2012-13 record: 36-7-5 (77 points)
Won the Stanley Cup
Captain: Jonathan Toews
The Chicago Blackhawks started off hot and ended up with a Stanley Cup for their troubles. While the core of the team remains intact, they also lose Dave Bolland, Michal Frolik, and Ray Emery. However, the Blackhawks have a pipeline that should more than fill in some of those holes to compliment the likes of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, Duncan Keith, and Patrick Kane. Goaltending will once again be a question mark, but this time, it will be whether Corey Crawford can repeat last year's performance as opposed to whether he can be a starting goaltender. He won't have Emery behind him, but with Nikolai Khabibulin behind him, Crawford should be just as motivated in playing like a number one goaltender even after he just got paid like one recently. Having Keith, Brent Seabrook, and Niklas Hjalmarsson in front of him for the forseeable future will help greatly, as those three are the key players on the blue line. Second line center remains a concern, as was even with Bolland, but with a pipeline stocked with centers, the Blackhawks will find a solution there.
Prospects: The trades of Bolland and Frolik mean that someone will step into the roles they occupied, which means there will be some rookies on the team. Brandon Pirri is the favorite to claim the center spot vacated by Bolland, but don't count out either Mark McNeill or Phillip Danault. If Teuvo Tereavainen comes across the pond this season, he could be a dark horse candidate to crack the opening night roster. Jeremy Morin is a favorite to take the spot that Frolik occupied on the wing. The blue line will essentially return everyone from last year's Cup run, which means there likely isn't going to be any room for Adam Clendening, and Khabibulin is a stopgap solution until either Antti Raanta or Mac Carruth is ready for the back-up job in Chicago.
Prediction: 1st in the Central Division
Unlike the post-Stanley Cup team of 2010, this version of the Blackhawks will return many of the key players, as well as some of the key role players on the team. It helps that they won't have to break in a new goaltender this time around, and as long as Toews leads the team and Kane continues to build on his breakthrough year, the Blackhawks will be considered a favorite to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.
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