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Building on my last blog, which highlighted Stan Bowman's offseason plan, this entry focuses on what kind of plan the organization has pursued this summer.

Clearly, no matter how you interpret it, this offseason is different than the previous several—where the order was simple: find some way to lose this contract or that, maybe fill a small hole here or there, and get under the salary cap.

But after two consecutive first round playoff defeats, the last being essentially a humiliation at the hands of the eventual conference champion Predators, it was clear there should be changes. And Bowman himself—echoed by the rest of the organization, not least of which his boss John McDonough—said there would be changes.

And there have been.

So where are we today? Are the Hawks a dramatically improved team since May? That is open to debate and most people, myself included, would say no.

Some might argue they are a worse team than the one that folded its tents after four playoff games. I'm not as sure about that, different definitely, but maybe not worse. And possibly better.

I have cautioned that everyone should put their pencils down, stop calculating goals lost or debating the "finer" points of Lance Bouma's fancy stats, and give this "chemistry experiment" a chance to ferment over the first half of the season and see where we are.

One thing is certain, this is not the massive rebuild that is definitely coming at some point in the future.

Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith—arguably the Hawks' two most valuable assets in trade are still here. And when you have those two, along with Jonathan Toews, and all three are healthy, you have a pretty good chance to be a playoff team.

There seems to be a segment of the fanbase out there that expects a sort of "soft landing," a la the Red Wings of the last several seasons, where the Hawks just get old, the key players retire and there's some kind of semi-competitive future built around an aging Kane, Alex DeBrincat and Gustav Forsling, among others.

Whether that is the long-term plan of the organization (and as a fan, I hope it's not) almost doesn't matter.

What matters is this, Bowman is not "rebuilding." He's retooling.

I am a fan of the work Bowman did this summer. The roster got younger, faster (though some continue to want to debate this, it's fairly clear they did), bigger, and more manageably cost-controlled over the next 3 years. And he added a few tough to play against veterans to a bottom 6 that was all too easy to play against last year.

You can argue 'til the cows come home that the team isn't as good as it was in May. OK. But really, who will hang a first round playoff elimination banner in their rumpus room anyway?

Point being, sometimes, you need to take a step back to take two steps forward. And this, my friends, seems to be the plan.

At some point, whether through a trade or the more obvious route of LTIR, Marian Hossa's $5.25 million cap hit is going to be off the books and Bowman will have the leeway to make another substantial addition.

Hey, maybe DeBrincat or Alex Fortin or even an über dark horse like Vincent Praplan, becomes the port-side force that eventually displaces Patrick Sharp from the top 6 this season, and Bowman can use that cap space and acquire a really versatile, useful second pairing defenseman.

Or, maybe Bowman ships some assets off to Buffalo (a possibility I've been reporting on for weeks) for the last year of Evander Kane's contract—giving Patrick Kane the skilled, yet physically intimidating left wing I have heard he's been asking for specifically.

At that point, things could get interesting. And even if you get 20+ goals out of a healthy Sharp on Kane's left side this year, there's an argument that, with Brandon Saad added back in on Toews' left wing, you have a better, more balanced top two scoring lines than the team has had since 2015. Which, as far as getting anywhere in the playoffs, is huge.

I have my doubts about Sharp being that guy any more. But the point is, Bowman is within "striking distance," somehow, of having that guy.

Because this kind of isn't the team that, several weeks ago, was constricted to the point of suffocation by its contract commitments to 6-7 players.

There are still questionmarks out there. Who is that secondary faceoff option (especially in the defensive zone) to take pressure off Toews now that Marcus Kruger is gone? After Keith and Brent Seabrook, how good and how reliable can this defense (as composed) be?

We all just have to accept that more than likely, these are going to be open questions as camp opens. Probably. Though there is no "new league rule" that says Bowman can't just up and deal Hossa's contract (and likely LTIR status) or even make another deal over and beyond that in the next few weeks—although some are convinced he will do nothing of significance til after 10/1.

But there are also lots of new faces, added to talented (if not fully developed) new faces from last year like Ryan Hartman, Nick Schmaltz and Michal Kempny, among others, who may step up and provide some answers in the meantime as well.

I, for one, am excited.

I have zero doubt, there will be some dark moments as this team starts the season and tries to find an identity and figure some things out. But if Keith and Toews (especially) benefit from their longest hockey-free offseason in years, there's a chance for this different animal to have some teeth.

The larger point? Bowman has altered the chemistry fairly significantly—not just on the ice but on the balance sheet of salary and cap commitment. Now we see where the dust settles, and what else he can pull off between now and March 1.

I'll be back with more as I hear it,



JJ

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