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CHICAGO -- Here's a quick look at the Chicago Blackhawks' 6-4 win over the Washington Capitals in the season opener at the United Center on Tuesday.

How it happened: If a banner-raising ceremony wasn't enough entertainment on opening night in Chicago, the Blackhawks and Capitals followed that up with an offensive display on the ice. After squandering a 3-2 lead in the third period and going down 4-3, the Blackhawks answered with three goals in the final 13 minutes. Blackhawks forward Brandon Saad tied the score off a pass from Michal Handzus at 7:55 of the third period, and Johnny Oduya put the Blackhawks ahead at 13:53. Marian Hossa added an empty-net goal in the final minute. Brandon Bollig, Patrick Kane and Brent Seabrook also scored for the Blackhawks. Mikhail Grabovski scored three goals for the Capitals. Alex Ovechkin had the other goal. The Capitals scored three times on the power play. Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford had 28 saves.

What it means: The Blackhawks became only the second team in the past six years to win on their banner-raising night. The Blackhawks' penalty kill was a strength all of last season but that unit struggled Tuesday. The Hawks didn't allow their third power-play goal of the season until the 11th game last season.

Player of the game: Oduya scored the winner and had a plus-4 rating in the win.

What's next: The Blackhawks get three days off before their second game of the season. They host the Tampa Bay Lightning at the United Center on Saturday.

The Chicago Blackhawks will move on from their 2013 Stanley Cup season after their championship banner is raised on Tuesday night.

Before they do that, a number of the Blackhawks shared their favorite memories from their day with the Stanley Cup this past summer.

Bryan Bickell
"For me, my passion in the offseason is fishing. So a friend of mine has his own TV show; it's called 'Facts of Fishing,' and his name is David Mercer. It's a big TV show in Canada. I had the opportunity to bring the Cup on the show and fish with the Cup, which was special because I know all the guys around the room would say if I wasn't playing hockey I'd be fishing. There were two parts. The first day we caught fish, but there weren't any with size. We had a Part 2 the next day, and we got big ones."

Brandon Bollig
"I think being from St. Louis and taking it back there and having the Blues being a big rival with the Blackhawks, people were on the fence as to whether to come out. I got a lot of tweets from people that they weren't going to come see it until the Blues won. Then again, you get a lot people saying that's awesome, and they're going to support someone from their hometown and come. I had a lot of people with Blues jerseys and shirts at my public event. It was cool. It was all in good fun. I understand. I'd probably do the same if I was in their position."

Corey Crawford
"I think just spending it with my family. It was special to me because I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. They pretty much gave up their lives not only for me, but for me and my brother both so we could play hockey and do that. My parents, they pretty much paid the way for me. Not just me, but my brother and sister have been really supportive throughout my career. It was pretty special."

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Here are 10 things to know about the Chicago Blackhawks before they raise the banner Tuesday night and begin the 2013-14 NHL season:

1. The Blackhawks won't discuss a Stanley Cup repeat, but they have constantly emphasized getting off to a positive start to the season. The previous time the Blackhawks tried to defend the Cup, their season was derailed by some early woes. They aren't likely to match last season's 24-game points streak to begin the season, but they would like to do better than the 9-9-2 record they had after 20 games in the 2010-11 season. The Blackhawks do have the advantage this time around of returning nearly everyone from last season's team.

2. The Blackhawks found magic in a top line of Bryan Bickell-Jonathan Toews-Patrick Kane in the playoffs last season, and Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville will be rolling that out again to start this season. The major change that occurred since the trio last played in a real game together is that Bickell is now making about $3.4 million more than he was last season. With that money comes higher expectations, and Bickell understands that. The line only played together once in the preseason, but it looked dangerous.

3. The other Blackhawks' lines likely will be Patrick Sharp-Michal Handzus-Marian Hossa; Brandon Saad-Andrew Shaw-Jimmy Hayes; and Brandon Bollig-Marcus Kruger-Joakim Nordstrom. Ben Smith likely will rotate in on the third and fourth lines.

Just some quick notes on the lines: Sharp stood out in the preseason. Playing on the third line should take some pressure off Saad. Hayes was impressive offensively with his size and quickness at times. Bollig had a solid preseason, but he needs to be more than an enforcer to keep his spot.

