The Pre-Season Inquisition Continues: Who will be this year's pleasant surprise and horrendous disappointment?

I would put a little money on Kane being a disappointment. Agreed on wicked talent, but unless he has matured some this summer I’m not overly optimistic. His whining “WTF” looks when he didn’t score need to go away. We expect him to pick back up where he left off, so technically that won’t be a surprise. I could see VERSTEEG! heading for disappointment.

A surprise I would like to see is for Burish to have a banner year. I can’t put elite near any of his qualities except pain in the ass, but if he worked on his game over the summer, it would be cool to see him sucker some people looking for nothing outa him but shit talking.

In the horrendous category, I’m going to say at least one of Scotty’s first three trades. For once in my life, the Hawks have quite a bit of talent up front and without being dramatic, someone is going to have to go. We talk about it here and I have no doubt GM’s around the league are talking about it too. Package deals scare me the most if we are trying to ship off two or three guys at once in a blockbuster deal.

Hjalmarrson is going to be a stud this year. But I wouldn’t say thats a huge suprise – he’s shown so much talent the last few years.

Suprise: Niemi or Crawford. Both talented and one of em is going to step up to the plate. Oh and Bolland scores a billion goals.

Disappointment: Kane. And it’s not because of the cabbie incident. I’ve been suspecting for awhile that he may be close to his point total ceiling. If he’s going to be an elite player to build the team around he’s gotta do a little better than 70pts.
Kopecky too. I bet he struggles to make the team with Fraser on his heals.

and a terrible start to the Bears season (injuries included) It’s setting up to be the Hawks town this fall and winter. More attention and pressure. Why not!? I love it.

Considering this may be the most positive year for the Hawks in recent memory I’ll start with the heroes:
Corey Crawford- for some reason or another I felt confident when Crawford was between the pipes for the Hawks during the 2007-2008 season when he was called upon when Khabibulin was injured (what else was new?) and Lalime was struggling. His ShO vs. the defending Stanley Cup Champions was a clear indication in my mind that this kid was ready for the big leagues and showed a lot of poise after being thrown into the lion’s den in Game 4 against the Red Wings. I really feel that Crawford with nobody looking over his shoulder, and knowing he will get a legitimate shot in the NHL will flourish. Calder Trophy canidate? Why not make it 3 in a row.

Niklas Hjalmarsson- Once again really think that this kid will come up with a Teppo Numminen calibre season. Not a lot of offence but will be counted on for solid defence in key situations throughout the season. Once he started to play regularly his confidence began to rise, and being paired with Campbell seemed to elevate his game for it seemed he was very comfortable being alongside Campbell. Wouldn’t be suprised if Hjalmarsson had a +/- above +20.

Patrick Kane- due to all his off-season shenanaghans Patrick Kane has casted a very large cloud above his head with anyone and everyone questioning his every bad move. Will this make him better? or break him down? I’m betting on the former and that this year Kane keeps on his pace as a top-10 point getter throughout the season a reaches the 90-point plateau if not 100. High expectations? True but I believe he can do it.

And now on to the zeroes:
Kris Versteeg- much like Patrick Kane and Brent Seabrook before him Versteeg will most likely struggle due to in part of the dreaded sophmore slump that seems to hit almost every young NHLer. Why? I have no answers but that it happens a lot. Too many times Versteeg fails to complete the easiest of tasks like dumping the puck in, completing his line-change properly (too long of shifts) and just chipping the puck out of his defensive zone rather than trying to make a low percentage play and/or pass. It often annoys the avid fan one can only wonder what it does to Quenneville, and with that comes decreased ice-time which will only hurt his cause.

Dustin Byfuglien- too many deficiencies in his game to list and with the arrivals of Tomas Kopecky and John Madden the opportunities for Dustin to prove himself as a legitimate NHLer are dwindling for him in Chicago. Face it his inconsistant play will eventually lead to his benching and his eventual dismissal from this club for there are too many players that can do what Byfuglien does down in Rockford. It’s time for Byfuglien to be consistant, but I really think that won’t happen and in the end Kopecky takes his place on the 3rd line leading to Dustin’s all but apparent departure.

Adam Burish- Sometimes I wonder where does he fit into this line-up? It wasn’t until Kane sat out a couple of games after the Winter Classic did Burish finally get a chance to showcase his talents. It also seems he doesn’t fit the Quenneville mold of the type of player he wants/likes within his line-up. The PK? with the additions of Kopecky and Madden one has to doubt if Burish will ever get the opportunity on the PK (barring injury). Once Hossa returns (which it looks like mid-November now) it could become a Burish-Byfuglien battle for the 4th line wing spot and given Quenneville choice of size over substance (Walker over A.Johnson) it looks like it will become Byfuglien’s to lose. Eventhough I think Byfuglien will fail, I seriously doubt that Burish will make much of an impact and could very well see more of Skille on that line to provide a liitle more of an offensive flair.

