Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook form Hawks' foundation
As the Blackhawks prepare to start another season, one thing is certain: Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook will be on the ice a lot, night after night.
They are the backbone of a team in search of its second championship in three years, two of the top 10 defensemen in the sport, Stanley Cup winners and Olympic gold medalists, partners much of the time, durable leaders who make a difference at both ends of the ice.
“You look at the two of them combined and your argument about any other teams maybe having two top defensemen has to start and finish with those two because of how good they are defensively,” said Eddie Olczyk, one of the NHL's premier television analysts for the Hawks and NBC.
“When you look at the foundation of this team as if you are trying to build a table, those two guys are really important in building the legs of that table because of how much they play and how they play.”
Keith and Seabrook will be separated to start the season, with Keith paired with Nick Leddy and Seabrook with Nicklas Hjalmarsson.
“If (coach Joel Quenneville) has them split up, that just means one of them is going to be on the ice 85 percent of the time, that's the reality of it,” Olczyk said.
“The success the Blackhawks have had, and the success they will have moving forward, no doubt it's at the feet of those two guys.”
Underrated star
In a Hawks dressing room full of star players, Brent Seabrook doesn't get the attention his more famous teammates do.
While reporters regularly flock to the stalls of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp and Keith, on most days Seabrook quietly peels off his gear and slips out of the room.
“I'm not really a media guy,” he said.
Seabrook is a guy who comes to do his job every night. He has missed only five regular season games the last five seasons, twice rebounding from concussions in a matter of days to play again.
Perhaps the toughest of all the Hawks, not many players would have recovered as quickly as Seabrook did from the vicious head shots he took from James Wisniewski in 2010 and Raffi Torres last spring in the playoffs.
“I don't think a lot of people realize how tough he is,” said teammate Corey Crawford. “It goes without saying how much he means to this team.”
Only recently has Seabrook started to be recognized as one of the best defensemen in all of hockey.
The Hockey News, in its recent rankings of the top 20 players by position, ranked Seabrook the eighth best defenseman in the NHL behind only Nicklas Lidstrom, Shea Weber, Zdeno Chara, Keith, Chris Pronger, Drew Doughty and Dan Boyle.
Not that it matters to Seabrook where people think he stands among the league's best players.
“I'm not that kind of guy or look at my stats like that,” Seabrook said. “I just try to be the best player I can be and help this team as much as I can.
“The only thing that really matters to me media wise, I guess, is seeing our picture at the end of the season with the Stanley Cup and all the guys huddled around,” he said.
“That's the biggest thing for me, and whatever I can do to help this team achieve it, that's what I'm here for.”
Keith dresses next to Seabrook, has for years, and often gets asked about his buddy because his friend doesn't like to talk about himself.
“I think he gets a lot of credit,” Keith said. “We have a lot of guys in the dressing room, a lot of skilled players, and my dad always told me when I was a kid that the goal scorers get all the glory, and rightfully so.
“They're the guys that put the puck in the net. Defensemen seem to take a back seat to that.
“In Brent's case, he's a big strong defenseman and we definitely in the room appreciate what he brings to the team, and I know when we're in playoffs the other teams know what he brings as well.”
Aside from the physical play and shot blocking that makes Seabrook a star among defensemen, his offensive game appears to be on the upswing.
He had a career-best 48 points last season (9 goals, 38 assists) to rank 10th in the league and could surpass that total this year.
“I think Seabs has a shot at 15-plus goals this year,” Olczyk said. “I believe it will be a big breakout year for him offensively.”
“He's always had a good hard slap shot and now he's getting the chance to use the one-timer now on that off side,” Keith said. “I think as he's getting older, he's improving and trying to take his game to another level. That's part of him being a good leader, too.”
Seabrook worked on his shot over the summer and it showed in the preseason.
“You always want to get better,” Seabrook said. “I just want to do whatever it takes to help the team out, defensively or offensively.”
Refreshed and ready
When the Hawks struggled for much of last season, it was Keith who took a lot of the heat from the media and fans.
What's wrong with Duncan Keith? Why isn't he as dominating as he was in 2009-10, when he won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenseman?
Keith stood up to the criticism, even admitting finally in the playoffs that after winning the Stanley Cup he found it difficult to get excited and motivated for the 2010-11 season after such a draining run emotionally and physically.
If Keith was annoyed with being singled out as to what was wrong with the Hawks last season, he kept it to himself.
“I always believe in myself and it doesn't really matter what people say about me or how I play,” Keith said. “I think I know the game pretty good and have an understanding of how I need to play and what I need to do.
“I learned a lot from last year. It was a lot of hockey the year before, and even the year before that one when we went to the conference finals.
“I think I know what I did wrong last season and it maybe contributed to parts of my game that maybe didn't look as good at times, but I'm not going to beat myself up over it. I believe in myself and what I can do.”
Keith didn't think he played consistently good hockey last season, at least by his own tough standards.
“I just think back to last summer and how you tried to prepare (after winning the Cup), and how tough it was,” Keith said. “To compare it to now and knowing how I feel right now and how much more prepared I am than last year, a lot of it is mental.
“You feel excited to play. It's also how your body feels, too. Whenever your body feels healthy and good and strong, and there are no injuries, it doesn't wear on you.”
Needless to say, the rest provided by a nearly five-month off-season was exactly what Keith needed.
“We need him to be an important player for us and a top guy in the league,” Quenneville said. “I think coming off that Norris Trophy year everybody measures your effectiveness at that highest caliber.
“Just watching him and looking at him the last couple weeks, he really looks like he's in the right place and his expectations seem like he can be back to that level. It can really enhance our team across the board.”