Written by Robert Zeglinski at No Coast Bias
Finally we get to cream of the crop for the new NHL season.
2015-2016 Stanley Cup Final: Blackhawks over Lightning in 7
You see the picture above? There is no reason to believe that we don’t see Jonathan Toews hoisting it yet again in June 2016.
The Blackhawks face some major personnel losses from this past Cup run like Brandon Saad, Brad Richards, Patrick Sharp, etc. However a lot of these aged players were on the precipice of having peaked or on a downward slope (except Saad) where you could really look at their last run with the Hawks as the last time they could be considered viable in the same fashion.
Chicago got a necessary reload in turn with new forwards like the 20 year old Marko Dano (who will be called up soon) the 23 year old Artemi Panarin (the “Bread Maker”), and the 27 year old Artemi Anisimov. A guy like the incoming 21 year old Teuvo Teravainen, is also expected to have a much bigger role, as one of the future superstars the Hawks possess. It should be also interesting to see if KHL transfer Victor Tikhonov can crack the lineup and provide an extra punch on that 3rd line.
It also wouldn’t be out of question to swing a trade at the deadline for someone like Kyle Okposo from the Isles to help effectively load up for a repeat once all of the new youth and players are ingrained with what the Hawks do.
On the defensive side, you face the prospect of developing top prospects like Victor Svedberg, who was praised highly by TSN’s Bob McKenzie, and the eventual call-up of the organizations’s top defensive prospect, Ville Pokka. Pokka won’t be down in the minors for long whether he’s ready or not, as the Hawks have plenty of aspirations to repeat thanks to development of someone like him.
Another key defensively will be defenseman Trevor Van Riemsdyk, who looks to stay healthy after a disastrous injury riddled first year, to be a necessary steady defenseman for Chicago on any pair.
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