Coming off of a series against the best team in the league, I assumed that the Blackhawks would look better against the Florida Panthers. They’re a good team, but they’re no Tampa Bay Lightning. I was very naive to go into Sunday’s game with that thought process. Somehow, they managed to look worse for extended stretches of the game. 

Outside of the one power play goal from Alex DeBrincat, the power play units spent more time trying to get the puck back from Florida than they did trying to score. The penalty kill looked pretty efficient again - which is encouraging. The negative trend with this team is their inability to stop the bleeding once they get scored on. If they don’t tighten that up, it’s going to be a very long *shortened* season. 

That said, I still have three players to watch. But, after Sunday’s game, they aren’t all positive like before. I’ll get back to the optimism, but not yet. 

Calvin de Haan

It’s pained me to talk about him this way, but Calvin de Haan has just not been good through three games. Sure, that’s an incredibly small sample size. He’s also coming off of shoulder surgery. But, recovering from surgery doesn’t just steal all of your hockey IQ. From watching him, it appears that his has just disappeared. 

Adam Boqvist

With each game that goes by, I become less convinced that Boqvist is ready for the NHL. That’s not a huge issue - he’s only 20 years old. The problem is that the AHL hasn’t started up yet, so he’s been playing every night. He looks overwhelmed and soft on the puck. He is willing to take contact in the corner, but he’s too easy to push off the puck. A positive note is that he had a much better third period in Sunday night’s game after being benched in the second. 

Lucas Wallmark 

Lucas Wallmark might just keep appearing on these lists until he gets that elusive first point. He and Janmark have teamed up to form a very effective penalty killing unit. I can’t help but to notice him in the offensive zone as well. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I’m high on this player. He just needs to get that first point. I believe they’ll just keep coming after that. 

Just like the last game, I must add an additional player to this list. Kevin Lankinen is the confirmed starting goaltender tonight. This will mark his NHL debut. I’m a big fan of Kevin and his game. I’m excited to see how his debut will go. I’m hoping for less than 5 goals against, at the least.