Pittsburgh has done well in the lower rounds of the draft though and they have a very productive AHL team. Who is the last decent, NHL caliber player called up from Rockford? Dach and Boqvist don't count as they were able to escape the Hawks' AHL "development." Rutherford also understands how the salary cap works and doesn't routinely overpay for bottom six forwards and third D pair types. He's made some bad moves/signings but isn't afraid to move on from them.
- Davewn

Pittsburgh has a far better GM than the Blackhawks. Is that even a question?

Pittsburgh has a far better GM than the Blackhawks. Is that even a question?
- frafra

That can be said for 30 teams.

At last year's stats those original numbers were close but not now.
- rpeters01

Strome's numbers last year were padded by a better functioning PP and Kane. Minus those factors this year, he is back to the Coyote's version of himself. And this is good timing for us before we got stuck with yet another untradeable contract.

Pittsburgh has a far better GM than the Blackhawks. Is that even a question?
- frafra

This is comical in that it reflects the Hawks situation with Tallon and Bowman. Who drafted Crosby and Malkin (not Rutherford). Without them how great of a hockey team are the Penguins. Like the Hawks (Toews and Kane), the Penguins success hinges on those two players. I believe credit is due to both Tallon and Bowman, just like credit is due to Rutherford and his predecessors. I am ok with Bowman. I think Rutherford is good too.

Strome's numbers last year were padded by a better functioning PP and Kane. Minus those factors this year, he is back to the Coyote's version of himself. And this is good timing for us before we got stuck with yet another untradeable contract.
- 67hawks

His dependence on playing with a scoring DBC in order to put up his own numbers is showing.

I hope so.....then NO REASON NOT to FIRE Bowman and Colliton. They have both FAILED and it's a disgrace. Who's more to blame isn't important. Launch them both after 4 consecutive years of let downs. Any GREAT businessman should always have a succession plan. Let's see what's in Rocky's future for his great organization !!
- Hawkytalk

Very level-headed.....

Exactly! I'll be honest, aside from the horrid Seabrook contract, I have no idea if what Bowman has done in the last 3 or 4 years is good or bad. That will take a few years to assess. And the success of the team is the main reason for the problems the team now experiences. I was a proponent after 2016 of the team trying to move the core and rebuilding. It's too late now to get anything of value for anyone but Kane and at his age even he won't bring back much return. The team pretty much has to ride out the contracts of Seabrook, Kane, Toews and Keith and in the meantime work on drafting well and developing their prospects. Like you I don't expect this team to be more than a middle of the road club until the core is gone.
- paulr

You're just blind to the obvious, Pallie.

Very level-headed.....
- mohel

Or every great businessmen knows that some businesses are cyclical even with the best management. That is not to say he is not always assessing his management team. It just means he looks at basis of decisions when they were made as well as the results of the decisions and considers the possible consequences of manager changes.

The Hawks played great last night and lost. This doesn’t come near balancing the early season points the Hawks stole behind our own tending. The Hawks are who we thought they were a team not making the playoffs. The inevitable was just on delay.

Now the “goalie wins” and “the calls” are starting to even out and the witching hour on the season is here.

The Hawks defense not good enough, depth scoring not good enough, bad regression from Strome and Cat leaves us here.

There are positives: Kane is Kane, Toews has had another strong year, excellent goalies, not to mention the rise of Kubilik, who looks to have serious upside. Kids like Boqvist and Dach continue to impress.

There are good signs but not enough. I just hope when the depth is replenished and the youngsters are legit players, Kane and Toews are not winding down.

The Hawks simply have not been good enough organizationally to remain relevant like the Penguins, who have used a similar model as the Hawks, protect the core, build around and try to stay relevant. The Pens have just done a better job in scouting, drafting, trades, cap management and development. The Pens / Hawks juxtaposition illuminates Bowmans failure as GM. While he has done good things he has been a mediocre at best GM while the Penguins are legitimately looking at a serious Cup run. Bowman is soon to be the architect of a 3-peat of playoff misses. Coaches and players do not get immunity, nor should he.
- kwolf68

The coach is a moron who is implementing a stupid system that makes their flaws 10x worse.

They had a defender above the the dots or chasing to the boards instead of defending the slot on the first two goals. Been happening all year. Happened all of last year.

