They passed the test.
The Blackhawks, who entered this season after another round of roster turnover tied to the NHL’s salary cap, needed a slew of prospects to fill the void left behind by the departures of Andrew Shaw, Teuvo Teravainen, Andrew Ladd and Bryan Bickell.
There wasn’t any excess cap room to add veterans in free agency, other than Brian Campbell, so the onus of revamping the Blackhawks’ depth was placed squarely on the shoulders of rookies – eight of them, to be exact, plus 26-year old Michal Kempny in his first NHL season.
Over the course of the year, they passed their mid-terms – led by several who earned regular roles heading into the Stanley Cup Payoffs which will start this week against the Nashville Predators.