Blackhawks training camp primer
Arrivals and departures
General manager Dale Tallon did quite a bit of house cleaning over the summer. He traded Adrian Aucoin, Jassen Cullimore, Radim Vrbata and Tony Salmelainen, and opted not to re-sign Peter Bondra, Michael Holmqvist, Nikita Alexeev, Jeff Hamilton and Denis Arkhipov. The Hawks wanted Michael Handzus back, but he bolted as a free agent to Los Angeles.
Newcomers include Robert Lang, Yanic Perreault, Sergei Samsonov, Andrei Zyuzin, Kevyn Adams, Magnus Johansson and rookies Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.
The Hawks are expecting a much improved offense with the additions of Lang, Perreault, Samsonov, Toews and Kane. Time will tell.
Is Kane able?
He's only 18 years old, 5-feet-10 and 168 pounds, but the Hawks plan to give No. 1 pick overall Patrick Kane every chance to make the team at right wing.
Kane was an explosive offensive force in juniors and dazzled at July's prospects camp, but he's playing with the big boys now.
Kane and Jonathan Toews are virtual locks to make the club, with Toews figuring to start the season as one of the top three centers.
The Hawks would like to see at least one more rookie forward make the team from the group of Troy Brouwer, Mike Blunden, Jack Skille and Dave Bolland.
Brouwer was a 40-goal scorer last season in the minors at Norfolk while Blunden and Skille would give the Hawks some much needed size and grit up front.
Central casting
Consider Detroit the clear-cut favorite to win the Central Division again, but after that anything is possible.
Chris Chelios and Dominik Hasek will celebrate birthdays in January, 46 for Chelios and 43 for Hasek, but the Red Wings aren't old by any means. They still have Nicklas Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holmstrom playing at the top of their games to go with a strong supporting cast.
Nashville could be in for a fall with the key losses of goalie Tomas Vokoun, Peter Forsberg, Paul Kariya, Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell. Add in the fact Steve Sullivan will miss at least the first three months of the season because of back surgery, and the Predators could be ordinary.
St. Louis and the Hawks should be improved (Kariya landed with the Blues as a free agent and Keith Tkachuk returns), but Columbus shows no signs of getting better.
Power up
The Hawks' power play was the worst in the NHL last season with just 43 goals in 364 chances. Doing the math, that's an 11.8 percent success rate.
The Hawks need to score 30 more power-play goals just to be considered middle of the pack. The additions of Robert Lang, Yanic Perreault and Sergei Samsonov should help create more chances around the net with Martin Havlat, but question marks remain at the points. Jason Williams is a capable point man, but it might need to be either Brent Seabrook or Cam Barker stepping up to show they can do the job.
The real key to the power play could be Jonathan Toews, who might be the kind of time-and-space guy the Hawks desperately need there to settle down things.
Feel the buzz?
There are many people who believe Hawks have lost their fan base due to a decade of mismanagement. Maybe a better way to put it is to say the fan base has become dormant.
People want to be Hawks fans again. They just need a reason.
Having star players for the fans to come watch would help. Martin Havlat, if he can stay healthy, is such a player. Rookies Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane could be stars in time.
The Hawks ranked next to last in NHL attendance in 2006-07 with an average crowd of 12,727. It will be a tough sell getting fans back.
"We know where we're at in that situation," said general manager Dale Tallon. "We know how far we've fallen. We do have a lot of work ahead of us. We're confident we can get it done. It's just going to take a lot more hard work, a lot more time, a lot more patience. We have to prove our worth."
How will the Hawks do?
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