The 2007 NHL season was a myriad of hope before game one, yet the outlook continued to look even brighter as the season carried on. Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews were as good as billed, Robert Lang seemed to be the missing veteran the Hawks needed on and off the ice, and Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook started to prove the commitment placed in them. The stadium was packed and oddly enough, home games were on TV. Then it started to go sour…in the injury department. Havlat, Williams, Toews and Adams left the team (at different points) without consistent offensive production. Here’s five reasons the playoffs look like a dream right now:

1. Nikolai Khabibulin: If there was one acquisition that Dale Tallon hoped would be stable for this team, it was this one. Unfortunately, it never happened. Just watching Khabibulin makes you wonder how dominant he was with Tampa in winning the Stanley Cup. Hawks fans thought it was a lack of defense that supported his erratic and inconsistent play, yet with the emergence of Keith, Seabrook, Wisniewski, and Byfuglien and the acquisition of Brent Sopel, Khabibulin still is lost at sifting his way through a screen, wanders and overplays shots in or near the crease, and has been utterly inconsistent. He ranks a lowly 33rd in GAA and 34th in save percentage. If only he could play Calgary every night…

2. Injuries: I swear both Tallon and Denis Savard were just waiting for Martin Havlat to be sidelined due to injury at multiple points of the season, but to lose Toews (who far surpasses his nineteen years of age), Williams, Adams, Wisniewski, and Patrick Sharp really left this team with a slew of line issues. Even with the injuries, its nice to see Patrick Kane holding his own when many thought his frame couldn’t handle an NHL season.

3. Veterans: Besides Robert Lang, who would you keep here? Yannic Perreault and Sergei Samsonov were brought in to help create more offense, but it wasn’t long before Samsonov was scratched and then waived. Perreault’s moniker is being the modern-day Peter Zezel in terms of faceoffs, but I’m disgusted as to how many times he gets tossed for overstepping the drop. Add Rene Bourque, Andrei Zyuzin, and Tuomo Ruutu to the mix and let’s start bringing up guys from Rockford.

4. Special Teams: If memory serves my right, the Blackhawks were ranked as high as fifth in power play conversions early in the season. That’s dropped to 27th (14.8%) as of today. Coming into Sunday, the Hawks encompassed going 1 for 33 on the power play. That’s dismal, but injuries have severely hampered this teams ability to create consistent power play lines and thus create scoring opportunities. The Blackhawks rank 16th in the penalty kill category (81.5%) and even lead the league in shorthanded goals. It never seemed as if Savard could figure out who would play forward on the kill. Thank God for Sopel though as he’s provided some calmness around his own net instead of trying to force the puck out of their own zone.

5. Cohesiveness: This team seems a lot more “together” in years past, but Savard still questioned their commitment about a month ago. Injuries surely have not helped this factor with guys on different lines each night, but if there is one bright spot its the way Kane and Toews play together. Other than contract renewals, these guys have like 15 years to go on the same line. The problem is the Hawks still give up more goals than they score, yet amazingly rank sixth with a plus 13 in plus/minus.

The Blackhawks are not “officially” out of the playoffs yet, but need must-wins against Columbus and Nashville to create any chance of getting a spot. If not, I’d like to see how the younger prospects fit in the mix with the roster that will be here in 2008. If nothing else, it looks as if we’ll get to see this team further develop…and at home and on TV.

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