If there's anything GM Stan Bowman can do, it's that he can rebuild on the fly and still keep this team elite in the NHL. He knows how to disassemble the team, figure out what parts need to go out and what needs to come in, and tie it all back together to make one superstar team. Just remember that he did the same thing after the 2010 and 2013 Stanley Cup titles.
Whether or not Stan Bowman's genius will show itself will be left undecided until the playoffs, but right now, he's putting together the right tools to make another Stanley Cup championship seem possible.
After the championship last season, Bowman had to take care of salary cap issues, and cut ties with Brandon Saad and Patrick Sharp. He also allowed Johnny Oduya to hit the free agent market last summer. Many other depth players also were lost to free agency.
Despite all these lost players, the Blackhawks still come in with the fourth-best record in the NHL. So how did they do it? Well, there are many factors contributing this season to the Blackhawks' stellar fall. There's the rookie Artemi Panarin who plays like Patrick Kane and is racking up the points on offense and replacing the ones that were lost this offseason.
Another major factor is Artem Anisimov. He came over in the Brandon Saad trade. Right now, he is the No. 2 center that the Blackhawks have been trying to find. Right now, he is on pace to score between 20 and 25 goals, maybe even more if he gets the puck a little more often.
I know it's hard for this team to replace Johnny Oduya, who's been a stellar force on that team for many years. But look no further than defense Trevor Van Riemsdyk and he has been averaging 20 points a game helping to become an effective presence on the defensive line for the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks originally had Trevor Daley, but was later traded to Pittsburgh because he didn't quite fit into the Chicago system.
Goalie Corey Crawford is starting to step up. Right now, he already has five shutouts and his GAA of 2.16 and save percentage of .927 are better than last season. Not only his performance, but those of the star players like Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane are effective as usual, and Duncan Keith, Niklas Hjalmarsson, and Brent Seabrook prove to be among the NHL's most defensive trio.
I like how the Blackhawks have played so far. They certainly are a playoff team, day in and day out. The core players are looking stellar as usual and the up-and-coming players are starting to make a drastic impact on how the Blackhawks play. The one thing I wasn't certain of was Trevor Daley, who did get traded because he didn't fit into the system. I originally thought he would fit into the system, but after watching a couple of games with him in them this season, it clearly felt he didn't understand what the Blackhawks were trying to achieve. Not he goes to Pittsburgh while Rob Scuderi gets back. We'll see if Scuderi can handle the Blackhawks system that Trevor Daley could not.
Right now, this is an elite team. This is probably the best team in the NHL so far. It may be December, but for the Chicago Blackhawks, what they do early in the season usually helps them later in the season and gets them into the playoffs. So right now, they look like the favorites to win it all. Those Blackhawks are looking awesome!
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