Blackhawks’ veteran core ‘on alert’ after sweeping offseason roster changes

Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook is no fool.

He hears the criticism, feels the pressure to live up to his lofty contract and knows his role in the Hawks’ defensive unit has become increasingly tenuous.

And when he sees how aggressive and change-laden the Hawks’ offseason was — six players traded, eight free agents allowed to walk, 12 new signees or acquisitions coming in — he realizes that means he’s sliding closer to the edge of the roster.

‘‘I feel like the new guy coming into the convention, [with] a lot of young guys from the draft and a lot of turnover,’’ Seabrook said. ‘‘It puts us all on alert.’’

He isn’t alone. Even stars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews felt the tremors beneath their feet as general manager Stan Bowman’s magic wand churned the Hawks’ roster this summer.

The changes were necessary to get more Stanley Cup contention out of the aging core — two consecutive seasons of playoff misses are proof of that — but the upheaval was stressful nonetheless.

‘‘It was half-exciting and half-nerve-racking, not knowing every day . . . what’s going to happen,’’ Toews said. ‘‘You never like seeing teammates move on to other teams, especially guys that you have good relationships with. But looking at the guys who are coming in, hearing their reputations and track records as teammates in their locker rooms and seeing what they bring as players . . . it’s exciting to look at all the possibilities.’’

Toews spoke highly of first-round draft pick Kirby Dach, whom he watched in the Western Hockey League playoffs in the spring, and Kane sang top defensive prospect Adam Boqvist’s praises. Kane was in attendance for Boqvist’s jaw-dropping performance in the development-camp scrimmage last week.

Winger Andrew Shaw’s return was clearly a popular move among the Hawks’ veterans — no player’s name has been mentioned more lovingly throughout convention weekend — but many of the other newcomers, even the established ones, will be fresh faces in the locker room.

That’s exciting yet unnerving for the veterans given the task of leading the room.

‘‘I kind of like the way the direction of the team’s headed,’’ Kane said. ‘‘[With] a lot of the players we have this year, there will probably be more defined roles.’’

The man behind the new blend agreed with that assessment.

‘‘We weren’t just going to bring in new players and hope they can maybe fill in a hole,’’ Bowman said. ‘‘We looked at our team and tried to analyze what went wrong, and we set out to fix that.’’

Many of those fixes came on the back end, where Calvin de Haan and Olli Maatta will add more reliability and Boqvist will compete for a job. That puts pressure on Seabrook, who also senses odd-men-out Carl Dahlstrom and Slater Koekkoek nipping at his heels.

Seabrook, 34, undoubtedly will benefit from a full training camp of work with coach Jeremy Colliton’s system — he admitted he ‘‘had a tough time making the switch’’ last season — but his spot is suddenly far from secure.

‘‘Obviously, with the additions we made, that’s going to help,’’ Seabrook said. ‘‘But the guys that were here last year, we’ve got to be that much better. It’s going to be a battle for ice time and positioning, so it’s good to have competition within the group.’’