Stan Bowman Bolsters Chicago Blackhawks’ Depth With Signings

Chicago Blackhawks, Alex DeBrincat, Lucas Wallmark Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
Chicago Blackhawks, Alex DeBrincat, Lucas Wallmark Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

The Chicago Blackhawks are going to have a competition in the net when the year kicks off. Stan Bowman knows this and wants to give their goalie the best chance he can when the 2021 season begins.

While the Stan Bowman’s Chicago Blackhawks snuck passed the Edmonton Oilers to play the Vegas Golden Knights during the 2019-20 postseason, this team was far from playoff-worthy. Vegas easily dispatched the Blackhawks in five-game.

Chicago’s one playoff victory was not even a great game. Corey Crawford had to play lights out to get the team a victory, and now here we are with Crow signed with the New Jersey Devils.

Chicago is going to enter next season with a three goalie competition in the net. Malcolm Subban, Collin Delia, and Kevin Lankinen will get an opportunity to start some games next season with the Blackhawks. Hopefully, one will separate himself as the team’s starter, but that will only happen with some help from the rest of the team.

Corey Crawford has had to stand on his head a lot this past season. He and Robin Lehner each stole some games for the Blackhawks, and it was a lot of solo efforts that got the team victories. Next season, Chicago will hope for better defensive play from their team to make sure their goalies do not have to work as hard.

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Mattias Janmark is just coming off a trip to the Stanley Cup Final with the Dallas Stars. While Chicago is going to need to score more goals in their bottom-six next season, Janmark will primarily help the team in their own end.

Janmark is a great penalty killer and will be a great addition to this team after losing Brandon Saad a few days ago. Not only does Janmark help this team, but so does Lucas Wallmark, who is great at the faceoff dot. Janmark can be a great tool for this team when it comes to winning faceoffs, as Jonathan Toews has been one of the only real winners in the dot for this team for a while.

Chicago’s bottom six is looking a little stronger after the signings of Janmark and Wallmark, but so is their defense after adding Nikita Zadorov in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche. While I believe we will see Connor Murphy traded in the next few days, Chicago will have a few great defensive-defensemen if he is here next season. Their goalies are going to need all the help they can get.