Chicago Blackhawks

A youth movement should produce better results -- just don't expect them this season

By Richard Deitsch

Team Page | Predicted Finish: 26

It was a drive that would've made Jake and Elwood Blues proud. As part of a tradition dating to 1999, when they first became teammates, Blackhawks left wing Eric Daze and goaltender Jocelyn Thibault would travel together every September from their Montreal homes to training camp, a trip that covered some 850 miles.

Eric Daze Tom Pidgeon/Getty Images/NHLI SI RANKING (1 best - 30 worst) OFFENSE 21 DEFENSE 23 GOALTENDING 19 POWER PLAY 29 PENALTY KILLING 13 G.M. AND COACH 20

Following an injury-plagued season that limited him to 54 games, however, Daze hired a personal trainer for the first time and decided this September that a two-hour plane ride would be easier on his 6'6" frame than 15 hours in a car. "I don't think driving was the reason I had back surgery last year, but why take a chance?" says Daze, who missed the first 15 games last season after surgery for a herniated disc. A healthy Daze, 28, will improve the league's 28th-ranked power play and, Chicago hopes, repeat his performance of 2001-02 when he led the Blackhawks in goals (38) and points (70).

He'll need a supple body just to keep up with his youthful teammates. "We'll be quick, skilled and younger," promises coach Brian Sutter. If the youth movement has a face, it's that of Tuomo Ruutu, a 6'1", 202-pound center with a nasty streak that reminds some scouts of the Islanders' Michael Peca. The 20-year-old Ruutu was generally regarded as the best player outside the NHL in 2002-03 before he tore his left ACL last January in the Finnish Elite League. In August the Blackhawks' first-round draft pick in 2001 finally signed an incentive-laden three-year deal that could be worth up to $15 million. 

Chicago hasn't had a premier defenseman since Chris Chelios was traded in March 1999, so steady but unspectacular blueliners Jon Klemm and Steve Poapst will have to do until youngsters such as 2002 No. 1 pick Anton Babchuk develop. Thibault was the team's lone All-Star last season and will keep most games close.

But unless Ruutu is the second coming of Denis Savard, expect these Blackhawks to be mostly Daze and confused.

Insider

The Blackhawks are searching for an identity. They aren't hard-nosed enough to be a grinding team or skilled enough to be a flow team.... D Jon Klemm is a nice player, but he and partner Steve Poapst don't have the size or stamina to be big-minute guys who can keep up the pace the entire season.... There are some talented players in the pipeline -- F's Igor Radulovand Travis Moen, to name two -- but none who will make a big impact this season.

Issue date: October 13, 2003