Pool Outlook for Chicago

The top-heavy Chicago Blackhawks were not short on offense in the 2019 season, they were still a hockey pool favourite, when it came to collecting points and helping to win money.  I mean, that's what we're here for, so the Blackhawks were good, right?  Overall, not really.

No, the Blackhawks had a hard time keeping the puck out of their own net, a really hard time, in fact.  Sure, the Blackhawks ranked 8th in the league in goals for with 270 goals scored, but at the same time, they allowed 292 goals for a negative goal differential and that ultimately cost them any chance at a playoff spot this season.

The rest of the teams in the Central Division have really tightened up their defense, especially those teams that had qualified for the playoffs, so we know where the Blackhawks are deficient, but we also know that this team is so incredibly cap-burdened, that changing the course of this team will take a lot of strength and willpower in the off-season... or some trading partners that are willing to take on some of the burden.

How many teams in the NHL feel sorry for the Blackhawks right now?  Probably about the same amount of teams that want to help them with their burden.

It was a return to form for Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane in the 2019 season, as he bounced back from a 76-point campaign the year before to post 44 goals and 110 points in 81 games this season, which was good enough for 3rd overall in hockey pool scoring, but it was far from enough to carry his team into a playoff position.  Still though, for us hockey pool enthusiasts, he's going to be a popular player once again, but what kind of Kane are we going to see next season?

In total, there were 12 players, including Kane, worthy of a hockey pool selection in this past season, seven forwards, three defensemen and a pair of goalies.  Jonathan Toews, Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Strome, Brandon Saad, Artem Anisimov and Dominik Kahun rounded out all the forwards, DeBrincat, Strome and Kahun leading the new youthful charge.  On defense, Erik Gustafsson blew the ink off the score sheets this season, leading the blueliners from the Blackhawks, followed by some old favourites in Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook.  In net, injuries limited Corey Crawford and gave Cam Ward some extended time in net, so they both were deemed worthy, but neither were in the top 31 goalies, rounding out some late action for the goalie rankings.

What I Said Last Year, At This Time...

The Blackhawks, this early in the off-season, are a bit of a wild card for next year. They certainly have the core group of players in place for the 2019 season, but when the cap ceiling finally moves, all bets are off, as to who stays, who goes and how they could possibly improve their depth. If Corey Crawford can't come back, how will the Blackhawks fill that void? Is Marian Hossa going to be able to play again? These are questions that we can't answer just yet, but looking at the team that they have in place, there's certainly a chance that Chicago could return to the playoffs, all things being equal. I am extremely curious to see what they do in this off-season, as those corresponding moves might give us a clearer picture about how they're moving forward with their key injured players.

Crawford was able to play again, but did have more concussion problems, while Hossa did have to call it quits for the 2019 season and the core group of players did stick around, adding some youth to the mix, which certainly helped their cap situation out.  Unfortunately, none of the corresponding moves in the summer were able to keep pucks out of their own net in the season and hence, their early outlook post this spring.

How did my intriguing or breakout player fare?

Corey Crawford was definitely an intriguing character for the Blackhawks, missing the first five games with a concussion and then he missed another 28 games to another concussion in the middle of the season.  In total, he appeared in 39 games in the season and posted 36 points, which wasn't amazing by any stretch, but not all of his fault either.  He did finish the season on a healthy note, which has to be a positive for next season, since he's still has one more year on his deal at $6 million.

2020 Pool Outlook

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Patrick Kane	10.500	Brent Seabrook	6.850	Corey Crawford	6.000
Jonathan Toews	10.500	Duncan Keith	5.538	Collin Delia	1.000
Brandon Saad	6.000	Connor Murphy	3.850
Artem Anisimov	4.550	Erik Gustafsson	1.200
Drake Caggiula	1.500	Henri Jokiharju	0.925
Dominik Kahun	0.925	Adam Boqvist	0.925
Dylan Strome	0.863	Carl Dahlstrom	0.850
Alex DeBrincat	0.778
David Kampf	0.778
John Hayden	0.750
Alexandre Fortin	0.707

11 out of 12 pool worthy players are already signed on and ready to get going for next season, the only one missing is Cam Ward, who is heading to unrestricted free agency, which we'll touch on again in this post.  There's no shortage of offense in this group, in theory, so there's still lots of promise in this lineup for a return to hockey pool prominence next season.

Free Agency and the Salary Cap

Currently, the Blackhawks are rocking a 20-man roster above and against the projected salary cap ceiling of $83 million, they have $18 million in cap space, which is a lot for this group.  Chicago could be very aggressive, when it comes to the free agent market, which could make them very dangerous next season.

