Quenneville eager to mix old Hawks with new ones

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville will be facing a significant challenge when training camp opens this weekend.

It's going to be up to Quenneville to mold a roster following an off-season of unprecedented change for a team coming off a Stanley Cup championship.

No other Cup team in modern NHL history has undergone as many changes as the Hawks, who had to part ways with key contributors such as Dustin Byfuglien, Antti Niemi, Kris Versteeg, Andrew Ladd, Brent Sopel, Adam Burish and John Madden because of salary cap reasons.

The Hawks open camp on Saturday and begin their preseason schedule Sept. 22 against Tampa Bay in Winnipeg. Quenneville knows what he has coming back, and appears eager to see how the new players blend with those returning.

"The chemistry might be a concern for other people, but I don't think that's going to be an issue at all," Quenneville said. "I just think the upside could be there and to me that's what I'm most excited about, looking forward to our team, how good can we be."

Quenneville has no concerns in goal, where veteran Marty Turco takes over for Niemi with Corey Crawford the likely backup.

General manager Stan Bowman envisions Turco emerging as one of the leaders in the dressing room.

"If you talk to people who have played with him, and we have, he's known as the ultimate teammate," Bowman said. "He's the kind of person that players gravitate to. Sometimes goaltenders are a bit different and keep to themselves, but he's not like that.

"I think he brings a comfort to our staff. We do have some different players in our mix, but we have a guy in the net who has proven over many years that he is a legitimate No.1 goaltender."

Quenneville's most interesting task will be assembling his third and fourth lines, assuming Troy Brouwer and Tomas Kopecky are among the top six forwards with Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp.

What players join center Dave Bolland on the third line and who makes up the fourth line are expected to be the biggest stories of training camp.

"There's a lot of options as far as looking at the possibilities of who can play with who," Quenneville said.

If there are six jobs open at forward the front-runners certainly would appear to be Viktor Stalberg, Fernando Pisani, Bryan Bickell, Jack Skille, Jake Dowell and newly acquired Ryan Potulny, with Kyle Beach in the mix as well.

"There are opportunities and they going to be guys we are familiar with in Bickell, Skille and Dowell," Quenneville said. "You've got Fernando Pisani and we've got Viktor Stalberg. There are five forwards right there who have a chance to start with us. There's certainly ice time to be shared by a lot of new guys."

Despite their many changes the Hawks still are one of the teams to beat in the Western Conference along with San Jose, Detroit and Vancouver.

"We've got six of our seven defensemen returning from last year, which is a nice place to start," Quenneville said referring to Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Brian Campbell, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Jordan Hendry and Nick Boynton. Free agent John Scott could round out the top seven.

Up front the Hawks still have four of the most dangerous offensive players in the league in Toews, Kane, Hossa and Sharp along with a Selke Trophy candidate in Bolland.

Stalberg is a wild card - a big and fast winger who scored 9 goals in 40 games with Toronto last season.

"There's a lot of potential on all three lines," Quenneville said. "Hopefully we can go into the season knowing that your top three lines are almost as effective as they were last year in the playoffs with the potential to be better.

"I like our roster in a lot of ways. We've got size, we've got speed and we've got experience, and from what we went through the last couple years that can only help us. Certainly we lost some nice players that are going to help other teams in the league, but change can sometimes be healthy as well."

Blackhawks training campWhen: Begins SaturdayWhere: The United Center and Johnny's Ice House IIPreseason opener: Sept. 22 vs. Tampa Bay at WinnipegSeason opener: Oct. 7 at ColoradoKey arrivals: Marty Turco, G; John Scott, D; Viktor Stalberg, LW; Fernando Pisani, RW; Ryan Potulny C-LW.Prospects to watch: Bryan Bickell, LW; Jack Skille, RW; Kyle Beach, LW; Corey Crawford, G; Ivan Vishnevskiy, D; Jake Dowell, C; Nick Leddy, D; Shawn Lalonde, D.Key departures: Dustin Byfuglien, Antti Niemi, Kris Versteeg; Andrew Ladd, John Madden, Adam Burish, Cristobal Huet, Ben Eager, Brent Sopel.