Chicago Blackhawks: January 4, A Week in Review

The Chicago Blackhawks had a newsworthy start to the 2019 year. They played an outdoor game, rode a hot hand in net, hired a new assistant coach and made moves at the AHL level as well. Here’s January 4’s edition of the Blackhawks week in review.

Oftentimes, there are quite a few noteworthy Chicago Blackhawks related things that happen throughout the week that are simply too small to put an entire article into. On the other hand, we recognize that our readers, like us, only have so many hours in the week (168 of them to be exact).

So, to make it all easier on you, I bring you the first edition of Blackhawk Up’s Week in Review: January 4.

I – Sheldon Brookbank announced as Blackhawks assistant coach

In a release today the Chicago Blackhawks announced that former defensemen Sheldon Brookbank would join coach Jeremy Colliton‘s staff as an assistant coach.

To fill Brookbank’s shoes, Andres Sörensen will take over as the assistant coach for the Rockford IceHogs.

Brookbank was in the middle (almost literally) of his second season with the IceHogs at the assistant coach level before taking this promotion.

Colliton and Brookbank together coached Rockford to a 40-28-4-4 record last season. I imagine the hope is that the tandem can do something similar while in Chicago in the near future.

While in Rockford, Brookbank worked with the penalty killing unit and defensemen. It’d be nice to see that role translate to the NHL as the ‘Hawks desperately need help in both areas.

The Chicago Blackhawks have helped to create trends in the NHL before and it looks like this may be happening again as they are another one of the early teams to jump on the young coach bandwagon.

II – Dominik Kahun continues to come into his own

Chicago Blackhawks forward Dominik Kahun has a goal in his last two games and points in three of his last five. He was impressive enough to make the big leagues out of training camp, however since Colliton’s takeover at the helm Kahun’s game has taken another step.

He has 6 goals and 11 assists on the year, but 5 of each have been since Colliton’s arrival.

He isn’t the biggest, most experienced or fastest player on the ‘Hawks, however his ability to come away with 50/50 pucks and his hands have been incredibly impressive throughout these first 43 games.

III – Collin Delia excels in Corey Crawford’s absence

Since Corey Crawford went down with an injury rookie goaltender Collin Delia has been unreal in his absence.

All four of his starts have been deemed “quality starts.” For reference, only 7 of Cam Ward‘s 16 this season earned that status. Delia is 3-0-1 since getting his call to the NHL, yet his numbers somehow make an undefeated start look borderline unimpressive.

In those four games, he’s stopped 158 out of 166 shots, a .952 save percentage. His GAA is a stellar 1.98.

The kid isn’t half bad.

To compare, the New York Islanders‘ goaltender Robin Lehner holds the league’s best GAA with 2.13 while the Los Angeles Kings‘ goalie Jack Campbell holds the NHL’s best SV% with .930. If Delia can keep his impressive start up his play (accompanied by his ridiculous numbers) will quickly carry him to the top of the NHL’s leaderboard.

IV – What you’ve missed and the week ahead

Incase you’ve missed out on any content this week, here’s a quick recap:

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Next. Blackhawks Prospects at World Juniors. dark

Looking ahead, the Chicago Blackhawks will face off against the Pittsburgh Penguins (Sun, 1/6), Calgary Flames (Mon, 1/7) and the Nashville Predators (Wed, 1/9).

Onward and upward, Hawks fans!

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