As it was mentioned, Ward is the only pool worthy player heading to free agency and he'll be unrestricted, coming off a $3 million deal.  I could certainly see him re-sign in Chicago, given the unstable nature of Crawford's health, but we'll have to wait and see.  Delia proved he was capable of some ice-time, so it will be an interesting decision.

Unfortunately, Henri Jokiharju played too many games in the 2019 season to keep his rookie status for the 2020 season, but he is probably the furthest along for the Blackhawks to take a full-time position on the blueline and really round out this team.  Jokiharju played in 38 games and posted 12 assists and did get picked up in this year's draft, but it may have been a little bit early, as the 19-year old may not have been seasoned enough for this past season, but his experience may make him a much better 20-year old.

Needs at the 2019 Entry Draft

The Blackhawks are stocked to the hilt, in terms of young defensemen, so they should be looking for more skilled forwards to compliment the team, as it is today.  And as luck would have it, the Chicago Blackhawks were the third team to win at the draft lottery, moving up from the 12th spot to pick 3rd.  A huge win!  With that huge win, they will choose from a decent group of forwards and it may very well be some raw scoring talent that they'll go with, as Russian Vasily Podkolzin appears to be one of the favourites among the external NHL scouts to make an impact.  Said to be a complete winger, something that should fit in well to the Chicago scheme.

The questions at the back end for the Blackhawks are going to be what needs to be addressed the most.  Making sure that they have quality depth behind Crawford in net and trying to refresh their blueline to be a little bit more mobile and responsible will be key.  This team can make the playoffs next season, especially with the increase in salary cap space coming for this club.  In fact, if this team can make the playoffs next year, they should also be poised to do some real damage when they get there, especially given the core's experience at the spring dance.

Morning Player Notes (Mar 15)

It sounds like Cam Ward is ready to return to regular backup duties for the Chicago Blackhawks, so rookie keeper Collin Delia was reassigned back to the AHL from his emergency recall, only appearing in relief once, when Corey Crawford couldn't finish a game due to illness.  Delia will likely be getting a good chunk of work with the minor league team down the stretch, which the Blackhawks are hoping will help his development moving forward.

Of course, that doesn't help Derek B.'s team much, but his wrap on the rookie points is all but certain.  His team has finally dropped down to last place in the overall standings, as Scott moved ahead of him on Thursday night and Derek now sits 4 points back.

It sounds like a trip up to the press box for Kyle Turris has more to do with some of his mediocre scoring numbers than anything else, as the Nashville Predators move closer and closer to the playoffs.  Turris currently ranks 368th in hockey pool scoring this season with 7 goals and 22 points in 46 games this season, missing significant time on two separate occasions, which probably hasn't helped his rhythm at all.  The Predators are hoping a step back will help him move forward with a little bit more confidence.

Jeremy's team could certainly use a more confident Turris this week, but his team did move out of the Basement Dweller position, if only barely, now 1 point clear of Mike's team, which now resides in the position. 

With the return of Carter Hart to the Philadelphia Flyers' net on Thursday night, the team opted to give Brian Elliott the whole night off, not making him dress as the backup and leaving that job to Cam Talbot.  Elliott will reportedly get the nod on the second half of back-to-back nights tonight, when they travel to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs.  Since Philadelphia will likely be going down the stretch with all three goalies until the end of the year, I would expect to see more of this, like Hart going up to the press box for tonight's game.

Troy's goalie didn't exactly miss out on a start, but if Hart was to struggle, which he kind of did, there was no chance at minutes in the crease for an improbable comeback.  It's not much to hang your hat on, but it is something, I guess.  Troy's team currently sits in 10th, 8 points back of 9th.

Morning Player Notes (Feb 26)

Well, you can paint me surprised, as Corey Crawford was activated from the Injured Reserve by the Blackhawks on Monday, adding a veteran presence to their crease. This means that one of their goalies had to go and it is Collin Delia getting the call to head back to the AHL, as he is the lesser-paid keeper, still developing his game.   Delia won 6 games in his stay up with the big club, making 15 appearances to get there and picking up 12 points in total.  Of course, he'll be the first guy up, if the Blackhawks run into any more injury trouble.

Out of those 12 points, Derek B. was able to capture a win out of it, 2 points in three appearances, which is a small help to his rookie total this season.  Derek's team still holds a 15-point lead in the rookie mini-game, so there shouldn't be too much concern there.

The Devils were sellers on Monday's deadline and when they took to the ice, it was almost like the team sold off most of their training staff, as the lower-body injuries piled up on them.  Both forward Jesper Bratt and defenseman Will Butcher were already sidelined ahead of the game against the Canadiens and in that game, another pool player, forward Miles Wood, left the game with a lower-body injury of his own.  All three will be considered day-to-day until otherwise noted.

