Chicago Blackhawks 2009-10 Fantasy Hockey Preview

We are now less than a month away from the start of the 2009-10 NHL regular season, and I think it's a great time to start publishing my fantasy preview articles for each NHL team.

When looking at a player and predicting how he will fare offensively this season, there are many things to consider: Is the player at an age where he will improve or decline? Is he playing with new line mates this year? Did his team acquire some players who may push them down the depth chart?

Those are just a few of the questions needed to be asked and I believe I can accurately predict a player's point totals for the upcoming season. Of course, things like injuries are impossible to predict, so these are best case scenarios.

2009-10 Depth Chart

Forwards

Patrick Sharp-Jonathan Toews-Marian Hossa
Andrew Ladd-David Bolland-Patrick Kane
Kris Versteeg-John Madden-Dustin Byfuglien
Ben Eager-Tomas Kopecky-Troy Brouwer

Defense

Duncan Keith-Brent Seabrook
Niklas Hjalmarsson-Brian Campbell
Brent Sopel-Cam Barker

Goalies

Cristobal Huet
Corey Crawford

Sure Bet: Jonathan Toews

Would have scored 40 goals last year if not for his extremely slow start. I have a feeling that Toews will break out this year with over a point per game.

Dark Horse: David Bolland

A former junior star with the London Knights of the OHL, Bolland had a break through season last year with 47 points and he is definitely on the way up.

2009-10 Scoring Projections

Player                       GP-G-A-P
1. Jonathan Toews      81-40-46-86
2. Patrick Kane           82-29-53-82
3. Patrick Sharp         78-32-32-64
4. David Bolland          80-25-35-60
5. Marian Hossa          57-22-33-55
6. Brian Campbell        82-9-43-52
7. Cam Barker            76-7-40-47
8. Duncan Keith         81-10-35-45
9. Kris Versteeg         78-20-20-40
10. Andrew Ladd        80-15-25-40
11. Dustin Byfuglien    76-17-19-36
12. Brent Seabrook    82-9-23-32
13. Troy Brouwer       70-12-15-27
14. John Madden       76-6-19-25
15. Ben Eager           71-8-8-16
16. Niklas Hjalmarsson 78-1-9-10
17. Tomas Kopecky    69-3-6-9
18. Brent Sopel         61-2-7-9

Goalies
1. Cristobal Huet 36-19-7 .917 SVP 2.39 GAA
2. Corey Crawford 11-6-3 .905 SVP 2.58 GAA