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So Long Hockeenight, More Changes To Come? |
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How cool (and ironic and a little sad) is it that the end of the Hockeenight blog made national news (at least in the hockey media) yesterday?
For those of you not familiar with Hockeenight, it was a very irreverent, very funny, no holds barred blog that covered the Blackhawks roughly during the same timespan I've manned the Hawk ship here at HockeyBuzz.
Over the years, I'm proud to say I've developed a friendship with Frank Nova, the founder and leader of Hockeenight. I don't know the rest of the contributors nearly as well, but I enjoyed going on their podcast a couple of years ago, after I'd had to stand Frank up a number of times prior. They were (and are) a fun, smart group of people whose perspectives—at least as far as they were aggregated on Hockeenight—will be missed.
Why is that relevant to the Hawks organization and any changes on the ice or in the front office this summer?
First, you'll have to read the farewell from Hockeenight. Link below.
The underlying theme that ties it to what goes on with the team on the ice is that a lot of fans are unhappy. You might not share their point of view, or that of another high profile blog in town, regarding Patrick Kane's offseason last year, or Garrett Ross' issues, or how the team handled them (or not).
But it hasn't helped the team's brand that they also went out and pulled a 2011 in the playoffs this year.
That's a fact. Winning can and will hide a lot of blemishes on a team's brand. Losing brings them right back to the surface.
The Hawks not only have some issues to resolve with the on-ice product—but a lot of fans and pundits are now openly scoffing at what "One Goal" really means. And if the Hawks themselves don't realize how the fall from grace can happen just as quickly as this team's meteoric rise beginning around 2007, they are mistaken.
Fact is, they're not dumb. The Hawks employ sophisticated market research. They know where the soft spots potentially are in ticket sales, corporate sponsorship, and merchandise sales. There may be none visible to the public now. But there are points of weakness that can become cracks and then chasms. The Hawks themselves know what's going on.
The fan boys will, I'm certain, chime in that the building is sold out and the STH waiting list is long. All is well. Just wait til next year.
But it is also not engraved in stone either. Again, while some fans may believe the party will never end, I think the Hawks are smarter than that.
And I believe this may point to a larger shake-up in the offing this summer and perhaps going forward.
Total rebuild? No way. Marginal to meaningful retool? Quite possibly. The question is, can this overcrowded, often slow to act front office accomplish that?
Shift the focus now to Russia, where yesterday, Calder Trophy finalist Artemi Panarin told the local media something to the effect of: "cap situation in Chicago I really not like."
While fans and bloggers (like myself) would love to see the Hawks acquire a top 4 defender this summer, the hard reality of the salary cap is the team could struggle to re-sign or extend it's current players before adding anything. Like Panarin. Like Andrew Shaw. Like Richard Panik. Sure, you can deal with Shaw and Panik this summer and put Panarin off til next season. But Panarin is by far the most valuable of the three players, and will be the most coveted by other teams if the Hawks wait too long.
What's interesting here is that Shaw, Panik and especially Panarin represent what the Hawks need more of: physical willingness and pushback, combined with skill.
The current phase of the lifecycle of this team is such that the team must commit to winning now. The cap commitments to 8-10 players are significant, leaving little room, or room for error, elsewhere.
There is one school of thought that you essentially change nothing—just fill in around the edges with rookies from Europe or the AHL—and assume a full summer of rest for "the core" will be enough.
There is another school of thought that they tried that last summer, and even though they struck gold with Panarin, the team came way back to the pack minus Johnny Oduya, Patrick Sharp and Brandon Saad. That the prospect pipeline is about bone dry. That larger moves may be necessary in order to turn the trend around.
What the team will choose to believe and act on remains to be seen. I would just remind everyone that team president John McDonough hates failure and especially "perceived" failure attached to his team's brand.
I will not presume to know exactly what course the Hawks will take. It's hard to see a coaching change—even among the assistants, unless Kevin Dineen were offered a head coaching position elsewhere.
The reality is that aside from Marian Hossa's contract, which is essentially untradeable due to cap recapture penalties, all of the Hawks' highly paid core has no-trade or no-movement clauses.
After that, there isn't a lot anyone would trade for, except maybe van Riemsdyk or Teuvo Teravainen. And we've rode those horses to near death already.
I will just share one scenario. I don't necessarily support it. I am just making some observations about possibilities and sharing a couple of things I heard last spring and summer.
Last February/March, I was told by a quality source (and asked not to share it then) that the team had discussed the possibility of trading Corey Crawford with 2 teams (one from the Eastern Conference, the other in Western Canada). The talks were characterized to me as exploratory. I heard again this past offseason, as the summer dragged on, and neither Patrick Sharp nor Bryan Bickell and their $10 million in cap hit could be dealt, that the team was, again, preparing the for the possibility that Crawford might have to be moved.
Sharp ended up getting traded. End of story.
Or was it?
There is another dot that can be connected here, and that is the "rise" of Scott Darling. Bear in mind, it was February/March of 2015 when Darling pretty much ended Antti Raanta's tenure in Chicago. And Darling who carried the Hawks through a first round playoff series the following month.
The point is, Scotty Bowman (at least) has been a proponent of the school of thought that you can win with an OK goalie and a great defense. And if those trade discussion rumors I heard were at all true, the Hawks might be somewhat prepared to go to war at some point with Darling as their #1—albeit with an improved defense.
Crawford is one of the league's elite goalies—you don't just replace a guy like that. But you can also argue that Crawford's game has been elevated since the arrival in Chicago of Jimmy Waite as goaltending coach.
I, for one, am a believer that coaching matters a lot with NHL goalies. Some Hawk fans still refuse to believe that Cristobal Huet was one of the league's better goalies from 2003-06, when he was under the tutelage of Rollie (The Goalie) Melanson with the Montreal Canadiens. But, by most metrics, he was. Hence why Dale Tallon gave him $23 million in 2008.
Huet leaves Montreal and Melanson, et voila, over the next two seasons, the wheels fall off. Roberto Luongo is another goalie whose productivity seems tied to coaching. Ditto Sergei Bobrovsky.
Again, I am not arguing for the Hawks dealing Crawford. But if the opportunity were there to acquire a quality top 4 defender, either in that or another concurrent deal, I can see the possibility, depending on how the Hawks really feel about Darling. And how Darling might perform as a number one—under Waite—who appears to have had a positive effect on Darling as well.
Just something to chew on going forward. I'm certain there are other possibilities that might be discussed as well. Should be an interesting summer.
JJ
FOB
(good peeps, good reads)
Chris Block
Al Cimaglia
http://www.thethirdmanin.com
Frank Nova
http://www.hockeenight.com (one last time)
Greg Boysen
http://www.letsgohawks.net
Puckin’ Hostile Crew
http://www.puckinhostile.com
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
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