TAMPA -- It may be a popular topic among fans and media, but how the Chicago Blackhawks are going to look next season isn’t discussed much by the Chicago Blackhawks.
“I would say it comes up every once in a while during the year,” said defenseman Johnny Oduya, a pending unrestricted free agent who may, or may not, be forced to play elsewhere in 2015-16 due to salary-cap constraints.
“It’s just one of those things where you really don’t know the answers, you don’t know the outcomes. There’s so many variables that play into what’s going to happen, or not.
“We know the reality. This is what it is. You’ve got to take care of the time you have in front of you. Anything else is not really anything we’re talking about or trying to worry too much about, to be honest with you. “
Oduya was asked if the “reality” of the situation had been used as a motivating factor at anytime this season.
“Not really, no,” he said. “I think we have other factors that drive us. Coming together as a group and performing, having fun, winning games. That drive has to be bigger than the scare of what’s going to happen in the future. [It’s] easy to say that you’ve got to live in the now, but that’s exactly what it is.”