Chicago Blackhawks 2010 Preview & Predictions

Chicago Blackhawks 2010 Season Preview, Predictions Picks & Odds

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CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

2009-10 record: 52-22-8
Shootout Record: 9-6
Division Finish: 1st, Central
Conference Finish: 2nd, Western
Goals For: 271
Goals Against: 209

Chicago Blackhawks 2010 Preview

Chicago’s Stanley Cup parade, 49 years in the making, had not even begun in earnest before some members of the Blackhawks were being pulled off the floats and sent to new teams.

It’s a reality of the salary-cap era that some trades had to be made to salvage as much of the core group as general manager Stan Bowman could possibly manage.

One of the first to leave was 257-pound forward Dustin Byfuglien, the playoff hits leader, whose 11 goals included so many dramatic winners. Multifaceted forward Kris Versteeg was another casualty, along with forwards Ben Eager, Andrew Ladd, Adam Burish and defenseman Brent Sopel.

But the jewels in the title crown, Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jonathan Toews, Cup-winning goal scorer Patrick Kane, Norris Trophy winner Duncan Keith and defense partners Brent Seabrook and Brian Campbell, checker Dave Bolland and stopper Antti Niemi are all back, ready to try to become the first team since the 1997-98 Red Wings to repeat. The Cup banner is to be raised at home in a game against Detroit on Oct. 9.

Anything seems possible for this team, which tested the patience of loyal fans for decades, until a complete change in management and vision brought them into the 21st century. The United Center suddenly looked and sounded like the old Stadium and fans came flooding back.

When Kane popped the winner against the Flyers, it was a joyous moment for the Original Six team, which had been carrying the millstone of longest active Cup slump in the League.

After losing to Detroit in the Conference Final the previous year, Bowman applied the finishing touches and the Hawks won 52 games, a franchise record. Tripping up slightly against Nashville early in the first playoff round, they methodically eliminated the Predators, Canucks and Sharks and finally the pesky Flyers.

In no time, the Cup was on display at Wrigley Field for a Cubs-White Sox game and on a guest chair for The Tonight Show.

Toews, the second-youngest captain after Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby to take the Cup handoff from commissioner Gary Bettman, was fortunate to taste success at such a young age.

Winger Marian Hossa won the Cup on his third try in the Final with a different team in his 12th season.

That 2009-10 would be no ordinary year was apparent last September when the Hawks opened the schedule in far-off Helsinki, Finland, against the Florida Panthers. Chicago took three of a possible four points with local hero Niemi getting a shutout.

The year wrapped up with a finishing kick of 6-0-1 that sewed up the Central Division, a first for Chicago since the days when the grouping was known as the Norris.

Some of the loudest applause when it was over was for former Hawks stars Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita, winners of the ’61 Cup. They certainly don’t want to wait another half century for a repeat.

2010 Chicago Blackhawks Offense:

Toews was stymied by the Flyers in the Final as far as goals, but he looked great in the clinching game and had 29 points with three game-winning goals in the course of the playoffs. Kane, Patrick Sharp and Byfuglien scored in double figures in playoffs, while Sharp led the team with a plus-10 among forwards after tying Hossa with the regular-season lead at plus- 24. Kane, who almost finished 20 points ahead of anyone on the Hawks in the regular season, was a first team All Star, and counting the goal that secured the Cup, he had seven game winners from October onwards. Center Dave Bolland, who posted eight goals and 16 points in the playoffs, and young winger Troy Brouwer, who netted 22 goals last season, offer the team offensive depth.

2010 Chicago Blackhawks Defense:

Keith won the Hawks a Norris for the first time since 1996-97 when Chris Chelios was in his prime. Keith could then laugh about the days when he came to camp as a toothless, small-town British Columbian whom few took seriously. He added 17 points in the Stanley Cup run after leading all blueliners in the West with 69. Campbell is the better regarded player on offense, but missed almost 14 games. Seabrook is also a force to be reckoned with at both ends. The addition of John Scott from the Minnesota Wild, who is as big as Byfuglien, should offer a tough, stay-at home presence to the team’s back end but this part of team depth bears watching this season. Some injuries to Chicago’s blueline could prove to be disastrous. Among the lesser-known Hawks to emerge in the spring was Niklas Hjalmarsson.

2010 Chicago Blackhawks Goaltending:

Niemi, with three League games to his credit before last year began, didn’t have to be the second coming of Glenn Hall or Tony Esposito, just make the right save at the right time. He was a 2.63 playoff goals-against average, with somE? hiccups against Nashville and later the Flyers, but the Finn was a top four performer in regular-season GAA with 2.25, just a tick behind Martin Brodeur of the Devils. Cristobal Huet was hardly heard from in the post-season as Niemi picked up the all important 16th win, but did record four shutouts to go with Niemi’s seven to give Chicago the League lead.

Chicago Blackhawks 2010 Special Teams

Though they should have been able to bring plenty of firepower, Chicago was 16th best in the regular season on the power play. Toews and Byfuglien rescued them in the playoffs with five goals each, but there will be some re-arranging of the system come training camp. Chicago atoned with the conference’s best penalty killing at home, one of three teams in the League to allow fewer than 40 goals overall. Killing a major to Hossa in the Nashville series, while scoring and coming back to win a game in overtime, was a major turning point.

Chicago Blackhawks 2010 Season Predictions

Chicago should be in a position to be a conference force for the next few years, even with the losses of some Cup personnel. Every defending champion learns that going from the hunter to the hunted is an adjustment, but having waited so long to get on top, the Hawks will be hard to knock off.

We predict that the Chicago Blackhawks will finish 2nd in the NHL Central.

Chicago Blackhawks Betting

Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup Odds: +900
Chicago Blackhawks Western Conference Odds: +450

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