PIB Presents the Blackhawks’ First Quarter Report Card
November 22nd, 2009 | by jneveau |Jim Neveau, PIB Co-conspirator
Well kids, the first quarter of the season has come and gone, and it has been an eventful one for our Blackhawks.
They have been without big free agent acquisition Marian Hossa for the entirety of the first quarter, they missed captain Jonathan Toews for six games, and Ben Eager missed 13 contests.
Marian Hossa at practice (photo property of Pam Rodriguez)
On the plus side for them, however, they have had some fantastic performances early on from some unlikely sources. For instance, if I had told you that Troy Brouwer would be leading the team in power play goals at this point in the year back when the season started, Fanball would have revoked my blogging privileges.
Also, Duncan Keith has been playing like a man possessed, racking up five goals and 13 assists in the early going. Couple that with his 26 minutes of ice time per contest, and you have a potential break-out season for the blue liner.
Through their first 21 games, the Hawks are off to their fifth best start in team history, with a 14-5-2 record. They reached the 30 point plateau in yesterday’s contest with the Oilers, a mark they didn’t reach until December 7th of last season.
We’ll get to some facts and figures in a moment, but just watching this team play, it is easy to see how good they are. They have won their last six games, and are mixing up their ever improving offense with a stingy defense that has been surprisingly effective in the early going. They’ve become very adept at preventing shots to reach Cristobal Huet, and he has begun stopping them with a lot more regularity than he displayed early in the season.
Jonathan Toews (photo property of Pam Rodriguez)
Words, however, aren’t the best way to evaluate this team. As a wise person once said, “In God we trust: all others must show data.” With that, PIB is proud to present our first quarter Report Card for the Chicago Blackhawks.
Offense: B+
The Hawks’ offense was scuffling a bit when the season started. Missing guys like Hossa and Toews didn’t aid in that regard, but now that Toews is back and Hossa is coming back soon, things are starting to click a bit more.
Chicago’s offense is now the fifth ranked offense in the league, scoring 3.19 goals per game. Patrick Kane has scored a goal in five straight games, and Kris Versteeg has started heating up recently as well, scoring three goals in the team’s last two games.
Troy Brouwer is tied for third in scoring on the team with six goals scored, the same total that Patrick Sharp has. Brouwer has scored these six taking half as many shots as his fellow forward Sharp.
Another boon to the offense has been the team’s outstanding face-off performance. They rank 2nd in the league in team FO%, and also boast two players who are in the top six in that category, with Toews winning 61.4% of his draws, and John Madden winning 57.7% of the time.
Winning face-offs may not seem like an offensive statistic to some, but when you consider how often face-offs happen, especially on power plays, it is crucial to win them in order to set up the offense for success. The Hawks have certainly done that in the early going.
Brent Seabrook (photo property of Pam Rodriguez)
With Hossa coming back for the Hawks during this current road trip, the offense could still get better as well.
Defense: A
There are only two numbers that need to be looked at to see just how solid the Blackhawks defense has been this season: 2.24 and 23.5.
2.24 is the number of goals that the Hawks are giving up per game. This total is the best in the league, tied with the Devils in that regard, and a ringing endorsement of their blue line corps. Everyone from the top to the bottom, from Keith to Hjalmarsson to Sopel, has been pulling their weight when it comes to making hits, blocking shots, and in general using good body position to snuff out plays.
Brian Campbell and Cam Barker have stepped up on defense as well. They have always been known for their offensive prowess and their general lack of the same on defense, but when you watch them play this year, they don’t take as many chances as they have in years past. They don’t over-pursue the puck, they don’t (for the most part) chase the action too deep into the offensive zone, and they always seem ready to head back and play D when the puck changes possession.
Duncan Keith (photo property of Pam Rodriguez)
23.5 is the number of shots that the Hawks are allowing per game, which is also tops in the league. With the breakout performance by Hjalmarsson and the continued solid play of the Keith-Seabrook line, it is easy to see why teams are getting so few chances against the Hawks.
These numbers are also helped by the stellar two-way play of Toews and Madden, and Dustin Byfuglien has vastly improved his two-way game as well.
