Chicago Blackhawks: Nicolas Beaudin recalled from IceHogs

The future of the Chicago Blackhawks’ blue line Nicolas Beaudin will (hopefully) be playing the remainder of the season for the Blackhawks.

The exciting news was dropped when the Chicago Blackhawks announced that Nicolas Beaudin would be playing up in the NHL, for hopefully, the rest of the season. It would be nice to see Beaudin get some ice time.

This call up makes sense for three reasons. One, the IceHogs could still make the playoffs, so, Beaudin getting some NHL time could improve his AHL play. Two, the Blackhawks won’t be making the playoffs, so, why not have the young guys play? Three, Adam Boqvist is hurt, which means we won’t see him on the ice for a while. That gives Beaudin time to step and make an impact.

Beaudin will most-likely be playing for the Blackhawks next season. If that happens, it shows the Blackhawks’ commitment to the future of this franchise. They’ve drafted a few potential top defensemen over the last few seasons. Now, it’s time to play them.

With a young Boqvist and a young Olli Maatta, adding Ian Mitchell and Beaudin only makes sense next season. Of course, they still have Connor Murphy, who just 26 years old. Those are five young defensemen.

Duncan Keith is still playing well, and the Blackhawks still have Brent Seabrook, Calvin de Haan, and Nick Seeler under contract. They can move both Seeler and de Haan in the offseason if they plan on going young.

They should be re-signing Slater Koekkoek in the summer. That gives them seven defensemen. Also, don’t forget about Lucas Carlsson or Dennis Gilbert. They have a lot of young defensemen that could be apart of the future of this team. Right now the Blackhawks are struggling on defense, the more these young guys play, the better they’ll become.

So try this next season – Boqvist, Keith, Beaudin, Maatta, Murphy, Seabrook, Mitchell, Carlsson, and Gilbert all will be under contract. If they re-sign Koekkoek, add him to that list. The two I left out are the ones I’d trade for draft picks.

Trade de Haan and Seeler for draft picks. They have six defensemen that could step up for the future of the Blackhawks’ blue-line. The talent is there, they just need to get these players in the NHL.

They struggle on defense now, but they won’t as these guys ease into their starting roles. The Blackhawks are trying too hard to put band-aids on the issues the team has. They’re adding players like they’re in a win-now situation. They’re closer to a second rebuild in three seasons than a playoff berth.

They need to add depth to their forwards and find a goalie that can take over after Corey Crawford. The future is bright if they can get the correct pieces in place. We’ll see how Beaudin does! I’m excited to see the future players get a chance now.