4. The defensive pairings likely will be Duncan Keith-Brent Seabrook; Johnny Oduya-Niklas Hjalmarsson; and Nick Leddy-Michal Rozsival. Michael Kostka and Sheldon Brookbank likely will rotate with Rozsival throughout the season. Having an eighth defenseman will allow Quenneville to sit players when they need some time off or are consistently struggling.

5. You can always hold a special place in your heart for Dave Bolland, Michael Frolik and Viktor Stalberg because they helped win last season's Stanley Cup, but they were role players and replaceable. Hayes, Nordstrom and Smith should have no trouble filling in those spots. Nordstrom is expected to replace Frolik on the penalty kill.

6. The Blackhawks didn't really answer the second-line center issue in the preseason. The plan to use Saad barely got off the ground. Brandon Pirri was the second option, but an injury set him back, and he never got a chance to show off his game. That brought Quenneville to his backup option, Handzus. Handzus was recovering from his offseason surgeries during training camp and was held out of all six preseason games. It will be interesting to see how his body holds up over 82 games, especially in such a vital role. As a side note, the Blackhawks' power play didn't look any better in the preseason, either.

7. Hossa also didn't play in any preseason games, and there has to be some concern about his health. Hossa looked great while at Notre Dame to start training camp, but he apparently aggravated his back injury sometime in that first week and has been dealing with some issues again. Hossa missed a Stanley Cup finals game due a back problem and wasn't the same player in the last three games of the season. If he's affected again by it early, it might be in the Blackhawks' best interests to sit him for an extended period to get him healthy. As of now, he said he's fine and will play in the season opener.

8. The NHL has re-aligned its conferences and is back to two divisions per conference. That means the Blackhawks are now joined in the Central Division by the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets. The Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets are now in the Eastern Conference. The new playoff format will include the top three teams from each division receiving spots and then two wild cards. The first two rounds will be within the division, but with the possibility of the final wild-card team having to cross over divisions to play.

9. Nikolai Khabibulin is back with the Blackhawks and has looked reliable enough in the preseason. If Khabibulin's age (40) catches up to him, the Blackhawks will probably turn to Antti Raanta to be Corey Crawford's backup. Raanta, who is from Finland, is getting accustomed to the smaller North American rink in AHL Rockford to start the season. Either way, Crawford will see a bulk of the workload.

10. Oddsmakers have made the Blackhawks the favorites to win the 2014 Stanley Cup. Most have them at 5-1 or 6-1. They're followed by the Pittsburgh Penguins, Boston Bruins, Los Angeles Kings, Blues, Red Wings and Vancouver Canucks. The Penguins were favored by most to win the Cup last season.

Here are six observations from the Chicago Blackhawks' training camp and preseason games:

1. The durability of the Blackhawks’ older players has to be a concern. Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville has been very cautious with players’ injuries in the preseason. There is no reason to risk anything. Yet, the fact 34-year-old Marian Hossa and 36-year-old Michal Handzus didn’t play in a single preseason game and haven’t been 100 percent healthy in the preseason has to be somewhat alarming. Both players are getting up in age, and both are coming off a season where they suffered severe injuries. With Hossa, there’s a lot at stake for the present, but even more so for the future. Back injuries aren’t anything to mess with, and the Blackhawks are depending on Hossa for years to come. As for Handzus, his injury wouldn’t be as much of an immediate concern if Brandon Saad or Brandon Pirri had worked out at the second-line center. But with Handzus being that option now, the Blackhawks are looking for him to duplicate what he did in the playoffs.

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CHICAGO -- Chicago Blackhawks forward Brandon Bollig has given more interviews this preseason than probably all of last season.

Best known for knocking opponents around, Bollig has been a popular player among the media in the past few weeks for other reasons. First, he was being asked about his preseason knack for scoring. And now, he's been handling questions about a video he shot parodying Patrick Kane's Bauer video.

If you haven't seen Kane's video -- few haven't at this point with it up to nearly 2.4 million views -- he showcases his superior stickhandling skills by weaving one puck around many pucks. Here's the link.

After watching Kane's video, an idea popped into Bollig's head.

"I just saw Kaner's, and everyone's obviously impressed by that," Bollig said on Thursday. "That's something pretty special. I figured him being who he is and who I am and my role, and I thought it'd be funny to do a parody of it."

