Central Division Offseason Roundup: Chicago Blackhawks

The Chicago Blackhawks have had to shed cap space and reformulate over and over since their 2010 Stanley Cup, but they always seem to come out the better for it. The NHL’s current champions are next in our Central Division Roundup series. Previously, we have explored the St. Louis Blues, Minnesota Wild, Winnipeg Jets, and Nashville Predators.

The Hawks have made all kinds of moves this offseason. While the landscape of their team has changed, their exceptional core remains the glue that holds it all together. Let’s see how they have fared so far.

Biggest moves so far:

• Extended D Trevor van Riemsdyk for 2 years.
• Extended LW Andrew Desjardins for 2 years.
• Extended D David Rundblad for 2 years.
• Signed C Viktor Tikhonov for 1 year.
• Acquired D Trevor Daley from Dallas.
• Acquired C Ryan Garbutt from Dallas.
• Acquired C Artem Anisimov from CBJ (and extended for 5 years)
• Acquired C Marko Dano from CBJ.
• Acquired RW Jeremy Morin from CBJ.
• Acquired RW Corey Tropp from CBJ.
• Lost LW Patrick Sharp to Dallas.
• Lost D Stephen Johns to Dallas.
• Lost D Johnny Oduya to Dallas as a FA.
• Lost LW Brandon Saad to CBJ.
• Lost D Michael Paliotta to CBJ.
• Lost F Alex Broadhurst to CBJ.
• Lost C Antoine Vermette to AZ.
• Lost C Brad Richards to Detroit.
• Awaiting deals with C Marcus Kruger, LW Daniel Carcillo, and D Michal Rozsival.

Wow, there’s a lot to go over here. What stands out to you guys?

Andi: Losing Sharp and Oduya in a single off-season is rough, but losing a 22-year-old Brandon Saad on top of that is a huge blow to the core of the team. They managed to get a few good players back – Dano is an interesting prospect, and Anisimov and Daley are serviceable players – but this has been a rough summer for the Hawks…well, apart from that whole Stanley Cup thing in June. That was probably pretty acceptable, but the past month has made it much harder for CHI to talk about a possible repeat.

AJ: Boy howdy, what doesn’t stand out on this list? The Sharp trade was predictable and the return they got was a far cry from their original asking price of Jupiter and all of its moons. Trevor Daley secretly isn’t very good but a high shooting percentage last year gave him a sexy number to distract people from digging any deeper. There’s a clear downgrade there and it’ll be interesting to see how they manage on that blueline.

The Saad deal was shocking, though. The threat of offer sheets are often more of an interesting discussion topic than reality but the Blackhawks were so afraid of an offer sheet they made the shrewd move of getting NHL players in exchange for Saad instead of watching him sign an offer sheet and losing him for mere draft picks. The guys they were acquired have been underrated a great deal in my opinion.

Anisimov has enjoyed the anonymity of operating in Columbus the last few years as a real solid complementary player who can play tough defensive minutes and still score points. Right in his prime, the Blackhawks were very wise to secure his services long-term. The big prospect they acquired, Marko Dano, was an unstoppable monster at the end of last season with Columbus as he started to fulfill his vast promise. Those guys should adequately replace Sharp and Saad in the long-term but they likely won’t replicate the production of their predecessors immediately. Still, the entire NHL knew the Blackhawks were in a bind and yet again they put themselves in a wonderful position to mitigate the damage of their losses.

Among the most underrated moves of the summer was their addition of Viktor Tikhonov. I profiled him as a player the Avs would have been wise to target and his low-risk deal with Chicago is exactly the kind of intelligent move on the cheap that keeps their world class forward depth at a reasonable price. He’s not a game-changer but he’s a highly skilled player capable of playing quality defensive minutes and has more scoring touch than your average bottom 6 player. He’s definitely a big-time sleeper for me this upcoming season and it doesn’t surprise me at all the Blackhawks landed him for peanuts.

Casey: Man oh man is that Anisimov deal smart for the Hawks. I follow the Jackets relatively closely and for those who weren’t aware, Anisimov and Dano were tearing it up the last few months of the 2014-15 season. People who think Chicago got fleeced in that trade simply haven’t watched those two play.

