The experience level and ability to come up big in clutch situations cannot be underestimated. The Blackhawks would have a huge advantage over us, never mind the straight up talent matchups.
However, this Hawks team is not nearly as deep as it has been in previous years. They have their traditional big guns in Kane, Panarin, and Toews/Panik/Hossa/Anisimov to a lesser extent. There's enough offense there to win any game in the playoffs. Their depth forwards are pretty bad though, and there are opportunities to expose them, except that those previously mentioned forwards are sprinkled throughout the lineup. But tell me if you recognize any of these names: Nick Schmaltz, Tanner Kero, Ryan Hartman, John Hayden, Dennis Rasmussen, Tomas Jurco. Even if they have some ok numbers, those are not players that make me worried at all come playoff time.
It's the defense that does the heavy lifting for the 'hawks. Keith is still one of the best defensemen in the game, and Seabrook is still a very good #2 even if they don't play together anymore. Hjalmarsson, Oduya, and Campbell are all very solid players with tonnes of experience, and Trevor Van Riemsdyk has shown that he's a quality NHLer. Throw in Corey Crawford and you have a team that can defend with the best of them, and defense wins in playoffs.
It's not a matchup I am afraid of, but I still respect the hell out of that team, and it would take everything going right for the Flames to beat them in a 7 game series........and since I'm an optimist, I'll say the Flames in 7.