Bollig took that idea to Blackhawks TV and made it a reality. In the video, Bollig displays his own stickhandling skills, or lack thereof. Here's Bollig's video.

"It was a lot of fun," Bollig said. "There weren't too many times that this would happen, but it did happen. I was doing too good at it, and they'd say you got to kind of mess up a little bit to make it more funny. It wasn't too hard to do that obviously."

Bollig made sure Kane was among the first to see the finished product.

"We were watching it after practice on Monday, and I literally had tears coming out of my eyes watching it," Kane said.

Bollig said, "At least, he enjoyed it. It's cool to see people's reactions."

Bollig's video hasn't exactly gone viral yet, but it did have some buzz this week. Bollig's video had been seen more than 60,000 times on YouTube as of Thursday afternoon.

"Everyday since then people keep asking me about and talking about it and doing interviews about it, so it's been pretty cool," Bollig said.

CHICAGO -- Sick, filthy, great and fantastic were among the words used on Twitter to describe a certain Chicago Blackhawks player’s stick-handling skills on Thursday.

Can you guess who?

The answer isn’t Patrick Kane. Teuvo Teravainen was the one lighting up Twitter with a handful of moves normally only seen from Kane.

But just as the Blackhawks and their fans were getting excited by a taste of the 19-year-old Teravainen’s skills, he’s leaving them.

Teravainen is scheduled to board a plane on Friday and head home to Finland. His stay with the Blackhawks was always planned to last just the start of training camp and two preseason games. He’ll spend this season with Jokerit in Finland’s SM-liiga and could be back to Chicago as early as April. If not this season, Teravainen is expected to be a full-time Blackhawk next season.

Whenever Teravainen does return, he’ll have plenty of people happy to greet him again.

“The exciting thing is just seeing what the potential for him is,” Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman said on Thursday. “He just turned 19 a week or so ago. He’s got a bright future, so we’re excited.”

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CHICAGO -- The Chicago Blackhawks completed a 3-1 series comeback and eliminated the Detroit Red Wings on an overtime game-winner in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup conference semifinals when the teams last met at the United Center.

Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane expected that to be on players’ minds when the two teams face each other again in a preseason game at the United Center on Tuesday.

“I haven’t seen their lineup, but I’m sure they have some players who were here last year that aren’t too happy with the way things went down, so they’ll probably be trying to get a little revenge,” Kane said. “I’m sure memories will fly if they have the same lineup as last year. …. I’m sure they’ll be thinking about the last time they were here and what happened in that Game 7.”

Last season’s playoffs and the fact it’s the Red Wings may add some flare to the Blackhawks’ preseason opener, but Chicago coach Joel Quenneville was more concerned about his players getting off to a good start and continuing to evaluate players.

“Guys like playing,” Quenneville said. “Whether it’s the first exhibition game, first regular-season game, I think there’s always that excitement in the air. I think the guys get a little nervous going into these type of games. I look forward to it. Detroit, I’m sure they’re excited about playing in it as well. It’ll be a good measuring stick for some guys as well. It’ll be a good part of our evaluation process watching a number of guys tonight.”

After four days of scrimmages, Kane was looking forward to playing against someone who wasn’t wearing a Blackhawks jersey, too.

“Just play the right way to start,” Kane said. “The big thing is you want to get used back to that game pace, especially you play some scrimmages and get used to it a little bit. Now you play some preseason games, so it’ll be ramped up a little bit more. You know you’re playing different players than on your own team. It’ll be fun.

"I think it’s always a fun game when you’re playing against Detroit, no matter the time of year. It’ll be nice to get back out in front of the ice in front of the United Center, get the season under way.”

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Here are some observations from the four days of the Chicago Blackhawks training camp at Notre Dame:

Brandon Saad looked more comfortable playing center as the week went along. Early in the week he often glided to the left side of the rink and was getting ahead of the play. By Sunday he was waiting for the puck and skating down the middle of the ice. He’s also looking to distribute more and had a couple impressive passes. Faceoffs will be a work in progress for him, and he has to get more repetitions in.

Duncan Keith appeared to have some aggression to get out the past few days. He went all out on Ben Smith in a fight on Saturday. He was on the verge of another fight with Jimmy Hayes on Sunday. He knocked Hayes in the face wearing his glove, and the two had to be separated. Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville downplayed both incidents, but they did seem out of the ordinary.

