The first option was to fire up the Joel Quenneville line-blender and boy did they ever. After the first dozen games of the season, the forward lines and defensive pairings seemed to be different in some way, shape, or form every night. While it took a handful of games, Quenneville and the Blackhawks may have found a stop-gap in the sub-par production for now. There’s still a need, though, for one aspect missing from the Blackhawks arsenal: Speed.

Chicago has the players to be successful, that’s without question. But there seems to be one thing that consistently seems to be missing on a nightly basis from the team, speed with the puck. While Patrick Kane and Nick Schmaltz provide good movement around the ice, outside of them there isn’t another option to wheel and get the offense moving. Duncan Keith from the back-end doesn’t have the same speed as maybe two seasons ago, and although small and shifty, rookie Alex DeBrincat isn’t a straight-line speed player.

Enter Vince Hinostroza.

Hinostroza was the final player on the cut-line when the Blackhawks broke training camp in the beginning of October. When it came down to it, the Blackhawks organization felt it a better fit to give DeBrincat a shot early in the season to see what he had to offer over Hinostroza. Since then, Hinostroza has skated in 17 games for the Rockford IceHogs this season and has tallied 17 points (8G, 9A) over that time. Hinostroza leads the team in points, goals, and powerplay points and has been the catalyst in which the IceHogs’ offense runs. Night after night, Hinostroza looks to be the fastest skater on the ice in any given game and is far and away the best skater on the IceHogs roster this season.

With his production level where it is and passing the good ol’ eye test on a nightly basis, it becomes a no-brainer that the Blackhawks need a player at the caliber of Hinostroza on their roster.

Where Does Hinostroza Fit?

The problem then becomes, where does he fit into the roster?

Here are the current Blackhawks forward lines heading into their Wednesday night game against the Tampa Bay Lightning (a team that knows speed):

Blackhawks lines
Saad-Toews-Panik
Schmaltz-Anisimov-Kane
Sharp-Hartman-DeBrincat
Bouma-Wingels-Hayden

— Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) November 20, 2017

Looking at the construction of these lines, it becomes more of a challenge to slot Hinostroza into a regular spot.

While he has played center in the past, he’s best fit to play on the wing. With that in mind who could he bump?

Brandon Saad, no.
Richard Panik, no.
Nick Schmaltz, no.
Patrick Kane, uh nope.

Already through the top two lines and no surprise, there’s no room for him. Who else then?

Alex DeBrincat
Patrick Sharp
John Hayden
Lance Bouma

This is the grouping where Hinostroza could make his way into the lineup.

Prior to this last week, the easiest answer to the Blackhawks need for an offensive spark and to get Hinostroza into the lineup was to send down the waiver-exempt DeBrincat. Since then, DeBrincat has started a four-game points streak, including a three-point night against the Hurricanes. It still could be an option, but now it is more of a long shot to see DeBrincat and Hinostroza swap spots.

The only other waiver-exempt option out of this group of four is John Hayden. While Hayden hasn’t put up huge numbers, that is not his game at this point in his career. Still young, Hayden is a physical player with a bit of raw scoring touch and is a perfect fit for a third/fourth line checking role, something the Blackhawks and Joel Quenneville need in their lineup. Same goes for Lance Bouma, just without the scoring touch. Bouma plays a heavy game and at times has been one of the lone bright spots for the Blackhawks this season. It’s been that kind of year.

So come to believe it, Patrick Sharp ends up on the chopping block and the best candidate, right now, to watch some games from the press box and allow Hinostroza a shot in the NHL lineup. No he is not going to be sent to Rockford, but Sharp has not lived up to his billing since returning to the Blackhawks from the Dallas Stars. In 20 games this season, Sharp has tallied just four points (2G, 2A) and hasn’t looked as rejuvenated or in the best shape on the team as he was propped up to best coming into the season.

At times, the 35-year old Sharp has looked slow and hardly a shell of his former 30-goal scoring self. It may go against every fiber of his being, and Quenneville loves to give “his guys” the benefit of the doubt, but Q should give a very hard and unbiased look at just what Sharp is bringing to the table and compare it to what Hinostroza can offer in that third-line role. His job might depend on it.

How To Get Hinostroza To Chicago

Finally, without having a viable waiver-exempt option, how would the Blackhawks get Hinostroza to Chicago without losing someone through waivers?

Tanner Kero has been a healthy-scratch more often than not this season, and with the emergence of Tommy Wingels as the fourth-line center option and Ryan Hartman being shifted back into the middle of the third-line, Kero’s ice time may be hard to come by. But, he still has the skill set and NHL track record that some team could benefit from, so a waiver-wire move with Kero could be reasonably risky.

The other option on the table, when it comes to players on the outside looking in for the Blackhawks, is the eight defensemen that Chicago continues to carry and more specifically, Jordan Oesterle.

Oesterle has played in four games this season, three of which came in October, and has just one assist and is averaging under 14 minutes of ice time per game. Recently, the Blackhawks have been trusting new arrivals Jan Rutta and Cody Franson more and more, leaving Oesterle and Michal Kempny more often than not, in the press box. With the rotation of Kempny, Franson, and sometimes Connor Murphy being consistent, Oesterle just becomes a roster placeholder.

The Blackhawks were high on Oesterle coming into the season, but have not utilized him nearly at all this season. Four games is not a lot of tape for other teams to see what Oesterle brings to the table and with the Blackhawks having a less than stellar defensive group and still Oesterle cannot crack the lineup, makes it seem to the rest of the league that there is something missing from his game and wouldn’t be worth the squeeze on the waiver wire. Plus, Oesterle can only benefit from getting on the ice in Rockford and getting his game-legs back underneath him.