The Devils don't expect much out of this season, but there are still hockey pool teams that are depending on them to stay healthy.  Jeremy's 17th place team has Bratt, Benson's 21st place team has Butcher and Ryan's 12th place team has Wood. 

The rotation of defensemen continues in Tampa Bay and it was Mikhail Sergachev's turn to sit again, as he had a seat for the game against the Los Angeles Kings.  This rotation has been nothing new to the team, as they have already been working it for about a month and it just adds to the workload of the blog, when I take these players off and re-add them later on. 

Stuart's defenseman sits again, but his lead remains very safe.  His team added 2 more points to it last night and that was without one of his prized defenders.  Stuart's defense is tied for 9th in the pool this season with 104 points, one of the big compliments to his pool-leading forwards.

Goalie Announcements (Feb 18)

We've got some early action in Calgary on this Family Day holiday, which has expedited this post today, which probably means there will be some solid guessing today.

It's a new week, so let's get right to it.

Calvin Pickard (N/A) versus Mike Smith (Brian)
Brian gets the only hockey pool start in the matinee game between the Coyotes and the Flames, as Mike Smith has seemingly taken back the crease for Calgary, as they stride towards the playoffs.  Brian's team opens the week on the equator of the standings, down in 13th, but is only 10 points out of 8th place and that number can start coming down today with a win.

Andrei Vasilevskiy (Dale C.) versus Joonas Korpisalo (N/A)
With a big 10-point week last week, Andrei Vasilevskiy has climbed his way into the top 25 in pool scoring, finally worth the 1st round pick he was taken with, although Dale C. took him with the 2nd overall selection, hardly the 23rd ranking that he currently sits in.  He is projected to get the start today, unconfirmed at the time of this post, but 2 points could move him up one more spot in the rankings and 4 more points could get him to 16th, in theory.

Anders Nilsson (Stuart) versus Collin Delia (Derek B.)
The Blackhawks will be donning their Winter Classic gear again tonight and that's pretty exciting, those are some pretty sharp jerseys.  In this one, it's the overall leader against the rookie leader, with the rookie leader getting a rookie start out of the home side.  Yes, Stuart has seemingly destroyed the Week Eighteen Waiver Draft with his pick of Nilsson, while Derek has only had minimal returns from Delia, a pick from the same swap.  This is a game of sellers at the deadline, so who knows what's going to happen?

Malcolm Subban (N/A) versus Semyon Varlamov (Wilton)
It appears that the Golden Knights are finally affording their number one goalie a little bit of rest these days, as they confirmed that Malcolm Subban will get back-to-back starts with the team tonight in Colorado, winning his last effort, Saturday night against Nashville.  What we don't know for sure is the Colorado starter, so we'll assume they'll go back to the number one, as they are desperately in need of getting out of a nasty slide in the standings.

Tuukka Rask (Jesse) versus Martin Jones (Brenda & Seward)
No guessing needed for the Bruins and Sharks tonight, as we know it will be Rask versus Jones in one of the late games tonight.  Jesse's team has been hot, thanks, in part, to more playing time for Rask, while the duo near the bottom of the standings have been working their way out of it, now 23rd and only 1 point back of 22nd.  They get a start from Jones, who has been very good of late as well.  This game could be a very good one to watch.

Pheonix Copley (Brian) versus Jack Campbell (N/A)
The Washington Capitals are on back-to-back days down in California, so it seems very likely that they'll go with Pheonix Copley after their loss in Anaheim yesterday.  This hasn't been confirmed early on Monday afternoon, but it does seem likely that Brian would get his second start of the day here.  The Kings have confirmed that they'll go back to Jack Campbell tonight, keeping another start out of the hockey pool.

Goalie Announcements (Feb 12)

Monday night was a good night for most of the teams that were not in the top four in the standings, as there were quite a few points handed out among those 21 teams, give or take three of them.  Jeremy and Scott's teams were tops on the night with 6 points each, making some waves in the standings, even if they were just little ones.

Seven teams didn't register a point, sure, but it was an awfully quiet night, with only three games going.  Four of those teams didn't even register a skater game, so that's how quiet it was.

Tuesday night is going to be different, of course, 12 games on the schedule tonight, so there will be plenty of points to go around and tomorrow's goalie post will look a little bit more comprehensive.  Let's see how the starters breakdown for tonight.

Collin Delia (Derek B.) versus Tuukka Rask (Jesse)
Derek's assault on the rookie mini-game continues with a start from Collin Delia and the Blackhawks tonight, when they go into Boston for an Original Six meeting against the Bruins.  Derek's lead was cut into a bit last night, but he gets a chance to put some points back from the crease with this start.  At the other end, Tuukka Rask goes for the Bruins, giving Jesse a start, who is looking towards the Mover & Shaker this week, starting the night only 2 points back of the lead.

