Forwards:
The Blackhawks signed center Craig MacDonald (Calgary Flames), resigned right wing Brandon Bochenski, and signed right wing Radim Vrbata and center Tuomo Ruutu.

Chicago traded Kyle Calder, who led the Hawks in goals (26) and points (59), and lost their second leading goal scorer Mark Bell to free agency.

Michal Handzus brings to the table a decent checking center who normally produces 40 points a season. Last season in Philadelphia with 73 games, he produced 11 goals and 33 assists.

Martin Havlat and Bryan Smolinski were brought over from Ottawa to help in the scoring department.


Defense:
The Blackhawks needed help on defense last season. Adrian Aucoin couldn’t stay healthy and only played 33 games, and the same goes for Jason Cullimore who played only 54 games.

The Blackhawks did have a shinning star on the blue line though, and that was Brent Seabrook. The rookie played in 69 games last season, but tallied 32 points.

Duncan Keith and Jim Vandermeer were the only real regulars last season with Keith playing in 81 games (21 points) and Jim Vandermeer playing in 76 games (24 points).


Goaltending:
Nikolai Khabibulin was just disastrous last season, playing in 50 games with a goals against average (GAA) of 3.35 and and a .886 save percentage.

The team signed Patrick Lalime, who played 31 games for St. Louis last season with a GAA of 3.64 and a save percentage of .881. The backup's impact is delayed, as he had back surgery and is expected to be out for the first two to three months of the season.

In the interim, goaltender Sebastien Caron, signed in the off-season, and Brian Boucher, who was added to the training camp roster, will compete for the backup goalie position.