During the season as per NHL rules a NHL team may carry up to 23 active players on thier roster. This will usually include 18 to 21 skaters and 2 goaltenders. NHL rules also state that a team must carry 20 active players on their roster during a game. Usually this will break down to 12 forwards, 6 defensemen, and 2 goalies, also one non-uniformed player shall be permitted on the players’ bench in a coaching capacity. This player must be listed on the roster sheet submitted to the referee or official scorer prior to the start of the game.http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=26280

Although only 23 players may be on the active roster for a NHL team they may have up to 50 players under contract and a additional 90 on reserve that may join the team during the season through call up from the teams AHL or ECHL affiliate team.http://predators.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=439739 Rosters may also change periodically throughout the season by the way of either a trade or a waiver claim. All trades though must be submitted to the league office by the trade deadline which is usually in late February to mid March.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHL_trade_deadline After this deadline passes then there is no more trading allowed, and as far as call-ups go after the trade deadline teams are limited to 4 regular AHL call-ups. The Chicago Blackhawks AHL affiliate is the Rockford Icehogs and their ECHL affiliate is the Toledo Walleye.http://blackhawks.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=476094 http://icehogs.com/main/ http://www.toledowalleye.com/news.asp?id=85

All teams in the NHL are bound by the salary cap which was instituted in 2005 after the lockout. At the beginning of each new season the salary cap is set by assigning a percentage of all "hockey-related" revenues to player salaries. Their is a salary cap and a salary floor and no teams salaries may be higher then the cap and no teams salaries may fall below the floor.http://proicehockey.about.com/od/learnthegame/a/nhl_salary_cap.htm

When talking about the Blackhawks there are alot of different lines in this franchise's long and storied history that I could name and all of them would be great. This is a Original Six team and has had its fair share of hall of famers play for them.

Picking the top line is a tough task but I am gonna have to say the "Party Line" has got to be up there as a top line is the Blackhawks history. The party line consisted of Denis Savard, Al Secord, and Steve Larmer. Savard centered this line with Larmer and Secord on the wings, leading the Blackhawks in scoring for seven straight years including five 100 point seasons Savard sure had a good time on the party line. The trio set a team high mark of 297 total points between them in 1982-83 with Larmer collecting 90 of the points on his way to winning the Calder Trophy that year as the leagues top rookie. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0901/nhl.classic.lines/content.14.html

Currently though the line of Toews, Kane, and Sharp may end up being one of the top lines in the Hawks history. In the 2009-10 season the trio scored a total of 222 points with team points leader Kane scoring 88 of them points, Toews kicked in another 68 points while Sharp added the other 66 points.