http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/hockey/blackhawks/ct-blackhawks-training-camp-storylines-spt-0918-20140918-story.html</p>
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After a relatively tame summer — which, incidentally, is a good thing for an NHL team that isn't celebrating a Stanley Cup championship — the Blackhawks are set to open training camp.</p>
The team will gather at the University of Notre Dame beginning Thursday and will hit the ice Friday for the first of three days of practice in South Bend, Ind., before returning to Chicago.</p>
While battles for roster spots are few, there are plenty of storylines for a Hawks team that is trying to recapture that winning feeling after coming up just short last season when they fell to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Kings in the Western Conference finals.</p>
Without further ado, here are some things to keep an eye on during training camp:</p>
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Roster watch 2014</p>
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<span> </span>Open link</div>
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The Hawks sit around $1.4 million over the NHL's salary cap — and will be even more if they keep prospect Teuvo Teravainen on the roster to start the season. One of the players who takes the ice Friday won't be there when the Hawks open the season Oct. 9 in Dallas.</p>
The most likely candidates to head out of town are defensemen Johnny Oduya and Nick Leddy, though trading a forward is not out of the question. Depth on the back end would seem to indicate a defenseman goes, but teams know the Hawks' predicament and general manager Stan Bowman will have to work a little magic to find the right deal.</p>
After whispers during the summer, the time has come for Bowman to get under the cap. The GM might use the next two weeks to let teams get a sense of what their needs are before working the phones. It will also give Oduya time to show potential suitors that his broken right foot has healed.</p>
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"Once training camp rolls around and you start playing some exhibition games … you realize maybe that the way you drew it up in June and July isn't playing out the way you hoped," Bowman said earlier this summer.</p>
If Oduya or Leddy do go, David Rundblad will likely get the first crack at earning a starting job while NHL veteran Kyle Cumiskey and prospects Stephen Johns, Adam Clendening and Klas Dahlbeck are waiting in the wings.</p>
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Net change</p>
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An under-the-radar move among the coaching ranks during the summer was the hiring of Jimmy Waite as goaltending coach. Waite replaced Steve Weeks, who was in the job for one season. That means starter Corey Crawford has had three goalie coaches in the last three seasons after Stephane Waite (Jimmy's brother) helped develop him into one of the league's top goalies. With Crawford an integral part of the Hawks' success, how seamlessly he and Waite can get on the same page could have an effect on how quickly the goalie gets out of the gate.</p>
"I think it will be an easy transition again and he'll be someone who is going to be very easy to communicate with and we can exchange ideas," Crawford said of Jimmy Waite.</p>
Goaltenders and their coach work together very closely, so this is something worth watching.</p>
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Special teams</p>
Another change behind the bench brought Kevin Dineen into the fold as an assistant to coach Joel Quenneville after Jamie Kompon left the organization to become general manager/coach of the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League.</p>
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While Mike Kitchen is likely to continue to run the Hawks' penalty kill, Dineen will inherit the power play. Dineen nailed it when he said the Hawks have a "bucket load" of skill on the units with Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa and Duncan Keith on the ice during man advantages.</p>
It will be Dineen's job to find the units that work best together and establish who the net-front presences will be. The coach will also have to decide how to best use newcomer Brad Richards, who has 89 career power-play goals.</p>
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About Richards</p>
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<span>Readers' Q&A: Chris Kuc's Blackhawks mailbag</span>
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Chris Kuc</div>
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The Hawks' hierarchy will have all eyes on Richards, who signed a one-year, $2 million free-agent contract and basically has been handed the No. 2 center slot between wingers Kane and Brandon Saad. If the 34-year-old can find chemistry with Kane, especially, it can be a huge boost to an already potent offense. The middle spot on the second line has been in flux for the last few seasons and if Richards can keep up with Kane and Saad, look out.</p>
"(Kane) is exciting to watch," Richards said shortly after signing with the Hawks. "It might or might not work. Until you get on the ice and learn tendencies and get to know him more, (you won't know). We're going to do that as we get into training camp. All that stuff has to kind of go naturally and then just see where it goes."</p>
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Teuvo time! Or is it?</p>
There appears to be little doubt that Teravainen, the Hawks' top pick in the 2012 draft, has the talent to play in the NHL — it's just a matter of when. The signing of Richards helped ease expectations for Teravainen as the flashy Finn has been penciled in as the Hawks' No. 2 center of the future.</p>
Some time with Rockford of the AHL to help ease the transition to the North American style of play could be in order, but Teravainen has the kind of skills that may force the Hawks to keep him in the NHL. Teravainen spent all summer in Chicago adding muscle and weight and if he shows he can withstand the rigors of the NHL, it might indeed by Teuvo time.</p>
"My goal is to play in the NHL this season," Teravainen recently told the Tribune. "I know that's a hard thing … because there are so many good guys playing. I go to training camp and I try to make the team. I just need to be good every day and when I get my chance I need to play well."</p>
The Hawks could give Teravainen a chance to play on the wing, something he would accept.</p>
"I don't know what number center I'm going to be or a winger," he said. "If you're a really good player there's always a spot for you. I just live day by day and go to the camp and I'll play wherever they put me."</p>
ckuc@tribune.com</p>
Twitter @ChrisKuc</p>
