Chicago Blackhawks: Three reasons to worry about 2019-20

2. Penalty Kill

The Blackhawks were a decent team last year. As many goals as they scored, they gave up more. Their ability to defend was by all accounts terrible. Their special teams didn’t help those numbers at all. Their power play was average as it clicked at a 20 percent clip which was good for 15th in the NHL. It was bad at first but they came on strong in the second half so it should be a much-improved number this year.

On the other side of the special teams, is the penalty kill. That was absolutely despicable for the Blackhawks last year as they were dead last in the entire NHL. 31 out of 31 with a whopping 72.7 percent. A whole two points behind the second to last place Edmonton Oilers. They were historically bad on the PK and that needs to change this year.

So how do you change it? It is easier said than done because most teams have pretty potent power plays in the NHL, but they needed to add some guys who can be better in that area. The loss of Niklas Hjalmarsson a few years ago helped make the PK worse and it shows. They added in guys like Calvin de Haan and Andrew Shaw to help out in that area. Hopefully, it works because if the penalty kill is that bad again they are likely going to be on the wrong side of the line come April.