Chicago Blackhawks 2021 Season Preview

After winning the cup in 2012-13 and in 2014-15, the Chicago Blackhawks took quite a dive. The vets of the team like captain Jonathan Toews and alternate captain Patrick Kane have publicly stated that they are less than thrilled with this year’s off-season moves. 

Key Additions: Nikkita Zadorov (Colorado Avalanche) 

Nikkita Zadorov was with the Avalanche for 5 years after being traded in 2015 from Buffalo. The Avalanche went from placing 30/30 in 2016, to making second-round playoffs multiple years in a row. It will be exciting to see how well and what he does in Chicago. 

Losses: Brandon Saad (Colorado Avalanche) 

Brandon Saad was traded to the Colorado Avalanche for Nikkita Zadorov. He’s been with the Blackhawks since 2011. He was selected 43rd overall in the draft. He’s been a key forward in their offense. It will be interesting to see how they use Zadorov to fill his place. 

Forward Line Predictions: 

LW	C	RW
Alex Debrincat	Jonathan Toews	Dominik Kubalik
Puis Suter	Kirby Dach	Patrick Kane
Mattias Janmark	Dylan Strome	Alex Nylander
Zack Smith	Lucas Wallmark	Ryan Carpenter

Defensive Pairing Predictions: 

Duncan Keith	Adam Boqvist
Nikita Zadorov	Connor Murphy
Calvin De Haan	Brent Seabrook

Goalies:

Long time Blackhawks goalie, Corey Crawford has left Chicago. He was in the net for over 10 years with the Hawks and with the rebuild, he decided it wasn’t his time anymore. General manager, Stan Bowman, sounds very excited about Colin Delia and Kevin Lankinen. Delia and Lankinen will likely split starts throughout the season.

The Hawks have had an interesting few years. Kirby Dach was selected third overall in the 2019 entry draft and was selected as captain of Team Canada for the upcoming World Junior Championships. Having young talents like Dach along with experienced players like Kane and Toews will make this a team to be reckoned with. 

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