Robin Lehner (Chelsea) versus Linus Ullmark (Steve)
Chelsea has one of the seven teams without a point, while Steve's is only marginally better at 1 point after Monday night, so they'll both be grasping for points to try and keep themselves clear of the early week basement designation.  The Islanders are running pretty hot of late, 7-1-2 in their last 10 games, so they likely hold the advantage in this one.

Anton Khudobin (Grant) versus Roberto Luongo (John P.)
It's pretty close to the same, as Grant has one of those top four teams with no points after Monday night, but John's team only has 2 points, so it's not a huge advantage, when they see their goalies go tonight in Florida, when the Stars take on the Panthers.  John's goalies are off to a good start in this third segment, posting a few wins last week, so they are looking to keep that hot streak alive and maybe climb into the top half of the standings.

Braden Holtby (Stacey C.) versus Sergei Bobrovsky (Kristy & Don)
The Capitals are on the second half of back-to-backs tonight, heading into Columbus to take on a division rival and it looks like it will be a goaltending clinic tonight, between Holtby and Bobrovsky.  Stacey is hoping the Caps could do for his goalie, what they did for Brian's goalie last night, which is give him a win, while the duo are looking to get on the board this week with a win of their own.  This should be a pretty good game, in theory.

Petr Mrazek (Stacey C.) versus Anders Nilsson (Stuart)
It sounds like Craig Anderson is dealing with an eye injury and is day-to-day, thanks to a tennis ball incident, so Anders Nilsson gets to take back the net for the Senators, giving Stuart a start tonight, trying to pad his lead in the overall standings.  The Hurricanes hadn't confirmed their goalie, at the time of the post, but it does seem safe to assume that Stacey would get a second start with Petr Mrazek probably going back into the net tonight.

David Rittich (Ryan) versus Andrei Vasilevskiy (Dale C.)
The first fully confirmed game for tonight is the Flames and the Lightning, where we'll see starts for Ryan and Dale.  These will be their only starts for the night, as they try and improve upon weekly totals of 1 and 4 points, respectively, after Monday night.  Of course, you can't look past how big of a game this is for both teams, as the potential for a June match-up is certainly in the cards, so this will be a big measuring stick game for both sides.

Keith Kinkaid (Neil) versus Jordan Binnington (N/A)
It seems like Neil has a lot of games where his goalie is the only one that is pool worthy in a game or maybe it's just me.  Anyways, it is certainly the case when the Devils take on the Blues, as Keith Kinkaid will look to add 2 points to the tally tonight, but they are up against a streaking Blues team, which is playing very well of late.  How no one took a gamble on Binnington a couple of weeks ago is kind of surprising.

Jimmy Howard (Tony) versus Pekka Rinne (John P.)
Tony and John are only separated by 9 points in the standings, so this isn't quite a swing game in the overall standings, but it is a pretty good match-up for the middle of the table.  John, who is the trailing team of the two, gets his second start of the night in this game, which makes it a little bit more interesting, especially if he gets a win in the first game.  Tony is looking to see if his team can make up the 10 points he needs for the top 10, as 10th place is his peak spot at the end of a week this season.

Anthony Stolarz (N/A) versus Devan Dubnyk (Wes)
Wes only gets one start tonight, as his team tries to jump on the top four teams with another win.  His team reeled in another point last night and his team now starts Tuesday night only 9 points out of the money and Devan Dubnyk will get the call for the Wild, taking on a Flyers team which has also been pretty hot of late.  The Flyers are playing the second half of a back-to-back, so Wes may have lucked out there.

Henrik Lundqvist (Scott) versus Connor Hellebuyck (Jeremy)
Jeremy's team is making a run for a Mover & Shaker late on in the season, pretty well too late for his team, but it would sure look good on the all-time records to get another one.  Connor Hellebuyck will go for him, as the Jets host the Rangers at the Bell MTS Centre.  The Rangers have not confirmed their goalie at the time of the post, but with their number two going last on the weekend, they would probably will go back to ol' faithful to get the job done on the road. 

Frederik Andersen (Wilton) versus Semyon Varlamov (Wilton)
If I were a betting man, I would say that Wilton will get 2 points from a goalie in this game between the Maple Leafs and Avalanche tonight.  It sure looks as if both of his goalies will go head-to-head tonight, as his team starts the night 11 points out of the top 10 and in line for a couple points, at the very least.

Darcy Kuemper (Neil) versus Marc-Andre Fleury (Troy)
In the late, late game of the night, the Coyotes are into Vegas to take on the Golden Knights and Neil gets his second start of the night from the visitors, while Troy gets his only start of the night from the home side.  Troy's hold on a top 10 spot is beginning to slip and he desperately needs his best player to get his team back on track with a win tonight.