Chicago Blackhawks: Post-trade deadline reactions into California

Sunday, San Jose Sharks

Now Sunday comes around. That is going to be the biggest test of the trip. First of all, it is the second half of a back to back. On top of that, the San Jose Sharks are one of the best teams in the National Hockey League. They will be a handful for the Blackhawks to handle. If the Hawks were to make it to the playoffs, the San Jose Sharks are one of the possible first-round opponents.

The Sharks declared that they were all in when they traded for former Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson. That trade put two Norris winners on the same team since the 2007 Anaheim Ducks who went on to win the Stanley Cup. Having two players like that can make a huge difference. They also traded for former Detroit Red Wing Gustav Nyquist who will be a tremendous depth scorer for them.

Having Karlsson with Brent Burns, and Nyquist to complement forward stars like Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, and Logan Couture. This is going to be very tough as the Blackhawks do not have the depth that the Sharks have, but only about 5 or 6 other teams do.

This does not mean that the Blackhawks can’t win by any stretch of the imagination. They have been beating good teams over their winning streak so there is no reason to say they have zero chance against the sharks because they do have a chance. They are going to need to have their best effort obviously, but it can be done.

Whoever starts on Saturday will likely be on the bench on Sunday as far as goalies go, so the decision against the Kings will impact who starts against the Sharks. Either way, whoever it is will have to be at their very best in order to beat a great Sharks squad.

The Blackhawks are very familiar with these three California teams because along with the Blackhawks over the last ten years, have been among the elite teams in the Western Conference. They are going to need to have a great showing vs them this week or their season will be all but over.