Younger Hawks keeping team energy up
Whether it's deserved or not, Joel Quenneville has earned a reputation over the years as being a coach who doesn't trust young, inexperienced players.
On Sunday, after the Blackhawks won their seventh straight game by beating Colorado 6-3, Quenneville was asked if he that stance has changed at all from earlier in his career.
"No. I think about the same," Quenneville said as the reporters laughed. "I don't think that changes.
"There's a learning curve and an assessment (period), but I think on a need-basis there's nothing wrong with playing (young) guys.
"I don't care how old or where you're from or how much money you make. Your play will dictate how much and where."
Fans need not look further than the cautionary tales of Bryan Bickell and Marko Dano for evidence of that.
Bickell is a former playoff hero and making $4.5 million this year. Some coaches may have felt compelled to keep a player like that in the lineup, but Quenneville and his staff have placed Bickell on waivers, assigned him to Rockford and dressed him for just 23 of 44 of the Hawks' games. He was a healthy scratch Sunday.
Dano came to the Hawks with Artem Anisimov in the Brandon Saad trade and it was thought that he would be the answer to Saad's left-wing spot on the top line. Quenneville, though, made Dano start in Rockford, called him up for a 13-game stint, and shipped him back to the IceHogs in early December.
On the flip side, five players 25 years or younger have either cemented their spot on the team or are in the process of doing so.
That list includes 24-year-old defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk, who surprised the Hawks in camp last season and has been a mainstay on the back end, and 21-year-old Teuvo Teravainen, who has now and then found himself in Quenneville's doghouse.
More recently, the play of 23-year-old defenseman Erik Gustafsson made David Rundblad expendable, 22-year-old center Phillip Danault is leading a invigorated third line and 25-year-old Dennis Rasmussen has held his own centering the fourth line.
Quenneville and Patrick Kane both said Sunday that a youth moment - especially after three straight extended playoff runs - is crucial at times like mid-January when the season is dragging on and the schedule is jam-packed with games.
"There's guys in here that are trying to prove themselves," Kane said. "Some of these young guys have been very, very effective. Sometimes you have younger guys around here (and) it brings out the energy of everyone.
"They've been great for us."
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