Chicago Blackhawks defender Niklas Hjalmarsson confident for starting next season with bang
There is no doubt that Chicago Blackhawks were nearly added to the bad books of history by being ousted of the 2011 National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs before they even began right after they won a Stanley Cup championship only a year ago.
Chicago’s young defender, Niklas Hjalmarsson, was a top of the line contributor for the team during the club’s Stanley Cup stretch, especially throughout the postseason but toned down on his game a bit last season as they were defending their title against
the league.
Last season and playoffs, Hjalmarsson did not see as much success throughout along with his teammates, who could be noticed, being worn out and overworked. During the 2011 NHL Playoffs Western Conference quarterfinals, Hjalmarsson participated in all seven
games against Stanley Cup finalists, Vancouver Canucks, and managed to pick up only two assists.
The defenseman had a pretty good reason for his shabby performance, terming it due to have a short offseason break.
"I needed to heal a little bit", Hjalmarsson said following arecent team charity event. "It was a short summer last year, but I'll take that any day if we go all the way. Still, it's not too fun to go out the way we did, coming back from 0-3 and losing.
It took a while to be happy again, but it's been a good summer".
Picked as the 108th overall draft pick during round-four of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft by Chicago, the defender has become one of the clubs top performers when it comes to the pressurised situations found during the playoffs. Hjalmarsson is able
to do in a few postseason games what he cannot do all season long, making him extremely valuable.
"I always want to be a solid guy the team can trust shift after shift," Hjalmarsson said. "We always want to try and get a point here and there, but that's something I'm hoping to do more”.
Next season, Chicago is looking to repeat their 2009-2010 regular season by making another run for the Stanley Cup and with a long offseason resting period this time around, they will have no excuse to not perform when the moment comes.
Tags: