Blackhawks Evolve To Best Team In West And NHL

Co-conspirator Christopher Ralph

I don’t often find myself agreeing with Mike Milbury, now of CBC’s Hockey Night In Canada.

Last week, he blogged about the Hawks and Sharks being a cut above the rest. I’m a little late getting my rebuttal out there, but I posted something similar in the comments of his blog last Saturday. The Blackhawks 4-3 OT win Thursday night simply cemented my sentiments.

Let’s briefly break down the Hawks Versus the Sharks as Milbury did:

*Coaching: Quenneville – Give me the Q-stache! Edge Hawks

*Forwards: Shawks top end heavy; Hawks have envious depth -Edge Hawks

*Defense: Again, Hawks depth; Boyle & Blake could land in the infirmary any time – Edge Hawks

*Goaltending: Nabokov over Huet by a fair margin, but Niemi I think soon primed to take over the #1 role, will narrow the gap – Edge Sharks

*Powerplay: Lots of weapons on either side – Even

*Penalty Killing: The Hawks have so many effective 2-way players they can throw over the boards at opposing PPs – Edge Hawks

The points in particular that Milbury nailed were:

*The character question looms over San Jose like the darkest cloud you can imagine…If the Sharks stay healthy and still can’t push to the Cup Final, the question of character and resolve will be answered about this team with finality.

*For the Hawks, facing huge dollar issues, they need to feel comfortable in the all important position of goaltending. Average goaltending will crush a team’s spirit in the post-season.

*With a matchup this even, it may just be the general manager who tips the balance one way or the other. With the March trading deadline looming after Vancouver’s Olympics, Wilson and Bowman will need to assess and act to fill the needs of each club.

Head-to-head, one has to like the Blackhawks chances. The Sharks have the obvious potent 1st line trio, but Keith & Seabrook are up to the shutdown task. The Hawks forwards depth can overwhelm the Sharks defense. The only question mark lies in goal where I believe Niemi will emerge as the more than capable go to guy.

Shots From The Slot – Around The Web Takes On Blackhawks Victory Over Sharks:

*Hawks Stake Claim As No. 1 With Series Win (NHL.com)

*Hawks dig deep in OT win over Sharks ( ESPN – Jesse Rogers)

*Blackhawks have entered “Megan Fox Territory” (Fifth Feather)

*Hawks’ depth is showing (Tim Sassone)

*Updates from snowy Raleigh, North Carolina (Inside The Blackhawks)

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Tags: antti niemi, Brent Seabrook, Chicago Blackhawks, Cristobel Huet, Doug Wilson, Duncan Keith, Joel Quenneville, Mike Milbury, stan bowman, Troy Brouwer