It was no secret that the Chicago Blackhawks had more than enough defensemen to fill their NHL roster and have multiple extras. After signing Matt Grzelcyk, that number further increased and there was expected to be even less opportunity for some players.
This has left Kevin Korchinski, Nolan Allan, and Ethan Del Mastro (1 NHL game) in the AHL for the entire season, while the Blackhawks have seven defensemen rostered and fighting for time and a place in the lineup.
The Blackhawks have dressed seven defensemen for the majority of the season as Connor Murphy, Wyatt Kaiser, and Grzelcyk have 18 games played and Alex Vlasic, Sam Rinzel, Artyom Levshunov, and Louis Crevier all have 17.
Levshunov has taken a bigger role than expected and stepped up, Rinzel has taken a little bit of a back seat even though he has the third-most time on ice per game among the defense, but the most surprising has been Crevier.
Crevier was the one defenseman in the Blackhawks organization that I would have been sure was going to be the odd man out. Maybe make the NHL team as the seventh defenseman, which he did, but not play every game and outplay others in the lineup.
The 24-year-old was appearing to reach the point where the Blackhawks would have to move him for a low price or just let him go, but he has seemingly broken out and taken his game to a new level.
Crevier is playing 3.5 minutes fewer per game than he did last season and two minutes less than he did the first season he got a taste of the NHL, but already has two goals and nine points in 17 games. He totaled three goals and seven points in his first 56 games played prior to this season.
Crevier is one of the main penalty killers on the Blackhawks, is a +7, cheap, and signed through next season before becoming an RFA. Chicago has found a good one in Crevier, who has stepped up at a key time and made decisions on the back-end even more difficult moving forward.
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