Pool Outlook for Chicago

If you weren't impressed by the Blackhawks in 2009, then there is a pretty good chance that you didn't watch the Blackhawks much at all. The young team showed off a lot of their known potential and also managed to turn that potential into wins in the standings. The Blackhawks didn't necessarily put a lot of that potential into big numbers for poolies to take advantage of, but the potential they showed in 2009 would indicate that they are not far away from some big numbers.

Of all the really young talent, it turned out to be Martin Havlat who led all Blackhawks in pool scoring, picking up 29 goals and 48 assists in 81 GP, ranking him 32nd among all players in pool points. Surprisingly not featured in a piece about injury prone players, Havlat does run a big risk of injury, being known more for the time missed than his scoring proficiency when he's healthy. If you picked up Havlat for the 2009 season, you lucked out that he only missed out on one game in the season.

When you move past Havlat, you want to go straight to the two young leaders of the Blackhawks, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. Kane & Toews both had great seasons, finishing with 70 & 69 points, respectively, also finishing 53rd & 54th in pool scoring. These two players have all sorts of potential still to be tapped in the NHL and their third season has the potential for a big breakout. Kris Versteeg, Andrew Ladd and Dave Bolland, all 23 years old, also finished their seasons very well, finishing with 53, 49 & 47 points, respectively. At such a young age, they also show that there is still some room to move up the ranks. Other major forwards of note include, Patrick Sharp, who had an off-year with 44 points in 61 GP and Dustin Byfuglien, a defenseman converted to forward, who finished with 31 points in 77 GP.

The defense of the Blackhawks were not quite as potent as they were somewhat expected to be in 2009, but injuries and some inconsistencies were to blame there. The top defenseman for Chicago was Duncan Keith, finishing with 44 points in 77 GP, his best pool season, ranking 183rd in the league, 19th among defenders. Cam Barker finally had a breakout year with 40 points in 68 GP, 26th among defensemen. The bigger disappointment, due to injury, was for Brian Campbell, who only finished with 21 points in 53 GP, falling well below his totals from 2008. A healthy season in Chicago should bring more chemistry with the team going forward.

In goal, Nikolai Khabibulin and Cristobel Huet were pitted against one another for the number one job, with the edge thought to be going Huet's way, due to Khabibulin's poor 2008. Well, the Bulin Wall proved everyone wrong, taking on the number one job and being the better pool goalie, winning 25 games, 3 by shutouts and adding 2 assists in the year for 58 points. Huet didn't fare too badly, picking up 20 wins and 3 shutouts for 46 points, but those certainly are not number one goalie numbers.

2010 Season Outlook
The start of a good team is certainly a good core and looking at the table of players signed for the Blackhawks for next season, you could come to the conclusion that they have a good core of players to start from, but the small number of players means that they have a lot of work to do when it comes to free agency and evaluating their youth for jobs. It'll be a hard-working summer, but like I mentioned, they have a good spot to start from.

Forwards	Defense	Goaltenders
Patrick Kane	Duncan Keith	Cristobel Huet
Jonathan Toews	Brent Seabrook
Andrew Ladd	Brian Campbell
Patrick Sharp	Brent Sopel
Dustin Byfuglien
Adam Burish

Their current 11 players that they have on for next season come with an approximate cap number of $35.7 million, which is somewhat managable, especially if they have ambitions of spending right to the cap limit. With a full house there in Chicago, they should have plenty of reason to do so now.

The best place to start when looking at the Blackhawks free agency line-up is who is going to be restricted this summer, as the Blackhawks will want to tie up their youngsters going forward. Leading the way in the RFA department are Kris Versteeg, Dave Bolland, Cam Barker, Troy Brouwer, Colin Fraser, Ben Eager and potential back-up, Antti Niemi. There could be a fair bit of money tied up in some of those players, like Versteeg and Barker, so the Blackhawks will have to spend wisely.

Next, the team will have to assess the need for their UFAs. There is some talent there and the salary cap numbers from 2010 to 2011 could be a drastic change, so the long-term deals will have to be rather cap friendly, since they have some prime free agents coming up for the 2011 season. Martin Havlat, Nikolai Khabibulin, Sami Pahlsson and Matt Walker will likely have some sort of chat with management, but a budget will likely have to be set before negotiations can take place.

With some salary cap questions, there should be a good look at some players coming through the system, including Kyle Beach, who signed a deal not too long ago. He should be getting a good look in camp. Jack Skille was close to taking a full-time job with the Hawks this past Fall, but fell a tad short of management's expectations. There could also be a long look for Akim Aliu and Igor Makarov up front, both possessing good scoring skills. It's hard to say who will break through the barrier to the big leagues for the 2010 season, but at least there are some names to consider.

It's fair to say that the Blackhawks have plenty of talent to draw from right now for their fantasy pool teams, as Kane, Toews, Keith, Sharp and Campbell should have immediate pick mentions, while Huet will wait for Khabibulin to sign or not sign to be considered a number one goalie or not. Chicago should be a good place for fantasy players, it will just be a matter of how they fill in the blanks to tip the scales one way or the other, in terms of total production.