Chicago Blackhawks Season Report

[Bernyhawks]

Chicago Blackhawks Season Report

With the season coming to an end tonight against Detroit, the Chicago Blackhawks will face again their division rivals the Nashville Predators, finishing 3rd in the West as division leader. GM Bern is hopeful that the team can pull off another win as they seem to always have the last word against the Predators. Will the Predators remember when fans threw brooms on the ice when the Hawks swept them in 2018?

This season has been another good season of over 100pts for the Hawks and clinching the division again. But, the Hawks were easily beat by the Stars in the 1st round last year and many trades have happened since. Some of them were questioned by the fan base here in Chicago, especially Tarasenko getting traded at the deadline with a 1st round pick for Maxwell Gildon and Tyler Biggs… Gildon was immediately shipped to Winnipeg with Matthias Tedenby to get Alex Pietrangelo. Pietrangelo is a big addition on D, but was he worth shipping fan favorite Tarasenko who’s been carrying the team in points the past years?

On offense, the team is now led by a first line of vets, Kostitsyn-Zajac-Vanek, who have played together in Chicago for quite some time on the 2nd line. They have been great together down the final stretch assuming this more offensive role. On the second line, the bash bros Jensen-Biggs-Horton, have also been rock solid down the stretch. Where it gets complicated is on the 3rd and 4th line. Centers Jordan Staal and Tyler Seaman both patrol the 3rd and 4th line respectively, but many players have filled the winger spots and none of them contributed offensively. The addition of Brock Nelson off Waivers from Buffalo last week is highly anticipated when he returns from injury if the Hawks make it past the 1st round.

On defense, the team has 4 rock solid pieces in Pietrangelo, Hedman, Blum and Spencer. This is much better than last year and if the saying ‘’defence wins championship’’ is true, then the Hawks might be able to squeeze in a few dubs. Hedman is suspended for the first 2 playoff games and his place will be filled by Jordan Schmaltz, acquired on Waivers from Tampa Bay. Veteran Dan Girardi will pair up with big boy Yann Sauvé on the 3rd pairing.

The question mark is, other than average goaltending from Husso/Holtby, will the Hawks find the offense necessary to beat the big clubs after trading away Krejci, Tarasenko and Ovechkin?

Home ice will be crucial as many teams have the skillset and experience built for playoffs. GM Bern is still sour of the loss in Calgary in game 7 of the Western Conference finals of 2018, who went on to win the cup…

Puck drops in Chicago on Saturday night! Good luck to everyone!
Prediction: Habs win their 25th cup!