Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Rock Bottom

December 10, 2018, 8:17 AM ET [777 Comments]
Tyler Cameron
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT


The downswing from Championship glory was inevitable. I would be lying to you if I thought it would be this soon though.

The Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2015 and now sit 31st in the NHL in 2018.

Hmmm… what went wrong?

Well, there’s a lot to unpack and we can save the complete breakdown for another day. What is evident though, is that what management thought/said to the public and the product on the ice isn’t meshing.

“This is a playoff team” they say. “We still have one goal and that is to win the Stanley Cup”. Well, even the casual fan would tell you that this is not going to be the Hawks year to do that.

Do you know how the Hawks can catapult back to contention? A player like Kaapo Kakko or Jack Hughes. Boy, a player of that calibre would sure help seeing that Jonathan Toews looks like he’s back, Patrick Kane is still elite, and Corey Crawford has shown the ability to still be a game changer.

I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again; the word “rebuild” isn’t as bad as it once was in the NHL. Sure, management can call it “retooling” or “tweaking” but they have to come out and admit that things aren’t right here. Then they can start making some significant moves.

Let’s just have some fun and say the Hawks continue to go down the path to rock bottom and they end up landing Jack Hughes. Would it be inconceivable to think they the Hawks could be contenders again in 2019-20? Let’s see:

Saad-Toews-Sikura
$$ Free Agent-Hughes-Kane
Kahun-Strome-DeBrincat
Perlini-Kampf-Hayden

Keith-Jokiharju
Forsling-Boqvist
Murphy-Seabrook

Crawford
Forsberg


… or something like that.

It's not a Stanley Cup contender, but should be one that gets into the playoffs. One would think anyway.

It’s great to look ahead though it’s impossible to predict what’s going to happen. However, if this season is long gone (which it’s already looking like it is) one can look forward to see what’s about to come for the Hawks.

Here are a few things to watch as this month ends:

1) Cap Space – the Hawks have cap space now and forever… errr… at least for next year. They currently have $5.1M in space and with the lineup above, they would be approximately be at $73M-74M. After performing that exercise and seeing that the Hawks could be up to 10M below the the estimated $83M salary cap for next year, Stan could get even more creative and add 2-3 actual impact players (no, not in the Ward/Manning/Kunitz level). A legit 2-way way defender and a game changing scorer up front would be top of my list with that kind of moola.

2) The beginning of the “sell-off” – Stan has already apparently put out a league wide email (as per Mark Lazarus, The Athletic) for any takers on Brandon Manning and Jan Rutta. This is just the beginning. I think you see others slowly start to move and as we enter 2019 names that might not have been on the block earlier will find themselves there. I’m hearing the Hawks management is finally admitting that this is not a playoff team and that means more changes.

3) Rockford IceHogs – the Hawks were trying to build a culture of winning from the Blackhawks all the way to even their ECHL affiliate, the Indy Fuel. Rockford is fluttering just like the Hawks are (not as bad) and I think you see more changes and additions there as the entire organizations is evaluated. I can see a head coach being brought in to move Derek King back to associate coach. I don’t think management is content with him in that position. Also, you will see players moved down from Chicago (maybe even Kunitz, Davidson, Rutta types) while others could be shipped out as a part of a larger package.

4) World Junior Hockey Championships – on a more exciting note the Hawks should have a healthy number of prospects in the WJHC. The Hawks PR will be promoting this as the next wave and as they should be. There will be some players we’ll all get a great look at on the world stage. I will actually in in British Columbia for some of the tournament.


I will have more as the week goes on.

I forget what winning feels like – let’s hope that changes on Tuesday in Winnipeg when the Hawks take on the Jets.

See ya out there!

JL
Join the Discussion: » 777 Comments » Post New Comment
More from Tyler Cameron
» Farewell
» My Favourite Blackhawks Team
» What's the future in net for the Blackhawks?
» What could the Blackhawks look like next year?
» Mailbag - Blackhawks Postmortem Edition