Chicago Blackhawks Insider: Things Are Looking up for the Blackhawks

The Chicago Blackhawks, despite the fact that they have lost two of their most important players in Marian Hossa and Patrick Kane, are playing very well and winning games. Since the start of December, the Blackhawks have won six out of ten games (there are two more games to go this month as of this writing). That’s not too bad.

The Blackhawks were hit by the injury bug over the last few weeks (losing Marian Hossa and Patrick Kane, among others) and there were thoughts that this team would fold up and not play as well as they could with their usual players in the lineup. There were those who thought these two injuries would be the end of the Blackhawks' run back towards the Stanley Cup Finals.

However, this team has made up for the losses that they have suffered in November and December and have managed to keep winning. As of the time of this writing, the Hawks are currently in second place right now in the central and (as of Monday, Dec. 27) they are behind the Detroit Red Wings (currently the Red Wing have 48 points, while the Blackhawks have 43), but they don’t have a lot of ground to make up so it should be an exciting battle all the way to the end for these two teams.  

So, despite the fact that they have lost some of their key players during the last few weeks, the Blackhawks continue to win. How are they doing it? They are getting some strong play from guys who have helped pick up the slack that was to be left with the injuries suffered by Hossa and Kane.

Some of the guys that have helped pick up the slack include forward Patrick Sharp (who has a total of 36 points in 36 games played), Jonathan Toews (who has 36 points in a total of 36 games played), as well as defenseman Duncan Keith (who has 33 points in 37 games). Incidentally, Kane still ranks third in the rankings in points (he had 27 points in 28 games played before he was hurt and is currently third on the team still). Hossa does rank ninth on the team at this time (he currently has a total of 18 points in 21 games).

The Blackhawks may miss their stars, but they are clearly doing enough to make up for the loss of those players by winning the games that these starters are not appear in. The more games they win without Kane and Hossa, the better off they are because they are at a disadvantage now. Imagine how many games they could win with those two guy in the lineup.

Could their ability to overcome this adversity have made them stronger? You bet, but the bigger question is, could it have made them a better team? The answer to that question is a resounding yes, as well. Having to play without Kane and Hossa made other players have to step up and play and that made this team strong. In fact, it made them better and could quite possibly have made them better than last year’s team.

Things could get very interesting for the Blackhawks from here on out.