Chicago Blackhawks’ New Franchise Core Slowly Falling Into Place

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Chicago Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman has been laying out his blueprint for the team’s future core, and we’re slowly seeing it come to fruition

The Chicago Blackhawks clinched their ninth straight Stanley Cup Playoffs berth after defeating the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday. The Blackhawks have not missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs since the 2008-09 season. Outside of that campaign, the Blackhawks’ front office has been guided by general manager Stan Bowman.

Bowman took over the reigns of the franchise on July 14, 2009, from Dale Tallon and hasn’t looked back since. While Bowman’s accomplishments — i.e. three Stanley Cups and the third-longest current playoff streak in the NHL behind the Penguins and Red Wings (soon to be ending) — are nothing to scoff at, they always had a feeling of winning with borrowed parts. Like when a new college football coach takes over a team with the former coach’s recruits and wins right away.

Looking at some of Bowman’s moves

An area where Bowman has struggled has been youth development and young talent acquisition. His drafting history has been checkered at best since taking over.

Taking a look at Bowman’s drafts, you can see that prior to 2013, the misses have vastly outweighed the hits.

Bowman’s draft classes (2010-present; *—currently signed to CHI contract)

2010–Kevin Hayes, Ludvig Rensfeldt, Justin Holl, Kent Simpson, Stephen Johns, Joakim Nordstrom, Rob Flick, Mirko Hoefflin, Nick Mattson, Mac Carruth*

Bowman’s first draft netted just one player who is still with the franchise in Mac Carruth, and a first-round pick who failed to sign with the Blackhawks in Kevin Hayes.

2011

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The 2011 draft class had so much potential for Chicago, but only Shaw and Saad came out of the fray as real contributors to the Blackhawks. On the flip side, Danault, Clendening and Shalunov have made strides professionally as of late.

2012–Teuvo Teravainen, Dillon Fournier*, Chris Calnan, Garret Ross, Travis Brown, Vince Hinostroza*, Brandon Whitney, Matt Tomkins

The 2012 class is where Bowman began to mold his blueprint for the future of the Blackhawks. Teravainen helped Chicago win a Stanley Cup in 2015, and Hinostroza is a solidified part of the future for the Blackhawks.

2013–Ryan Hartman*, Carl Dahlstrom*, John Hayden*, Robin Norell*, Tyler Motte*, Luke Johnson*, Anthony Louis*, Robin Press

Arguably the best class Bowman has compiled so far. Hartman, Hayden and Motte have put themselves squarely into the discussion for future success with Chicago.

2014

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A largely unproven class from 2014 has a load of potential and is headlined by this year’s rookie standout in Schmaltz.

2015–Graham Knott*, Dennis Gilbert, Ryan Shea, Radovan Bondra, Roy Radke, Joni Tuulola, John Dahlstrom

Quite possibly the largest class in terms of physical stature, the 2015 class does not have one player under 6-foot tall, and each has the potential to score big numbers at the next level.

2016–Alex DeBrincat*, Chad Krys, Artur Kayumov, Wouter Peeters, Lucas Carlsson, Nathan Noel, Mathias From, Blake Hillman, Jake Ryczek

Maybe the most promising class from Bowman to date. DeBrincat seems like the biggest lock to be an NHL success in Bowman’s tenure, and even that may be an understatement.

It was a rough start for Bowman, but his draft classes have improved over the years, and building for the future has seen more success than in previous years as the age and wear and tear on the Blackhawks’ current core begins to take its toll.

But it’s not just through drafting and developing that Bowman has begun to re-tool the core of the Blackhawks. Through trades and signings, Bowman has brought in fresh, talented players to add to the blueprint for the future of the Blackhawks.

Players like Tanner Kero, Alexandre Fortin and Gustav Forsling were all undrafted signings the franchise made to add youth, depth and skill to the organization. Forsling and Kero have already made an impact at the NHL level, while Fortin, along with recent junior signing Matthew Highmore, have been impressive in their time in the QMJHL and look to make the jump to the professional ranks next season.

Youth movement necessary for Chicago

While drafting well and making sure development of young talent is a priority for all professional teams, the Blackhawks needed it desperately over the past few seasons. While the current core was instrumental in bringing home the Stanley Cup in 2015, the 2016 campaign was a grind that ultimately ended in the first round against the St. Louis Blues.

