Who’s left out there who still thinks the Blackhawks are fine—they will get it all together come April and make a nice long playoff run, possibly coming out of the West?
I know some of you are still out there.
I salute your optimism. And you might still be proven right.
But the ranks of those believing there is something fundamentally off with this team swelled again last night, when the Hawks went out flatter than Kansas, handing the Canucks a 3-1 lead, before storming back to tie the game behind yet another inspired performance from 36 year-old Slovakian Uber-Stud Marian Hossa.
And then, almost typically now, the defense broke down in overtime, leaving Henrik Sedin all kinds of time and space to find brother Daniel in front of the net.
Game. Another valuable point lost. Ugh.
I got a note this morning from a source who has given me reliable, proven-correct information in the past. He told me that team brass “scrambled… after the game last night—there is growing urgency that something must be done to fix the team on ice.
(And I have heard from three separate sources in the last few days of a growing conflict between GM Stan Bowman and Coach Joel Quenneville over personnel).
In effect, his take is: Quenneville wants more experienced and more physical players. Bowman is answering with less experienced, non-physical prospects.
In fairness to Bowman, he can’t, on the surface at least, be blamed for the team not being mentally prepared to compete last night (and perhaps other nights).
That said, Bowman does have an obligation to do everything in his power to address team needs.
And apparently, this conflict extends to the players themselves, who are said to back Quenneville. In my source’s words:
“Refs are calling games differently now, letting other teams get away with a lot more—the players are getting tired of getting beat up night after night.…
Anyone thinking an NHL club’s front office can’t be as political as corporate America needs to wake up. Or just recall the not-too-distant days of Mike Smith, Peter Wirtz, Dale Tallon and Brian Sutter.
The point is, if there is finger-pointing and CYA going on, it should stop. And hopefully, team brass can agree on this—the roster needs to be addressed, right now, and in the right ways, if this team is serious about going far in the playoffs.
Again, this is what I am hearing, not independently “suggesting.… There seems to be a belief within the organization that the “prospects… are not as great as their hype.
The debate has raged over how potentially good or presently bad David Rundblad is. But the hard truth is, Quenneville isn’t going to give him more than 3-4 minutes a game in the playoffs. Nor should he.
If you want to say the same of Johnny Oduya and Michal Rozsival, you can. But if the problem truly lies with them, there is a much deeper problem that isn’t getting fixed any time soon.
You can figuratively rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic, bemoaning Dan Carcillo being in the lineup at the expense of Teuvo Teravainen. But for all of TT’s potential, he has 4 points in 15 games. And he is almost inconsequential (at this point) without the puck.
So is it really Quenneville’s choices hurting this team, or what he has to choose from?
Sure, the top of the roster is very talented—as it was in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. The coaching staff, for all intents and purposes, remains the same. The difference from year to year has been the supporting cast.
And that comes back to Bowman and the front office.
Because of the plethora of talent this team has had locked up for a few years now, Bowman has had the luxury of making smaller moves, and waiting out the process for the right time. You can argue that’s worked for him, especially in 2013.
But the pressure is now on to do something soon, before the trade deadline, and with a tight salary cap. As a fellow blogger remarked to me this morning, “Bowman’s backed into a corner and everyone knows it.…
Time to think outside the box.
Or start thinking about next year, for the organization and fans.
All for now,
JJ
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