David Rundblad is a very interesting case

David Rundblad

In a survey on the Google+ Chicago Blackhawks community, Franklin asked:

Who should be the Hawks 6th D for the playoffs? 

Well 5 out of the 6 are basically locks we have two options:

1) Rozsival: The turnover master and a really slow skater to boot. Although not many positives experience is one of them.

2) Rundblad: All offense (even that is questionable) with no defense. Like this guy is lost in our own zone. Again not a lot to look forward to while he is on the ice but at least he is quick.

Keith-Seabrook
Oduya-Hjalmarsson
Timonen-????

I commented:

Quenneville will probably keep both options open. He has a penchant, though, for choosing the veteran and sticking with him, no matter what. In any event, Rundblad is a very interesting case. Here are the latest plus/minus figures, including those from the Sabres game:

Toews +31
Hjalmarsson +26
Hossa +17
Rundblad +16
Versteeg +13
Keith +13
… Rozsival 0

While Rundblad can be a defensive liability, the Hawks are much more like to score than be scored on, when he's on the ice. I mean, Rundblad's +16 rivals the +17 of one of the game's best two-way hockey players. Of course, we cannot put too much stock on just one or two statistics, but compared to Rozsival, who served the Canucks some "pizza," something special is more likely to happen when Rundblad is on the ice.

So my vote is obvious :)

Oh, one more thing: I know Quenneville has paired Rundblad with Keith before, but while he has re-established the Hjalmarsson-Oduya pair, he should also think about pairing Rundblad with Hjalmarsson. No. 4, of course, is the defenseman's defenseman, though happily he's been scoring of late. Hjalmarsson is one of the underrated stars in the NHL!