know that line will produce.
But part of the reason that line has been as successful as it has been over the last few seasons has been the alternate threat of a strong second line. Keep Kane in that equation, and the rest of the line doesn't have to be great, just good enough (see: Richards, B, or even Handzus, M).
So if you plug Artem Anisimov in at center, maybe put Panarin or Tikhonov or a slightly out of position Teuvo Teravainen there, and you're probably, meh, good (enough) to go.
That said, in a perfect world, Anisimov's game is probably better-suited to more of a third line, shutdown center role. And without Kane in the lineup, which is a real possibility not just to start the season, but maybe a significant portion of the season, you have all kinds of questions.
If that line is relatively easy to stop, a lot more defensive matchup pressure can be focused on Toews and Hossa. And that's not a good thing.
What has led the Hawks to three Stanley Cups in six years has mostly been matchup advantages.
I have a feeling that Hejda has enough tread left on his tires to give the Hawks a solid 10-15 minutes a night, and as such, he really solidifies the bottom pair. If that happens, it's a really strong defense again, top to bottom.
Box checked.
It's at forward where a fall-off on the second line could really undermine the effectiveness of the top three lines overall.
And without Kane on that line, you have to look at three guys to step up: Anisimov, Teravainen and Marko Dano.
Anisimov (at C) and Dano (at RW) had some nice chemistry at times down the stretch for Columbus. If they can replicate that in the Indianhead, maybe that also is good enough.
But Head Coach Joel Quenneville talked earlier this summer about moving Teravainen to center this year. And here's the thing—you have to think about Teravainen's upside as a top 6 player, whether at center or wing. If Q really sees him as a center, then the ultimate plan is for TT to be your second line center.
He has the instincts and the game and the vision, and he can play defense. The question is, does he have the body. Teravainen is (or was at the end of last season) barely 170 pounds, and not that great on face-offs (then again, Anisimov has not exactly lit it up in the dot either). So with either or both, the Hawks are probably hoping Face-off Guru Yannic Perreault works the same magic he did with Marcus Kruger over the last couple of seasons and a weakness becomes a strength for whomever is the 2C.
And if, a big if, Teravainen can make a meaningful impact as 2C, that would be huge for the Hawks, allowing Anisimov to slid into a more natural 3C, with Kruger manning his Hell On Ice 3B line to devastating effect, just as he has the last few seasons.
But that's just my opinion.
All for now,
JJ
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