Carpenter and Smith on the power play is a joke and the actions of a fool.

You're just blind to the obvious, Pallie.
- mohel

Reality is perception Francis

His dependence on playing with a scoring DBC in order to put up his own numbers is showing.
- pdx2ord

those two were joined at the hip last year in scoring...that magic is gone...

the stanbow firing brigade is again in full attendance.

not happening and if it does JC goes with him...they are hooked together...

Could the difference between last year's PP and this year's be the much maligned Anisimov? A large bodied player effective near the blue paint area is lacking on our PP. Think JC was thinking that Anisimov's replacement (Smith) could replicate this?

cheer up...Dylan Sikura extends point streak to 8 games, Rockford IceHogs top Manitoba Moose 2-1

https://www.secondcityhoc...s-highlights-dylan-sikura

Strome's numbers last year were padded by a better functioning PP and Kane. Minus those factors this year, he is back to the Coyote's version of himself. And this is good timing for us before we got stuck with yet another untradeable contract.
- 67hawks

Strome has been hurt allot this season. Add to that he hasn't always been paired with ADB. ADB had a great second season. This year not so much, offensively but compare his defensive game to last year. There is an improvement, now no one is going to mistake him for Bob Gainey, but allot of the time you see him in better defensive position this season, he is more involved in puck battles, he’s even more physical. I look at next year to see if he can rebound from a belated sophomore jinx season, from his work away from the puck, his lack of regular line mates and remember last year on the powerplay Gus was also much better moving the puck around.

Let’s give ADB next season to see if he can turn tings around, then we can trade him.

cheer up...Dylan Sikura extends point streak to 8 games, Rockford IceHogs top Manitoba Moose 2-1

https://www.secondcityhoc...s-highlights-dylan-sikura
- bogiedoc

Upping his trade value.

His dependence on playing with a scoring DBC in order to put up his own numbers is showing.
- pdx2ord

Every good player relies on his line mates to help him produce - especially players who are supposed to produce like top-6 skaters / like Strome (even if nominally on a third line).

If he’s on a line with, say, Dach (who hasn’t learned yet how to score) and AdB (who has apparently forgotten how to score) and Kampf (who will never learn how to score), Strome will not appear to be productive.

Exactly! I'll be honest, aside from the horrid Seabrook contract, I have no idea if what Bowman has done in the last 3 or 4 years is good or bad. That will take a few years to assess. And the success of the team is the main reason for the problems the team now experiences. I was a proponent after 2016 of the team trying to move the core and rebuilding. It's too late now to get anything of value for anyone but Kane and at his age even he won't bring back much return. The team pretty much has to ride out the contracts of Seabrook, Kane, Toews and Keith and in the meantime work on drafting well and developing their prospects. Like you I don't expect this team to be more than a middle of the road club until the core is gone.
- paulr

I'll give Bowman some credit, he's had 3 drafts in a row now where it LOOKS like we're going to have some really solid players. The problem is that it's too little too late.

Bowman showed that he was good at MAINTAINING a great hockey team that had 5 HOF players on it. He has never had to rebuild a bad hockey team before. This is uncharted waters for him. We now have to judge Bowman by what he's done to address the dimise of the dynasty over the past 3 years.

2017 - 2018 | 33-39-10 (76 points, 7th in division)
First season after the first round playoff sweep.

2018 - 2019 | 36-34-12 (84 points, 6th in division)
Q takes the fall and Colliton takes over (I think a new voice was needed but bringing in a rookie coach whose never coached at the professional level in NA... Whose the same age as some of the guys on the team who have 3 cups to their name... That's just idiocy to think they would listen to and respect a guy like that after having one of the greatest coaches in hockey history)

2019 - 2020 | YTD 25-24-8 (58 points, 7th in division) | on pace for 80 points

SO...

The reason Bowman cannot stay is simple. There is no progress being made here. They're attempting this "retool on the fly" strategy that the Pens are doing. The difference between the Hawks and Pens? A GM whose good at evaluating talent, and more importantly willing to admit mistakes and address them quickly if he was wrong. Jim Rutherford gives players about 40 - 82 games to show if they click with the team in place and the system they're running. If they're not, he deals them and tries again. He doesn't wait 2 or 3 years to see what he has.

