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Without most of their better players, the Hawks lost a wild, seesaw game 7-5 to the Nashville Predators last night. While the Preds really had nothing to play for, neither really did the Hawks, beyond just not melting down.
Mission accomplished.
To my eye, the most notable absences were those of Duncan Keith and Niklas Hjalmarsson. When you have to rely on Michal Rozsival and Sheldon Brookbank to play big minutes against opponents' top lines, you're going to get a lot of what you saws last night: opposing forwards wide open in front of your goalie. And pucks in the back of your net.
So be it. As I often say, water will find its level. The Hawks go about 5 deep with true, quality NHL defensemen (Keith, Brent Seabrook, Hjalmarsson, Johnny Oduya and Nick Leddy). You can argue, the Hawks really have 5 "top four" defensemen. and that's better than most clubs, maybe all of them. But it also underscores the importance of blue line depth at this time of year.
Looking forward to the playoffs, assuming Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane come back at or near perfect health, the Hawks are well-situated to make a long run in the playoffs.
In fact, their toughest test in the West might just lie in the first round against the team many had picked to go to the Finals: the St. Louis Blues.
But the Blues are severely banged up and although the Hawks lost their last two games with a sort of patchwork lineup (after winning 4 straight), the Blues have been dreadful of late.The following are some of the obvious positives for the Hawks going into the playoffs.
1) No substitute for experience
They’re the only team since the institution of the salary cap to win more than one Stanley Cup. And they went to one Conference Final the year before their first Cup. Numerous players on the roster, including guys wearing the C and A’s have won multiple Olympic Gold Medals and/or World Junior Championships.
2) Yet, youth is served
Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp and Duncan Keith are all 30 or older, but the remainder of the top 6 forwards, top 4 defense and starting goalie are all under 30.
3) The Numbers Don’t Lie
Chicago finished second in the league in goals per game, 12th in goals against, 5th in faceoff percentage, 9th on the power play and while 20th on the penalty kill might look suspect, they were 28th-30th for the first half of the season—obvious second half improvement. They won 4 of their last six games without their two best offensive players. For balance, they have 5 players with 20 goals or more, 2 with 30 or more.
4) They’re healthy. And they’re deep.
Toews and Kane are rumored to be ready to return and appear 100%. The rest of the roster is healthy. Few, if any, NHL teams can roll out a fourth line against an opposing team’s top line and shut them down. The Hawks also have 9 defensemen in the organization with extensive NHL experience, a huge plus in the war of attrition that is the NHL playoffs.
Yet this team was clearly not the same dominant club that won last year's Stanley Cup. Team defense, the penalty kill, and goaltending, questions all season, will be put to the test quite soon.
More to come,
JJ