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good." Morrison is hoping to share in a
CHICAGO - All those talented forwards are back. Tiger Williams Jersey . Same for Duncan Keith and the bulk of Chicagos solid defence. There is even a group of intriguing prospects waiting in the wings.The Blackhawks are one confident bunch of the eve of a new NHL season.We feel were deep in a lot of areas, coach Joel Quenneville said. Our guys are at a relatively young age and they should be getting better in their individual games and collectively we should be looking to be better than we were.And they have been really good for years.Led by Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2010 and again in 2013. They made it all the way to the Western Conference final a year ago, where they dropped a classic seven-game series to the eventual champion Los Angeles Kings.The price of that success reached a new level in July, when Toews and Kane each finalized an $84 million, eight-year contract extension that kicks in for the 2015-16 season. The twin deals could force general manager Stan Bowman to make some difficult decisions down the road, adding to the pressure on the current group of Blackhawks for this year.Bowman still has to make at least one more move to pare about $2 million from this years payroll before the Oct. 9 season opener at Dallas.Even with the sticky salary-cap situation, the Blackhawks did manage to sign veteran Brad Richards to a $2 million, one-year contract over the summer. The team is hoping Richards can centre the second line a€” a longtime issue for Chicago a€” and the combination of Richards, Kane and Brandon Saad looked good in the preseason.Here are other things to watch this year for the Blackhawks:THAT THIRD LINE: The top two lines should be among the best in the league, but its the third line that really could separate the Blackhawks from the rest of the NHL. Bryan Bickell was noticeably lighter when he showed up to training camp this year. The bruising winger is hoping for a better start than last season, when he had just one assist in his first seven games and finished with 11 goals and four assists for the year. Kris Versteeg also looked sharp in the preseason, and pesky centre Andrew Shaw set career highs with 20 goals and 19 assists last season. Versteeg prepared himself for this year to get back on track where hes a top forward, Quenneville said. Hes been good for us.THAT POWER PLAY: Chicago converted 19.5 per cent of its power-play opportunities last season, an improvement from 16.7 per cent for the shortened 2012-13 campaign and good enough for 10th in the NHL. New assistant coach Kevin Dineen, who played with Quenneville on the Hartford Whalers and was hired to replace Jamie Kompon in July, is expected to play a prominent role in this years power play. Richards also could help the efficiency of the unit, where any increase in scoring for the already potent Blackhawks could pay huge dividends.FORK IN THE ROAD: Its a pivotal year for defenceman Nick Leddy, who begins the season with 258 regular-season games and another 54 post-season appearances a€” at just 23 years old. Leddy is one of the fastest skating defencemen on the team, but hes also an occasional visitor to Quennevilles doghouse. He was benched for a playoff game last season against Minnesota. The Kings winning goal in Game 7 in June went off Leddys upper body and then past goaltender Corey Crawford. Leddy could blossom into one of the teams top defencemen, or the Blackhawks could decide to trade him away for salary-cap space.BOSS HOSS: Marian Hossa shows no signs of slowing down heading into his 17th NHL season. The rugged winger had 30 goals and 30 assists in 72 games last season, in addition to his terrific defence. But Hossa missed a couple weeks in March with an upper-body injury and turns 36 in January. Any significant injury for the forward could hurt the Blackhawks in the competitive Central Division.ANTTI MATTERS: Backup goaltender Antti Raanta is heading into his first full NHL season. He made his debut last November and went 13-5 with a 2.71 goals-against average in 25 games, including 22 starts. Raanta played sparingly in the last part of the season, and Crawford figures to get the lions share of the action once again. How Quenneville divides the time in goal will provide an indication of how he feels about the 25-year-old Raantas development.___AP freelancer Matt Carlson contributed to this report.___Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap ;Matt Martin Jersey . The team said they will announce a corresponding roster move prior to their series opener on Tuesday night in Kansas City. Ron Hainsey Jersey . Serbia captain Bogdan Obradovic said his team will include 9th-ranked Janko Tipsarevic and 27th-ranked Viktor Troicki as he decided to let the top-ranked Djokovic rest.CALGARY -- It was an Olympic heroes welcome for the unlikeliest of heroes at Calgary International Airport Tuesday. Gilmore Junio stepped aside to let Denny Morrison race the 1,000 metres at the Winter Olympics in Sochi and watched his teammate deliver a silver for Canadas first speedskating medal in Sochi and follow that up with a bronze in the 1,500. But the homecoming in Calgary was all about Junio. One sign read "Gilmore for PM" while another said "Gilmore Junio won gold in the hearts of Canada". "Im pretty surprised and it definitely caught me off guard," said a beaming Junio with Morrison at his side. "When we made the decision within our team it was just such an easy decision to let him skate because he was skating so well. "This was really pleasant surprise. You see this on TV for the hockey players and stuff like that and I never thought Id be walking into one these. Its all because of him," he said with a nod to Morrison. "He makes me look good so Ill ride his coattails for a bit." Morrison, with his silver and bronze medals hanging around his neck, added to Junios accolades. "Its pretty neat how much attention this has gotten and this guy is one of the greatest guys in the world," he said. "He does things like this all the time and this is just another one of those things that Gilmore would do. Wendel Clark Jersey. " Junios parents, Gino and Julie, were taken aback by the attention. "Actually we were just thinking to wait outside in the cell parking lot and I had texted him when youre done, text me and Ill pick you up," Gino said with a laugh. "We didnt really expect this. We were overwhelmed with the signs of support for him. This is amazing." Kelly Murray travelled from Red Deer, Alta., to show off her "Gilbert for PM" sign. "Its because what he did for the country was pretty special. Theres not a lot of people who would do that," she said. "He must have put the country first ahead of his own ambitions." Junio still has his ambitions and refused a request from a photographer to reach over and touch Morrisons silver medal. "Ive said I wont touch Dennys medal until Ive got my own. Thats kind of a hockey player mentality where you dont touch the Stanley Cup until you get it," he said. "But from what Ive seen it looks pretty good." Morrison is hoping to share in a future medal ceremony with his teammate. "If it all works out to the very best therell be a team sprint event in 2018 and we can be on the same team and win together that way." ' ' '
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