We're just slightly past the one-quarter mark of the regular season, and the Chicago Blackhawks are pretty much where we expected them to be - at or near the top in their division and conference.

How they got there is not necessarily what was expected.

The Hawks have ridden outstanding team defense and solid goaltending to a 15-5-2 record, which gives them the best points-per-game record in the NHL. They currently sit atop the Central Division, 5 points ahead of Columbus and Nashville and 6 ahead of Detroit.

Let's look at what we've seen so far...

THE GOOD:

Patrick Kane. Would the cab driver incident be a distraction? His contract status? The Chicago nightlife? Being "the face of USA Hockey"?  I'd say not. He's elevated his game substantially this season, playing much stronger on his skates, looking to shoot more often (Only Sharp and VERSTEEG! have more shots), and showing creative skills with the puck that are on a completely different level than anything seen in Chicago since the days of Denis Savard. Whether he'll see ice time with Marian Hossa remains to be seen. If they're together, Kane the playmaker and Hossa the goal scorer will wear out goal lamps. If they're apart, some nights Kane sees the checking line and some nights Hossa does. Either way, Kane is fast becoming a player worthy of the hype. Oh, and how many turnovers has he created on the backcheck? BONERTIME - He's become the one forward on the Hawks capable of freezing an entire team's defense with a deke.

Goaltending. Before the season started, Chicagoans were able to console themselves with the knowledge that no goaltender has won the Vezina Trophy and Stanley Cup in the same season since Martin Brodeur in 2003. Before that, you have to go back to when the trophy was awarded on a statistical basis. So in other words, having the best goaltender in the NHL doesn't guarantee success. You just need one good enough to be able to carry the team when he gets hot. Last season Nikolai Khabibulin got the Hawks to the Conference Finals giving up 2.93 goals a game, with a less-than-robust .898 save percentage. So the hope was the Hawks offense would be potent enough to counterbalance any deficiencies in Cristobal Huet and Antti Niemi. Well, guess what. Goaltending, in the first quarter anyway, has turned out to be a strength. Huet 4th in the NHL with a 2.16 goals against average, and has brought his save percentage out of the "Brutal" stage up to the "Not Great" stage, .909...this after a rocky start, including getting lit up at the beginning of the Calgary game that wound up being the Hawks' greatest triumph this season to date. Backup Niemi has been an exceptional backup, posting shutouts in 2 of his 5 starts. While this has been a huge relief, and a major reason why the Hawks are playing the way they are, it's also still the main area in which Hawks fans need to keep their fingers crossed. BONERTIME - The Hawks' tandem's 3 shutouts are already half of last season's total.

John Madden. There are players teams like to get because they score. There are players teams like to get because they stop others from scoring. John Madden has a Selke Trophy on his mantel, for best defensive forward. He always seems to win the crucial faceoff, get the big turnover, whatever. BONERTIME - he started the Hawks' comeback, scoring the first Hawks' goal in the Calgary game.

Troy Brouwer. Did anybody see this coming? Not only does he have a realistic shot at a 20-goal season, he's rung up 64 hits, good for second on the team. He also leads the Hawks with 4 Pouwer Play goals. BONERTIME - He, Madden, and Andrew Ladd have been the Hawks' most consistent line this season. Which brings us to...

Andrew Ladd. It is a coincidence that last year, the Hawks' most consistent like was Bolland, Ladd, and Havlat, and this season it's Madden, Brouwer and Ladd? Ladd comes to play hard every night, and doesn't always show up on the scoresheet, but has a nice game. BONERTIME - In the game in Colorado, he left with a broken nose and came back and went in the shootout with his nose packed with gauze and blood on his sweater. His not scoring the game winner was a breach in poetic justice.

Duncan Keith. Wow. He's been on a torrid scoring pace, especially by his usual standards. His point total has climbed every season he's been in the NHL, but his 18 opints so far ties him for 5th among NHL defensemen. His plus/minus is, as you would expect, near the top of the team. He seemed a little off his game early in the season, but has turned it on, especially during the current streak. I used to think the steady flow of outstanding young defensemen would prevent Keith from ever winning a Norris Trophy, but if this continues, he's got a legitimate shot at being a finalist this season. BONERTIME - if the 13-year contract buzz turns out to be true, Keith will be the last Blackhawk to wear #2.

