Season Preview: Brent Seabrook

found on www.excelfitness.ca

Ahhh.. Brent Seabrook. Seabrook seems to be one of those players that people seem pretty torn over. Unlike Keith, who people just want to argue about how good he will get, Seabrook seems to have his fair shares of unbelievers.

Seabs was the primary ice partner of Keith on the blueline last year and his TOI average of 21:29 shows it. Seabrook brings much more of the physical side to the defense that Keith lacks. Seabrook lead the team with 167 hits last year which put him at 27th overall in the NHL. (Ruutu might have led the team in hits had he stayed on last year - he finished with 171 and was 24th overall. Also, did anyone know Dustin Brown led the league with 311 hits - 45 more than 2nd place?). Seabrook will drop the gloves on occasion but it'd probably be better for him to practice that aspect of his game a little more. He's by no means a heavy weight but since he's playing a lot with Toews and Kane he usually doesn't have to face up against other teams big guys. Either way you've got to like his willingness to fight when he feels it's needed to protect his teammates, even Keith.

Seabrook tied with Keith for points on the year and will probably be close to around 30 points again this year if his short track record is any indication. He'll block a fair amount of shots and will probably take the most amount of shots as a defenceman.

It could be a big year for Seabrook especially if he can work on his conditioning and maybe play a little less now that someone like Campbell is on the team to also eat a lot of minutes. Last year Seabrook seemed to really tire out towards the end of the season but the team will obviously need him to play hard if they want to make any noise in the playoffs this year. Seabrook could grow into a leader on this team given the effort on his part. At only 23 years old he has huge potential and needs to keep upping his game over the next few years