IMO, the Hawks will not reach the promise land with the current roster because of the
following major shortcomings:


One of the slowest teams in NHL

2ndOLDEST ROSTER in NHL

ONLY HAVE 2 PLAYERS willing to consistently park in front of net

ONLY HAVE 1 LINE that can light the lamp

ROSTER INCLUDES 7 rookies/new players

ONLY HAVE 2 PLAYERS that have higher than 50% at the face off circle

TEAMS 2nd BEST PLAYER /highest salary is underperforming in all facets

TEAMS PLAY ON WINNING BATTLES AT THE BOARDS IS BELOW AVERAGE


Sure a few of these shortcomings can be corrected. Unfortunately, most of the other issues cannot be corrected unless multiple players are added to roster.
- spanky

Sure, the team has issues but I disagree with the two bolded comments as being a factor.

The Hawks average age is 28.1 years, the league average is 27.3. I don't see 0.8 years being that big of a different, especially when Campbell and Rozsival skew the calculation. Hossa is up there too, but he's playing 10 years younger than he is.

Regarding the rookies... on one hand you say the team is too old, on the other you say there's too many one guys. Which is it?

What about Hammer 4 Landeskog .Or is that even dumber
- oldduffman

Dumberer.

Mark Lazerus ‏@MarkLazerus 1h1 hour ago
I asked Jonathan Toews if he had any lingering back problems: "No, it’s been really good, actually." #Blackhawks
- JRoenick97

Dunno . . . and maybe that's not something he wants out there.

That is good to hear. Which means it is something quite else that accounts for his performance.
- 35Tony0

Maybe. Hard to say. I think the back is still a problem. There are some obvious reasons he would not want to say so.

Or he could be lying. If I were him and had a nagging back injury I wouldn't exactly tell the media. Might as well skate around with a note taped to your back saying "cross check me here"
- Jance

^^^^^

Maybe. Hard to say. I think the back is still a problem. There are some obvious reasons he would not want to say so.
- John Jaeckel

Or it could be some other undisclosed injury.

Except 3 cups in the past 7 years. Man, we're a spoiled bunch.
- teh_HAWKZ

Hey I'm very grateful for what the Hawks have accomplished. Trust me I've been a fan my whole life and never thought I would see one cup let alone three. I understand we made trades to go for it and I was on board for that. But what I meant was all of those Young guys have been given up with nothing to show for it and if we could have found a way to keep a few we would be a better team right now with a lot of youth.
Would you rather everyone on the blog just write how we have been so lucky , don' t make comments other then how grateful we are that we have three cups. That would make for a boring blog. I think every Hawk fan feels lucky and fortunate with what we have witnessed with this franchise the last ten years, we just want the success to continue , nothing wrong with that.

Or it could be some other undisclosed injury.
- walleyeb1

Also . . . possible.

Mark Lazerus ‏@MarkLazerus 1h1 hour ago
I asked Jonathan Toews if he had any lingering back problems: "No, it’s been really good, actually." #Blackhawks
- JRoenick97

gutzty to ask...but that's the answer i would expect be it truthful or not...

I guess he could have added..."but my damn ribs are killing me" oh well

Kopitar is driving 60% of the play at evens with significantly more d zone starts. PDO under 100. Shooting percentage down as well but whatever.

He's not scoring but hes pretty much dominating every other measurable statistic that says he doesn't suck whilst dragging around Brown (ew gross) and whatever is duct taped together under Gaborik's jersey. There are signs of life and business as usual. With Toews... Not so much...

Edit: Bergeron sucks at shooting too this year. But is driving like 64% of play at evens though getting about the same amount of ozone starts as Toews. His PDO also is under 100.

Either way, Bergeron and Kopitar are at least doing other things to indicate a statistical anomaly rather than a degrading trend.
- fattybeef

I don't think you can say that Kopitar gets "significantly" more defensive zone starts - it's about a 3% difference (though Toews does get about 4% more OZS while Kopitar picks up extra NZS). Their defensive zone faceoff % is less than a 1% difference, though, so they're thrown out for key moments at similar times. None of that suggest a significant difference imo.

