Chicago Blackhawks’ 6 Most Useful Departures To Have In 2017-18

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It’s a belabored point on this blog and others that write about the Chicago Blackhawks: There are many former team members the franchise could use right about now. Today, I’ve decided to beat a dead horse.

I could spend this space talking about the Chicago Blackhawks’ training camp roster. I could use it to speak on promising prospect Alex DeBrincat, or questionable returning forward Patrick Sharp. Those are all worthwhile ventures, and I think some blog out there has written about those items of late.

But I’ve been on a pretty serious nostalgia kick this summer when it comes to the Blackhawks. If you read even half of my stuff, you know what I mean. I’m not about to break out of that just yet (the actual start of training camp should help).

The current-era Blackhawks have become known for constantly losing players to the salary cap crunch and trying to bring them back down the road. The former more so than the latter, but Kris Versteeg, Johnny Oduya, Brandon Saad and Sharp have created a pattern for the second point.

But not everyone can come back after they’ve departed the Blackhawks, and we wish that weren’t the case at times. I’m going to look at five former Blackhawks from the championship era (2009-10 season through 2016-17 season) who would be really helpful to this 2017-18 squad that is really seeking an identity.

Honorable mentions

Dustin Byfuglien

This is only on the list if the Blackhawks could have him back as a forward. He’s pretty immobile at this stage of his career, which is exactly what Chicago doesn’t need on defense. But I still think he could be moderately useful for these current Blackhawks in his old role as a net-front presence forward. (Think the days of harassing Roberto Luongo.)

Michael Frolik

He’d make for a solid addition to the a bottom six that has about 10 underwhelming options vying for spots. The Blackhawks wouldn’t want to be paying him what Calgary currently is ($4.3 million cap hit per season), but for a reduced salary, he’d be a nice under-the-radar returnee.

Andrew Shaw

I don’t pine for Shaw quite as much as some Blackhawks fans, but there’s no denying he too would make a better bottom-six guy than several of Chicago’s current options. Shaw actually showed decent passing ability, a talent for threading needles with his shots and a nose for the net when he wasn’t trying to be the tough guy. Again, take him at a reduced salary from what he currently gets ($3.9 million per season from Montreal).

Scott Darling

Even as a backup, it’d be great to have Darling in a Blackhawks uniform today. Darling was a guy who stepped into the Stanley Cup Playoffs seemingly out of the blue and began turning himself into a starting goaltender. You’d take that experience to back up Corey Crawford over the limited options Chicago currently carries.

6. Phillip Danault

This might wind up being one of the biggest blunders of the Stan Bowman era in Chicago, but a good number of fans are likely to forget it because Danault didn’t spend much time playing for the Blackhawks.

Danault was seen as the heir apparent to Marcus Kruger when the latter went down with a wrist injury during the 2015-16 season. And he showed some solid promise as a penalty killer and forward in general, taking over Kruger’s role and posting five points in 30 games.

Then, Bowman dealt Danault and a 2018 second-round draft pick to Montreal for forwards Dale Weise and Phillip Fleischmann. It’s wound up being a disaster of a trade, as neither Weise nor Fleischmann performed adequately in the 2016 postseason. Neither is with the Blackhawks today, either.

Danault, meanwhile, broke out for 40 points in an 82-game 2016-17 campaign while winning 51.7 percent of his faceoffs, posting a 55.6 percent Corsi-for starting just 48.1 percent of his shifts in the offensive zone. You’re telling me the Blackhawks couldn’t use this guy in 2017-18?

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Danault has proven himself to be far more than a Kruger replacement. He could not only stabilize Chicago’s bottom six, but even make it thrive. He could even be a candidate for second-line work alongside Patrick Kane.

It may seem a crime to have Danault this low on the list, considering how I’m playing it up. But look further into my words than my ranking for him. The Blackhawks would kill to have him back in the Windy City.

5. Teuvo Teravainen

When Teuvo was sent to Carolina to get Bryan Bickell‘s contract off the Chicago books, there was probably an audible sigh let out from the Windy City. Another uber-talented player gone before he could get the chance to really develop with the Blackhawks.

While Teuvo didn’t have quite the stat jump Danault did in his first season away from the Blackhawks, I put the former a spot higher on this list because of the wild potential that came with him. Teuvo was dragged around a bit by coach Joel Quenneville, then immediately contributed to a 2015 Stanley Cup run when he was finally given some rope. That’s the kind of thing the Blackhawks could use full-time in 2017-18.

Teuvo posted 42 points in 81 games with the Hurricanes last season, though he had heavily tilted starts (58.4 percent in the offensive zone) that surely helped with his 54.9 Corsi-for rate. That said, why wouldn’t you want a speedy, east-west type forward like Teuvo on a Blackhawks roster that really, really needs an injection of speed and creativity?

