No joy in Mudville this morning.
Lots of debate on the thread into the wee hours this morning as to how bad things are, who's to blame, what needs to change, etc.
What is no longer debatable is that the St. Louis Blues are the better team in this series.
The Blackhawks on the ice, with possibly one exception, are giving everything they have. They just don't have enough left. The Blues meanwhile have accumulated a lot of young talent and depth, size and skill, and they know they're in the driver's seat. And if Games 1-4 are any indication, the Hawks are probably going to come home from St. Louis after Game 5 with their season ended.
Maybe they get a bounce or two and a huge performance from Corey Crawford and come back to the United Center for Game 6, and with a little momentum, who knows what could happen.
That said, I don't see the Hawks coming back from 3-1 down in this series. And even in the unlikely event they did, round 2 probably gets tougher and the same problems exposed by the Blues, that have really been there all season, are still there.
To be fair, a couple of key contributors—Andrew Shaw and Marian Hossa—are playing through some fairly serious injuries. But it's possible the same applies to David Backes and Robbie Fabbri for the Blues.
But it's too early to suggest what changes the Hawks might make in the offseason. Except to say that the problems remain the same—a lack of quality blue line depth, which forces slotting players higher than they should be, and too many perimeter players at forward.
The Hawks continue to vastly outshoot the Blues. But while Hawk goals come off lucky bounces or bombs from the blue line, seemingly all the Blues' goals come from the slot. So while the Hawks take 35-40 low percentage shots a game, the Blues take 20-25 high percentage shots. And there you go.
Hawk fans, naturally, want to suggest different line combos or that high paid veterans step up, but that's not being respectful enough or aware of how good the opponent is. The Blues are stacked. Their psychology has changed. They are riding a very hot goalie.
Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are still relatively young players with all kinds of ability, but the supporting cast is simply not what it was last year, or in 2013, or in 2010.
The difference now is $21 million in annual cap hit wrapped up in those two players, years of low draft picks round after round, and picks and prospects dealt away to retool the roster for the playoffs.
Retooling is now akin to quantum physics. The cap-era bills for 7 years of success have come due.
But let's see if this bunch can muster a minor miracle and get back in the series in Game 5. If not, we will have lots of time to revisit the topic of the roster, cap implications etc.
All I have for now.
JJ
FOB (good peeps, good reads)
Chris Block Al Cimaglia http://www.thethirdmanin.com
Frank Nova http://www.hockeenight.com
Greg Boysen http://www.letsgohawks.net
Puckin’ Hostile Crew http://www.puckinhostile.com