Bowman on the other hand is stubborn. There's countless examples but look no further than Nylander and Kampf. Nylander doesn't belong on an NHL roster right now but he has to save face from dealing a young up and coming Dman who we need much more than Nylander. Kampf is a bonafide AHLer whose being protected much like they did with Kruger. Where is he now?

Along with the awful system Colliton runs where Defenseman poop their pads all over the ice, the Hawks don't have any forward depth.

Let's look at that:

1st line capable talent
Debrincat
Kane
Toews

Hopefully Debrincat is just having an off year...

Kane is Kane.

1st/2nd flex
Toews

If Toews didn't have the year he had last year, he'd be a pretty firm 2nd line center based upon points for the last 5-6 years. I know everything he does for the team, but 10.5 million dollar players are paid to be superstar offensive talents, not well rounded overall players.

2nd line talent
Saad
Strome

I'm not completely sold on Strome yet, he seems to be a complimentary player incapable of driving the play or taking over a shift himself, which you'd like to see from a young 2nd line center who was drafted 3rd overall and in his 3rd pro year. But he's still young so let's give him the benefit of the doubt for this.

Saad is dominant when he wants to be, the problem is he isn't consistent and when he's not that dominant player he falls to a third line talent level.

3rd line talent
Shaw
Kubalik
Kirby Dach

Dach has his flashes and he's going to be a great NHL player. But he needs time to grow his game. Once that happens I think he'll likely be a 1 or 2 center someday. However for this example taking a look at this season and the last couple, he's on pace for 27 points which puts him at low end 3rd line production.

Kubalik has a hell of a shot and on a bad team (like this one) he's probably a 2nd line player. But he doesn't have the playmaking ability required for a top 6 role on a cup contending team. On a good team I think he probably slots down to the third line talent who plays on the PP. He's on pace for 49 points but his shooting percentage is at 16.7 percent which is really high, expect that to drop off.

Shaw is Shaw.

Annnnd finally...

4th line talent
Drake Caggiula
Ryan Carpenter
David Kampf
Zack Smith
Alex Nylander
Some combination of Matthew Highmore/Dylan Sikura/John Quenville/Brandon Hagel

Two whole lines worth of 4th liners who play consistently for this team.

Caggiula gets moved all around the lineup
Carpenter got like 4 mins of PP time recently
Kampf is an AHLer
Zack Smith is an energy guy
Alex Nylander is... bad
All of those AHLs aren't ready and even when they are none of them are more than 3rd or 4th line fillers.

This is why the Hawks are 13-28 when Kane doesn't have a multi point night. And 1-12 when he doesn't record a single point.

This team is poorly coached and badly rostered. Chalk full of 4th liners and players that don't belong in the NHL. Both of those fall on Bowman.

The only reason this team isn't even worse, is because Colliton changed his defensive system. Had he not done that, Bowman and Colliton would have been fired. But since he did, the Hawks started playing better. That's why Bowman is still here right now. That change gave Rocky and McD hope this team could turn it around.

But now here we are, too close to the trade deadline to fire him and bring in someone else. I suspect they will either fire him once they're ruled out of the playoffs for the 3rd straight year, or wait until the season is over.

If there was progress being made I'd say maybe he stays, but this is the third year of a 6th or 7th place team with no top tier up and coming forward prospects other than Dach because Bowman swung and missed on Nylander.

As much as people yell about the defense, the offense is as bad or worse, it's just being masked by Kane and the insane goaltending they've gotten. The Western Conference is loaded with bubble teams and the Hawks still are in 7th place.

Bowman's plan was to rebuild on the fly so that the Hawks would remain competitive and relevant and make Rocky some playoff money. How do you think Rocky is going to feel seeing that the team is status quo for the third straight year after Bowman told him "this team is good enough" the last two years?

Are you willing to bet that after yet another embarrassing season, that Rocky is fine with the status and progress of this team?

I'm not. Money talks. And Bowman is losing Rocky lots and lots of money.

Echoes of Dandy Don Merideth are ringing in the air.

It's heretical to say but here's hoping they lose the next 2 games so Stan has a clear mandate to look beyond this season and do something accordingly.

To paraphrase some timeless wisdom - be either hot or cold but not lukewarm. Go all-in or all-out and it's now time to go all-out on this season so you can go all-in on next season.

