The Chicago Blackhawks are entering an interesting part of their long rebuild. As he told Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times, general manager Kyle Davidson has a better idea of what some of his young players are and can build a more competitive roster accordingly. One position Davidson has a lot of confidence in is his centers. He feels he has three young studs down the middle to build around.
Youth & Depth Down the Middle
When Anton Frondell joined the Blackhawks at the end of the season, he played the wing in his first couple of games. He was then moved to center, where he was impressive in all three zones of the ice. Davidson revealed on Friday that the plan is to start next season with the young Swedish forward playing down the middle.
‘‘I really like his hockey sense and two-way game and strength down the middle with a little bit of size,’’ Davidson said. ‘‘We’re working toward making his primary position center.’’
Frondell joins Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar as the team’s top three centers. While there is still some debate on whether Bedard should be on the wing, the conversations were quieted a bit last season. He improved defensively and made huge strides at the faceoff dot. Head coach Jeff Blashill likes the idea of the trio of youngsters playing down the middle for years to come.
“I think ultimately the best teams in the league have kind of three really hard match-up lines,” Blashill said in early April. “You go into a game, the really good teams all have three, the good teams have two. The really good teams have three and a fourth line that has roles. Ultimately, we’re going to need three really good lines here if we want to become a really good team, have a fourth line that has good roles, whether it be penalty killers, physicality, toughness, whatever that might be. I’d love the chance to have three really good centers. That makes you a really good hockey team in a hurry.”
Pairs, Not Trios
So where does the rest of the team slot in? I am a subscriber to the theory that a lot of coaches believe in that your lines should be focused on pairs and not trios. If you can find four solid duos, you can plug and play with the third player on each line.
Based on who’s on the roster right now, my first pair is Bedard and Roman Kantserov. The second pair would be Frondell with Tyler Bertuzzi. I like putting the speed of Nazar and Oliver Moore together, with Ryan Greene and Ryan Donato forming your fourth duo. There is plenty of flexibility with Moore able to play center too, so you can interchange him and Greene.
If these four pairs click, that will give Blashill a solid foundation. He can then move guys like Teuvo Teravainen, Andre Burakovsky, and Ilya Mikheyev (if they are here) up and down the lineup. The roster is expected to get an addition or two before training camp. Whether that’s Ivar Stenberg, an acquisition via free agency, or a trade remains to be seen, but Blashill will have options.
