Chicago Blackhawks’ Likely Season-Opening Line Combinations
By Sean Sarcu
@seansarcu
Getty Images
With the preseason completed, the makeup of the Chicago Blackhawks‘ 2014-15 roster has become fairly clear. Promising signs of on-ice chemistry between some new teammates have been popping up fairly often, and Chicago’s line combinations for its season-opening tilt against the Dallas Stars on October 9th seem all but set in stone.
Joel Quenneville is content to keep the best puck possession line in the NHL from last year together this season. Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa combine to form what is probably the best two-way trio in the world; all three can score in bunches and two of them play Selke-caliber defense. Newly-signed Brad Richards will center Patrick Kane and Brandon Saad on the second line. Kane has looked very good during the preseason despite playing mostly in second gear, and Saad is looking to build on a fantastic 2014 postseason and put together his first 60+-point campaign. Richards isn’t Michal Handzus, which is all the Blackhawks and their fans really wanted.
Andrew Shaw, Bryan Bickell and Kris Versteeg constitute one of the league’s elite third lines. Shaw is coming off a 20-goal season and is on a steal of a contract. Versteeg has played brilliantly during the preseason and is plainly feeling much more like his pre-ACL tear self. Chicago’s fourth line boasts the ever-reliable duo of Ben Smith and Marcus Kruger, who spent all of last season lugging around the corpse of Brandon Bollig. The third member of the line will be either Jeremy Morin or Dan Carcillo; Morin is a far better player and deserves the spot more, but Quenneville’s love of fourth-line enforcers isn’t exactly a secret.
Like last season, the pairing of Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook will play the most minutes while the Swedish duo of Niklas Hjalmarsson and Johnny Oduya will handle the toughest defensive assignments. In light of the impending Nick Leddy trade, the third pairing will probably be Michal Rozsival and Kyle Cumiskey or Trevor van Riemsdyk.
Sean Sarcu is a Chicago Blackhawks writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter or add him to your network on Google.
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