There was the second line and then there was everyone else for the Blackhawks last season.
The Blackhawks relied on Artemi Panarin, Artem Anisimov and Patrick Kane to score 39.55 percent, or 53 of 134, of their goals in 5-on-5 play last season. Add in the power play and other situations, and the trio scored 96 of the team’s 234 overall goals, or 41.26 percent.
Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman saw the need for depth scoring last season and acquired at the trade deadline three forwards – Andrew Ladd, Tomas Fleischmann and Dale Weise – he hoped would fit into the top-9.