Puck-moving D-man Kempny arrives at Blackhawks Prospects Camp

Plenty of young Blackhawks defensemen have been waiting for a chance to show what they can do over the course of a full NHL season.

Viktor Svedberg. Erik Gustafsson. Carl Dahlstrom. Ville Pokka. Gustav Forsling. And plenty more besides them.

So when general manager Stan Bowman recently signed veteran Brian Campbell and 25-year-old KHLer Michal Kempny, one had to believe the morale of the D-men in the Hawks' system may suffer a bit.

Well, if that's the case, Bowman certainly isn't about to lose any sleep over it.

"This is the major leagues," Bowman said on July 1 after signing Campbell to a one-year deal. "You want to compete for your spot; you want to earn it. I think you get into trouble when you start handing out jobs to young players.

"There's a process for these guys to establish themselves as NHL regulars. Until they do that, they're going to be facing competition and I think that's a good thing."

A big part of that competition arrived Tuesday at Prospects Camp at Johnny's IceHouse West in the form of the 6-foot, 194-pound Kempny. The Hawks have had their eye on the Czech Republic native for some time - a fact that played a big part in him signing with Chicago over other teams that extended offers.

Kempny, who scored 5 goals and had 16 assists in 59 games last season, is known as a puck-moving defenseman who also is responsible in his own end.

And he's a bargain, costing the Hawks just $700,000 this season.

"He thinks Chicago likes defensemen who skate a lot and are very creative," Kempny told reporters through interpreter Igor Alfimov on Tuesday. "He thinks that's his style and he's very glad he can contribute to that playing style."

Kempny said it's always been a dream of his to play in the NHL but admitted his career path developed a little bit slower than he'd have liked.

So what changed?

"Started thinking about hockey differently, working on (myself) a lot," Kempny said. "There's a goal you need to set for yourself and you need to follow that. Without hard work, there is no reward."

That reward may very well include being paired up with Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook or Niklas Hjalmarsson and passing to wingers like Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Artemi Panarin.

Kempny "didn't want to disclose" if Bowman and the Hawks guaranteed him a roster spot. He just wanted to "prove that he can play in the NHL."

If he does, it certainly solidifies the Hawks' back end. With Keith, Seabrook, Hjalmarsson and Campbell making up a solid top four, Kempny and Trevor van Riemsdyk should provide solid, mistake-free play that coach Joel Quenneville expects out everyone.

As for the up-and-comers, they may just have to wait a bit longer. Or work just that much harder to prove that they belong.

No matter how it shakes out, though, Bowman's happy with the depth the Hawks now have at the position.

"You can never have too many defensemen," he said. "I don't want to go into a year with just seven defensemen. You've got to go in with at least 10-12, knowing that there's never been a year where a team has used seven defensemen all year long."

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