Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville’s biggest issue with last year’s team was its four-line rotation.
While a lot of people pointed to the Blackhawks’ defenseman problems as their downfall, Quenneville disagreed. He thought the Blackhawks largely failed because their four-line rotation wasn’t as present as in years past.
There were reasons for that. The Blackhawks used 26 different forwards last season. The lines were constantly changing. Marcus Kruger and Marian Hossa missed significant time due to injuries. The Blackhawks lacked consistent top-line production and rarely got any scoring from their bottom-6 forwards. Quenneville went away from playing his fourth line at times.