Now halfway through the season, the Blackhawks are at 37 points and next-to-last place in the Central Division ahead of the Coyotes by 13 points. The Hawks trail the Stars and Jets by 5 and 4 points respectively. The Hawks are the 3rd worst team in the Western Conference and ranked 24th in the entire NHL.
The Hawks record so far in 41 games is 15-19-7. Under former head coach Jeremy Colliton, the Hawks were 1-9-2. At present under interim head coach Derek King, the Hawks have been 14-10-5 which is essentially a .500 team winning roughly half of the time after a miserable start to the season under Colliton.
An optimist may see the glass as half full with some decent building blocks in place like Alex DeBrincat, Brandon Hagel, and Seth Jones and with promising prospects on the cusp like Lukas Reichel, Ian Mitchell, and Jakub Galvas. Further down in the pipeline are exciting youngsters such as Wyatt Kaiser and Drew Commesso.
However, a pessimist or realist may see the glass as half empty with the gas tank gradually emptying out with not just effective veterans but also a cupboard that's barren of blue chip prospects save for less than a handful. Unless the system gets restocked with high-end talent, the glass could become bone dry in due time.
What doesn't help is management not clearly defining a direction and changing lanes over and over again over the last 6-7 years while Stan Bowman was the general manager. That half-baked -- or many would argue unbaked -- strategy has gotten the team nowhere if it's built for X one year then built for Y the next.
Furthermore, recent prospects have been in the NHL too soon as they were half-baked in more appropriate levels of play like the AHL or even lower like Canadian juniors and the NCAA. Henri Jokiharju, Adam Boqvist, and Kirby Dach immediately come to mind. Now the Hawks seem to have finally learned their lesson in this regard.
Another thing that has been half-baked are the lineup choices as well as the systems for offense and -- most especially -- for defense. As an example, players with 4th line water levels are playing top 6 and vice versa. And the difficult-to-implement systems that Colliton employed didn't leave with him as King has kept them.
No matter the coaches and strategies, the players are still the ones who need to play the games and their collective performances on the balance have felt like half-hearted half measures that can frustrate even the most casual fans. Sure, Colliton got booed during the end of his tenure but many of those jeers were for the players, too.
A half life in scientific terms is a rate of decay. Sometimes it seems like the Blackhawks organization has been in decay after its last Stanley Cup championship in 2015. There's been fits and starts to rejuvenate the franchise but nothing has been enough to move the needle to generate momentum toward relevancy and contention.
It's not too late to get this ship back on course and it starts from the top and ends with the players. Management needs to hire the right people for roles such as president of hockey operations, general manager, and head coach plus define a clear direction for the franchise. Then the players need to execute, plain and simple.
Of course, getting the right mix of players in the system and ultimately on the big club's roster is critical. A top-rated farm system with prospects who can thrive on the top lines and pairs would be ideal. So would veterans who can lead on and off the ice. Regardless of skill level, solid work ethic and strong compete level are paramount.
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Next Game @ Avalanche
The last time the Blackhawks faced the Avalanche, they not only lost in overtime but did so by way of a jaw-dropping individual effort by blueline savant Cale Makar to rack up the game winner. Another storyline to keep an eye on in tonight's game is a budding beef that Gabriel Landeskog seems to have with Dach.
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Roster Updates
According to a news report by NBC Sports Chicago, Kevin Lanikinen is reported to be out for approximately 3 weeks with his hand injury suffered in Saturday night's game against the Wild. Arvid Soderblom joins Cale Morris as the goalies backing up Marc-Andre Fleury. The Hawks have 6 games over the next 3 weeks.
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Prospect Updates
Russian winger and 2016 Blackhawks draft pick Artur Kayumov has made the Olympic team for Russia along with former Blackhawks center Artem Anisimov. The only other Chicago prospect to be representing his team in Beijing next month is 2020 draft pick and potential goalie of the future Commesso.
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