It's Time To Believe In The Blackhawks
The Chiclets guys did their Central Division Preview episode yesterday and I made the case for the Blackhawks to do have a good year. If the PP goes from 29th to league average with Kane, Byram, and more games from a healthy Connor Bedard that'll help a lot. If they get above water in 3 on 3/shootout there's points there. Then it gets a little bit murky because you're counting on development. Biz, probably rightfully, pushed back saying that counting on the development of Frondell, Kantserov, Levshunov, Rinzel, Nazar, Moore, Greene, etc etc etc is asking a lot. My #1 goal for the team this year is to have a big game in March. Have a game against another team pushing for a wild card spot with a chance to close the gap to playoffs to like 3 points sometime after the deadline and that'll be a good season of growth in my book. It'll make me really believe in the entire project.
Then I listened to the rest of the ep...and I got more optimistic. Colorado has 1 legit line and they're old and slow. Dallas is older and not as deep as last year. Yands and Biz don't think Minnesota will be in the playoffs because the Quinn Hughes saga is hanging over their heads. Winnipeg doesn't have a goalie/best player at the moment. Nashville is stuck in the middle. When you look at the Pacific it's not great either. Vancouver and Seattle stink. Calgary is rebuilding. LA is old.
The Blackhawks have question marks, but so does every other team in the West. The one thing the Blackhawks won't be is slow. They're going to be one of the fastest teams in the West. Once Bedard comes back they're going to need to shuffle things and it could mean Nazar is pushed to the wing and down the lineup giving the Blackhawks one of the fastest lines in all of hockey.
Bertuzzi-Bedard-Kane
Kantserov-Frondell-Lardis
Nazar-Moore-Teravainen/Donato
Greenway-Greene-Smith
Young, fresh, fast legs are going to be a problem for the rest of the league if this group can stay healthy. Staying healthy has been a problem. Moore, Nazar, and Bedard have all had significant injuries early in their career. If they play close to a full 84 games this year we'll be in good shape.
I don't know if the Blackhawks are ready. I don't know the ceiling for guys like Lev, Rinzel, Nazar, Lardis, and Moore...but for the first time in almost decade I am genuinely excited at the possibility of making the playoffs. I believe this group has the talent, the depth, speed, and balance to be a competitive team every night and with the teams above and around them all seemingly taking a step back there's an opportunity. The Blackhawks will NOT be picking in the top 10 again this year. That is a BarstoolChief guarantee.