Brian Campbell. Whether he'll ever play up to his contract will be a topic of discussion for as long as the contract exists. He's looking more at ease this season, and not trying to do too much. This in turn is reducing the number of mistakes that, fairly or not, make him look pretty damn boneheaded. A big factor in this is having Niklas Hjalmarsson on his right. Knowing he's not out there with the Statue Of Matt Walker has allowed him to be more creative, which has led to increased offense. BONERTIME - Campbell's 23:55 ice time per game is second to Keith's on the Hawks. The more ice time the first two pairs eat up, the less important it is to have highly-paid players on the third pair, which gives the Hawks some flexibility, and will allow them to use the third pair in the next couple years to bring Shawn Lalonde and Dylan Olsen along without putting too much pressure on them.

Hjalmarsson. He looked pretty good a couple years ago in a brief callup, them he looked pretty good last season before really coming into his own during the playoffs. Who knew this soft-spoken Swede could be such a bomber on the ice? His positional play looks like that of a veteran, and he's thrown more than a couple pretty damn nasty hits out there - He absolutely demolished Rene Bourque in Calgary the other night. BONERTIME - He has already matched his career high in games played, and has set a new career high in points and assists.

Resiliency. At one point the Hawks had 5 forwards out with injuries (Adam Burish, Ben Eager, Marian Hossa, Dave Bolland, Jonathan Toews). They scrambled, and did the best they could. With all the bumps, bruises and concussions, the Hawks have still only had 5 games this season where they didn't get a point.

Brent Sopel. Darryl has silenced the naysayers (not that anyone really says "nay" anymore) by playing the type of hockey that earned him that 3-year deal. He's big and gets in the way, and a lot of the time that's enough. He even scored a goal. BONERTIME - The "Sopel Dance" on penalty kills.

VERSTEEG! Before the season started, we had McClure from Second City Hockey on the PUCKCAST, and we discussed who we thought the biggest disappointment of the season would be. We were pretty unanimous about it. In fact, early in the season, he even lost his capital letters and exclamation point. But he's been playing exceptional hockey this season, even playing smarter. Earlier in the season, I would have thought him to be the first player for the Hawks to send packing, but he's made himself into a vital cog on this team. BONERTIME - VERSTEEG! was the first Blackhawk to record a multi-goal game this season.

Brent Seabrook. 49 hits, 42 blocked shots. A big, big part of the Hawks' outstanding penalty kill. 10 points this season so far, after 26 all last season. The big guy has been quietly outstanding. BONERTIME - scored the overtime game-winner against the Sharks in the United Center earlier this month.

The Captain. It's not coincidental that his return to the lineup after getting rag-dolled by Willie Mitchell was when the current streak began. It's also not coincidence that his return was when the Hawks' power play was shaken out of its slumber. He was the Hawks' best faceoff man last season, but has elevated his game further, winning 60% of his faceoffs. Having Bryan Bickell on his wing proved, once again, having a grinder with him gives him more room to work, and his play with Patrick Kane this season has just been a pleasre to watch. BONERTIME - Toews is 3-for-3 in shootouts. If QStache could send him out for all three rounds every night, I think he would.

THE BAD:

As you would expect, a team with a record like this has a lot of "Good", but there's some "Bad" as well...

Patrick Sharp - only because we don't have "The 'meh'". For a lot of players, his season would look swell. But we've come to expect more from Patrick Sharp. This is not the player who finished 4th in Selke voting in 2008, and it's not the shooter who was on a 40 goal pace last season. Maybe he's just in a funk, and he'll pick his game up. There are a lot of nights he seems disinterested out there, and you don't win Stanley Cups if you're not interested.

Tomas Kopecky. Sucks.

Dustin Byfuglien. He's got 7 goals, but other than the one in Calgary, not much lately. He started off strong, looking like he'd rack up a ton of goals by just parking in front of the crease and getting deflections. Then he started roaming around out there, and not really playing to his strengths. He leads the team in penalty minutes, and I'm guessing every minute has been a dumb one.

Cam Barker. After the playoffs last year, I was hoping Barker would turn the corner. He really hasn't. He certainly isn't playing to his contract, and I don't think anyone is out there wondering if there is some way to get Cam Barker more ice time. On a lot of teams, he'd be a top-4 defenseman. On the team that drafted him third overall, he's not.

THE UGLY:

Jordan Hendry as forward. Let us never speak of this again.

There are some other players and factors that didn't make the list, some because they didn't merit mention and some because we're working on larger pieces. But this is one look at the Hawks' progress so far. Next up, the new kid hits the ice.