The Blackhawks begin Stanley Cup defense
The Stanley Cap has cost no team as much as it has cost the Blackhawks this season. It’s never easy to repeat a drive to the Stanley Cup two seasons in a row but the challenge facing the Blackhawks is more daunting than it should be and they know it.
The Blackhawks now are just a silhouette of the team they were last year. They have lost 9 players from last year. The losses are severe. Most notable among them are forwards Kris Versteeg, Dustin Byfuglien, defenseman Brent Sopel and their goaltender Antti
Niemi. Ten players in all who were part of the Stanley Cup winning team would not be playing for Chicago when they open the regular season against the Colorado Avalanches tonight.
That doesn’t mean the Blackhawks would go out quietly. They intend to put up a fight and the roster as it stands even now has plenty of fight left in them.
Replacing Antti Niemi would be veteran goal tender Marty Turco who took a pay cut and turned down a better deal to play with the Hawks. The goaltender’s chances of winning a Stanley Cup are rapidly fading, he is as motivated with the Blackhawks as any goaltender
can ever be and is costing the Blackhawks just $1.3 million compared to the $2.75 million Niemi was awarded in salary arbitration. The Blackhawks walked away from Niemi and settled for Turco.
Turco too is settling in. “We are still getting used to each other,” Turco said. “My game is all right, but in my head there's just some fine-tuning.” After having spent his entire professional hockey career with Dallas, Marty had still been struggling on
the net lately. But compared to Dallas, Chicago’s defense is an entirely different and more fearsome monster much better suited to Turco.
“We like to control the game and our defensemen all can handle the puck, so with the way Marty moves it, it will help them maybe avoid some hits and spend even less time in our own end,” Blackhawk’s general manager Stan Bowman said. That might be true but
the bottom line is that Chicago couldn’t afford Niemi and Marty is a bargain.
Even with all the players the Blackhawks had to let go, they are still a good side. They have Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa. Kane said that looking at the Blackhawks one sees a lot of lost guy
but at the same time one can’t but help notice that the core of the Blackhawks is still intact.
Kane believes that getting the chemistry right between new teammates doesn’t take too long. “I don’t think that’s going to be any big deal.” Coach Joel Quenneville didn’t disagree but added that there was still work to be done on their team game and line
combinations. “But I think everyone’s excited about playing for keeps starting this week.”
Among the new forwards of note coming into the Blackhawks is the 6’2” Viktor Stalberg who came to Chicago in the trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Kris Versteeg trade.
What has changed the least is Chicago’s defense. They lost defenseman Brent Sopel in the off season to the salary cap. Norris Trophy winner Keith Seabrook is back. As is Brian Campbell and Niklas Hjalmarsson.
Campbell won’t make the line up for Thursday while he is recovering from a sprained knee. Replacing Campbell until he can return would be Nick Leddy who has been impressive through training camp. Coach Quenneville said that Leddy looked good during camp.
“We liked his instincts and the way he moved.”
Losing a significant chunk of the Stanley Cup winning squad is not something the Blackhawks can make up for or undo. All they can do is move forward with what they have and that’s what they intend to do.
"We knew there were going to be some moves," Blackhawks winger Brouwer said. "We didn't know maybe the extent of what it was going to be. We can't worry about it any more. What we have to do now is defend the Stanley Cup."
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