CHICAGO, Ill – Remember the slogan, “this is not your father’s Oldsmobile?” Heck do any of you remember what an Oldsmobile is? Well we can say that this isn’t your father’s Chicago Blackhawks as we see a transformation on and off the ice. Before the season we saw the passing of owner Bill Wirtz and his son Peter was named the new owner of the team before he in turn passed it to his brother Rocky. Rocky has done a lot to draw the passionate fans back to the United Center and as a bonus had two young sensations on the team in draft picks Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. Those two finished as Calder Trophy finalists who brought the team within games of reaching the playoffs in an exciting season. The team’s American Hockey League affiliate the Rockford IceHogs saw much success throughout the season only to be eliminated from the playoffs losing to the Chicago Wolves in the West Division Finals. The team accomplished this even though they had the AHL’s highest number of players called-up at 19. It shows you the depth the team can go without losing a beat and that the young players can come in and fill any spot that the Blackhawks need.
Look for Corey Crawford to have a serious look at backup in goal next year with the Blackhawks. In his first start this season with the big club Crawford shutout the defending Stanley Cup Champion Anaheim Ducks.
At forward look for players like playmaker Martin St. Pierre, Petri Kontiola, who was hot in the playoffs and Kris Versteeg, a scoring and physical force, to make the roster, if not in the beginning of the season than for most of it.
On the defensive side you also have players that have different styles like Jordan Henry who is a physical force on the ice, Danny Richmond who can setup the plays from the blueline and dish it out a well as anyone and then there is Niklas Hjalmarsson who is an offensive defenseman. The Blackhawks don’t really need to draft a defenseman so early with a draft filled with quality blueliners. But what they need is a top veteran player like free agent Brian Campbell who the team will actively try to sign.
As we can see the current batch of prospects all fit differently with the skills that they possess. But the coaching staff in Rockford and Blackhawks Head Coach Denis Savard knows how to fit the pieces to get the team to the next level and that is hard to do no matter at what level. You need to take the youngsters along with your veterans and add a mix of wanting to win. With Toews and Kane, the bridge has been gapped in the maturity, skills, and leadership that these two have on the ice.
With that being said there is a player that has a little bit of everything of the players mentioned. That player is Mitch Wahl. The 6’ 0”, 185 lbs. Wahl was drafted fourth overall in the WHL Bantam Draft by his current team the Spokane Chiefs. The Chiefs just recently won the 2008 CHL Memorial Cup where he had 2 goals for six points in four games. In the regular season Wahl compiled 20 goals with 53 assists in 67 games with a plus 33.
Wahl possess great skill as a two-way forward. He has great playmaking and defensive skills on top of being an offensive threat as we can see in his numbers. Wahl enjoys the challenge when he is matched up constantly with the opponent’s top lines. He plays to his own style, with nothing fancy and if a kid says that there is nothing special to how he plays his game, imagine what can happen when he does. He has a great head on his shoulders and is almost modest when it comes to talking about himself.
Imagine this is a player who grew up in South Beach, California in the shadows of Wayne Gretzky coming to the Los Angeles Kings and taking up a sport that was just coming into its own on the West Coast and is a fan of the Anaheim Ducks.
So with the eleventh pick overall in the 2008 NHL Draft, the Original Six Chicago Blackhawks select from the Memorial Cup Champion Spokane Chiefs, center Mitch Wahl.
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