Chicago Blackhawks 2016-17 Over/Under: Trevor van Riemsdyk

As the regular season begins in just a couple of weeks, the Chicago Blackhawks are looking to improve on their early exit last season. Over the next few weeks, Blackhawk Up will give projections for the stats of each player heading into the season, based off the trend of past three seasons, career averages, and potential linemate projections. 

Will a smaller role with the Chicago Blackhawks’ defense cause a larger improvement for Trevor van Riemsdyk?

As far as rookies go for the Chicago Blackhawks in 2015-16 season, Trevor van Riemsdyk was pretty much second-fiddle to Artemi Panarin. But give credit where credit is due, van Riemsdyk was put into a difficult position and he did just as well as anyone could have expected him to do.

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For most of last season, van Riemsdyk was playing top-four defenseman minutes with the responsibilities of being the next puck-moving defender for the Blackhawks to make a big mark in a big role. But, it didn’t turn out perfectly.

He had issues with puck possession at times during the year, and playing alongside Brent Seabrook, who we profiled as having issues with possession himself last year, never helped van Riemsdyk.

Heading into 2016-17, the Blackhawks signed Brian Campbell to play in a top-four role and subsequently put van Riemsdyk in a position to be a third-pairing defenseman. Which is where he should be at this point of his development. An undrafted player from the University of New Hampshire and the younger brother of James van Riemsdyk, Trevor has played well for Chicago and should greatly benefit from a potential new role next season.

Blackhawks 2016-17 Over/Under For Brian Campbell

Factors

Last Three Seasons (NCAA/AHL/NHL): 

• 2013-14: 26 GP – 4g, 19a, 23Pts, +13 (w/University of New Hampshire)
• 2014-15: 18 GP – 0g, 1a, 1Pts, Even, 13:32 TOI
  • AHL: 8 GP – 0g, 3a, 3Pts, +2 (w/Rockford IceHogs)
• 2015-16: 82 GP – 3g, 11a, 14Pts, -5, 19:59 TOI

Career Average:

• 82 Game AVG: 2g, 10a, 12Pts, -4, 18:49 TOI

Potential Linemates:

• Michal Kempny – Most Likely
• Michal Rozsival – 50/50
• Viktor Svedberg – 50/50
• Erik Gustafsson – Outside Shot

Projection: 4G, 10A, 14Pts

The most intriguing thing heading into 2016-17 for van Riemsdyk is who he will be playing with in his potential new third-pairing role. Kempny was an offseason signing from the KHL and has impressed early in summer camps and looks to potentially be everything that was advertised as a solid two-way defender.

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Play him with van Riemsdyk and Chicago’s defensive problems from last season should go away.

Writer Prediction: Under 

Then there are the options of van Riemsdyk playing with Rozsival or Svedberg, which he did for a part of last season to limited success.

If the Blackhawks are going to be solid on the blue line this season, they will need to play the right scheme, and pairing Rozsival and Svedberg with van Riemsdyk would be the wrong scheme because he needs someone to be able to skate and move the puck along with him.

Kempny is the one to do that, not Rozsival or Svedberg.

Goal scoring and big point production are not part of van Riemsdyk’s forte, and potentially playing in a more limited, but effective, role in the third pairing will benefit the team as a whole. Therefore, the production projection for Trevor van Riemsdyk is 14 points for the 2016-17 season.