TSN.ca's 2014-15 NHL Season Preview: Chicago Blackhawks

With the NHL regular season right around the corner, TSN.ca profiles each team leading up to puck drop. Next up is the Chicago Blackhawks, who came one goal shy of a Stanley Cup Final berth last season. Catch up on their summer moves and the issues they face this season, as well as Craig Button's analysis of their top prospect and an analytical breakdown by TSN's Scott Cullen.

Division: Central   GM: Stan Bowman   Head Coach: Joel Quenneville

2013-14: 46-21-15 (3rd in Central)   Playoffs: Lost in Conference Final

Goals For: 261 (2nd)   Goals Against: 212 (12th)  PP: 19.5% (10th)   PK: 81.4% (19th)

That Was Then:

Last season's Blackhawks thought they were primed to become the league's first repeat champions in a over a decade-and-a-half in claiming their third Stanley Cup in five seasons. Surely, that would warrant "dynasty" talk, no?

Well, that debate, though it would have been a good one, never came to pass. The Blackhawks fell short in their quest, cruelly losing in overtime in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals to the eventual Cup-champion Los Angeles Kings on Alec Martinez' series-ender.

Still, the fact that the Blackhawks came so close yet again will only swell the team's desire to again reach the summit.

Last season ended up being more difficult, perhaps, than the Blackhawks had expected, thanks to increased competition in the division. A year removed from the Presidents' Trophy (in a shortened season), the team finished third in the Central behind the surprising Colorado Avalanche and the improved St. Louis Blues. But the 'Hawks got the last laugh, outlasting both of their divisional rivals come playoff time, including dispatching the Blues in the first round of the playoffs, taking four straight after falling behind in the series 2-0.

As is expected with great teams, the Blackhawks' best players played like their best players. Duncan Keith had, perhaps, what was his finest season as a pro, staking a claim for the mantle of best defenceman in the NHL and claiming a second Norris Trophy. Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa each contributed 30-goal seasons. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane again put up the type of performances you'd expect from two elite young players. At 26 and 25, respectively, it's still very possible that we have yet to see the best yet from either.

Perhaps, the biggest instance of a player proving his mettle came from goaltender Corey Crawford. Suggested more than a few times over the past several seasons that he's more a product of the Blackhawks' success than a contributor to it, Crawford proved his critics wrong last season. The 29-year-old started a career-high 59 games and posted a 2.26 goals against average (eighth in the NHL) and 32 wins (10th).

Key: GPG= goals per game, GAA= goals-against per game, SH%= even-strength shooting percentage, SV%= even-strength save percentage, SAF%= score-adjusted Fenwick percentage (differential of shot attempts faced vs. shot attempts, excluding blocked shots, adjusted for game score), PTS%= percentage of available points.

Analysis:

Games 1-20: Dominant puck possession and finishing overpowered less-than-stellar goaltending as Blackhawks came out of the gate strong.

Games 21-41: Ridiculous, and unsustainable, shooting percentage, during a stretch in which Blackhawks had nine wins by at least three goals.

Games 42-62: Decline started, even with a boost in goaltending, as possession dropped a little and scoring pace slowed significantly.

Games 63-82: Struggled late in the year, with below-average percentages, but strong possession still made them competitive.

Key 2014 Additions: C Brad Richards

Key 2014 Subtractions: LW Brandon Bollig, C Michal Handzus, G Nikolai Khabibulin

This Is Now: The team you saw last year is almost identical to this year's with the added security that dual franchise players, Toews and Kane, are sticking around for the long term. Set to become free agents after this coming season, the pair signed identical eight-year, $84 million deals over the summer. Their annual average salary of $10.5 million per year is the highest current salary in the league, but it's hard to argue that the pair isn't fairly compensated.

The one key difference for the team comes down the middle. With Michal Handzus departing, the 'Hawks brought aboard veteran centre Brad Richards to take his place in the top nine.

A Stanley Cup winner with the Tampa Bay Lightning and fresh off of an appearance in last season's Final with the New York Rangers, Richards, for the first time in his career, transitions into the role of a complementary piece. Gone are the pressures of a nine-year, $58.5 million contract to live up to, the 34-year-old comes to the Blackhawks at a modest $2 million salary and could slot in to either second or third-line duty, behind Toews and Andrew Shaw. No matter the role, Richards should have the chance to line with up some talented linemates, in the likes of Hossa, Bryan Bickell and Brandon Saad.

If there is some cause for concern, it's with the club's final defensive pairing. Keith, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Nick Leddy and Johnny Oduya represent elite to above-average NHL defencemen. The issue was with that final defenceman. Sheldon Brookbank, Mike Kostka and David Rundblad all had opportunities to claim a regular role, but none did and none is back. The likely candidates to get that chance this season are Kyle Cumiskey, returning from the NHL after two seasons in the SEL with Modo, 2011 second-round pick Adam Clendening or Klas Dahlbeck, a third-rounder also in 2011.
 

DEPTH CHART

Craig's List

TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button's Top Prospect: Teuvo Teravainen

Teuvo Teravainen has the rare gift of 360 degree vision. Seeing all possibilities is one thing when it comes to play making but he has the ability to select the play that is most threatening to an opponent. At the same time he has a precision that makes it very difficult to deter him.

With he and Jonathan Toews, the Hawks have the potential for a lethal one-two center combination that will keep them contending for Stanley Cups for years.

Fantasy - Cullen's Player to Watch - Brad Richards

On one hand, it's easy to see that there has been a decline in 34-year-old Brad Richards' production in recent seasons, the last two producing the lowest points-per-game of his career, yet he still finished with 51 points for the Rangers last season.

Moving to Chicago, Richards is looking at an excellent opportunity. If, as planned, he has Patrick Kane and Brandon Saad on his wings, that's an upgrade for Richards over his most common linemates in New York and it's an upgrade for those wingers, who were often skating with Michal Handzus.

At this stage of his career, it would be unreasonable to forecast a massive jump in Richards' production, but playing with good players does give him a chance to be more productive than he's been in the past couple years.