Sure, Teuvo’s price tag would’ve continued to go up in Chicago unless he had totally busted out. But there was nothing to suggest that was going to happen. At worst, it seems like the Blackhawks could already have had an answer to their second-line left wing hole if Teuvo were still around.

4. Artemi Panarin

I had a really hard tie deciding between two entries on this list for Nos. 4 and 3. Ultimately, I’ve gone with the recently-departed Russian at No. 4. He was Kane’s linemate for two seasons, which featured some really impressive scoring from the Blackhawks’ second line.

When Panarin was snagged from the KHL’s SKA St. Petersburg in 2015, it seemed like there was almost equal excitement for him and fellow Russian import Viktor Tikhonov joining the Blackhawks. That quickly changed, as Panarin made up a third of the Blackhawks’ only legit scoring line the following season, along with Kane and Artem Anisimov.

Panarin tallied 151 regular-season points and eight postseason points in his brief time with the Blackhawks, including the Calder Memorial Trophy in 2016. He and Kane had an electric connection, even if things occasionally got predictable and Panarin had some trouble playing legit defense.

3. Marcus Kruger

Kruger’s reputation as one of the league’s premier defensive centers is so impressive that he surpasses a major offensive talent like Panarin on this list. But indeed, while Kruger’s accomplishments will be overlooked when this Blackhawks era is a bygone moment, there’s no doubt he was and still would be critical to this team.

Kruger has averaged 13:59 of regular-season ice time in his career and has maxed out at 28 points. Yet, all you have to do is dig into possession stats to realize how important he was to Chicago before being jettisoned this offseason in an expansion draft-related move with Vegas.

Each of the last four seasons, Kruger has started no better than 24.1 percent of his shifts in the offensive zone. And yet, he hasn’t posted a Corsi-for rate of worse than 48.4 percent in that time. In fact, that mark has been above 50 percent in three of the four seasons.

Kruger’s lack of offense the last two seasons paired with a new, more expensive contract, made some Blackhawks fans sour on him. But there’s no doubt the Blackhawks need a guy who can flip the ice like Kruger now more than ever.

With the team’s overall possession rate steadily diving in recent years, losing someone who gives the puck back to you is major. So in spite of his relatively unimpressive point totals (though we should never forget the triple-overtime playoff goal against Anaheim in 2015), Kruger would be a massive asset to the 2017-18 Blackhawks.

2. Nick Leddy

Don’t worry, I hadn’t forgotten that the Blackhawks’ defensive unit is a tire fire inside a dumpster fire heading into this season. On that note, we start with the young blueliner the Blackhawks traded at the last moment in 2014.

Leddy was constantly under a microscope in Chicago, it seemed. There really was no reason for it, considering he was a throw-in on the 2010 deal that brought Kim Johnsson to Chicago while moving Cam Barker to Minnesota. Nonetheless, Leddy faced a fair amount of scrutiny in his early 20s while not playing up to the standard of Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and the like.

But Leddy provided something the Blackhawks needed when he was in Chicago, and something they need even more now: a puck-moving defenseman. Keith could do that fairly well before. Now, it’s pretty much down to Michal Kempny for that duty, and Coach Q doesn’t trust him.

1. Niklas Hjalmarsson

Leddy plays a style the Blackhawks really need on defense right now. But Hjammer is far and away the top answer to the question of which former Blackhawk the team needs most heading into the 2017-18 season.

Without Hjammer last season, the Blackhawks might have had to surrender to Nashville before the four-game playoff sweep was completed. They wouldn’t have won the Central Division. They wouldn’t have done much of anything, because Hjammer was the only D-man who was consistently reliable last season.

Providing normal scoring stats for Hjammer wouldn’t be doing him justice. If you’ve watched the Blackhawks for more than 10 minutes, you know exactly what he provides. If you’ve just joined the fan base, or recently met up with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones circa 1997, here’s a reminder:

Hjammer was a defensive hero for the Blackhawks on more occasions than one. He teamed up with Oduya to become to ultimate shutdown pairing in Chicago’s current era. And he eventually turned into a pretty balanced blueliner out of necessity.

He’s not taking his talents to Arizona, after this offseason’s trade that sent Connor Murphy the other way. While you can understand Bowman’s thought process behind the deal, this one really hurts. Not as much as a shot block to the throat, but still.

Next: Comparing DeBrincat To League's Shortest Players

Hjammer is by far the departed player the Blackhawks miss most from the last several years. He wouldn’t be the savior for Chicago’s depleted blue line in 2017-18, but he’d make it quite a bit better and far less of a concern. How much his absence will be felt remains to be seen, but Blackhawks fans have opted to guess the amount will be large.

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