Hawk Shots: Prospects, Where Do They Fit?

With the Prospects Camp opening yesterday, I thought I would talk about the prospects in the Blackhawks system and who could possibly make the team this season in my second edition of Hawk Shots.

When you are looking at the top 12 forwards for the Hawks, you can already add these names to the depth chart: Toews, Kane, Havlat ( if healthy ), Lang, Ladd, Sharp, Bolland, Byfuglien, C. Adams, and Burish.

With those names, you get a grand total of 10 to fill your top four lines, so who will be in the mix for those final two spots? Some names that you might see in those last two spots are Skille, Beach, Aliu, Brouwer, Versteeg, Kontiola, Eager, Blunden, and St. Pierre.

When you look at that list of nine Blackhawks prospects, you see a few similar players. Skille, Eager, Beach, Aliu, and Brouwer are all marketed as power forwards and probably only one of them will get the nod for one of the final two roster spots.

Right now, I couldn't tell you who will get the nod because no one knows if Kyle Beach will even make the team, although Dale Tallon has said he will be given every opportunity, the same goes for Akim Aliu.

If I had to pick one that would make the team today, I would go with Brouwer because he has been in the system and has torn up competition in the AHL.

For the final forward spot, you would be looking at a Versteeg, Kontiola, Blunden, and St. Pierre, all of which are scorer types.

Here I will give the edge to Versteeg because he played well with the Blackhawks when he was called up to fill in for the oft-injured Hawks.

Moving on to the defensemen, I believe the Hawks defensive line-up is set with Campbell, Barker, Keith, Seabrook, Hendry, Walker, and Hjalmarsson ( as their seventh d-man ).

When Wiz return, the Hawks will have a wealth of defensemen, which is never a bad thing to have.

After years of relying on our prospects to fill 5-6 spots in our line up, it is looking like this year not too many of the Rockford Ice Hogs will be making the jump to the NHL.

This of course is baring substantial injuries. The Hawks seem poised for this year and for years to come to make a real run at Lord Stanley's Cup.