Rozner: Blackhawks will try to lighten Toews' load this season

As his stars were getting older in Detroit, Mike Babcock made it a point to save their minutes wherever he could.

He used younger legs on the penalty kill from the start of camp each year in order to prepare them for the job, not thrown in during the season and surprised by the responsibility.

More than six years ago, the question was put to Joel Quenneville about possibly saving Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa in that regard, but his answer was simply that they're still good at what they do and it hasn't been a burden for them.

All these years later, Toews was still on the Hawks' first PK unit last season, picking up several extra shifts per game, but he's 31 and will reach 900 games played around Dec. 1, while averaging a career-high 21 minutes a game last season.

It would be a huge benefit to Toews and the team if they could relieve Toews of this task.

"We could. That's an option," head coach Jeremy Colliton said a few minutes before the puck dropped on the Blackhawks Convention Friday afternoon. "We could build the lineup that way.

"Part of what we want is to be able to use people according to who we're playing and what the matchup looks like, and how best we think we're gonna win that night.

"Offensively, (Toews) had as good a year as he's ever had and there's no reason he can't do that again.

"But we ask him to do that while we're also asking him to take every single defensive zone faceoff, every single PK shift - the first one and often twice - and to match up against top lines. It's hard.

"It's not that he can't do it - and he will do it at times - but maybe it doesn't have to be every single time. I think we'll get more out of him offensively throughout the year, and maybe he'll be fresh for the playoffs, which we expect to be in."

With a significant turnover on the roster, the Hawks have added several players with PK experience. This could allow Toews a break, and the captain is OK with that.

"There's going to be games where some guys aren't going, but I'm going and I want to be out there, and I want to be playing those big minutes," Toews said Friday. "But as a center playing the penalty kill, the power play, 5-on-5, it's not easy playing 22 or 23 minutes four nights a week.

"When you get your minutes down, it only helps your third and fourth lines stay in the game and lets them do their job, too."

Toews then smiled and wondered why this interrogator wanted to cut his ice time, since no player in the history of hockey has ever wanted fewer shifts.

"You're supposed to get me more minutes," Toews laughed. "No, I think guys like (Ryan) Carpenter and (Zack) Smith will definitely help win crucial draws in the defensive zone and take up some PK minutes.

"That depth of the bottom six and guys who can play two-way hockey is only going to help. When you balance those minutes out, everyone plays better."

It's not just that Toews plays heavy minutes and draws all the toughest defensive assignments, but the man doesn't ever play an easy shift. It's admirable that he plays so hard, but he doesn't need to be the only guy playing the most difficult minutes.

"We have more versatility to our team," Colliton said. "We have defenders who can play either side. We have guys who want to kill penalties and defend and take that role. We have forwards who can play different positions, play against good players.

"We feel that's what we were missing. We've added a little bit of physicality and an edge. We need to have that dimension."

As the club's best and most responsible defensive forward for much of his career, Toews has always drawn tough assignments, allowing others to freelance and pile up points.

It sounds like Colliton wants to feel more comfortable playing different lines in different situations, not tied to specific matchups.

If you look at the last few Stanley Cup champs, you see their ability to roll four lines and three sets of defense with less of a concern for which line was out there in a given situation.

"We want to be flexible with how we can build our lineup," Colliton said. "I'd like to be a little less reliant on certain players who can play against the other team's top players. We'd like to use more of our group.

"We want to have a flow to the team where we can play at a high pace and put pressure on teams over 60 minutes, and to do that you need depth in your roster."

Obviously, there will still be moments when Toews is called upon to handle the job.

"There are certain times when you are concerned with matchups," Colliton said, "but we want to have more of the group able to play against anyone, and feel like we're going to come out on the positive end of it.

"I think we made some major headway there. We've really increased the depth in our group. In goal, on defense, up front, we have competition throughout the roster for roster spots, for roles."

Being able to roll all the lines and all the defense has been a hallmark of the best teams the last few years, and the Hawks are no longer able to get away shortening the bench for so much of the game.

Whether they are deep enough and talented enough to compete with the best teams will be determined many months from now, but depth will at least allow their best players a break.

And if it means Toews doesn't have to kill every penalty anymore, that will only benefit the veteran.

Even if he's not quite ready to give up some of those minutes.