In an offseason of turmoil, the closest thing to stability for the Chicago Blackhawks is their defensive corps. While six of the seven blueliners to get their names etched onto the Stanley Cup remain, with only shotblocker/cocksman extraordinaire Brent Sopel going to Atlanta, there has still been a lof of changes, in terms of salary.

Norris Trophy winner Duncan Keith went from a salary cap hit of $1.475 million to a little over $5.5 million for the upcoming seaon. Niklas Hjalmarsson signed an offer sheet from the San Jose Sharks, which the Hawks matched, raising his cap hit from $643 thousand to $3.5 million. On the other hand, Nick Boynton went from a $1.5 million hit to $500 thousand. So the Hawks have that going for them, which is nice.

So sit back, relax, and allow us here at HOCKEENIGHT to give you our take on this year's defensive corps:

CT: Hey, I actually recognize most of these guys!  That's a good start, since the Hawks blueline is the key to their transition game.   Talk of the defense starts with Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook.  Joel Quenneville's made it clear that he's going to match these two against the opponent's top line night in and night out and I expect that both will be in their usual excellent form this season.  Keith's offensive numbers may fall off this year, but I don't think these two will give us much to complain about.

Brian Campbell will once again put up solid offensive numbers and key the Hawks transition game, and Barry Rozner will continue to call him a total disaster of a free agent signing, and sometime in January, people who should know better will bitch because they think that Ivan Vishnevsky can do the same thing as Campbell for much less money.  Campbell's partner, Niklas Hjalmarsson is now the richest Swede in Chicago, and with great pay comes great responsiblity.  Luckily, Ham Sandwich is always responsible in his own end, and the real question is whether he can bring some more offense into his game.  I sincerely hope so, because Hjammer needs to step up and win a point job on the power play, if only because the Hawks no longer have the depth at forward to be able to screw around with guys like Patrick Sharp and Dave Bolland up there.

Yesterday I looked up "third pair defenseman" in the dictionary, and there was a picture of Jordan Hendry there, which was odd because the dictionary was published in 1982 and I'm pretty sure "third pair defenseman" isn't one word.  Regardless, when you see the Hawks 3rd pair, you'll see Hendry's number 6.  Nick Boynton will have to step into Brent Sopel's role as the "veteran defenseman who kills penalties, blocks shots and has a huge dong".  This will be a tall order, especially since Sopel took all his extra large cups with him to Atlanta.  All kidding aside, the Hawks are going to need Boynton to be able to kill penalties.  Sopel was able to do that, and thus keep at least one of the top 4 guys (Campbell) from having to play the hard minutes on the kill.

John Scott is going to be the greatest Blackhawk to ever play 27 games in a season.  Scott's contributions will be limited to the occasional on ice murder and getting things down from the high shelves for Patrick Kane.  He'll probably make a few bucks on the side as a Richard Moll impersonator (good news for you Night Court afficiandos).  Ivan Vishnevsky will probably be one of the best Russian players to ever skate for the Hawks.  And no, I don't think he'll play regularly.

Hopefully, Shawn Lalonde and Nick Leddy are able to stay in Rockford all season and develop (if they're in Chicago, that means somebody is hurt).  While they're there, they can enjoy the daily knife fights between Jassen Cullimore and Jonathan Carlsson over whose "S" is more superfluous.

FORK: The Hawks believe the blueline is where their bread is buttered, and I agree. Believe it of not, the defensive corps, even with Hjalmarsson and Keith's new deals, is money better spent than it was last year. Going into the opener, the Hawks third pair of Brent Sopel and Cam Barker was making over $5 million.This year, your 5-6 defensemen are making less than $2 million combined. The salaries are coming in more commensurrate with everyone's roles.

Having, in effect, two first pairs is the reason why a goalie like Marty Turco was willing to take a $4 million cut to come to Chicago. It's also the reason they were able to get their names engraved on the Stanley Cup without ever facing an elimination game. These guys are good. Keith got his big payday to go along with his Olympic gold medal, Norris Trophy and Stanley Cup. This year will be Seabrook's turn, and I expect him to be locked up during the regular season...having $4 million come off the cap after this season affords the Hawks a decent amount of flexibility. I know Chris Block thinks the Hawks will eventually be vindictive toward Hjalmarsson over signing an offer sheet, but I'm sure everyone knows it's just business. Just like when Joe Sakic signed his offer sheet with the Rangers in the mid-90s.

The best news for the Hawks is that there are guys like Leddy and Lalonde who are in the pipeline, and there's not a big rush to bring them up. Ev guys like Cullimore or Carlsson show up in a Hawks uniform, well...good seats will be available.

And I'll be disappointed any game that John Sccott dresses and I don't get to use the word "pummel" in my recap.