Surprise – Huet; I’m more of a believer than most here, but I think that with a good defensive in front of him, better 2-way play at Center, and no competition for the #1 spot he’s due for a breakout year.
[Runner-Up is Campbell….he’ll more than live up to his contract this year]

Disappointment – Byfuglien; A guy who looks to be on the cusp of realizing his potential every 4 months only to backslide again and again. I just don’t think he’s got the hockey smarts to play to his strengths (get to the net…stay there) while minimizing his weaknesses (skating, stickhandling).
[Runner-Up is Patrick Kane; I’m guessing 55-65 pts this year which is underwhelming]

Horrendous Bust – Hossa; I remember how tentative and awful Havlat looked after his shoulder was surgically repaired and I see deja vu all over again. Years 2 – 12 may be another story, but I think he’ll have a rough time contributing this year.
[Runner-Up is Cam Barker; He’ll probably be paired with Sopel, Johnson or Hendry at even strength as the 3rd D-pairing, so his ice time will be lower and his point total will suffer even with PP time]

He’ll finish top 5 for the Hart

Surprise – I gotta go with Campbell. For all the abuse he takes, I think this is gonna be the year he lives up to his contract. You could see him ready to take the reigns in the playoffs last year. This year he takes the puck and runs with it.

Bustola – It pains me to say this, but with the loss of Marty Havlat and Ladd most likely on a line with Madden, Bolland may be the Hawks player that suffers the biggest decline. Combine the previous reason with the dreaded “big payday”, and it may be a long year for Bolland. I really hope I’m wrong, because I love the kid. Just a feeling.

My surprise will be Madden. Last season he had 20 different line mates, which ended up giving him no time to actually gain chemistry (Sutter scratched Pandolfo for like 15 games early on as well). He’ll be able to play his game with Quenville, and a set pair of wingers as well.

Bust would be Huet. He’s injury prone and he has only played 50+ games once in his career. Corey Crawford will play well when he gets the chance to, meaning Huet’s going to have to step up his game, or ride the pine like he did when Bulin was healthy.

Surprises – Dyfuglien. I think he was still playing with a defensiveness mindset last year, and was scared of making mistakes … and so he made them. He’s not a natural power forward, but the playoffs and his Olympic tryout will give him the confidence to play more freely. He’ll still stumble and look completely “wrong” out there some nights, but I’m betting this is his year. 25 goals. Oh, and the Most Improved Player Award goes to Brent Sopel. Seriously (although just getting ice time pretty much means he improves). But I like his chances for a rebound, the guy’s only 32.

Disappointment – Cristobal Huet. I’m just scared, that’s all. I don’t think anything horrible will happen during the regular season, but it’s the playoffs I worry about.

Horrorshows – I don’t think anything truly horrendous is going to show up, but I can definitely see Stan jumping on any half-decent offer for Jack Skille. He’s not a bad player, but there’s no space for him on our roster, especially with Makarov, Beach and Aliu in the wings. His speed? Sweatt exceeds him there.

Surprise: Kane. the kid is so snotty and full of himself, i actually think all this negativity lights a fire under his ass and he goes out and puts on a show, if only to be a jag…next year he’ll be a bust, no doubt

Bust: Buff. he’ll get traded (and should) but how do you trade a guy who plays when it counts most, the Playoffs??
He still sucks eggs for lack of effort everywhere else.

Boom:
Forward
Tazer – 40+ goals, 80+ points, his numbers last year show this prediction to be possible. When you take into account his brutally slow start last year, these numbers look more like probable.
Defense
Hammer – high plus minus, and a solid comfortable pairing with campbell. I’m a big fan of this kid, he is gritty and has the potential to be very technically sound in his own zone.
Goalie
Huet – I’ve been as hard on him as anyone, but I think he can take us where we need to go. The competition with khabby was probably tough on a guy who was brought in here to be the number 1, now he can just focus on being the guy.

Bust
Forward
Versteeg – Plenty of people are calling for this one. His top shelf wrist shot against Luongo in game 6 is an indication of his potential as a true sniper, but I just don’t think he has it between the ears. Not only does he struggle to dump the puck in, but in quite a few games last year it seemed like he was just flat out in the way. Game 2 of the Detroit series comes to mind.
Defense
Barker – I love alot of things barker brings to the table, and I think he’ll be fine on the power play, but the potential for his defensive pairing to consist of several different players throughout the course of the season will hurt him during even strength ice time. At some point, the hawks will find him the right partner and he will reach his potential.
Goalie
Niemi – I think crawford wins the backup job, so barring an injury, we might not see much of Antti.

would any production whatsoever out of Brent Sopel automatically make him the pleasant surprise? We all expect him to be the Patient Zero of Suck, so any positive contribution would be a huge boon to the Hawks.

Are we necessarily 100% sure that the better of the two between Crawford and Niemi will necessarily be the backup to start the season? If the Hawks determine them both to be NHL-caliber, wouldn’t it make some sense to send the better of the 2 to Rockford where they can play every game to stay sharp as opposed to once every 3 or 4 games? The thinking of course being that down the stretch, when every game is crucial, the better of the two goalies will be a little more on top of his game. Thoughts?

On the plus side, mebbe Ladd and another Calder contender (Beach, Aliu?). Also, how about Eager and Barker? Highly-touted once-upon-a-time, maybe they bloom this year. Ben racked up 11 goals in 4th line duty last year.

Disappointement. Gotta be Hossa, based on Chicago’s free agent track record (thinking Cubs mostly…probably too early to start a dump Cutler campaign.)