The Chicago Blackhawks had a busy offseason, adding key veterans at every position after missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs for a second consecutive season.
"The bigger difference now is we have a full roster of players who have proven they can play in the League," Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman said. "In the past, sometimes situations are different, and you're relying on some younger players to take that step forward and hope they can prove they're ready to be NHLers. If you look at our group now, sort of top to bottom, we have players who have proven they can play in the NHL. Now it's a matter of finding the right role for them on our team, but we've got a lot more experience."
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The Blackhawks' biggest splash came July 1, when goalie Robin Lehner agreed to a one-year, $5 million contract. Lehner was 25-13-5 with a 2.13 goals-against average, .930 save percentage and six shutouts in 46 games (43 starts) for the New York Islanders and was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy as the top NHL goalie. He provides security for No. 1 goalie Corey Crawford, who has missed 80 games over the past two seasons because of concussions.
"Corey Crawford, in my book, he's still one of the top goalies in the League, and Robin Lehner's a Vezina finalist," Chicago goalie coach Jimmy Waite said. "It's going to be a great year and it's a big year for us. That's why we made that move. We needed to have 82 good starts on the goalies this year, because it's a big year for us."
Crawford and Lehner each should benefit from changes made at defenseman.
After allowing 291 goals last season, second-most in the NHL (Ottawa Senators, 301), Chicago acquired defenseman Olli Maatta in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins for forward Dominik Kahun and a fifth-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft on June 15. Nine days later, the Blackhawks acquired defenseman Calvin de Haan and center prospect Aleksi Saarela in a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes for goalie Anton Forsberg and defenseman Gustav Forsling.
"We obviously gave up way too much [last season] and we have to be better as far as a defensive group," Chicago defenseman Brent Seabrook said. "As long as I've been here, we've never had a problem with scoring goals. That's going to come. I think we just need to shore up the back end, and obviously with the additions we've made, that's going to help."
The Blackhawks, who finished six points behind the Colorado Avalanche for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference last season, also acquired two-way forwards Andrew Shaw (in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens for three draft picks on June 30) and Zack Smith (in a trade with the Senators for forward Artem Anisimov on July 16), and signed center Ryan Carpenter to a three-year contract July 1 to add more grit and defensive acumen up front.
