Chicago Blackhawks open training camp Friday, which means that the 2016-17 season is just around the corner. After another offseason of major changes in Chicago, the team is dipping its toes into the youth movement with the season just a few weeks away.
There are still many big questions for the Hawks to answer the following active offseason. Other than a dozen guys who are locks to make the roster, uncertainty fills the rest of the list. There are always educated guesses, but that is when the players actually consolidate its spots. Expect the younger group than Joel Quenneville has rolled in years.
With so much to be decided during the camp, even with a few big names still in Toronto at the World Cup of Hockey, it should be an interesting few weeks for those of us who follow the Hawks. Here are some key matter that we supervise.
Who plays with Toews?
This seems like the most interesting question of all. Jonathan Toews is the Hawks' No. 1 center and probably the best all-around player, yet he still does not know who he will be paired with next season. It looks like it will be decided in the camp, though coach Joel Quenneville will have sort of known possibilities like Marian Hossa and Richard panic and younger interesting options such as Nick Schmaltz, Vincent Hinostroza and Tyler Motte.
Q will actually move to Hossa Marcus Krüger's control line to open the season? Schmaltz is - probably top prospects team - ready for the NHL, let alone a top-six role? There's a lot of pressure on young children to raise here because Hossa, frankly, it looks like a little lost at the age of 37. That does not mean it can not still be an effective two-way player in the right role, but the days of him regularly playing big minutes before toughest competition next Toews might be at an end.
Ideally, the younger guys will be able to enter into these roles and give the Hawks another dose rate.
And there is always the nuclear option of moving Patrick Kane in the report next Toews. This would require a major restructuring of the team's forward lines from top to bottom, but if you really wanted to get their superstar center right support in the next season, it is the most obvious way to do it. However, you should come Hawks prefer to try other options before the end of the second line, which was so good before.
If I had to guess right now, I'd come Toews starts the season with Panik and Hinostroza as his wings, assuming that Q is really moving Hossa down. There's still a lot that could change over the next few weeks, though.
Prospects can break the defense?
Barring surprises, we can already say, seven defenders, who will be on the inaugural roster in Chicago Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Brian Campbell, Michal Kempný, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Michal Rozsival. Only one of them, Kempný, remission-exempt, and it seems highly likely that the NHL roster whereas it has a European assignment Claus.
So there are no hawks can freely send down to the AHL without risking that they are free and Rozy looks like a guy starting seventh considering there is no other reason why they would not re-sign him. It is familiar with the system and the team he likes, so okay, no big deal.
But this raises the question of how perspective as Ville Pokka Gustav Forsling may even break into this group provided Kempný inside. Given the state of abandonment of the guys in front of them, they need to trade Blackhawks player (most likely TVR) to open another place. This is particularly noteworthy as the team wanted to Forsling, who will return to Sweden where does the opening day roster.
So I did not dismiss the possibility of the young defender-for-trade young forward to the end of training camp if the Hawks decide they can not afford to send Forsling back overseas. Otherwise, the defense is already in place and we hope that stability will make sense.
Alexandre Fortin try to get a deal
Perspective star camp has been so far, but still waiting for the real prize: the offer entry-level contract from the Blackhawks. 19-year-old striker impressed on the horizon camp and tournament newcomers in Traverse City, Mich., But his agent recently said Scott Powers athleticism that both parties are still discussing the deal.
There's no rush on both sides, the Hawks have until Oct. 12 to sign Fortin, before having to return to the QMJHL and re-enter the 2017 NHL draft. And assuming that the leaf continues to impress at training camp next NHL-caliber talent, you can expect Chicago to offer him ELC before the season starts. It's hard to say what the Hawks have Fortin at this point, but he did enough to earn flyer.
Mark McNeill gets his big chance
Of all the young strikers battling for playing time in camp, you may be surprised to hear that McNeill is opening roster. The former first-round pick is rarely still listed among the top prospects and the team re-signed to a one year agreement with little fanfare after hitting restricts the freedom of action during the summer.
But McNeill no longer waiver-exempt, which could give him a big leg of the competition to the inaugural roster. That's because unlike the Hawks' other young strikers, McNeill will have to clear an exception if it assigns Chicago Rockford to open the season.
McNeill is a 23-year-old former first-round pick with a history of production in the AHL, so it's hard to believe that nobody would pluck the exceptions. This means that the Hawks decide between three options: (a) give McNeill legit shot at the NHL to start the season (b) let him hit waivers and risk losing him for nothing (c) do business with him.
Given that the Hawks had just a few months, trade McNeill and decided, despite the rumors, it seems that they are still open to the idea that it could contribute to this team. After putting up 48 points in 63 games in the AHL last season, it's not so crazy. Do not be surprised if McNeill occupies the bottom six roles to open the season.
health update
Even after a long offseason, the Hawks are still a bunch of seemingly entering the season scuffed up. Duncan Keith missed the World Cup continue to rehab the knee, Marcus Krüger and Marian Hossa had injury scares in Toronto and Nick Schmaltz missed a couple of games in Michigan with minor injuries. None of them sound like issues that cut deep into the season, but for a team that is relatively thin, can not afford to have too many key players missing time.
The most important question is whether Keith will be ready to premiere, as GM Stan Bowman recently refused to confirm whether that was the case. It seemed like Bowman was just collateral, while he also said that the injury was nothing serious, but if Keith misses a week or two to open the season, the Hawks will have to reshuffle his defensive corps to stumble out of the gate.
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