Chicago Blackhawks - 2013-14 Line Up

After winning the Presidents' Trophy and the Stanley Cup, the NHL's version of "winning the double" as a soccer fan might say, the Blackhawks have had a considerably less stressful offseason in the wake of a championship than the previous time in 2010. General manager Stan Bowman traded role-playing forwards Dave Bolland and Michal Frolik to make enough room below the salary cap to retain playoff revelation Bryan Bickell. Free agent Viktor Stalberg, who expressed unhappiness with his role during the postseason, was unlikely to return and signed with the Nashville Predators. Backup goaltender Ray Emery, who had a wonderful regular season as the No. 1b netminder but saw as much action between the pipes as Bowman did in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, signed with the Philadelphia Flyers and was replaced with former Blackhawks goalie Nikolai Khabibulin. Otherwise, Bowman added more depth in goal by singing Antti Raanta after a great year in Finland and on defense by inking Theo Peckham to a two-way contract. There are a couple of openings to fill up front, but there are several prospects expected to battle for those jobs. Another reason this has been a good offseason for Chicago is several of the top teams chasing the Blackhawks in the Western Conference, the Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks and Vancouver Canucks, in particular, did not make any significant additions to their rosters. Chicago will face a strong challenge from the St. Louis Blues in the new-look Central Division, but the Blackhawks will enter the season as one of the favorites to win the conference and the Stanley Cup for a third time in five seasons. The Blackhawks have been looking for a long-term solution at center behind Toews for years; maybe Pirri can be that guy. There are options in the short term (Handzus, Sharp, maybe Saad) if he isn't. There are a couple of spots in the bottom six open, with Smith, Morin and Jimmy Hayes among the young players who will be in contention for them. The defense returns intact, and it seems reasonable to think the pairings will look just as they did when the season ended. Crawford will likely see a higher percentage of starts with Emery gone, and his star turn in the postseason has him firmly on the radar of the evaluators for the Canadian entry in the 2014 Winter Olympics.

In: G Nikolai Khabibulin, D Theo Peckham
Out: C Dave Bolland, RW Michael Frolik, RW Viktor Stalberg, G Ray Emery, LW Daniel Carcillo, D Steve Montador, LW Rostislav Olesz
UFAs: RW Jamal Mayers
Prospects: C Brandon Pirri, RW Ben Smith, LW Jeremy Morin, RW Jimmy Hayes, D Adam Clendenning, C Drew LeBlanc

 

Forwards

Bryan Bickell - Jonathan Toews - Patrick Kane

Patrick Sharp - Brandon Pirri - Marian Hossa

Brandon Saad - Andrew Shaw - Jeremy Morin

Michal Handzus - Marcus Kruger - Ben Smith

Brandon Bollig

 

Defensemen

Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook

Niklas Hjalmarsson - Johnny Oduya

Nick Leddy - Michal Rozsival

Sheldon Brookbank - Theo Peckham

 

Goalies

Corey Crawford Nikolai Khabibulin