Chicago Blackhawks Milk Carton- Michal Rozsival

The Chicago Blackhawks played the Dallas Stars last night and well we could put the entire team on the Milk Carton like we have done in the past , but there is one certain player that deserves his rightful spot on the Milk Carton and that’s Michal Rozsival.

There have been two moves made by Stan Bowman that you really have to shake your head at the past two years, one is the signing of Daniel Carcillo before the start of this season a move by the Chicago Blackhawks GM to satisfy a need for a physical presence and someone that will fight, but let’s be honest he doesn’t fill any role for the Blackhawks and all he really did is cause the Blackhawks to have a log jam at forward and have to move pieces like Jeremy Morin instead of forcing the Blackhawks to play some youth with their team.

The other move and one with really more lasting effects was when Stan Bowman gave Michal Rozsival a 2 year deal after the 2013 Stanley Cup championship. Rozsival was a very nice piece and player on the bottom pairing for the Blackhawks during their run to the Stanley Cup, but the Hawks only needed to give him a one year deal not a 2 year deal. Last season, Rozsival was already showing signs of age and wear and tear by only playing in 42 games last year in a platoon system with Sheldon Brookbank and Michael Kostka. When the playoffs began though there was Rozsival making almost every start when in reality Brookbank was playing better hockey.

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This season has been even worse for Rozsival with him playing in 56 games and somehow having a +2 for the season, but he seemingly is on the ice for every opponents goal lately. Now when looking at last night’s game there was #32 in the middle of the ice not taking the player with the puck or the other Stars player streaking down the side and just like that it was 1-0 Stars and the long night for the Blackhawks was just beginning.

The problem with Rozsival now is he’s too slow for all the speedy teams in the NHL these days while having some puck handling skills that he showed off during the 2013 campaign are diminishing rapidly and he struggles if he doesn’t play the puck cleanly because if he doesn’t a turnover is bound to happen. The other thing is it also created a log jam at defense causing the Blackhawks to move Adam Clendening because he just wasn’t ever going to see ice time in Chicago.

The worry part is that everyone is counting on Trevor van Riemsdyck to return to help solidify the bottom pairing but I really don’t see this happening this season which means it’s either Rozsival or David Rundblad in the playoffs and neither option is great, but I would much rather roll the dice with Rundblad than watch another minute of Rozsival getting beat and leaving Crawford high and dry behind him. If the Blackhawks are forced to play Rozsival during the playoffs they are in trouble for most of the playoffs

Rozsival wasn’t the only problem last night, but he’s the root of the Blackhawks defensive concerns and my Milk Carton nominee for Saturday night’s blowout in Dallas

Who was your Chicago Blackhawks Milk Carton nominee?

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