Now that the season's over, we will be concluding our season reviews and getting ready for the draft and upcoming off-season.
Now the Stanley Cup Champions: The Chicago Blackhawks.
Season expectations: Barely two seasons removed from when Rocky Wirtz inherited the ownership of the team from his father, the late Bill Wirtz, he decided he was going to invest in a team that the city would be proud in. Through bringing on Dale Tallon and Stan Bowman, the team was able to draft and develop key components to their squad such as Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Dustin Byfuglien, and Brent Seabrook while signing Brian Campbell, Antti Niemi, and Marian Hossa to compliment their squad. Though not originally acquired by them, Patrick Sharp has really found his niche in the development of the team and provided complimentary scoring and leadership to two players who are still finding their way around. Though the team is very talented, the reality of their salary constraints meant that only winning a Stanley Cup this season would be acceptable and anything that would come up short would be tantamount to failure; for the group looked like they would be all but disbanded following the season.
My prediction: I predicted Chicago would end up first overall in the Central Division and third overall in the Western Conference.
The truth: The team was first and second, respectively. The team advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they defeated the Philadelphia Flyers in six games to capture their first championship in 49 years.
What went right?: Simply stated, this was the most complete team in the league this year. The group managed to play a sound style of two-way hockey that ensured there would be enough toughness to keep the flies off without having too much goonery, which usually leads to bad penalties.
The team's offensive stars did an excellent job of carrying the mail. Toews, Kane, and Sharp managed to find themselves at a point-per-game basis or better during the playoffs. Beyond that, Hossa had a strong showing and respectable postseason campaign (as a second-liner) while Byfuglien, Kris Versteeg and Dave Bolland found comfort in providing solid and dependable secondary scoring (even if Byfuglien had Chris Pronger to deal with in the finals.) There was absolutely no shortage of toughness up front for the Blackhawks either, as Andrew Ladd, Ben Eager, and Adam Burish managed to effectively get under the other team's skin or effectively patrol the team to ensure no funny stuff went down (Eager even made the game winner in Game 2.) While there were many forwards concerned with scoring or being tough, it was John Madden, Tomas Kopecky, and Troy Brouwer who were concerned with providing a defensive presence for their forward group.
The team's defense was as solid as expected as well. Duncan Keith, who in my opinion should have been the Conn Smythe Trophy winner, finished second on the team in scoring for the season and was one of the best performers come playoff time (there are many other people who've had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup who haven't given up 7 teeth to do so.) Though many people thought he would be prolific, Brian Campbell managed to become far better defensively than he's been in the previous seasons; making his salary seem somewhat justified. Brent Seabrook made noise and effectively put himself out there as the team's Number 2 or 3 defenseman through putting up a campaign that was not too far off from Campbell's during the regular season while being far superior during the postseason. Niklas Hjalmarsson's been steadily developing into a top-four NHL forward while Brent Sopel, Nick Boynton, and Jordan Hendry kept things tidy as the team's depth defenders. Trading Cam Barker to the Minnesota Wild for Kim Johannson didn't work out as planned, but the team ended up being too-well stocked to have noticed.
However, what seems to have made the most noise was the goaltending situation. This may effectively mark the first time in NHL history that the Stanley Cup Champions had a goaltending tandem that was completely European (Niemi being from Finland, well-overpaid backup Cristobal Huet being from France.) This was Niemi's first season in the NHL and second overall in North America. Though the team won in front of Huet (he posted a 26-14-4 record in 48 games), he was not performing at the level a starting goaltender needs to at the NHL level (owning up to his .895 save percentage) and that thrust Niemi into action. The result? Niemi went 26-7-4 in 39 appearances with a .912 save percentage, 2.25 goals against average, and 7 shutouts. His numbers were equally impressive come playoff time, as he would go 16-6 in 22 games with 2 shutouts, a 2.63 GAA, and a .910 save percentage. He is up for a new contract and it definitely looks like he's going to get a raise.
One intangible thing that helped out was the fans. Now that the city has a team to be proud of, the fans have responded, going back to when R. Wirtz took over, by going back to Blackhawks games and supporting the club they love. 2 million people showing up at a Stanley Cup parade can't be wrong and for having so much to cheer for after one of the most bleak periods in team history, I salute you Chicago.
So what's next?: Winning came at a steep cost, as the team is already at $58.8M toward the cap for next season (you have to wonder if the NHL awarded Toews the Conn Smythe on purpose to give
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