3 Chicago Blackhawks To Watch Against Winnipeg

Let’s not make it five in a row. How about it, Chicago Blackhawks?

The team is currently mired in a four-game slump during which it has compiled just one point. Tonight offers a chance to break that negative run, as the Blackhawks travel to Winnipeg to face a Jets teams that is well out of the playoff hunt.

The Jets are ahead of only the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference, though both teams have 63 points. They traded their captain, Andrew Ladd, to the Blackhawks ahead of the trade deadline for a package that sent Marko Dano to the Jets. Interestingly, the two players have seen their offensive stats trend in opposite directions since the move, but both clubs are 3-6-1 in their last 10 games.

Let’s get to the projected lines for this game, starting with the constantly changing Blackhawks.

Andrew Ladd-Jonathan Toews–Marian Hossa

Artemi Panarin–Artem Anisimov–Patrick Kane

Tomas Fleischmann–Andrew Shaw–Dale Weise

Andrew Desjardins–Dennis Rasmussen–Richard Panik

Duncan Keith–Niklas Hjalmarsson

Erik Gustafsson–Brent Seabrook

Trevor van Riemsdyk–Michal Rozsival

Scott Darling–Michael Leighton

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Most noticeable would be Corey Crawford‘s absence, as he’s sidelined with an unclear upper-body injury. Coach Joel Quenneville gave his typical “We’ll see” answer as to whether or not Crow would be available Sunday against Minnesota. Teuvo Teravainen is also questionable due to an illness, which was bugging him before Wednesday’s game against Philadelphia. If Teuvo does play, the guess would be he slots in on the third line, bumping Shaw to the fourth in favor of Panik.

Christian Ehrhoff will also take a seat despite playing well against Philly. Of course, the game-winning goal did deflect off Ehrhoff before beating Darling, so Ehrhoff is getting the Nick Leddy treatment. Meanwhile, TVR gets to keep being out of position on multiple goals against. Should be a good time.

On to the Jets.

Drew Stafford–Mark Scheifele–Blake Wheeler

Mathieu Perreault-Alex Burmistrov-Marko Dano

Scott Kosmachuk–Adam Lowry–Chris Thorburn

Matt Halischuk–Andrew Copp–J.C. Lipon

Tobias Enstrom-Dustin Byfuglien

Jacob Trouba–Tyler Myers

Ben Chiarot–Paul Postma

Ondrej Pavelec–Michael Hutchinson

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Wheeler is having a career year with 62 points in 70 games, but he hasn’t gotten much help. Scheifele, Perreault and Byfuglien all have 40 points or more, as does the injured Bryan Little. Dano has five points in 10 games — including three goals — since being traded from the Blackhawks. You know he’ll want to show his former team what it’s missing out on.

The defense has some interesting pieces, but they haven’t been able to support the goaltending much. And that, ultimately, is what has sank the Jets. Pavelec missed a large portion of the season due to injury, and he wasn’t very good before that absence. Hutchinson hasn’t been very good this season, either, and the now-sent-down Connor Hellebuyck tried his best to hold down the fort but could only get so far in front of a “meh” defense and so-so offense.

Let’s look at three Blackhawks to watch tonight at MTS Centre.

Andrew Ladd

Since contributing a few points in his first few games with the Blackhawks, Ladd has gone cold. This culminated in his positioning on the third line Wednesday, as Q tried to find line combinations that would produce offense. With Teuvo potentially out and the Blackhawks still struggling to produce even-strength scoring against Philadelphia, Ladd returns to the top line.

He also returns to his former home for the previous 4 1/2 seasons. A large media throng met Ladd at MTS Centre this morning. Maybe he’ll be fired up to play in his old home. We should really hope so, because the Blackhawks’ offense needs to get things going, especially in the top six, and especially at even strength. Ladd should be looked to tonight to produce.

Erik Gustafsson

The defense has never been in more disarray, with Rozsival seeing serious minutes Wednesday while Gustafsson sat. I have no problem with Gustafsson coming back in, though I wish it was for TVR and not Ehrhoff. It’s not clear what kind of minutes Gustafsson will get tonight, but with the Jets being on last change and having a size advantage over the Blackhawks, it’d be nice to see Gustafsson stick out in a positive way.

With the playoffs getting closer and closer, there are fewer and fewer opportunities for Gustafsson to prove he deserves to be a part of the playoff blue line. And since he’s probably the best sixth man option available, it’d be great to see him start to make more of a positive impact on games.

Dale Weise

Weise has just one assist in his last six games, but he’s getting a go on the third line with previous Montreal teammate Fleischmann. Having Shaw center the line isn’t the best option, but that may be how it goes if Teuvo is deemed too sick to play. I still think this line can produce with Shaw at center, and I think Weise could have a breakout game as a result. The Jets won’t be focused so much on this line, which boasts speed in Fleischmann and Weise and grinders in Weise and Shaw. It could be a useful tool in the Blackhawks’ breaking out of their even-strength scoring struggles.