Is this the ‘end… of the Chicago Blackhawks as we know it?
Hardly.
It feels a little like Christmas, when you opened up all your presents and then had to spend the next two days figuring out how to put them together.
New faces in new places. And this team still misses (a healthy) Marcus Kruger.
But it’s also not that simple and that is not a “catch-all… excuse.
The last four teams Chicago has faced have all aggressively forechecked the Hawks, slowing down their defensive zone exits, then gummed up the neutral zone. The Hawks, either the players and/or the coaching staff, have not had an answer.
That is the biggest problem right now.
The new lines last night were actually pretty good and Marian Hossa was one of the best players on the ice—a very good sign for this team.
Those who continue to point to Brandon Mashinter’s 8-10 minutes a night, in place of the great Richard Panik, are really missing the point.
Where I will criticize the coaching staff, again, is in the allocation of minutes on defense. The Hawks' offense begins on its back-end. The breakouts are being foiled by a stiff forecheck—compounded by defensemen having to play on their off sides. Swapping out Erik Gustafsson for Christian Ehrhoff and vice versa is a lot like the Mashinter-Panik trade-off. Really, who cares?
It’s ignoring the heavy minutes being allocated to Michal Rozsival and Trevor van Riemsdyk, and the ongoing Chinese fire drill as far as pairings and sides.
Full marks to all the teams the Hawks have faced of late. They’ve come out and given 60 minutes of effort.
And dare I suggest some meathead hockey? Yeah, I dare. Some kind of response to an elbow to the head of your captain or Radko Gudas continually roughing up Hossa might have indicated some life in this team.
That’s another big problem. Too many guys seem to lack a sense of urgency and passion. And maybe some of those guys need to have a seat alongside Corey Crawford for a game or two.
The “problems… are obvious and quite fixable. What will be cause for concern is if they persist much longer.
All for now,
JJ