Don't get me wrong. This isn't going to be quite the downer, bummer blog some might expect.
The Blackhawks played well enough 5-on-5 to win on the road last night against a very good team, even with two bad turnovers leading to opposition goals.
And it's part of a trend— a 7-2 stinker of a loss in Calgary aside— of the team playing better of late.
That said, with last night's 5-2 loss to the Sharks, the Blackhawks sink to .500 again, ninth place in the conference— and that having played the most games of any Western team.
Facts are facts. This looks and feels like a .500 team. And .500 gets you 14th place in the West.
What the hockey side of the notoriously tight-lipped front office at 1901 W. Madison has in mind is anyone's guess.
In truth, aside from Viktor Stalberg, Fernando Pisani and Marty Turco, Stan Bowman did not get any NHL-ready replacement parts in exchange for Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd, Ben Eager, Brent Sopel and Kris Versteeg— not to mention free agent departees John Madden, Antti Niemi and Adam Burish.
This is not to criticize Bowman at all— he didn't go out and overpay a lot of players over the last few years. His predecessor did.
It is, by all means, fair to credit Dale Tallon (and Rick Dudley) as the architect of the Hawks' Stanley Cup. But in the same breath, you have to lay the blame for this summer's bloodletting primarily at his feet as well.
What Bowman did do this summer was auction off most of the excess talent and salary for prospects and draft picks— assets that were/are realistically 2-3 years away from contributing on the NHL level.
Let's face it, he had to do just that. Adding NHL assets (like, for example, Marty Reasoner, who then had to be dealt later on for salary reasons) was too expensive under the cap.
Now, where Bowman and the scouting staff can perhaps be criticized is in who they identified as their "core"— to be preserved at all costs— and who they let go.
But it is perhaps too early to say Dave Bolland and not Dustin Byfuglien and Andrew Ladd should have been dealt.
It is too early to say that the $1 million or so saved by signing Marty Turco over Antti Niemi was worth it.
What can be said is what follows:
1) Not enough muscle, snarl and energy.
What was lost with the departure of Byfuglien, Eager and Ladd has not been replaced. Troy Brouwer has taken a beating in the media and on the message boards for a slow start this year. And many have suggested the Hawks deal him. Even here in this blog, I suggested he might be the logical chip. In truth, the Hawks need a couple more Troy Brouwers right now: guys who can win corner battles, go to the front of the net and drop the gloves when necessary— not to mention score a few goals.
Bryan Bickell might have taken a cue from Brouwer last night instead of taking a pretty dumb double minor late in the third period, essentially taking the Hawks out of a possible comeback for a vital road point.
The Hawks are definitely at a disadvantage against big, physical teams who take the body (like San Jose, Nashville and Calgary).
It's a problem that, barring some roster turnover, isn't going away.
2) Faceoff losses
The Hawk centers right now consist of Jonathan Toews, Bolland, a converted wing (Patrick Sharp) and a guy who was in the AHL last year (Jake Dowell). Faceoffs matter, especially late in games, which, no coincidence, is where the Hawks are losing a lot of games this year.
3) Special teams
I think the Hawks have more than enough very good penalty killers and penalty killing schemes. Their power play excels at puck movement, but is absolutely, unacceptably bad at generating screens and net traffic. This, like point 1, is a function of too much emphasis and roster space consumed by skill players. Brouwer and Tomas Kopecky will work to generate screens and fight for net position. But they are not enough. Last night, Antti Niemi literally had no trouble with power play point shots because the Hawks' finesse players were all positioned near the posts waiting for rebounds, not going to the combat zone and creating screens.
Is it too much or inappropriate to ask Patrick Kane to play Tomas Holmstrom? Sure. But, at some point, a perimeter team is a perimeter team. Detroit is winning games at a blistering pace right now because they combine grit with finesse. Something last year's Hawk roster did.
Where lies the answer?
Unfortunately, the most NHL ready players in Rockford (Igor Makarov, Nick Leddy, Brandon Pirri and Jeremy Morin) are all finesse players. Sure Garnet Exelby and Kyle Beach are physical guys with varying kinds of NHL "credibility," but both are huge liabilities in terms of taking bad penalties. Something the Hawks need less of right now, not more of.
There's an argument to be made, as painful as it is from a marketing/p.r. standpoint, for riding out this season as is and perhaps even finishing out of the playoffs— and not sacrificing the future for the sake of a quick NHL fix this year.
In fact, I would bet on the front office taking that approach. One would think they had to know that the ranks would be so thinned that this year might be much tougher than anyone else expected.
Or, perhaps, they are realizing that their "core" of untouchables, rumored to have been Marian Hossa, Toews, Kane, Sharp, Bolland, Duncan Keith, Nik Hjalmarsson and Brent Seabrook is not, after all, the right mix. And perhaps the team might pull the trigger on some kind of inseason shakeup deal.
But, again, don't bet on it.
Thanks for reading,
JJ
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
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