Goaltending: B+
When this season started, the Hate Huet brigade was out in full force. Games like the Calgary debacle (three goals on five shots) served to prove to people that Cristobal was not the man we needed in net, and folks were actively campaigning for Antti Niemi to replace him.
All Huet has done is improve his stats dramatically, sporting an 11-4-1 record, a 2.16 GAA, and a .909% save percentage.
His GAA ranks him fourth in the league, and while his save percentage ranks him 27th in the league, it still is an improvement over his early season performance.
His confidence has risen by leaps and bounds as well. He is centering up pucks, keeping rebounds in playable spots, and making huge saves when necessary. He has been helped by how few shots he’s had to face, but when the bell has rung to call him to duty, he has shown up and passed with flying colors after a rough start to the year.
Power Play: B
Lined up for the anthem (photo property of Pam Rodriguez)
The Blackhawks have quietly begun to rise up the ranks in the power play department. After starting out the year in the bottom half of the league in that category, they now are up to 9th on the list, nipping at the heels of the ridiculously loaded Washington Capitals.
As mentioned previously, Brouwer leads the team with four power play tallies, and three unlikely suspects, Kris Versteeg, Cam Barker, and Dustin Byfuglien, are second on the team with three apiece.
What makes Brouwer’s performance with the man advantage even more impressive is that he’s averaging a little over a minute of power play time a game. This ranks him 12th on the team, and is well behind the higher numbers that trend near three minutes per game for guys like Patrick Kane (3:15 of time with one goal) and Brian Campbell (2:59 with one goal).
To think, the team could still potentially improve with the addition of Hossa to the mix…..
Penalty Kill: A+
The Hawks lead the league at an 85.3% penalty kill rate. Enough said……..
Okay, fine, you goaded me into saying more. The Hawks’ face-off numbers (2nd in the league in success rate) certainly help with their penalty killing success, but the bigger difference maker has definitely been John Madden’s presence on the unit.
Madden has always been known as an ace penalty killer, and that’s part of the reason the Hawks brought him in. He can be used to tutor young centers like Colin Fraser and Dave Bolland in the art of defense, and he has certainly has contributed on the ice as well. He trails only minute-magnets Keith and Seabrook in ice time short-handed, and even at 36, he still can get it done.
First Quarter All-Star Team
Left Wing: Troy Brouwer (6 goals, 5 assists, 4 PPG, 3 GWG)
Center: John Madden (4 goals, 4 assists)
Right Wing: Patrick Kane (9 goals, 14 assists, +7, 1 GWG)
Defenseman: Duncan Keith (5 goals, 13 assists, +8, 1 SHG)
Defenseman: Brent Seabrook (2 goals, 8 assists, +11, 2 GWG)
Brouwer and Madden’s attributes have been spoken about at length here, so the numbers will suffice for his inclusion.
Kane has matured from just a young prodigy to a skilled marksman, scoring goals at will with a lethal wrist shot, and also possessing enough muscle to keep opponents off of the puck.
Keith and Seabrook play together, so naturally they should both be on the squad. Keith’s 13 assists are simply an affirmation of his offensive skill, and his +8 performance while averaging 26:31 of ice time is outstanding.
Seabrook was included not just because of his team leading +11 or because of his physical play, but also because both of his goals this season have been ultra-clutch: they were both overtime game winners.
One Final Stat: 0.95
The Blackhawks lead the league in one other category not mentioned here: average goal differential. They are scoring 3.19 goals a game, and allowing 2.24, and by scoring .95 goals more per game than they’re allowing, they are pretty much dominating opponents right now.
Tags: antti niemi, Ben Eager, Brent Seabrook, Brent Sopel, Brian Campbell, Calgary Flames, cam barker, Chicago Blackhawks, Colin Fraser, Cristobal Huet, Dave Bolland, Duncan Keith, Dustin Byfuglien, Edmonton Oilers, John Madden, Jonathan Toews, kris versteeg, marian hossa, niklas hjalmarsson, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Troy Brouwer, Washington Capitals
