By Paul M. Banks

“It’s exciting in Chicago, it’s the first time in a long time that people are expecting a good season out of the Hawks, and that’s a good thing. I feel like we could be a better team than we were last year but we know it’s not going to easy,” said Patrick Sharp, one of the Hawks’ top scorers during 2009-10 training camp.

And expectations are indeed high for a team deemed by many the Western Conference favorite. It begins today following one crazy summer in which the Hawks

-Signed injured (and extremely hard-luck in the Stanley Cup Finals) Marian Hossa to a highly criticized 12-year contract.

-Screwed up in their mail room, sending qualifying offers out late, among other things and quite possibly overpaying some of their veterans because of it.

-Demoted (perhaps unfairly) GM Dale Tallon, the man who built much of this young talented roster, partially due to that incident.

-Dealt with young superstar Patrick Kane getting arrested for assault and battery on an elderly cab driver in his home town of Buffalo.

Of course, life is a roller coaster, not an escalator, and you can’t be progressing upward all the time. Despite the inevitable ups and downs, the Hawks are still trendy like Taylor Swift when it comes to picking a Cup participant. The talent is there, and when healthy in November/December Hossa will make them even deeper. You know the old saying, “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” Here it’s “if you can’t beat ‘em, sign ‘em” away to your team. And that’s exactly what Chicago did in signing two forwards, Hossa and Tomas Kopecky away from the Conference Champions. Kopecky is a buddy and close confidant to the star Hossa, which reminds me of how the Bulls brought Jack Haley in to accompany Dennis Rodman when they acquired both from the San Antonio Spurs. Except Hossa is not pathologically weird, and Kopecky will contribute to this team much more than Haley did to his.

The Hawks must also deal with the loss of their enforcer, locker room cut-up and most media-savvy teammate in Adam Burish who will be out till at least March. Lots of contributions at the forward position will be expected from Captain Serious Jonathan Toews, who got off to a rough start last season, but really turned it on when it counted, and Patrick Sharp, arguably the team’s best scorer. Toews truly learned what it meant to be a NHL captain last winter, and Sharp, had he stayed healthy would have ended up the team’s leader in goals. With last year’s leading point man Martin Havlat now gone to Minnesota, the big three to watch for offense are “Taser”, “Sharpie” and…
Player to Watch: Patrick Kane

If Patrick Kane is looking for a song to encapsulate his upcoming season, perhaps its 2pac’s “All Eyes on Me.” No player in the Olympics or the NHL will have the spotlight shined as bright upon him this winter. “Kaner” is the face of the franchise, EA Sports NHL ’10 video game, and when February comes, Team USA hockey. And when the Hawks take to the road, opposing fans will heckle him, worse than Hawks fans heckle any member of the Red Wings. Of course, on the other hand, a lot of people in this country have very short term memories, so if we see a couple “Hatrick Kane” nights early in the season, pretty much everyone will forget what happened in Buffalo on August 9th.

Key Component: John Madden

I like the John Madden signing a lot. No, the Hawks did not bring in the overweight announcer with a disturbing man-crush on Brett Favre. This Madden, is an overlooked, former Michigan Wolverine who is as good as you’ll find at scoring short-handed goals. Those added points he’ll make on the penalty kill could be the differences between wins and over time losses (and the difference between overtime losses and pure losses of course)

“I think he wants the puck a lot, he’s got a great shot, great release, I like his size and he’s competitive kid, he got more opportunities last year as the year went on, and I think he’s come looking to grab more responsibility,” Head Caoch Joel Quenneville said.

Will they be better than they were a year ago? It looks that way on paper, but one can’t say for sure. You can however, say with absolute certainty that the bar has been raised. This year’s success will be measured by Stanley Cup Finals or bust. It’s either get past the Detroit Red Wings, or count it as a failure. It’s reminiscent of the Bulls-Pistons rivalry: Detroit was the postseason roadblock for a couple years, until one year Jordan and company broke through.

Their opening day roster at the forward position will consist of

Troy Brouwer, Dustin Byfuglien, Dave Bolland, Ben Eager, Colin Fraser, Patrick Kane, Tomas Kopecky, Andrew Ladd, John Madden, Patrick Sharp, Radek Smolenak, Jonathan Toews, Kris Versteeg, with Adam Burish and Marian Hossa on Injured Reserve.

The Hawks will open the 82nd NHL regular season against the Florida Panthers in Helsinki, Finland as part of NHL Premiere 2009 on Friday, October 2 at 11:00 A.M. (CT). The teams face off again in Helsinki on Saturday, October 3 at 11:00 A.M. (CT) before the Blackhawks make their 2009-10 debut in North America at the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday, October 8.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Stanley Cup riding Shotgun at Gas Station (Picture)
• Meet Adam Burish and the Stanley Cup in Madison
• Blackhawks say no to Niemi, Sign Turco instead
• Blackhawks acquire Jeff Taffe from Florida
• Blackhawks’ Jeremy Roenick Headlines American Hockey Hall of Fame Class

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