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The seven-game series with St. Louis was a microcosm of what was going well and what was going wrong with the Blackhawks at the end of 2016. Veteran players were slowing down and youthful talent and fresh legs were not in abundance. Lack of depth caused holes in both the offensive and defensive sides for Chicago, and the long offseason became a blessing in disguise.

Over the summer, Bowman and Joel Quenneville made it known that an investment in the franchise’s youth was necessary and coming. Opening night for the Blackhawks saw six NHL rookies taking the ice with Motte, Hinostroza, Schmaltz, Hartman, Forsling and Michal Kempny suiting up.

The investment has paid off during the 2016-17 campaign. While Hartman, Schmaltz and to a slightly lesser degree Kempny and Hinostroza have made the most impact throughout the entire season, all six opening-night rookies have made an impact during different points.

As far as scoring goes for the Blackhawks’ rookie class, Hartman and Schmaltz highlight the offense by ranking ninth and 10th on the Blackhawks in points this season, and both rank inside the top 25 of all rookie scoring in the NHL.

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While Quenneville has the rap for not giving young players enough time or enough leash to make their strides in the NHL, he has, to his credit, given some promising rookies their due. Saad, Shaw, Teravainen and Crawford are all examples of rookies during the Q era who have been given a fair shake in their rookie seasons.

It’s hard to continually churn out NHL-ready rookies every year, let alone have six in your starting lineup on opening night, but Quenneville has given each one his fair shake to make impressions and show that they have, or could have in the near future, staying power at the NHL level.

The payoff continues to grow for Quenneville and the Blackhawks as college signee Hayden joined the Blackhawks in mid-March and has yet to lose his spot on the top line with Toews and Richard Panik.

That will likely change once Artem Anisimov returns from injury and Schmaltz can return to the top-line left wing spot. But even then, there is no doubt that Hayden will be in consideration for a spot in the four-line rotation after the game he has shown in his short time with Chicago.

Who could be the “new core”?

With all this said and as things stand now, who really is the “new core” of the Chicago Blackhawks? It can’t be a core of 15 new players in the next handful of years. Even the core as it was during the 2015 Stanley Cup run (Toews, Kane, Hossa, Sharp, Keith, Seabrook, Hjalmarsson) was an anomaly, in having seven standout players for a run like Chicago has produced.

Let’s breakdown the “new core” into players under 25 years old and place them into three categories: locks, complementary and unknowns.

Locks

While the list may be small, these are three players who will no doubt play huge roles in the franchise moving forward. The potential of Schmaltz and Hartman is growing by the game, and what Alex DeBrincat has done in the OHL, the potential he possesses and what more training at an NHL level can do for him physically makes him the most can’t-miss player for the Blackhawks maybe since Kane or Toews.

Complementary

There is a great chance that some of these young players could present themselves as potential future locks with another season of production at the NHL level.

Hayden, Hinostorza and Kero have a step ahead of Forsling and Motte out of these five, but the aging core of the defense bodes well for Forsling in the next one to two seasons, and Motte can be a reliable bottom-six, penalty-killing forward with some more seasoning.

Unknown future pieces

Graham Knott
Alexandre Fortin
Matthew Highmore
Anthony Louis
Luc Snuggerud
Chad Krys
Roy Radke
Radovan Bondra
Matt Iacopelli

This list could go on and on, but most of these players have already shown that they can be reliable at the NCAA or CHL levels of play and have been in the high praises of the Blackhawks’ front office since they joined the organization. As soon as next season, players like Knott and Fortin could see time at the NHL level, and that is exciting for the future of the Blackhawks.

Next: 5 Thoughts On Shootout Win Over Dallas

For some time, Chicago was a top-heavy franchise, constantly recycling players to keep in contention with the future horizon only as far as the end of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. For the first time in recent memory, the future for the Blackhawks seems to have much more in store beyond mid-June and, on the flipside, takes nothing away from the current contention for the Stanley Cup.

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Chicago Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman has been laying out his blueprint for the team’s future core, and we’re slowly seeing it come to fruition

Looking at some of Bowman’s moves

Youth movement necessary for Chicago

More from Blackhawk Up

Who could be the “new core”?

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