No one on the Chicago Blackhawks roster played particularly well in their game against the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday, a 4-1 loss that saw Vancouver's Jannik Hansen pot the first hat trick of his career.
But despite that poor recent effort, the Blackhawks, 12-8-1 and in third place in the Central Division, find themselves in a pretty decent position moving forward.
Part of the reason they find themselves in such a spot, is the play of winger Brandon Saad - a player the team, and general manager Stan Bowman, would very much like to lockup long-term - even if they haven't been able to hammer out anything concrete yet.
"We haven't gotten anything done there, but he's a big part of where we're going," Bowman said, according to Craig Custance of ESPN. "He just turned 22 and he's already won a Cup with us, and he's sort of emerging as the next mainline player for us. We'll figure that one out."
Saad is averaging 3.02 points per 60 minutes on the ice - the best mark on the Blackhawks. He only has three goals in 21 games thus far this season, but he's got 14 points total and his scoring should increase as his shooting percentage, currently 6.3, well below his career average of 10.4, climbs back toward normal.
It sounds like Saad, who will be a restricted free agent after the season, and his agent, Lewis Gross, have no problem waiting until after the year to get a new deal hammered out.
"We feel we'll wait until the season is over," Gross said. "Let's let the season pass and try and sit down and get something done."
Since entering the league in 2011-12, Saad has seen his games played, shots on goal, shooting percentage, plus-minus rating, assists and goals steadily increase (h/t to ESPN).