Ok, this is just getting ridiculous.
Hinostroza in the shootout, again! ? pic.twitter.com/QSth2kLinJ

— AHL (@TheAHL) November 20, 2017

Unless the Blackhawks have something in the works involving Hinostroza, there really should be no reason he has not made his way into the NHL lineup by now. Until then, Hinostroza will have to just continue putting up highlight-reel worthy plays until the Blackhawks’ hand is forced to make a move.

The post Vince Hinostroza Cannot Be Ignored Much Longer appeared first on The Rink.

With opening night less than a week away, the Blackhawks are down to some tough decisions with their roster. We talked at length about the options on Tuesday night’s Shoutcast, but there are some real questions. I’m going to break down some of the upcoming roster decisions or at least try to lay them out in a logical manner. This doesn’t mean Joel Quenneville decide to use the logical method. Lastly, we look at the offense:

Brandon Saad – Jonathan Toews – Richard Panik

This is your first line, and it has been since the day the Blackhawks traded Artemi Panarin for Brandon Saad back in June. We all know what we are going to get from Saad and Jonathan Toews. Richard Panik is a bit more of a wild card. No one believed me when I predicted that Panik could easily replace the 34 points that were sent to Montreal with Andrew Shaw. No only did Panik replace the points, but he eclipsed it. By a decent margin. He played all 82 games, and contributed 22 goals, 22 assists for 44 points. These are all better than Andrew Shaw has ever reached in his career. I don’t expect that Panik will have 22 goals again, but it’s really not all that unreasonable. With Saad on the other wing, Panik will have more room to work. As long as he is in the right place, he will have every opportunity to equal that 44 points. This line is light years better now than it was in April. Expect Jonathan Toews to have a bounceback typical Jonny Toews year, and for Brandon Saad to have a career year. Saad is coming off three straight 50+ point seasons, and this year will be no different. 60 points is not unfathomable.

Alex Debrincat – Nick Schmaltz – Patrick Kane

I know, the Debrincat hater has him not only making the team, but playing in the top 6. If you look at the alternatives, there really aren’t any. Unless they move Nick Schmaltz back to wing, no one else fits the position, and they certainly haven’t been playing Schmaltz at center all preseason only to dump him back at the wing. I think Debrincat will hit the wall in ten games and they will need to re-adjust but, for the moment, it won’t hurt to try this combo out to open the season. Speaking of Nick Schmaltz, this kid has impressed me. He was a pouty little brat, last season, once he was sent to Rockford and it rubbed me the wrong way. Granted he still has that pouty look on his face all the time, but his play has grow leaps and bounds. He was “good” last season, after he came back from Rockford, but this preseason he has been excellent. I would have never placed him at second line center, but that is where he has been the entire preseason. He has not looked out of place either. This makes you wonder what the future holds for new third line $4.55 million center Artem Anisimov. Patrick Kane is; Patrick Kane. I don’t want to say too much or the PC Police will come after me.

Patrick Sharp – Artem Anisimov – Ryan Hartman

If we didn’t expect to have Debrincat or Schmaltz on the second line, we certainly didn’t expect to see Artem Anisimov on the third line. If Debrincat makes the team, I’m fine with Sharp on the third line, and if Debrincat doesn’t, then someone like Wingels or Hayden can slide up. Ryan Hartman is a perfect third line player and will have a solid year once again there. Anisimov is a perfectly fine third line center, but I have my reservations about paying a player $4.55 million for the next 4 years to play on the third line. At some point they have to investigate getting him to waive that no trade clause and clear that cap room. For the near future, he is perfectly fine in the third line role. Even if he can’t win a faceoff to save his life. Circling back to Debrincat, Quenneville toyed with playing him on this third line with Anisimov and Hartman, and I’m not a fan whatsoever. He is not really responsible defensively, yet, and he is not a player that drives possession by himself. He needs to be set up for his chances, by skill players. Anisimov and Hartman are good, but they are good straight line players. They are not going to set Debrincat up with beautiful passes, or dazzling moves. I cannot see this experiment working, and you are not putting him in a position to succeed based on his skillset.

Tommy Wingels – Tanner Kero – Lance Bouma
Tomas Jurco, Jordin Tootoo, John Hayden,Vinnie Hinostroza

This fourth line is a complete mystery. You might as well just throw all the names in a hat and randomly pick them out. What you see above is not what I would select, rather what I think Quenneville and Bowman will decide. Tanner Kero is a fine, responsible fourth line center and should have that position locked down. Tommy Wingels, Lance Bouma and Jordin Tootoo are basically the same player in “small, medium, sort-of-large” sizes. If Quenneville wants to keep one of those three players as a 13th forward for the “grit”, that’s fine by me. Keeping all three is simply preposterous. My honest opinion is that they should keep Wingels and Hayden, waive Bouma or Tootoo, and launch Tomas Jurco into the sun. This is not the year to waste roster spots on players that you mistakenly signed or traded for. The problem with this entire scenario is that the Blackhawks rarely ever admit their mistakes, which means Wingels, Bouma, Tootoo, and Jurco will all make the roster. This leaves Hayden and Hinostroza heading due west to Rockford, even though John Hayden has done everything to make this opening night roster. We are only talking about 6-8 minutes a night for this line, but it is just not the best way to maximize your talent. There I go applying logic again. Please allow me to beat any logic out of my brain with a 2×4.

The post Blackhawks Preseason Roster Breakdown: Forwards appeared first on The Rink.