Team: 2019-20 Chicago Blackhawks

Initial Creation Date: Jul. 22, 2019

Published: Jul. 22, 2019

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Projected lineup of the 2019/2020 Chicago Blackhawks. Kirby Dach and maybe Adam Boqvist get the first 9 games of the season with the Hawks and then get sent down. The Blackhawks stick with a 1st line that worked last year. Drake Caggiula is a work horse everywhere on the ice and makes space for Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane to make plays. On the 2nd line they have great chemistry between Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Strome. They have a wildcard on their line in Alex Nylander who has good offensive upside and can score. 3rd line has a good mix of skill and size. They can score gritty goals (thanks to Andrew Shaw and Brandon Saad) but also score from the perimeter (Dominik Kubalik) as well as defend (Brandon Saad). The 4th line is mostly defensive, has good size and versatility something coach Colliton seems to love. All three players (Zack Smith, David Kampf and Ryan Carpenter) have all of those characteristics. Anton Wedin serves as the healthy scratch as many of the Hawks prospects develop in the minors. He may get sometime as he’s a versatile speedy forward much like former Blackhawk, Dominik Kahun. Brendan Perlini is the odd man out and ends up getting traded for picks and a defensive prospect. 1st line of defense is another line that worked with Duncan Keith-Erik Gustafsson which has offensive upside and Keith can cover for Gustafsson’s defensive deficiencies. Gustafsson can also use his speed to help Keith. Next is Calvin de Haan-Brent Seabrook. Seabrook has struggled as of late but de Haan should be able to cover for him defensively. While it’s a slower pair it is a good two-way pair. Finally the 3rd pairing of Olli Määtta-Connor Murphy. Määtta is more of a two-way defenseman while Murphy is a defensive defenseman and is very solid. Again like Seabrook and de Haan it’s a slower pair but should get the job done. Slater Koekkoek serves as the healthy scratch. The 2nd and 3rd pair split pretty even minutes while Keith and Gustafsson average +20 minutes a night. The goalie situation I think will be a 1A 1B situation and honestly is a wild card. Corey Crawford is good when healthy. Problem is he’s not often healthy. And then we have Robin Lehner who is good but is inconsistent (see 17-18). The Blackhawks run the same top power play unit as last year. It worked very well once it got going. All of the players had great chemistry and should continue to do so. They also come back with a new and improved 2nd unit. Nylander is the sniper on the left, Shaw sits in front of the net, Saad plays along the boards, Keith is the puck moving defenseman and Kubalik is their as a sniper/playmaker at the point similar to Gustafsson on the 1st unit. On the 1st penalty kill unit the Blackhawks run Toews and Kampf similar to last year but de Haan and Murphy shore up the back end and block shots. The next unit could be interchangeable (Shaw, Smith, Caggiula, Seabrook and etc.) but I decided to go with newly acquired center Carpenter (52% on facoffs) and Saad on the wing, who is a good penalty killer. The blueline isn’t amazing but Keith is a hard worker and can play limited minutes on the PK and Määtta can block a lot of shots and is good in his own end. Thoughts?