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Best Team Defence
by PuckStopsHere on 11/06/09 at 11:04 AM ET
Comments (2)
I think we are far enough into the season to conclude that the Chicago Blackhawks have the best team defence. Chicago has held opposition to an amazing 22.7 shots per game so far. This is 3.5 shots per game better than any other team (Los Angeles is second). The Blackhawks have a solid 8-6 record (with one regulation tie) but have not been able to capitalize on this top defence so far because of lacklustre goaltending. Cristobal Huet has put up a .895 saves percentage and a 2.36 goals against average. The GAA looks acceptable, but when you consider how few shots he has faced, it is not so good. So far rookie Antii Niemi has done a little better that Huet in goal, but he is largely untested. His first of four starts was a shutout against Florida and that one start alone (which may be a bit of a fluke) makes up the difference between Huet and his numbers.
The three biggest contributors in terms of ice time on the Chicago Blackhawks defence are Duncan Keith, Brian Campbell and Brent Seabrook. This is as good a top three defencemen as any team in the NHL has. Cam Barker is off to a good start as well. Niklas Hjalmarsson and Brent Sopel make up the usual players on Chicago`s defence. This is a solid group.
The forwards are also defensively responsible. I argued that Patrick Sharp deserved the 2008 Selke Trophy. He is having another strong season so far. Chicago has a bunch of young talented forwards including Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Kris Versteeg and Andrew Ladd who are developing into solid two way forwards under coach Joel Quenneville.
The Chicago Blackhawks could have a tremendous season if they can get better goaltending. They are a team with the best team defence in the league, but have been unable to exploit it so far. As a result, they sit in the middle of the pack in the NHL standings. Better goaltending (perhaps Huet playing as well as he did in his best Montreal season) would make this team a top contender.
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Tags: Chicago+Blackhawks, Cristobal+Huet, Patrick+Sharp,
Comments
Given the strength of the Chicago defence, all that is needed is a good goalie for the team to have one of the top records in the league EVEN IF THEIR SCORING REMAINS THE SAME.
The goaltending has not been fine. Of those 36 goalies who have enough games played to be in the saves percentage race in the NHLHuet is 4th worst. That is not acceptable.
Posted by PuckStopsHere on 11/06/09 at 02:23 PM ET
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The goaltending has been fine over the last few weeks. The reason that the team is not capitalizing on its great defense is because they’re not scoring any goals!
Obviously that is due mostly to the absense of Toews and Hossa, but though they’re also in the Top 5 in the league in shots taken, they’re near the back of the pack in goals scored.
This team will be fine when they get healthy. They’re essentially missing their top two scorers, and defense is less “streaky” than offense. If they continue to limit opponents’ shots like this, they’ll win the Central Division.
Posted by Dr. Ice from Chi City on 11/06/09 at 02:00 PM ET