Job openings at forward? Yes and no for Hawks
The way Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville sees it, there are always surprises at training camp.
It's likely going to take a surprise performance by one of the Hawks' top rookie prospects to win a job during camp at either forward or on defense.
As training camp begins today at the United Center there appears to be six jobs open at forward with Fernando Pisani, Viktor Stalberg, Bryan Bickell, Jack Skille, Jake Dowell and Ryan Potulny the leading candidates to fill them.
So while there might be an opportunity for forwards such as Kyle Beach, Igor Makarov or Jeremy Morin to win a roster spot, their chances aren't great.
On defense, general manager Stan Bowman all but confirmed on Friday that the Hawks would start the season on the blue line with veterans Nick Boynton and Jordan Hendry joining the top five of Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Brian Campbell, Niklas Hjalmarsson and John Scott.
"Certainly on defense we have a pretty good idea of how it's going to look," Bowman said. "But up front, I would venture to say it's somewhat wide open.
"There's no guarantee for some of those guys," Bowman said, obviously referencing Bickell, Skille, Stalberg, Dowell and possibly Potulny. "There's an opportunity for our young players to come in here and show us what they can do.
"We don't have to rush these young guys to the NHL. If they're good enough to play then we're going to find a way for them to play, but if they're not, we have guys with experience."
Beach and Makarov are coming off a good rookie tournament last weekend, but now the stakes get higher and they must show what they can do against veterans.
"Igor was very impressive and was effective each game," Bowman said.
Makarov, 22, will be trying to make the jump to the NHL after playing 51 games in Russia's KHL last season, where he scored only 5 goals.
The 20-year-old Beach was a 52-goal scorer in juniors last season and also plays a physical game, but it might be asking a lot for him to make the leap straight to the NHL without a stop in Rockford.
"The thing with Kyle, it's his first year pro so he needs to play," Bowman said. "If he going to be here, he's going to be here to play. He's not going to be here to be in and out of the lineup.
"If he comes here and he makes it impossible to send him to Rockford, then he's going to be in Chicago, but I don't want him here playing limited minutes. I want him to continue to develop because he's going to be a great player for the Blackhawks. It's just a matter of when."
Quenneville is expecting to see "intense" competition for the available jobs at forward beginning in Saturday's training camp scrimmages.
"It's going to be very competitive to make our roster," he said.
If there's a defenseman with the potential to crack the veteran top seven it would be 22-year-old Ivan Vishnevskiy, who was acquired from Atlanta in the Andrew Ladd deal.
"Vishnevskiy is a defenseman who people haven't talked a lot about, but he has a lot of talent," Bowman said. "He's very smooth, a fast skater and a composed defenseman. I think he has a chance to show us he can play in the league."