Hayes had to put himself in a good position for a roster spot with his play over the last three days. He’s got a big frame, but he also has a lot of speed and quickness. He was often around the puck and created a number of scoring chances. He scored goals on Saturday and Sunday.

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Chicago Blackhawks forward prospect Teuvo Teravainen will return to Finland this season despite playing well in training camp, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said on Sunday.

“I think we’re going to send him back, and he’s going to play over there,” Quenneville said. “But nice knowing there’s a real nice piece coming.”

The 19-year-old Teravainen, the Blackhawks’ 2012 first-round pick, received rave reviews from Quenneville throughout the three days of scrimmages, which ended on Sunday, at Notre Dame.

Teravainen was given a chance to play center with Bryan Bickell and Patrick Kane as his wings during two scrimmages on Sunday, and Teravainen’s play again caught Quenneville’s eye. Teravainen scored a goal, showed off a quick stick by stealing a few pucks, created chances for Bickell and Kane and appeared comfortable while possessing the puck.

“I think he’s one of those players that he seems to be special as far as his play recognition, where he protects the puck, how he sees plays,” Quenneville said. “Both sides of the puck, I think he’s really responsible defensively which at a young age is pretty remarkable, especially over here and a different type of game.”

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Chicago Blackhawks forward Brandon Pirri had no time to be nervous when he was called to replace Jonathan Toews on the White Team's top line during a scrimmage on Friday.

Pirri only discovered Toews was sitting out the scrimmage moments before the puck was dropped.

"I was sitting on the bench, and the ref was sitting at the faceoff, and we only had four guys out there," the 22-year-old Pirri said. "Teddy [Dent] kicked me and said, ‘Get out there.'"

Pirri jumped out onto the ice and found himself centering a line with Bryan Bickell and Patrick Kane as his wings. For a player like Pirri who is looking to prove in training camp he deserves a spot on this season's Blackhawks roster, the opportunity was priceless.

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane wasn’t exactly sure he’d be able to perform what Bauer was asking him to do in a recent video shoot.

Bauer’s plan was to showcase Kane’s stick-handling ability by placing a growing amount of pucks inside a circle and have him continuously handle a puck around them all.

“When they had the idea and told me how many pucks were going to be in the circle, I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can do it,’” Kane said Friday. “But I tried it with a few and said, ‘Why not throw all of them in there and see if I can do it? If not, we’ll stop it.’

“But, yeah, it was cool. It was fun. To see the final product, it was awesome.”

The final product was released Friday, and it didn’t take long for the video to make its way around social media and create a buzz.

The video begins with Kane handling one puck around four closely-placed pucks for about 10 seconds. He then operates one puck around about 20 pucks for 25 seconds. Finally, he handles a puck around about 40 pucks for 20-plus seconds. The video closes with Kane lifting the puck on his stick and hitting into the camera. He said the only part that wasn’t real was the camera breaking at the end.

So how many takes did Kane need? His answer may be surprising.

“Not too many takes, actually,” said Kane, who endorses Bauer. “It probably took 15-20 minutes to do the whole thing. … I remember there were times I was going through and stick-handling and hit a puck and it was 20-30 seconds in, and I would be [upset] because I hit the puck and would have to start over.

“It was fun. It was fun to do something like that.”

You can watch the video here.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Patrick Kane said Thursday he would like to remain with the Chicago Blackhawks his entire career, but he just wasn’t certain how the future would play out.

Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman recently said he expected Kane and captain Jonathan Toews to remain with the organization forever.

“I don’t know,” Kane said after the Blackhawks’ first training camp practice at the University of Notre Dame on Thursday. “That’s what you hope for. That’s obviously the ultimate goal to win championships and then play for an organization like this, but, you know, I’m still a young kid. I’m 24, turn 25 this year. To say what’s going to happen the rest of my career, I just don’t know. I mean obviously it would be ideal to stay here, but we’ll cross that path when we get to it.”

