The Chicago Blackhawks: NHL's Team of the Future

The Chicago Blackhawks are the team of the future in the NHL. They have not won a Stanley Cup since the 1960-61 season, but hockey's most coveted hardware could be returning to the Windy City very soon. They are loaded with young, talented players like Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Patrick Sharp. They are very much holding their own in the western conference, and are eight points out of the playoffs as of February 24, 2008. Kane leads the team with 53 points and Sharp is close behind with 46. Toews missed 20 games due to a knee injury and is still 4^th on the team. Toews and Kane are locked up until the 2010-11 season where they will be restricted free agents. Sharp, who leads the league in short handed goals, just inked an extension that will keep him in Chicago until at least 2012-13. Defenseman Brent Seabrook has also been locked up until at least 2011-12.

A casual fan who is not an information database for the Blackhawks may ask why they aren't in a playoff position now. One of the reasons is that the highest paid players on the team just can't produce. Martin Havlat has a tremendous amount of skill but fails to put up desired numbers because of his proneness to injuries. He is making $6 million this year, according to nhlnumbers.com, but has only played in a little over half of the games. If he can stay healthy and play the way he is capable of playing Havlat could be a key component to a Blackhawk playoff run in the future. However, if he continues to be plagued by injuries management will have to move on when he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2009-10.

The second reason they are not having success right now is because of their goaltending, or lack there of it. Nikolai Khabibulin was a wall when Tampa Bay rode him to the cup in 2004. However, he is 35 and not getting any younger, or better. He is 18-18 on the year with a very mediocre 2.67 goals against average as of February 24. His backup, Patrick Lalime, is past his prime at 33 and is obviously not the answer to the goaltending situation, as he has posted a 2.73 GAA so far this year. Chicago hopes that young net-minder Corey Crawford is the solution to this problem. He is 24-15 in the minors this year, but has a 2.78 GAA. He is only 23 and will have time to progress, but I don't think he can be a solid enough goalie for a team looking to go deep in the playoffs. According to the ISS, the leading hockey scouting service, no goalies are locks for 1^st round picks. There was some speculation that the Blackhawks would deal Seabrook for a young goaltender like Al Montoya of the Rangers. This rumor died down when Seabrook was signed to his extension.

If the Blackhawks can solidify their goaltending and weed out aging players making big cap hits, then they are definitely a team that should be feared in the very near future.