Listening to Jim Rutherford on Sports Net today

No comparison between Stans’ experiences & Jim’s
Night & day

Didn't read all the comments before this but wow our PP is killing us.

Giving up the shortie in Winnipeg turned the game around and not being able to score with the extra man in Edmonton and last night lost us those games.

That said, it's given you are going to lose a few like last night in Vancouver where we played at a level higher than the opponent (I missed the first 10 minutes but a lot of those 49 shots I saw were no traffic/no rebound opportunities and not grade A chances). At this juncture in the race, that'll kill you.

Folks this is a pretty bad situation not likely going to make the playoffs and being in the lower middle of the pack. Best case is trades will cause us to tank rather than win 2-3 and then lose 2-3 and over again until the end of the season.

The coach is a moron who is implementing a stupid system that makes their flaws 10x worse.

They had a defender above the the dots or chasing to the boards instead of defending the slot on the first two goals. Been happening all year. Happened all of last year.

Carpenter and Smith on the power play is a joke and the actions of a fool.
- fattybeef

Fatty, you know that Barry Trotz disagrees with you on the importance of "The System"? He's pretty accomplished on defensive hockey at the NHL level.

I'll give Bowman some credit, he's had 3 drafts in a row now where it LOOKS like we're going to have some really solid players. The problem is that it's too little too late.

Bowman showed that he was good at MAINTAINING a great hockey team that had 5 HOF players on it. He has never had to rebuild a bad hockey team before. This is uncharted waters for him. We now have to judge Bowman by what he's done to address the dimise of the dynasty over the past 3 years.

2017 - 2018 | 33-39-10 (76 points, 7th in division)
First season after the first round playoff sweep.

2018 - 2019 | 36-34-12 (84 points, 6th in division)
Q takes the fall and Colliton takes over (I think a new voice was needed but bringing in a rookie coach whose never coached at the professional level in NA... Whose the same age as some of the guys on the team who have 3 cups to their name... That's just idiocy to think they would listen to and respect a guy like that after having one of the greatest coaches in hockey history)

2019 - 2020 | YTD 25-24-8 (58 points, 7th in division) | on pace for 80 points

SO...

The reason Bowman cannot stay is simple. There is no progress being made here. They're attempting this "retool on the fly" strategy that the Pens are doing. The difference between the Hawks and Pens? A GM whose good at evaluating talent, and more importantly willing to admit mistakes and address them quickly if he was wrong. Jim Rutherford gives players about 40 - 82 games to show if they click with the team in place and the system they're running. If they're not, he deals them and tries again. He doesn't wait 2 or 3 years to see what he has.

Bowman on the other hand is stubborn. There's countless examples but look no further than Nylander and Kampf. Nylander doesn't belong on an NHL roster right now but he has to save face from dealing a young up and coming Dman who we need much more than Nylander. Kampf is a bonafide AHLer whose being protected much like they did with Kruger. Where is he now?

Along with the awful system Colliton runs where Defenseman poop their pads all over the ice, the Hawks don't have any forward depth.

Let's look at that:

1st line capable talent
Debrincat
Kane
Toews

Hopefully Debrincat is just having an off year...

Kane is Kane.

1st/2nd flex
Toews

If Toews didn't have the year he had last year, he'd be a pretty firm 2nd line center based upon points for the last 5-6 years. I know everything he does for the team, but 10.5 million dollar players are paid to be superstar offensive talents, not well rounded overall players.

2nd line talent
Saad
Strome

I'm not completely sold on Strome yet, he seems to be a complimentary player incapable of driving the play or taking over a shift himself, which you'd like to see from a young 2nd line center who was drafted 3rd overall and in his 3rd pro year. But he's still young so let's give him the benefit of the doubt for this.

Saad is dominant when he wants to be, the problem is he isn't consistent and when he's not that dominant player he falls to a third line talent level.

3rd line talent
Shaw
Kubalik
Kirby Dach

Dach has his flashes and he's going to be a great NHL player. But he needs time to grow his game. Once that happens I think he'll likely be a 1 or 2 center someday. However for this example taking a look at this season and the last couple, he's on pace for 27 points which puts him at low end 3rd line production.

