The Chicago Blackhawks had their usual late season surge to take the top spot in the Central Division.
They raced past a Minnesota Wild team that slumped late as well as the St Louis Blues and Nashville Predators.
The reward for first place in the division was an opening round series with the Predators who promptly outscored the Hawks 13-3, including two shutouts, in a four-game sweep.
Chicago was in the top tier in the NHL last season for goals for (9th with 2.93 GF) and goals against (11th with 2.56 GA).
Where the Hawks under-performed was in special teams. Their power play was successful only 18% of the time, good for 19th in the league. The penalty kill this past season was dismal at 24th for the campaign at 77.7% success rate.
By the time the playoffs arrived, the Blackhawks looked tired and the Predators exploited that en route to the unforeseen sweep in the first round.
The two superstars, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane were mostly invisible as impact players over the course of the season. Toews scored 21 goals and 58 points in 72 games and Kane netted 34 goals in 82 games but was not the impact player of seasons past.
Artemi Panarin kicked in 31 goals and 74 points on the season and was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Brandon Saad.
Panarin won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in the 2015-16 season with 77 points.
Saad’s return to the Hawks’ fold was a bit of a theme this off season with Patrick Sharp resigned for a one-year deal.
Sharp’s deal will pay an estimated $800,000 in salary and $200,000 in bonuses.
“It was a difficult process, something that was a new experience for me, but at the end of the day, the decision to return home to Chicago was really one I couldn’t pass up,” Sharp said on NHL.com. “I’m excited. My wife is excited. The family is thrilled to be coming back home, but I want to make it clear that I’m coming back home to contribute to the Blackhawks on the ice in whatever role that may be. I’m coming back to make some more great memories and try to help this team win another Stanley Cup. That’s the reason I’m coming home.”
Sharp had eight goals and 18 points in 43 games with the Dallas Stars last season. Concussion symptoms and a hip injury limited his ice time.
“Obviously, we’ve accomplished an awful lot with Patrick previously,” Chicago general manager Stan Bowman said on NHL.com. “But this is not really about looking backward. This is looking forward. We’re looking ahead. Patrick, he’s always trained very hard. I expect him to bring a lot of speed to the table. I think that’s the one thing that he still has. He’s a great skater. He knows how to put the puck in the net. That’s something that, some players just have a knack for getting open and getting their shot off, and Patrick certainly can do that.”
Tommy Wingelswas signed to a one-year deal after playing last season for the San Jose Sharks and Ottawa Senators. He scored five goals and 12 points on the season.
Also signed this off season was defenseman Jordan Oesterle from the Edmonton Oilers system. He iced in two games for the Oilers and spent the rest of the season leading the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors’ defensemen with with 32 points on seven goals and 25 assists.
Chicago signed goaltender Jean-Francois Berube to a two-year deal deal worth an reported $1.5 million total. Berube tended net for the New York Islanders the last two seasons as an occasional backup. He was 3-2-2 last year with a 3.42 goals against average and 0.889 save percentage.
Defenseman Erik Gustafsson resigned with the Hawks on a one-year deal and former Calgary Flame forward, Lance Bouma, signed with the Hawks for one year.
“We have some new faces, and that’s one thing I try to keep reminding people,” Bowman said after the trades and signings this off season. “We’re trying to create some new chemistry.”
That brewing of the new chemistry will be the responsibility of head coach Joel Quenneville. The Hawks hope it is addition by subtraction with the departures of Niklas Hjalmarsson, Brian Campbell, Johnny Oduya, and Trevor van Riemsdyk.
“We’re going to see when we’re putting the pairs together, whether we’re going to reunite [Duncan Keith] and [Brent Seabrook] or look for some balance,” head coach Joel Quenneville said on CSN Chicago. “There are a lot of options. We’ll look forward to that and sorting it out.”
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