Avoiding Controversy Key For Hawks

nordiques100 writes "The big word in Chicago has been turmoil. There has been lots of it this summer and it will be lots for a young team to take in.

There were mistakes made in filing qualifying offers. The GM was fired. conveniently the son of the top hockey guy was hired, their leading scorer was lost via free agency and he spoke out about it, one of their young stars got arrested, they signed a controversial contract that belittles the CBA, major cap problems lie ahead for the team and they just lost a key role player for the season. Talk about tough going.

Perserverence should be the word going forward as if this young team shows some of that, these isues will certainly be forgotten and forgotten quickly.

Coaching

What could keep things together is the strong coaching of Joel Queneville. He paid immediate dividends when he took over after the 4th game last year improving the team both offensively and defensively. He was an excellent guide for the team's young lineup and really brought everyone together, building a team out of a ton of good young individual talents.

Not only is trying to improve the young squad important, but keeping their focus may be Queneville's biggest challenge. He will also have to deal with expectations. He needs to ensure his team doesnt get too high or too low as a poor start could leave this young squad quite fragile. And many expect big things from the Hawks. Can they handle the pressure? Coach Q is going to have to keep it all together.

Lineup:
C: Toews, Bolland, Madden, Burish, Fraser
RW: Kane, Hossa, Byfuglien, Brouwer
LW: Sharp, Versteeg, Ladd, Kopecky, Eager
D: Keith, Seabrook, Barker, Campbell, Hjalmarsson, Johnson, Sopel
G: Huet

Forward

The Hawks have one of the deepest groups of forwards in the league. 3 lines who can score is not out of the question. The team plays with such high energy and their skating ability is tremendous that its sometimes hard to keep up.

They are led by young Toews and Kane. Though Hossa will be a big veteran boost. Toews, the young captain, has been a natural leader and a big game producer. He had an ok regular season but took things to another level in the playoffs with his well rounded play. He has an outside shot to make Team Canada. Kane, off ice issues aside, is vying for team USA. Hoping to avoid the EA sports curse, Kane had a good playoff as well and hopefully can build on that and shed the arrest from people's memories.

Hossa was brought in to replace Havlat. He will not be available at the start, but should be a big time player for this talented Hawks team. He has tasted bitter defeat in 2 straight cup finals and will try and help lead this young Hawks team there.

They have excellent supporting players in Bolland, Versteeg, Ladd, Sharp, Brouwer, Madden and Byfuglien. Bolland was big in the playoffs as a checker but a scorer as well and is pencilled in as the 2nd line centre. Versteeg and Sharp are fine two way players with Versteeg hoping to build on his good rookie season and Sharp looking to stay healthy and hit 30 plug goals again. Ladd and Byfuglien are big bodies who give the Hawks a different look.

The did lose Burish to a season ending injury and that is disappointing as he was a good checker. Madden will fill that role, Brouwer, Fraser, Eager, Kopecky as well will be asked to fill roles as required.

This is an excellent young team with lots of energy and they will be skating teams into the ground if they play at full capacity.

Defence

The Hawks are highly skilled on D. Their top pair of Seabrook and Keith is among the best. Both have had good plus minus totals the last couple of seasons. They are a steady pair who play in all situations and proved they could deliver when it mattered in the playoffs. Keith is a terrific skater and puck mover while Seabrook is more the physical presence of the two.

Campbell, Hjalmarsson and Barker add more mobility, depth and offence to the team. Campbell signed a massive contract and may be a cap casualty eventually but is one of the better offensive defencemen in the league. Barker is emerging as a top end PP guy while Hjalmarsson was very steady.

The team could use more toughness and size on D but with some cap issues, that may not happen. It will be interesting to see who they can keep as Campbell is the likeliest to be moved but depending on how negotiations with Keith go, it may be him who gets shipped.

Goal

Another of the team's big questionmarks is in goal. Huet was brought in last year, but ended up as backup to Khabibulin who was stellar. Now that Khabibulin is gone, its Huet who must perform. He did do ok in his brief showing in the playoffs and must deliver consistent goaltending.

The Hawks like to attack, so they at times could get caught and thus having a goalie who can back them up will be ultra important.

This time there is no safeguard of two starters around and so its really Huet or bust for the team.

Niemi or Crawford will battle for the backup job. Both are inexperienced but have plenty of talent to at least be NHLers.

Special Teams

The PK was not great but should be helped by Madden. Long one of the top penalty killers in the game, Madden will bring some championship experience and expertise on the faceoffs and should help improve this unit. He will definitely make up for the loss of Burish who fared well in that role in the playoffs.

The PP on the other hand can put quite a bit of talent out there and should improve from 12th in the league with Hossa around. He is a true finisher that should be able to bury more chances and someone who can bring some size to the table to go with skill. Look for Byfuglien to play more on the PP as he is completely immobile once he settles in front of the net.
Depth:
F: Bertram, Bickell, Davis, Dowell, Klinkhammer, Cullen, Bois
D: Brennan, Connelly, Pepin, Sawyer, Turner, Petoit
G: Niemi, Richards
What's Left
Payroll: 58.1 mil
UFA: Pineault, Berti, Stephenson, Sharrow, Hambly, Nordqvist, Vorobiev
RFA:

Stan Bowman and the rest of the Hawk's front office will have a ton of fun dealing with their cap problems going forward. For this year, they will survive, for next summer they have a ton of questions to answer.

They are over $40 mil in commitments beyond this year and key cogs like Toews, Kane and Keith all need new deals. The filing mistake of hte qualifying offers this past summer may haunt them.

Hossa's injury gives them some IR relief and they can fill from within for Burish, but they will not be able to find the tough Dman they need.

Draft PicksR1/28 D. Olsen (D)
R2/59 B. Pirri (C)
R3/89 D. Delisle (C)
R4/119 B. Froese (C)
R5/149 M. Kruger (C)
R6/177 D. Pacan (C)
R7/195 P. Phillips (D)
R7/209 D. Gilbert (C)

One of the final stamps on the team by Dale Tallon was picking Olsen with the Hawks top selection. A big blueliner with NHL bloodlines, Olsen was very solid in a shutdown role at the U17 championships for Canada and really spiked his stock in the draft. He is a stay at home blueliner who plays a safe game and down the road would be a nice compliment to the rather smallish Hawks D.
Top Prospects:F: Kyle Beach, Akim Aliu, Evan Brophey, Bill Sweatt, Jack Skille, Igor Makarov
D: Shawn Lalonde, Jordan Hendry
G: Corey Crawford, Joe Fallon

Already armed with a good young nucleus, the team has some other fine prospects on the way.

Hendry may make the team as the 6th or 7th blueliner while Crawford in goal is a possibility to be backup.

Up front, Skillie is the closest to making it but they are so jammed up there that its a longshot. But being a skilled and cheap option, he may be an important cog down the road if they have to move out salary. He definitely has the ability to fit in on this talented squad.

Their 08 top pick, Beach, will look to continue his development in junior. He is big and mean, a nice compliment to the team's stars. But he is a project, which the Hawks will be best served to be patient with. He didnt have any of those attitude problems last year and thats a good sign. If he raises his production, the Hawks will be blessed again with another top young forward.

Outlook: They overacheived a bit getting to the Western Conference final. It wasnt really expected since they were not very good the previous few seasons. But this team is one to watch as they try to mirror the young Pens and be yet another rather inexperienced team to win it all. The drought has been since 1961 so they crave a Cup in Chicago. And with the cap problems a real unknown going forward, this may be their only opportunity with such depth and talent to break the streak."