With more skill available, Savard will tweak Hawks' style
Nobody needs to remind Blackhawks coach Denis Savard how important it is for his team to get off to a good start.
Savard knows the early schedule favors the Hawks with 11 of the first 17 games at home. And he knows the battle being waged by the organization to try to win back the fan base can't afford too many more setbacks.
Which is why Savard plans to hit the ice flying when training camp begins Friday at the United Center.
"We're going to keep them busy," said Savard, which is his way of saying the players better come ready to work.
Savard plans to tweak the style the Hawks play thanks to what the organization believes is an upgrade in the skill level. Savard wants the Hawks to be more of a puck possession team and not one that gives it up so easily.
"We want guys to make plays," Savard said. "Take a hit along the boards, keep the puck and make a play instead of chipping it (to the corner)."
Savard sees more of the kind of talent to play that way on hand with the additions of Robert Lang, Yanic Perreault, Sergei Samsonov, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane to a mix that already includes Martin Havlat, Tuomo Ruutu, Jason Williams and Patrick Sharp.
"We feel we can compete with anybody," said general manager Dale Tallon. "We have enough offense now. That's one thing we lacked the last couple of years. We're pretty happy with our team. We're never satisfied, but the direction we're headed in, it looks a lot better."
The arrival of Toews and Kane will be among the biggest stories of camp.
Toews, the third pick in the 2006 draft, likely will begin the season as the Hawks' second or third center but with the potential to be one of their best players by Thanksgiving.
"We're going to ease him in and see where he fits," Tallon said. "But, down the road, that's where we expect him to be -- the No. 1 center. He has the potential and makeup to be that, but we're not going to put that kind of pressure on the kid. We have Perreault now, and Lang, Sharp, and Williams can play center."
Kane, the No. 1 pick of last June's draft, in time could become something special as well.
Other rookie forwards that will be given every opportunity to make the club are Mike Blunden, Troy Brouwer, Jack Skille and Dave Bolland.
"These kids that we drafted over the last few years are going to get an equal opportunity to be successful and play on our team this year," Tallon said.
While the Hawks, at least on paper, look to be a much improved team offensively, the defense has some question marks past Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith.
And even Seabrook and Keith are going into just their third full seasons as NHL regulars.
Savard plans to start camp with Seabrook and Keith paired together, and James Wisniewski with Jim Vandermeer as partners, then see what else develops.
Andrei Zyuzin, acquired from Calgary for Adrian Aucoin, should be part of the top-six mix with either Cam Barker, Dustin Byfuglien, Danny Richmond or Magnus Johansson, who was signed out of Sweden.
A sleeper to watch in the competition on defense is Swedish rookie Niklas Hjalmarsson, whom Tallon and Savard liked a lot at July's prospects camp.
"We're going to give him a good shot, too," Tallon said.
The wild card is Barker.
Is the third pick in the 2004 draft ready to step up and be a player, or is he destined to be another in a long line of high Hawks' draft picks that fails to live up to expectations?