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ESPNChicago.com's Blackhawks reporter Scott Powers is counting down this season's top-50 storylines leading into this week's training camp. Here's the final installment:

10. Defensive stability
Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman has made it a priority in the past few seasons to have veteran defensemen. He's willing to gamble with young forwards, but he doesn't like to rush young defensemen. That's why one of the Blackhawks' greatest strengths this season should be its defensive depth again. The Blackhawks return all seven defensemen -- Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Johnny Oduya, Nick Leddy, Michal Rozsival and Sheldon Brookbank -- from last year's Stanley Cup team, and all of those players except Brookbank are signed through the following season as well. ESPN recently ranked the Blackhawks' defensive group No. 1 in the league.

9. Captain consistent
Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews is still 25 years old and has room to grow, but the Blackhawks wouldn't complain if he just kept doing on what he has done. He can be expected to produce 70-plus points, be among the league's leaders in faceoffs and takeways, be around a plus-20 rating, contribute on the power play and penalty kill and still be the team leader. The Blackhawks will be banking on similar numbers from Toews again this season.

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ESPNChicago.com's Blackhawks reporter Scott Powers is counting down this season's top-50 storylines leading into this week's training camp. Here's the fourth installment:

20. Getting Leddy back to form
Blackhawks defenseman Nick Leddy had a postseason to forget with a minus-8 rating in 23 games and was limited to a career-low 2:37 of ice time in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals. Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville's lack of confidence in Leddy isn't expected to carry over into this season, but it would help both sides for Leddy to have a strong start to the season. He is still just 22, but he's now entering his fourth NHL season and will be expected to be more consistent. He signed a two-year, $5.4 million deal in the offseason.

19. Keeping Shaw on the right side of the line
Andrew Shaw thrived last season in the role of agitator and third-line center for the Blackhawks. On the third line, he was reliable enough defensively, was able to set up his wingers and could chip in the occasional goal. He has also been known to mix it up with opposing players and get under their skin. His post-whistle activities have at times worked against the Blackhawks and led to unnecessary penalties. Michal Handzus had a talk with Shaw during the playoffs about utilizing that additional energy, but also being smart about it. Shaw did a better job of doing that as the playoffs progressed. It will be important again for Shaw to find the right side of that line this season.

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ESPNChicago.com’s Blackhawks reporter Scott Powers is counting down this season’s top-50 storylines leading into this week’s training camp. Here’s the third installment:

30. Brookbank, Rozsival splitting time
Good things happened for the Blackhawks last season when defenseman Michal Rozsival was on the ice. He had a plus-18 rating, third on the team, in the regular season and a plus-9 rating, tied for fifth, in the playoffs. During the regular season, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville split ice time between Rozsival and Sheldon Brookbank. Quenneville did that partly because Rozsival was dealing with an injury early in the season, but he also wanted to keep both players fresh. Quenneville eventually opted to use Rozsival throughout the playoffs, but expect Rozsival and Brookbank to be involved in another rotation this season. The Blackhawks hope Brookbank will bounce back from a subpar 2013 season and play as he did in his final season with the Anaheim Ducks, when he had 14 points and a plus-11 rating in 80 games.

29. The third line -- Shaw and who else?
Andrew Shaw is likely to center the third line for another season. It’s just not certain who will be beside him. Shaw, Bryan Bickell and Viktor Stalberg gave the Blackhawks a consistent third line last season. Bickell is now likely to move into a top-6 forward role after receiving a sizeable pay increase in the offseason, and Stalberg signed with the Nashville Predators. If Brandon Saad doesn’t work out as the second-line center, he could be a perfect fit on the third line. Saad would give the line some scoring punch and ease the pressure off him as he plays in his first 82-game NHL season. Jimmy Hayes is another possibility. He got called up from Rockford last season and had four points in 10 games with the Blackhawks. Jeremy Morin, who led the IceHogs with 30 goals last season, Brandon Pirri, who led the IceHogs in points, and Ben Smith could be in the mix as well.

28. Oduya’s continued consistency
Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman hasn’t traded for many players over the last few seasons, but the few players he has acquired have worked out for the Blackhawks. Defenseman Johnny Oduya was dealt for in the 2011-12 season and quickly proved to be a valuable asset. Oduya continued to be a consistent defenseman last season and had a plus-12 regular-season rating and a plus-12 playoff rating. He and Niklas Hjalmarsson have given the Blackhawks a strong second defensive pairing. The Blackhawks will hope for more of the same this season. Not that Oduya is solely responsible, but the Blackhawks are 49-9-9 in the regular season since Oduya was traded for in 2012.

