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Minnesota Wild: Know Your Rivals – Chicago Blackhawks

By Luke Ryan

ST. PAUL, MN - FEBRUARY 10: Ryan Suter #20 of the Minnesota Wild and Jonathan Toews #19 of the Chicago Blackhawks battle for position during the game at the Xcel Energy Center on February 10, 2018 in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images)
ST. PAUL, MN - FEBRUARY 10: Ryan Suter #20 of the Minnesota Wild and Jonathan Toews #19 of the Chicago Blackhawks battle for position during the game at the Xcel Energy Center on February 10, 2018 in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The Minnesota Wild as always faces a steep challenge to emerge from the Central Division. What about their rivals?

We’re looking at each of the teams in the Central Division in the hopes of gauging how much more or less of a threat they now are to the Minnesota Wild.

First up are the Chicago Blackhawks, who seem to have lost the shine of yesteryear. Long gone are Chicago cup parades. Hopefully also long gone are disappointing series losses to this very team.

When Do We Face Them:

vs Chicago (Thursday, October 11 @ 7PM)
@ Chicago (Sunday, November 18 @ 5PM)
@ Chicago (Thursday, December 27 @ 7:30PM)
vs Chicago (Saturday, February 2 @ 7PM)

How We Match Up With Them

The real challenge for the Minnesota Wild is to contain the Blackhawks’ playmakers; Patrick Kane and the much younger Alex DeBrincat. Control those two and you’ve nullified the true attacking threat of the Chicago side. Mikael Granlund and Nino Niederreiter will need to be at peak performance to shut them down. Their speed puts them in a truly elite class.

Beyond them,  Jonathan Toews desperately needs to turn his game around this year but should he not be back on form; there is enough in the Minnesota Wild depth chart to control the game. Mikko Koivu and Eric Staal should certainly be able to stand up to him and the center depth behind him.

Defensively, the Wild have traditionally struggled to score in large numbers. They will be hoping that the decline continues, with Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook representing burdensome contracts for their rivals. If that is the case, the Minnesota Wild should feast on the limitations of a defensive core that led the team to multiple Stanley Cups.

In net, Corey Crawford is elite level when he’s on his game, which was exactly the case last season until he got injured. Cam Ward offers some degree of backup but has been inconsistent ever since his 2006 Stanley Cup run with the Carolina Hurricanes. Obviously for the Wild, the opportune goalie to face is Ward!

The good news is that it seems the Blackhawks will struggle once more; there’s maybe not a chance of sweeping the season series as their offensive threats are very much threats on their day, but there’s certainly a fair shot at making it three out of four this year!

Next. Is Nashville The Perfect Trading Partner?. dark

My conclusion is that, mercifully for Minnesota Wild fans, the Blackhawks will once again be struggling to return to former glories.

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