CHICAGO ILL – The Chicago Blackhawks will begin the season thousands of miles away when they start the first two games ever in Helsinki, Finland for the NHL Premiere to kick off the 2009-10 campaign. They will face the Florida Panthers in back to back games beginning Friday and Saturday. The team will try to ride on the success of last season when they went all the way to the Western Conference Finals only to be beaten by their long time rivals, the Detroit Red Wings. The European tour started with the team’s arrival last weekend in Zurich. The Hawks played in two games. In the first game against HC Davos, the Blackhawks won handily, trouncing their opponents by a score of 9-2. Patrick Kane and Radek Smolenak, who was picked up from waivers from the Tampa Bay Lightning, each had two goals in the contest. But the tide changed in the next day when they faced ZSC Zurich. The team couldn’t get going against the zone defense that Zurich deployed leading to the 2-1 loss in final game of the preseason where their record was 2-3-1. In the off-season the Blackhawks made some deals and had some unexpected issues concerning Kane in and alleged issue back in his hometown of Buffalo. At goaltending, the team was finally able to do what they wanted by having Cristobal Huet set up as their number one goaltender after Nikolai Khabibulin signed a 4-year deal with the Edmonton Oilers. He replaces Dwayne Roloson who signed as insurance for the injury-prone Rick DiPietro by the New York Islanders. Not only will Huet be taking the brunt of the work for the team, Huet will also wearing number 39, the same number Khabibulin wore, and one that he has that he has had for most of his career. The real battle is at the backup position. It is so difficult for the coaching staff to make a decision between Corey Crawford and Antti Neimi that the team will carry three goaltenders, at least to start the season. Both have had their time with a few games here and there in the regular season but have spent most of last season splitting their duties with the AHL Rockford IceHogs. From the blueline, the changes are minimal but will have some impact. Brent Sopel will return from an injury filled season that saw him miss 51 games. But the Blackhawks lost Matt Walker to free agency. Walker might not have gotten the points on the scoring sheet but when he was in the lineup it was almost a guaranteed win for the team. He made quite an impact whenever he was on the ice. The core of Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith will continue their wall in the defensive zone. Count Brian Campbell and Cam Barker to have big years. The forward positions is where most of the big changes occurred. In another big off-season move, the Blackhawks picked up free agent Marian Hossa who hopes his luck will change by winning the Stanley Cup after playing on the second best team in the league. Hossa will have to wait to make his debut as he opted for off-season shoulder surgery and is expected to return sometime in November. Also coming from the Red Wings via free agency is Tomas Kopecky who will center the checking line. The team also picked up John Madden who was with the New Jersey Devils to give every line a legitimate scoring chance. The team did suffer a blow when Adam Burish was taken out with an injury that required ACL surgery. He is expected to be out for six months. Not only will he be missed on the ice but in the locker room where he has become the “spokesperson” for the team and is an all-around good guy. The team also went through a few but important non-player moves. The team moved GM Dale Tallon and replaced him with Stan Bowman who was the assistant GM, and son of legendary coach and team advisor Scotty Bowman. To replace Bowman, the team stayed in town and hired a man who has guided the successful AHL Chicago Wolves as their GM in Kevin Cheveldayoff. Look for the Blackhawks to hopefully come out strong and leave the anxiousness of the big expectations that everyone has for this team this season. Last season, the goal was to go a little further in the playoffs but they caught most people by surprise in making the Western Conference Finals. The teams core is still intact with team captain Jonathan Toews. With the team being so young last season, getting the taste of playoff hockey will drive them to want more. The Blackhawks will just get better as the season goes on and when Hossa is injected into the lineup, look out for anyone whom may be in front of them. If Burish comes back near the end of the season, if not sooner, the team will make it a fun chase to the Stanley Cup. When looking at all four lines, and the kind of depth that the team has, don’t be surprised to see at least half of the teams forwards score at least 20 goals each. If you thought of getting tickets to a regular season game was tough to get for the Chicago Blackhawks last season, the team has already set attendance records for their home preseason games and have sold out and have already sold out a good number of dates in the regular season. Contact the author at Matt.Chin@prohockeynews.com
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