And quality of teammate is debatable as they're both skating some with 3/4L players and then some with top 6. Technically, quality of teammate stats actually favor Kopitar by a small amount (and Bergeron by a bit larger of amount). They all face similar QOC obvs.

And while Toews does not have the same overall CF% numbers (which is a team wide issue), he does have slightly better underlying numbers than Kopitar:

iCF60 12.35 v 10.14
iSF 6.98 v 5.45
iSCF 2.41 v 2.40
ixG60 .73 V .66

And Toews shoots from closer in on average with better faceoff % (which I only mention because DZF was brought up and that's one area that FO are more valuable). And Toews' microstats look good as well. Below is a look at the Caps game:




Last, his XPM is strong, which is predictive stat meant to show the type of offensive and defensive impact a player is likely to make going forward. Toews’ shot rates compare favorably with Panarin and Kane’s, his individual rate of shots and scoring chances for are strong, and Toews’ offensive impact leads the team.



Toews might still have some lingering effects from his injury, I have no idea - but I do think it's disingenuous to say Toews play isn't comparable to Kopitar's when you dig below the surface level.

Also . . . possible.
- John Jaeckel

Again, my opinion is that if 19 is injured or playing through a nagging injury, he should be on IR. 19 is the #1C and the face of the franchise. He has 6 years left on this contract and I'd like to see him play the entire thing out. Put him on LTIR until he is 100% healthy, bc the 19 we have seen for the last 1.5 seasons is not the 19 we all know and love. He looks like a shell of the 70 point 200ft center that he was from age 18-26.

Again, my opinion is that if 19 is injured or playing through a nagging injury, he should be on IR. 19 is the #1C and the face of the franchise. He has 6 years left on this contract and I'd like to see him play the entire thing out. Put him on LTIR until he is 100% healthy, bc the 19 we have seen for the last 1.5 seasons is not the 19 we all know and love. He looks like a shell of the 70 point 200ft center that he was from age 18-26.
- EnzoD

One thing about this is maybe the injury is one the will require surgery and Toews is playing through it until the offseason. It might not be an injury that rest will heal, it may require a procedure to get it truly fixed. I agree Toews is not looking like he was, but a 75% Toews is still better than the majority of the league when they perform at 100%

Mark Lazerus ‏@MarkLazerus 1h1 hour ago
I asked Jonathan Toews if he had any lingering back problems: "No, it’s been really good, actually." #Blackhawks
- JRoenick97

Hey Lazerus.... what was your follow up question to that ???
I'm assuming none !!
Thanks for the awesome reporting........... GEEZ !!!!

Isles fire Jack Capuano.

Be interesting to see what else happens.
- 93Joe

Maybe the newbees would trade us Tavares and Leddy for Toews and Keith !!
( Just a dream )

Dumberer.
- John Jaeckel

OK

Sure, the team has issues but I disagree with the two bolded comments as being a factor.

The Hawks average age is 28.1 years, the league average is 27.3. I don't see 0.8 years being that big of a different, especially when Campbell and Rozsival skew the calculation. Hossa is up there too, but he's playing 10 years younger than he is.

Regarding the rookies... on one hand you say the team is too old, on the other you say there's too many one guys. Which is it?
- DarthKane

Why can't it be both? Another way of saying it is that there aren't enough players in their prime; their are either too young or too old. Who is in their prime this year? Kane, Panarin (still on the upswing,) AA, Kruger, Crawford, and Hammer. Toews might not be out of his prime yet but since his play is so off, he's not on the list. So that's six players on the roster. Obviously Hossa, Keith, and Seabrook are still above average players and some of the older guys, young guys, and journeymen contribute from time to time but six isn't a lot of prime time players.

With three assists tonight, Marion Hossa has over 600 for his career! It's such a privilege to watch that guy play!