Hawks face great expectations after reaching Western Conference finals

The Blackhawks opened training camp Sunday fully embracing some of the loftiest expectations in the NHL.

After finishing with 104 points last season and reaching the Western Conference finals, many see the Hawks as a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.

The Hockey News has picked them to win their first division title since 1992-93 and finish second in the tough West.

"Expectations aren't bad," general manager Stan Bowman said. "It's certainly better than them picking you to finish last. Our guys, it's not a surprise to them. We had a good run last year and have most of the key components back, hopefully even better than before, and we've added some new players.

"It's not a stretch to think we were going to be expected to do well, but the bottom line is you have to get out there and do it. That's why you can't get lost in expectations, but you can't be afraid of them either."

It's not going to be easy for the Hawks to sneak up on teams, which might have been the case early last season.

"That's going to be a different factor for sure," goalie Cristobal Huet said. "Coming into the season teams are going to respect us more and we have to be humble and realize it's not going to be easy this year.

Defenseman Brian Campbell played on a young Buffalo Sabres team that had huge expectations placed on it in 2006-07 after a run to the Eastern Conference finals the previous spring. The Sabres responded by going 53-22-7 and winning the East.

"I know in Buffalo that season we went out and broke the franchise record by winning 10 or 11 in a row to start the season," Campbell said. "As players we need to stay on each other. Obviously the coaches are going to stay on us."

Coach Joel Quenneville addressed expectations at Friday's first team meeting.

"There's different pressures throughout the year and right now as a team we should expect to have all kinds of challenges," Quenneville said. "The expectations last year of trying to make the playoffs was there and I think we're expected probably to improve off last year's level.

"So right from the get-go we should all expect more from each other and we should be looking forward to giving a little bit more as well."

Quenneville is trying to stem complacency from setting in by saying there are no jobs guaranteed even though the roster looks set except for backup goalie, the sixth and seventh defensemen and perhaps one or two spots at forward.

"Obviously everyone has got to play like there's a position available on this team and nothing is taken for granted," captain Jonathan Toews said.

"The players that were around and did have main roles, especially in our playoff run, I think it's good to prepare and use this time right now to get ahead of ourselves a little bit and make sure we get that chemistry before we even start preseason games."

For Patrick Sharp, who was around for some of those training camps when the Hawks were projected to finish last, it's a whole new world now.

"We know the expectations have been raised here in Chicago," Sharp said. "We're satisfied with what happened last year, but we feel we can do better and we're expected to do better.

"It does put a little pressure on training camp. We want to get off to a good start and show everyone we're a good team."