Blackhawks 2015-16 Preview

It feels like just yesterday that the Hawks won the Cup, but now here they are getting ready to defend it. It’s not going to be easy – some major moves had to be made. Brandon Saad’s not here anymore, so that’s bad. But Artem Anisimov is here now, and that’s good. He’s easily the best 2C the Hawks have had since the dynasty started. Marko Dano’s in Rockford right now, but I have to believe we’ll see him in the NHL at some point during the season. He was too good with Columbus in his time in the NHL last year not to call him up this year. I know it’s just the preseason, but I really liked what I saw from Teuvo Teräväinen. He looks ready to take the next step. We didn’t see much of Artemi Panarin during the preseason, but I liked what I saw from him during the IIHF World Championships earlier this year. He looks like he’ll adjust to the North American game just fine. Never afraid to shoot, he seems like a perfect fit with Kane.

Johnny Oduya and Patrick Sharp are both in Dallas now. I’ll miss them, but I also got mad at them quite a bit last year. Trevor Daley’s here now, and seems like he’d make a nice complement to Hjalmarsson on the 2^nd pair.

My picks for the Hawks’ lines:

Teräväinen – Toews – Hossa

Panarin – Anismov – Kane

Bickell – Shaw – Baun

Desjardins – Kruger – Garbutt

Keith – Seabrook

Daley – Hjalmarsson

Van Riemsdyk – Pokka

At least I think so. I’m not in love with those lines. I like Shaw better on the wing. Then again, I’m beginning to like Teräväinen there, too, but one of those guys is going to have to play center now that the Hawks don’t have Joakim Nordstrom anymore. Viktor Tikhonov could theoretically play center, but that seems like an overall downgrade to the lineup unless someone really isn’t playing well. Turbo has looked too good not to give top 6 minutes, so I stuck him on the top line for now. The Hawks could try Bickell there and see if that gets him going and put Turbo and Shaw at 3C and 3LW (or vice versa) or just straight up switch Turbo and Shaw. This is where I really wish Dano was starting the season in Chicago, because I really like the idea of 65-19-81 / 72-15-88 / 56-81-39 / 11-16-28. At the end of the day, the only line I absolutely wouldn’t touch is the 2^nd one. Panarin and Kane’s games work too well with one another for them not to play together. Also, I would definitely keep Turbo and Kane apart; their games are too similar to one another.

The team’s certainly going to have a different look to it and repeating would be very difficult. That’s hockey in the salary cap era. This should at least be a playoff team, though, and in the NHL, once you’re in the playoffs, anything can happen.

Twitter: @KSchroeder2325

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com