Blackhawks: How good was Adam Boqvist in his first NHL season?

The Chicago Blackhawks have several young players to build their team around, but none are more important than Adam Boqvist.

It is hard to imagine that Adam Boqvist has only played one season in the NHL now, and at that, he only played 41 games. I was just thinking about it today, Boqvist had a great rookie year.

While Boqvist did not put up a lot of offensive numbers, he did somehow step into the Blackhawks locker room and take on a big role on this defense. The 19-year-old averaged 16:13 minutes of ice time a night throughout the entire season, and while that is not a lot of time compared to some other defensemen, he did manage to stay healthy throughout the season.

Players like Calvin de Haan and Brent Seabrook were out throughout half of this season due to injuries, and Erik Gustafsson was traded away at the deadline. Stan Bowman and the Blackhawks made it very clear that Boqvist is going to be one of the biggest players on this blue line next year and into the future.

Now I was going to show a comparison of Duncan Keith‘s rookie season and Boqvist but I do not think it would be very fair. Keith broke into the league at 22 and played in all games that season, Boqvist, on the other hand, was only 19 and played in 41.

Boqvist was great in his first season with the Blackhawks. While he started the year a little timid and sheltered with the puck, he eventually broke out of his shell and started to take over the game. I am excited to see what next season brings for Boqvist, and I can not wait to see who he will be playing alongside.

I would like to see Boqvist and Ian Mitchell paired together for a little while next season. They are going to be the top players on our blue line moving forward and maybe they can spark some chemistry, or maybe we could go with Boqvist and Murphy to help his defensive side of the game.

Here is to the Blackhawks and Boqvist taking a step forward next season!