2007-2008 Season Preview - Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago Blackhawks
Notable moves and changes: Acquired F Sergei Samsonov from the Montreal Canadiens for D Jassen Cullimore and F Tony Salmelainen. Signed C Yanic Perreault (was with Phoenix and Toronto last season), acquired D Andrei Zyuzin in a trade with the Calgary Flames, and signed C Robert Lang (was with Detroit).
Starting goalie:Nikolai Khabibulin
Summary of last year:Few fans could argue with the appointment of Hawks legend Denis Savard as head coach, but it’s going to take a lot more than one coach to turn this ship around. The Hawks were 28th in the league in scoring, dead last on the power play and only Philadelphia had a worse home record than Chicago. Last season was dotted with the same inconsistencies, injury bugs and lackadaisical play that has kept the Hawks out of the playoffs for 8 of the past 9 years.
Prediction for this year: If this season’s Yanic Perreault is in fact, Yanic Perreault, long-suffering Hawks fans may finally have a free-agent signing to cheeer about. Samsonov and Lang add to the mix, but both have baggage from prior teams, and the Hawks have not historically fared well with project players. The bad news: Adrian Aucoin, Michal Handzus, Denis Arkhipov and Mikael Holmqvist are all gone in off-season deals. The good news: The future looks bright. Kids like Tuomo Ruutu and Brent Seabrook keep getting better, and two highly regarded prospects, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, are expected to have an excellent shot at roster spots this year. This may not be the Hawk’s comeback season, but the building blocks are there.
Chicago Blackhawks, Sergei Samsonov, Yanic Perreault, Andrei Zyuzin, Robert Lang, Nikolai Khabibulin, Denis Savard, Tuomo Ruutu, Brent Seabrook, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews
September 15th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
The Hawks are going to rule this year as long as there are no major injuries, thats a bullshit prediction above . The hawks will take at least second in the central division while making the playoffs this year. That is a ll easily achievable with no major injuries.
#1 Canadian Hawk Fan
September 15th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Second could be tough - St. Louis is vastly improved and Nashville, while weakened, is still a factor. The talent the Hawks have in Kane and Toews is intimidating — if they handle these kids right they are set. But this year? I’m just not sure. I think they need a lot more than no injuries — they need Khabby to be on fire and Toews and Kane to step in and immediately excell at the NHL level. That’s a lot of factors to come together so quickly, but the Hawks have the pieces in place and time on their side.
Would you rather see the team build slowly and develop the kids over a couple more seasons to ensure solid teams for years to come, or go for short term success and push for the playoffs now and risk messing up the rookies’ development?
October 5th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
[...] Stay healthy. [...]