Brunette looking to pass chemistry test
Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville is expected to dress a more veteran lineup for Friday’s preseason home opener against the Washington Capitals at the United Center.
That should mean the first appearances of the preseason for Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Dave Bolland, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Corey Crawford and newly acquired Andrew Brunette.
Brunette is the 38-year-old veteran winger who was brought in to provide a little more offense to the first two lines and be a presence around the net on the power play.
Brunette spent most of the training camp scrimmages skating on a line with Jonathan Toews, with Quenneville no doubt looking to see if there is any chemistry there.
With his soft hands, on-ice vision and impressive playmaking ability, Brunette would seem to be a natural fit on a line with Toews and Patrick Kane.
“He’s one of those guys you can give the puck to and you know it’s going to come back,” Toews said. “It’s up to you to get open and be in the right spot. He’s very aware of what’s going on and where his teammates are.
“He’s very dangerous in close. You can use him to make plays or finish plays.”
Brunette would love to play with Toews once the regular season starts. Who wouldn’t? But he considers himself in a can’t-lose situation with the alternative being possibly a spot on the second line with Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa.
“It’s a pretty easy job (playing with Toews), but I still think we’ve got to figure each other out a little bit,” Brunette said. “That doesn’t come overnight, it doesn’t come in one, two or three days, but I feel each day that I play with him I feel a little more comfortable out there.
“But that goes for everybody. It’s just a different group of players and a different style of play and it takes a little bit. The talent level is about as high as any team I’ve ever played on, and I knew that coming in and the type of team they’ve had over the last couple of teams. The talent level is second to none.”
Brunette has long been one of the NHL’s more underrated offensive players, particularly in terms of his consistency. He has scored 15 or more goals in 11 straight seasons with a high of 27 in 2006-07 with Colorado while playing for Quenneville.
Brunette had three of his best seasons with the Avs under Quenneville with point totals of 63, 83 and 59. He had 18 goals and 46 points with Minnesota last season.
In the last 11 seasons, the durable Brunette has missed only three games.
“Bruno has great patience with the puck, has great vision and anticipates well offensively,” Quenneville said. “Down low around the net he’s as good as anybody.”
Quenneville downplayed the fact he has had Brunette with Toews in scrimmages.
“It’s early,” Quenneville said. “We’ll see. We have a lot of options as far as who is going to play with who at the end of it. We’re talking about the depth we have up front and some of the decisions we’re going to have to make as we go along here.”
Not only are the Hawks expected to have a good number of veterans in the lineup on Friday, Capitals star Alex Ovechkin likely will make his preseason debut as well.