This Hawks team should be fighting for playoff spot
It was a real good summer for Blackhawks general manager Dale Tallon.
On paper.
But now training camp is here and it's time for all those moves Tallon made since last April to be put to the real test.
Tallon corrected some mistakes, dumping Adrian Aucoin, Jassen Cullimore, Tony Salmelainen and Radim Vrbata in trades with Calgary, Montreal and Phoenix, turning those four underachieving players into Andrei Zyuzin, Sergei Samsonov and Kevyn Adams.
He signed 2006 first-round pick Jonathan Toews, selected Patrick Kane No. 1 overall in the 2007 draft, and filled the gaping hole at center by adding Robert Lang and Yanic Perreault as free agents.
It should all make the Hawks better. How much better? If they score more goals, particularly on the power play, get better-than-average goaltending from Nikolai Khabibulin and put the right pieces in place on a questionable defense, the Hawks should reach March in the hunt for a playoff spot.
Anything better than a seventh or eighth place finish in the Western Conference and Denis Savard is a candidate for the Adams Trophy as coach of the year.
With the wishy washy Aucoin and pouting Cullimore out of the way, the Hawks should have a much tighter and more upbeat dressing room. Savard said he will not name a captain, perhaps for the whole season, which suggests what he wants is a room full of leaders, starting with the young guys.
"We want our next captain to be someone who is going to be here a long time," Savard said.
That would seem to make Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Martin Havlat, Tuomo Ruutu or Jonathan Toews the likely candidates to get the job at some point. What it looks like the Hawks are doing is holding the position for the 19-year-old Toews, who has the look on and off the ice of being something truly special.
The Red Wings did that a few years ago with Steve Yzerman and it worked out pretty well, didn't it?
If Toews becomes star material quicker than the Hawks think, this could be a good hockey team. Tallon said the plan is to bring Toews along slowly, but if he plays early like he did for Canada in the World Championships last April when he was one of the team's top players on a line with Rick Nash and Shane Doan, the kid could be the Hawks' second best player behind Havlat.
Neither Savard nor Tallon know exactly how things will shake out on defense leading up to the Oct. 4 opener at Minnesota. Seabrook, Keith, Jim Vandermeer and James Wisniewski look to be the top four defensemen heading to camp, but anything is possible. Heck, Vandermeer and Wisniewski could play their way off the team.
A lot of eyes will be on Cam Barker, the third pick in the 2004 draft, to see which way he goes. Rookie Nicklas Hjalmarsson, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound 20-year-old with skill, a fourth-round pick in 2005, might be better than Barker when the dust settles.