Chicago Blackhawks Training Camp’s Most Intriguing Battles

Chicago Blackhawks training camp is underway, and there’s plenty to be interested in

Today marked the opening session of the Chicago Blackhawks preseason training camp. Pierre-Cedric Labrie scored the first goal, assisted by Jake Dowell. In five days, the Blackhawks will play their first preseason game, at home against Pittsburgh.

The quickest bit of news to come from the first day of camp at Johnny’s IceHouse West was that defenseman Duncan Keith was not in attendance.

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The former Norris Trophy and Conn Smythe winner skipped the World Cup of Hockey to further recover from knee surgery he had last season, and there was speculation he’d miss the start of the Blackhawks’ regular season due to that same thing.

But Blackhawks fans could breathe a sigh of relief later in the day, as Keith took the ice for the team’s last skate.

So what else is there to talk about with training camp?

When we’re not concerned with injuries or when Patrick Kane is going to arrive at camp, we have to be looking at close battles. The Blackhawks’ roster is far from set heading into the 2016-17 season.

Among the issues are deciding who will flank Jonathan Toews on the top line, filling out the bottom six and figuring out the back end of the defense. So today, we’re going to take a look at options in all those areas.