Chicago Blackhawks: Lucas Carlsson turns 23 today

Lucas Carlsson skated with the Chicago Blackhawks in six games this season. While he might not have been our best defensemen, it’s nice to have some younger options available on the blue line.

Lucas Carlsson is celebrating his 23rd birthday today, which makes him almost 14 years younger than Duncan Keith as Keith celebrates his birthday later this month. As Keith gets older, Carlsson might be another defenseman the Blackhawks can use on their blue line.

In just six games this season Carlsson had one assist and averaged 14:08 minutes of ice time a night. While that is not an incredible amount of games or anything like that, he is young and still getting better.

The NHL is only getting younger maybe Carlsson can step up next season and take a bigger role along with other young defensemen like Adam Boqvist and Ian Mitchell. The former fourth-round draft pick is signed through the end of next season and is a reliable defenseman in the AHL.

In 48 games this season Carlsson put up 26 points including five goals to help the Rockford Icehogs compete. It is still not set in stone on whether or not Carlsson will be an NHL defenseman. We have a lot of players on our blue line, and a lot of older guys with long term contracts at that. The Blackhawks are going to want to transition to a younger blue line sooner rather than later.

Defensemen like Dennis Gilbert, Alec Regula, Nicolas Beaudin, and Ian Mitchell are going to get a shot at making this team in the next couple of seasons as spots open up via trade and through older guys retiring.

I am excited about the Blackhawks future blue line, and I am hoping that Lucas Carlsson is apart of it. Happy birthday to Lucas Carlsson! I hope he is spending the day preparing for a potential postseason run with the Blackhawks.