Hawks' high expectations a perfect fit for Kopecky

Having left the Detroit Red Wings to sign with the Blackhawks as a free agent, Tomas Kopecky knows a thing or two about playing on teams with high expectations.

When the Red Wings decided they couldn't keep Kopecky because of salary cap concerns, the 27-year-old Czech jumped at the chance to cross over to the other side of rivalry.

"This is a great team that has a chance to win the Stanley Cup," Kopecky said.

If there was one thing Kopecky learned in Detroit it was how to deal with expectations and preparing to get the opposition's best shot every night.

"It's good when you have high expectations because you get better as a hockey player and as a person," Kopecky said. "I love teams with high expectations. That's why I chose Chicago, because they have a good chance to win the Cup."

Hawks coach Joel Quenneville still doesn't know how he eventually will use the versatile Kopecky, who can play center or wing on the first line or the fourth.

"Kopecky is a guy who started to come on a little bit here in the last year or so," Quenneville said. "He's got some size, he's got a nice shot and gives us a lot of options up front."

Kopecky showed off some of his skill in this week's scrimmages, playing mostly on a line with Patrick Kane.

"He really knows how to get open and find himself in areas where he can score goals," Kane said. "He's going to be a big part of our team. I think he's going to have a bigger role with our team than he had in Detroit."

"I think they knew what they were getting," Kopecky said. "I like to play hard and go to the hard areas around the net, play a physical game and grind."

First roster cuts: The Hawks trimmed their training camp roster to 50 on Wednesday, assigning six players to Rockford and sending three back to juniors.

Going to Rockford were forwards Matt Keith, Justin Hodgman and Maxime Tanguay, defensemen Joe Charlebois and Jean-Claude Sawyer and goalie Joe Palmer.

Returned to their junior teams were Byron Froese, David Gilbert and Teigan Zahn.

There are 29 forwards, 16 defensemen and five goalies left in camp.