Chicago Blackhawks: Will Quenneville Continue to Swap His Defensive Lines?

It is common knowledge that Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville has been shuffling his offensive lines in an attempt to change the club's recent struggles.

However, it's the changes on the defensive side that seem to be making a big difference.

Quenneville has broken up his top two blue line pairings recently, matching Norris Trophy winner Duncan Keith with Brian Campbell.  Nikolas Hjalmarsson and Brent Seabrook, Campbell and Keith's respective line mates, make up the second defensive line.

Quennville has also shown no qualms about breaking up the third line.  Both Nick Boynton and Jassen Cullimore skated with the top four defensemen Wednesday night versus the Oilers.  Seabrook has also replaced Keith on the top power play squad.

The results seem to be a case of so far, so good.

Ever since his "benching" in the Phoenix game last week, Keith seems to be playing a better brand of hockey.  Keith has said that it has been difficult bringing the intensity so far this season after so many big playoff games last spring. 

On one hand, I hate to hear a professional admit to finding it hard to get up for regular season games.  On the other, it takes honesty to say what a lot of fans have wondered about Keith's (and the team's) lack of urgency.

In any case, the defense has been coming around.

Minutes for Keith and Seabrook have been down of late.  Cullimore and Boynton both played a lot of minutes Wednesday.  Cullimore was +2 against the Oilers, and Hjalmarsson was +3 for the night.

It looks like Coach Q is going to stay with his new defensive combinations for the time being.  It seems to have snapped the D out of their early season hibernation, while Keith and Seabrook's minutes are down, and maybe everyone is benefiting from fresh pairings.

Let's face it: Edmonton played a lot like the team that had been 2-9-3 against the rest of the league, instead of the team that beat the Hawks twice on their home ice.  Controlling the puck and keeping it out of the defensive zone makes it easy to play good defense.  If the Blackhawks are going to put up 47 shots a night, they'll be hard to beat.  After all, sometimes the best defense is a good offense!

This trip, while off to a great start, is a long one and gets harder before Chicago returns home.  But as the Blackhawks try to keep up the winning ways in Calgary, it nice to see that the defense is showing signs of life.