'He's fearless and we're lucky to have him': Caggiula brings body, heart to Blackhawks

Pound for pound, Drake Caggiula is as tough a player as there is in the National Hockey League.

Since coming over in a trade with Edmonton last season, the Blackhawks' forward has been more than willing to throw his 5-foot-10, 176-pound frame around whenever he feels a teammate has been wronged.

The latest example came during the Hawks' 2-0 loss to St. Louis at the United Center on Sunday when a charged-up Caggiula engaged in a furious battle with 203-pound defenseman Vince Dunn.

Caggiula - along with Duncan Keith, Alex DeBrincat and Kirby Dach - was responding to Adam Boqvist being dropped by an Oskar Sundqvist hit during the second period. Sundqvist was fined the maximum $5,000 by the NHL on Monday.

Not surprisingly, all of the Hawks - including coach Jeremy Colliton - spoke glowingly of Caggiula's willingness to go toe to toe with opponents who outweigh him by 25 pounds or more.

"He brings a lot of heart to our team and a passion," said defenseman Connor Murphy. "That's something that the fans appreciate as much as we do in this room. ...

"He's fearless and we're lucky to have him."

There is no doubt Caggiula brings a much-needed physical element to the Hawks. The edgy, hard-nosed, scrappy forward has engaged in four fights since GM Stan Bowman acquired him from Edmonton in exchange for Brandon Manning in December 2018.

The gutsiest move came last April when Caggiula tried taking on Winnipeg's Dustin Byfuglien, who outweighs Caggiula by an incredible 84 pounds.

Caggiula's moxie and fearlessness are admirable, but he's endangering his career - one that has the potential to last three to five more years. Ignore his physicality for a moment and what you have is a tremendously talented athlete who skates well, has fantastic ice awareness, backchecks with passion and has a nose for the net.

Caggiula has 9 goals in 40 games this season while averaging under 12 minutes of ice time, meaning he has the potential to put a 20-goal campaign together.

If he could ever stay healthy for all 82 games, that is.

Caggiula missed 13 games near the end of last season and another 27 this season with concussions.

So isn't it time to settle down a bit before a career-ending head injury occurs?

"Well, you want him to be smart," said coach Jeremy Colliton. "You want him to try and pick his spots.

Part of the reason why he's an NHLer and he's a valuable player is because he plays on the edge and he's physical and he sticks up for his teammates and he brings that energy. ...

"Having said that, you hold your breath when he's in that situation."

Caggiula did not return after his fight with Dunn, the Hawks saying it was due to an injured hand. Dunn landed three big blows to the head, however, and one has to hope none of them did serious damage to a player who is already compromised.

The Hawks, who were off Monday, practice Tuesday ahead of their home game against San Jose on Wednesday. They called up forward Brandon Hagel (19 goals) from Rockford on Monday, which would seem to indicate Caggiula will miss time.

Whether or not that's the case, let's also hope he tones it down a bit in the future.

And not just for the sake of the Hawks' future.

But for his as well.

By the numbers

Drake Caggiula's career stats

Season, team GP G A Pts.

2016-17, Edm. 60 7 11 18

2017-18, Edm. 67 13 7 20

2018-19, Edm. 29 7 4 11

2018-19, Chi. 26 5 7 12

2019-20, Chi. 40 9 6 15

Totals 222 41 35 76