Chicago Blackhawks face biggest regular season week in recent memory

3. The Columbus Blue Jackets, Saturday

The Columbus Blue Jackets are the final game of the week and their visit to the United Center means the return of former Blackhawks forward Artemi Panarin. The Blue Jackets bring their current drama along with them pretty much everywhere they go.

Their guy Panarin along with their All-Star goalie Sergei Bobrovsky are both on expiring contracts. They are currently in a dilemma where they wonder if they should trade one or both of them, or if they think they are good enough to win the Stanley Cup this season.

After seeing how the John Tavares situation ended up for the New York Islanders last season, it would make sense for Columbus to recognize that they are probably not going to make it past Boston, Tampa Bay, Toronto, or even some others in their division. It is possible that neither of them make it to the game with the Blue Jackets on Saturday but the Hawks will plan to play against both of them.

Other than that storyline and assuming that the Blackhawks will play against the Blue Jackets at full strength, it will be a very tough game. The Blue Jackets are a very strong and well-constructed team. They have a good mix of forwards who can all, for the most part, provide offense. They have (as we stand) a number one goaltender and a very good defense.

In fact, they have one of the best defense pairs in the whole league. The pair of Seth Jones and Zach Werenski is an elite pair and can contribute a 200-foot defensive game. They have Cam Atkinson playing at an all-star level again, their captain Nick Foligno is having a strong year, and young center Pierre-Luc Dubois is a great young player.

Depth like this is going to be trouble for the Blackhawks. They are going to need a strong defensive game and counter their offensive depth with some offense of their own. Toews might be relied upon to shut them down and then follow it up with his own chances the other way.

The Blue Jackets are in town on Saturday and will be almost as much of a test as the Boston Bruins. If they can cap this week off with six points, which would also be a 10 game winning streak, they would really be in a nice position to really go after a playoff spot.

If they were to say get 0-2 points this week, that could be detrimental to their chances which is why this is the most important week of a regular season in recent memory. Then every week after that could very well feel the same way until they are in or out.