Henri Johkiharu “always want to learn more” according to Duncan Keith. Keith and Johkiharu have been paired up on the Hawks defensive line a lot this season, and the connection doesn’t stop there. “We sit together on the plane” and he always want to learn more and ask questions, according to Keith. It was not to long ago that Duncan Keith was that young guy being sheltered by older veteran blue liners. Now, the future hall of fame defenseman will be passing the blue line to a new wave of Hawks Defensman. Carl Dahlstrom, and Henri Johkiharu are just a few of the incoming defensemen for the Hawks. Adam Bodvuist, and Nick Beaudin have been watching a lot of the season from their prospective teams hoping to one day crack the Hawks roster. The two first round prospects shot at the Hawks might come as soon as next season. Chicago does have a good defense coming soon.
Chicago lost 8-5 against the New Jersey Devils. You can not expect to win a game having given up 8 goals. The defense was split on multiple occasions and Cam Ward was left all alone to defend against multiple odd man rushes and breakaways. The Hawks decided not to put rookie goalie Collin Delia in net tonight, sparing his goals against average. The goalie of the future for the Hawks is Delia. Things are going to be sunny in Chicago in a while, but it will be a while.
The Hawks power play did end up scoring one goal on the night. Proving that Chicago does have one of the hottest power plays in the league, boy is that an odd sentence when it comes to the Hawks. The Devils have the top penalty kill in the NHL so the Hawks scoring shows we can keep up with the best in the NHL. It is only a matter of time before things turn around for the Hawks but it might be a little too late.
One of the sad things about this year being wasted is that Patrick Kane is having a career year. Kane played his best season in 2016, and the Hawks followed that up with a first round exit to the Blues. Now this season, Kane is playing even better hockey. Kane has found a new level and is hopefully going to playing at this level for years to come. If the Hawks not win another Stanley cup with Kane the Hawks will go down knowing the wasted the best years of Patrick Kane.
Chicago will hopefully jump back up into the hunt for a playoff spot soon. Otherwise this season will be over just as fast as it started. The biggest thing the Hawks will need to succeed in the second half of the season will be locking down the blue line. Sheldon Brookbank was brought in as an assistant coach earlier this month, the biggest thing he can improve on is the blue line so hopefully he makes some changes soon.
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