Chicago Blackhawks’ Defense: Constructing Top 7 From Current Roster

Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook

These two are obvious inclusions, unless Bowman somehow finds a taker for Seabrook’s contract (and there’s no indication he’s trying to do so simply to please exasperated fans).

Keith, even in a slower and more injury-prone state, is still the Blackhawks’ No. 1 defenseman. Though he went through a major goal scoring drought in 2017-18, it’s not as though him coming up with a career high in goals would’ve saved that team.

Keith, for the foreseeable future, will be asked to take on the toughest assignments from a purely defensive perspective. Perhaps Seabrook will join him, or perhaps he’ll be buried in a lower pairing to keep his minutes down and against lesser foes.

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We saw both of those ideas last season from Coach Q, and the “limited minutes” one did lead to some good games out of Seabs. Q’s ability to do this will be entirely dependent on the performances of other blueliners.

Seabrook can still provide some defensive help in certain situations, and we know his penchant for chipping in on the offensive end. So he isn’t useless. And he’s cracking the starting six unless he gets traded.

Connor Murphy

I’m not sure whether or not Bowman, Q and Co. have given up on Murphy already. But given the length and amount of his contract (four more years at $3.85 million per), I find it unlikely he gets moved. And in that case, he’s going to make the roster.

Of course, I could see Q going right back to scratching Murphy. But hopefully he’ll make some strides in training camp that Q can approve of, because he wasn’t playing super poorly down the stretch last season. (That’s the bar we’re trying to clear with this defense.)

Until the Blackhawks can prove they have six other guys who are out and out better than Murphy right now, at the NHL level, he’ll get an opening-night nod.

Erik Gustafsson

After being banished to the AHL for some time despite the Blackhawks’ defense crumbling, Gustafsson came back last season and was entirely fine. Again, low bar to clear with this group.

Gustafsson is probably a second-pairing blueliner for the Blackhawks on opening night. He was trusted with much more ice time in his second stint with the big club (18:33 versus 15:27 in 2015-16), and he plays an offensively up-tempo style that Q would find useful.

The problem comes with finding a partner for Gustafsson. He’s a left-side defenseman, and while the next guy I’m going to mention could play well of Gustafsson’s tendencies, he too is a left-side guy. Let’s come back to this.

Brandon Manning

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Few seem impressed with the Blackhawks adding this former Philadelphia Flyer, even after a career-best offensive campaign. But he’s been signed, and it’s noted that Q loves his style. So he’s playing.

Manning has been described as a stay-at-home defenseman. If he’s comfortable playing on his off side, he could always suit up alongside Gustafsson. I’m not sure this would be any better than Seabrook or Murphy, but we’re playing with a limited number of options here.

Blake Hillman, Gustav Forsling, Henri Jokiharju, Luc Snuggerud

I’ll be upfront: I don’t think Jan Rutta and Jordan Oesterle are going to be on the opening night roster. I think there are enough promising youngsters rolling through that those two become expendable. It’d be a shame to lose both for nothing, but perhaps the Blackhawks could find a workaround for that.

Anyway, back to the active roster. Hillman saw time at the end of the 2017-18 season and was thrown in the deep end, starting 53.1 percent of his shifts in the defensive end. His Corsi-for was well below water, but you know the Blackhawks are going to give him another chance to snag a roster spot.

Forsling is an offensive dynamo whose defensive aspects have been the major reason for him being held back. That, and Forsling gets so excited about being in the offensive end that he gets stuck there. But Q definitely likes him, and he may have an NHL home in his future.

Jokiharju was the Blackhawks’ top pick in the 2017 draft, and he posted a very successful year with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks (79 points in 75 games). The WHL is not the AHL, but Alex DeBrincat coming out so hot from the OHL has to have the Blackhawks wondering if Jokiharju can do something similar on the back end.

I put Snuggerud in here because I think the Blackhawks were legitimately considering rostering him to start the 2017-18 year. Then he suffered an injury right before the preseason ended and was out multiple months.

Snuggerud netted 17 points in 40 AHL games with the Rockford IceHogs last year after an impressive 2017 prospects tournament. Another strong camp campaign could get him into the NHL.

What’s the lineup?

I did say at the top I was looking for a seven-man defensive group. I know the Blackhawks carried eight for a large portion of last season, but I really think seven is the better route to go so you’re not having young players just riding the pine.

Here’s what I’ve come up with for a starting six plus one guy in the press box on opening night.

Duncan Keith – Henri Jokiharju

Erik Gustafsson – Brent Seabrook

Blake Hillman – Brandon Manning

Gustav Forsling

Da Windy City

It’s not pretty, but it’s a leading seven if the roster doesn’t change whatsoever before the regular season begins.

Keith could be an early mentor for Jokiharju, and the two could really light things up from an offensive perspective. Jokiharju moves well enough he could cover for Keith in some spots.

Asking Jokiharju to take on top-flight opponents is one thing that could be dangerous, but Q showed a little bit last season he’s going to let some of his youngsters sink or swim.

I don’t love the Gustafsson-Seabrook pairing by any stretch, as Gustafsson gets stuck in the wrong end and Seabrook loves jumping up on the play and can’t get back. While this is a nominal second pairing, I think this pairing could eat minutes equal to the third pairing, versus equal to the first pairing.

Since Manning is pretty much slotted in to play for now, I went ahead and put him with Hillman. Manning is a stay-at-home guy, while Hillman was tossed into more defensive-end situations during his short first NHL stint. This could be the de facto shutdown pairing, as rough as that sounds.

And Forsling rounds out the faction, to jump in for someone like Seabrook or Manning. (For the record, if Hillman is paired with Forsling, that’s no longer a shutdown pairing.)

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I know this is probably the most insane grouping of defensemen to deem an opening-night crew for 2018-19. And I’m sure the Blackhawks have some more plans up their sleeves when it comes to altering their roster. But for right now, this is a group that could begin the year on the back end.