Chicago Blackhawks: What Does the Future Hold?

The Chicago Blackhawks have really set themselves apart from many teams in the past couple years by constantly nabbing top draft picks and signing quality free agents. It's about time Chicago starts winning again behind coach Denis Savard.

This summer the Blackhawks struck first by signing two of the top free agents on the market, Brian Campbell and Cristobal Huet.

It's safe to say that the Blackhawks are set for years to come having talent between the pipes, strong defense, and a powerful offense.

It will be interesting to see who Savard will start in game one of the upcoming NHL season in net. Will it be Huet or Khabibulin?

Khabibulin turned things around for himself and the club last season when he did well late in the season trying to give the Hawks the extra push they would need to make the playoffs, but they still fell a few points shy.

Cristobal Huet, on the other hand, led Montreal to first place with a 21-12-6. Then a deadline deal sent him to Washington where he did even better collecting 11 wins in 13 games and earned a 1.63 GAA and a .936 save percentage. Huet and the Caps won their division, earning the third seed in the Eastern Conference. Unfortunately, Washington fell early to Philadelphia.

Not only does Chicago have two potential number one goalies, but they have Corey Crawford and Josh Unice in the system.

Crawford led Rockford into the postseason with a 29-19-5 record.

The more amazing story is on young goalie Josh Unice, who is an 89 birth year, and led the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL with a 30-6-1 record and a 2.45 GAA. Unice also took Kitchener to the playoffs where he had a record of 11-3-1 and had nearly the same GAA in the playoffs as he did in the regular season, 2.41.

The Blackhawks have young talent in net, which is a plus because it's hard to find a solid goaltender that can compete at the NHL level. Among goaltending, Chicago also has very strong D that can generate offense, as well as keep the puck out of their defensive zone.

All-star defensemen Brian Campbell and Duncan Keith, as well as Brent Seabrook, can generate scoring chances very easily for Chicago, whereas these three along with Cam Barker and James Wisniewski can apply pressure in the defensive zone making it hard for opposing teams to score.

Down in Rockford, the Hawks have Danny Richmond and Ryan Stokes who are two physical defensemen.

Also in the system, Simon Danis-Pepin is awaiting his chances to compete in the AHL before he makes the NHL roster. Pepin, a 6'7 defenseman is an upcoming senior at the University of Maine where he recorded 12 points in 34 games. Pepin was recently at the Hawks rookie camp where he suffered a neck injury, but should be able to go for the Black Bears in the '08-'09 season.

Getting down to the offense, the Blackhawks show no weakness on their current roster, nor their young, upcoming players.

Chicago finished the past season ninth in the NHL in goals for, third in the Western Conference behind division rivals Detroit and the Dallas Stars.

Young players such as rookie of the year, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, and Dustin Byfuglien will continue to generate many scoring chances for the Blackhawks with the veterans like Robert Lang, Andrew Ladd, and hopefully a healthy Martin Havlat chipping in to help.

Kane and Toews are no doubt, a great one-two punch in the NHL, but with Martin Havlat healthy again, he too can provide around 70-80 points per season. Patrick Sharp is coming off an All-Star season, almost notching 40 goals, but coming up four shy.

The Blackhawks have some young talent in their current lineup, but when others start to leave, as Jason Williams did, players who could be getting the call are Jack Skille, Martin St. Pierre, Petri Kontiola, Jake Dowell, and Troy Brouwer.

Skille and Dowell saw some time in the NHL together this season, but couldn't stay put. They faired well in Rockford together, just as they did as teammates at Wisconsin, winning a National Championship together.

St. Pierre had a 21-67-88 line in Rockford and also picked up 80 PIM'S.

Following close behind was Petri Kontiola who had 18 goals, 50 assists, and also racked up a good amount of penalty minutes, 32.

Troy Brouwer was yet another young player to help lead Rockford. He is more of a gritty type of player collecting 154 penalty minutes, but managed to score 35 goals along with 19 assists.

Not only are the young players found in Chicago's AHL franchise, but in Canadian hockey leagues and the NCAA.

Akim Aliu got 28 goals and 33 assists for the London Knights of the OHL this past season, but also put up 133 penalty minutes.

The load of college players includes Nathan Davis, Dan Bertram, Bill Sweatt, and Scott McCulloch.

Nathan Davis missed almost half the past season at Miami of Ohio with an injury, but still had aa 8-9-17 line in just 21 games for the second place Hawks.

Dan Bertram won the National Championship with Boston College where he recorded 10 goals and 27 assists.

Sweatt and McCulloch were teammates together this past season at Colorado College, who had a good year as well. Sweatt had 27 points and McCulloch racked up 21 points.

It seems as if the Blackhawks have no current weakness' which is a positive becausee the fans of Chicago have been waiting for almost a decade for their Blackhawks to win a playoff series.