The Desjardins extension is another move that I feel is worth noting. Desjardins has gone underappreciated on a Hawks roster stacked with talent and at least a few future Hall of Famers. At least from a media perspective. The fanbase loves him. He’s not the flashiest player in the world but he is the sort of low-key guy that can take a fourth line to the next level and they got him on an exceptionally cap-friendly deal. He’s not there to score big goals–he’s there to add an extra edge of shutdown to the fourth line and he does it exceptionally well.

Are the Blackhawks better than they were this time last year?

Andi: No. The salary cap did it’s job and took a big bite out of the Hawks’ core. Considering how the bar they set last season was “Stanley Cup Winner”, they’re almost certainly going to fall short this year. They’re still a dangerous team that has a history of restocking their roster quickly, but there’s also the possibility that recent trading of first round picks and the massive contracts signed to Towes and Kane keep the Hawks from re-establishing their dominance.  It’s going to be interesting to see if this is just a setback or a derailment to their modern day dynasty.

AJ: Nope. I see Chicago similarly to Colorado in that I think they’ll be a lot better in March than October but when the puck drops on opening night, they aren’t going to be able to replace all their lost talent willy nilly. Speed bumps are nigh for the veteran Blackhawks, who have regularly treated the regular season as a mere tune-up over the last 6 years anyway.

They’ve lost too much and gained too little but over the course of the season as they adjust and find better fits with the new parts, they’ll be fine. Chicago will always be fine until they’re not anymore. They aren’t a real threat to miss the playoffs without catastrophe striking (goaltending bottoms out, Toews/Kane/Hossa all suffer significant injuries, etc.) but they probably won’t win the division because it seems like they never do. We won’t really know how far they’ve slipped until the postseason lights come on. Until then, Chicago gonna Chicago.

Casey: I think Chicago is slightly worse off than they were when they won their most recent Cup, but these were changes they knew were coming. The writing was on the wall and they have done a spectacular job of managing their talent level versus salary cap. I agree with AJ that it will take some time for their new talent to gel properly, but once everybody settles in, I can’t imagine it will be anything other than business as usual for this team.

How will these moves affect how the Blackhawks match up against the Avalanche?

Andi:  The Avs have always matched up well against the Hawks. Chicago does play a much better puck possession game, but Colorado is one of the few teams that can keep up with them and thrives in CHI’s fast-paced environment.  The slight weakening of the Hawks defense with the removal of Oduya should help, but not having to worry about Sharp and Saad scoring is a huge boon to the Mile High team.

AJ: The Avs have played Chicago well in recent years. Sure, the occasional blowouts have happened but they’ve gone in and won in Chicago a handful of times and it’s been kind of weird how well the Avs have fared against them, especially considering their respective statuses as a dominant possession team (Chicago) and a possession doormat (Colorado).

Colorado has gotten better defensively and Chicago has arguably taken a step back all over the place so theoretically the gap should be closed juuuuust a little bit but this is all on paper so who really knows until they hit the ice, eh?

Casey: Colorado has improved and Chicago has arguably taken a step back, but I wonder if the addition of players like Dano and Anisimov will make them a bit tougher for the Avalanche. Dano is a fast player who can be a speed demon under the right circumstances and sometimes the Avs don’t fare so hot against teams that are as fast as they are. Sharp and Saad’s scoring threats may be gone, but Anisimov and Dano score in different ways. I’m really curious to see this latest Hawks team as a unit.

Final thoughts:

Andi: Did they really have to keep Sharp in the division? I know they didn’t have control over Oduya, but come on, Hawks. The Central is rough as it is. If you’re going to move talented players, at least have them go pester one of the other divisions. This counts twice as much when you’re only getting Daley and Garbutt in return.

AJ: Mad respect for the Blackhawks and how great they’ve been in recent years but I really wouldn’t mind an anomalous, goofy stat-driven missing of the playoffs like last year’s LA Kings where NHL fans get a reprieve from ALL BLACKHAWKS ALL THE TIME. Actually, both LA and Chicago should miss the playoffs just for funsies. Variety of the spice of life, y’all.