Chicago Blackhawks’ Three Players Who Have Stepped Up

Trevor van Riemsdyk

After showing so much promise at the beginning of his career with the Blackhawks, van Riemsdyk’s fall from grace amidst injuries and poor performance to date have him all but on the precipice of being traded. During Seabrook’s hiatus however, TVR has demonstrated he may have a bit of a bounce back left in him.

At this point, no one expects van Riemsdyk to set the world on fire in the least, and as predicted, he’s only notched one assist in the past three games. However, TVR has made his most critical contribution the to Blackhawks’ in the TOI column.

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Through the past three games, van Riemsdyk as averaged around 21 minutes a game. Successfully chewing up this amount of ice time is crucial for the Blackhawks’ blue line because it allows the likes of fellow defensemen Duncan Keith, Brian Campbell, and Niklas Hjalmarsson to stay all the more rested night in and night out.

Additionally, TVR has lately shown some incredibly apt ice vision; stinging long cross-ice passes to generate offensive drives on more than a few occasions.

While TVR’s recent success isn’t going to silence the many critics he’s accumulated over the past few years, he’s certainly making a better case himself lately. A case for what is something only time will tell.