27. The other Swedish defenseman
There were rumors just a season ago that the Blackhawks could deal Niklas Hjalmarsson to free up money. A lot has changed since then. Hjalmarsson helped the Blackhawks to another Stanley Cup last season with a plus-15 regular-season rating and a plus-10 playoff rating, and Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman recently showed how important Hjalmarsson is to the franchise’s future. Bowman made sure Hjalmarsson would continue to be a part of the Blackhawks’ core for many years to come as Hjalmarsson signed a five-year extension which will keep him in Chicago through the 2018-19 season.

26. Bickell-Toews-Kane line
Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville toyed with the team’s lines during the playoffs last season until he found something that worked. One of the lines he found to be most the productive was Bryan Bickell, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. The line had success in the Western Conference finals and Stanley Cup finals. It’ll be interesting to see whether Quenneville tries that line again to start the season. Bickell was a regular on the third line last season, but is expected to a be a top-6 forward this season after his new contract. Quenneville often split up Kane and Toews last season to balance the lines. Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa are also expected to be on the first two lines, along with a new second-line center.

25. Need some luck
The Blackhawks possess plenty of skill. No doubt. But to win a Stanley Cup, you also have to possess some luck. In Rob Vollman’s "Hockey Abstract," he breaks down that luck can be accounted for by a team’s shooting and save percentages, special teams index, injuries, post-regulation record and record in one-goal games. After taking into account all those factors, Vollman determined the Blackhawks were the third luckiest team last season behind the Toronto Maple Leafs and Pittsburgh Penguins. He also calculated what the standings would have been last season if there had been 82 games and luck wasn’t a factor, and his luck-neutral standings were the Ottawa Senators would have finished with 104 points, the Detroit Red Wings with 103 points and the Blackhawks with 99 points. Finally, he predicted this season’s standings based on last season’s results, the removal of luck and major roster changes, and he has the Senators and New Jersey Devils finishing with 105 points, and the Blackhawks in 11th place overall with 93 points.

24. A new, but old, backup
The Blackhawks were the league’s best regular-season team last season largely because of the play of two goaltenders. Corey Crawford carried the goaltending load in the playoffs, but Ray Emery was just as important in the regular season, posting a 17-1-0 record, a 1.94 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage. Emery is gone now, and the Blackhawks’ backup responsibilities fall upon Nikolai Khabibulin, who is back with the Blackhawks for a second time. Khabibulin is 40 years old, but the Blackhawks are convinced he can still be a solid backup. He has been that at times the past few seasons, but he’s also had some inconsistencies due to injuries. If Antti Raanta progresses as the Blackhawks hope, he could fill in for Khabibulin if his play declines in the second half of the season.

23. Hitting the road twice
The Blackhawks will face two lengthy road trips this season. They will play seven consecutive road games from Nov. 19-Nov. 30 with games at Colorado, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Dallas and Phoenix. They’ll also play seven consecutive road games beginning on Jan. 28 and ending on Feb. 27 with the Olympics in between those dates. Prior to the Olympics, the Blackhawks will play at Calgary, Vancouver, San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim and Phoenix. After the Olympics, the Blackhawks open on the road against the New York Rangers. The Blackhawks were 18-4-2 on the road last season and went 4-0-2 on their longest road trip of the season.

22. That power-play issue
No, a team doesn’t need an effective power play to win the Stanley Cup. The Blackhawks proved that again last season. But, yes, it wouldn’t hurt to have one. The Blackhawks’ power play struggled to find consistency for the second consecutive season last year. They ranked 19th with a 16.7 power-play percentage in the regular season. The Blackhawks undoubtedly have talented offensive players, but that hasn’t translated to power-play success. Blackhawks assistant coach Jamie Kompon said at the convention, “Eventually, there comes a time when players try to do too much as opposed to keeping it simple. When you simplify things, that's usually the way the pucks go into the net.” That will be the goal this season.

21. Replacing Frolik
Michael Frolik made himself a valuable piece to the Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup run last season with his play on the penalty kill. Frolik and Marcus Kruger were considered unsung heroes, but everyone knew about their penalty kill contributions by the end of the season. Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville recently said Ben Smith could be the guy to replace Frolik. Smith hasn’t stuck in the NHL yet, but he has played in some big games – like Game 3 of the Stanley Cup last season – and seems mature enough to understand the importance of that role.