Kubalik has a hell of a shot and on a bad team (like this one) he's probably a 2nd line player. But he doesn't have the playmaking ability required for a top 6 role on a cup contending team. On a good team I think he probably slots down to the third line talent who plays on the PP. He's on pace for 49 points but his shooting percentage is at 16.7 percent which is really high, expect that to drop off.

Shaw is Shaw.

Annnnd finally...

4th line talent
Drake Caggiula
Ryan Carpenter
David Kampf
Zack Smith
Alex Nylander
Some combination of Matthew Highmore/Dylan Sikura/John Quenville/Brandon Hagel

Two whole lines worth of 4th liners who play consistently for this team.

Caggiula gets moved all around the lineup
Carpenter got like 4 mins of PP time recently
Kampf is an AHLer
Zack Smith is an energy guy
Alex Nylander is... bad
All of those AHLs aren't ready and even when they are none of them are more than 3rd or 4th line fillers.

This is why the Hawks are 13-28 when Kane doesn't have a multi point night. And 1-12 when he doesn't record a single point.

This team is poorly coached and badly rostered. Chalk full of 4th liners and players that don't belong in the NHL. Both of those fall on Bowman.

The only reason this team isn't even worse, is because Colliton changed his defensive system. Had he not done that, Bowman and Colliton would have been fired. But since he did, the Hawks started playing better. That's why Bowman is still here right now. That change gave Rocky and McD hope this team could turn it around.

But now here we are, too close to the trade deadline to fire him and bring in someone else. I suspect they will either fire him once they're ruled out of the playoffs for the 3rd straight year, or wait until the season is over.

If there was progress being made I'd say maybe he stays, but this is the third year of a 6th or 7th place team with no top tier up and coming forward prospects other than Dach because Bowman swung and missed on Nylander.

As much as people yell about the defense, the offense is as bad or worse, it's just being masked by Kane and the insane goaltending they've gotten. The Western Conference is loaded with bubble teams and the Hawks still are in 7th place.

Bowman's plan was to rebuild on the fly so that the Hawks would remain competitive and relevant and make Rocky some playoff money. How do you think Rocky is going to feel seeing that the team is status quo for the third straight year after Bowman told him "this team is good enough" the last two years?

Are you willing to bet that after yet another embarrassing season, that Rocky is fine with the status and progress of this team?

I'm not. Money talks. And Bowman is losing Rocky lots and lots of money.
- Toew Drags 4 Daze

Lol. Last 3 drafts are good! Fire the bastage!

Smith is injured. Nothing can ruin this day

I'll give Bowman some credit, he's had 3 drafts in a row now where it LOOKS like we're going to have some really solid players. The problem is that it's too little too late.

Bowman showed that he was good at MAINTAINING a great hockey team that had 5 HOF players on it. He has never had to rebuild a bad hockey team before. This is uncharted waters for him. We now have to judge Bowman by what he's done to address the dimise of the dynasty over the past 3 years.

2017 - 2018 | 33-39-10 (76 points, 7th in division)
First season after the first round playoff sweep.

2018 - 2019 | 36-34-12 (84 points, 6th in division)
Q takes the fall and Colliton takes over (I think a new voice was needed but bringing in a rookie coach whose never coached at the professional level in NA... Whose the same age as some of the guys on the team who have 3 cups to their name... That's just idiocy to think they would listen to and respect a guy like that after having one of the greatest coaches in hockey history)

2019 - 2020 | YTD 25-24-8 (58 points, 7th in division) | on pace for 80 points

SO...

The reason Bowman cannot stay is simple. There is no progress being made here. They're attempting this "retool on the fly" strategy that the Pens are doing. The difference between the Hawks and Pens? A GM whose good at evaluating talent, and more importantly willing to admit mistakes and address them quickly if he was wrong. Jim Rutherford gives players about 40 - 82 games to show if they click with the team in place and the system they're running. If they're not, he deals them and tries again. He doesn't wait 2 or 3 years to see what he has.

Bowman on the other hand is stubborn. There's countless examples but look no further than Nylander and Kampf. Nylander doesn't belong on an NHL roster right now but he has to save face from dealing a young up and coming Dman who we need much more than Nylander. Kampf is a bonafide AHLer whose being protected much like they did with Kruger. Where is he now?

Along with the awful system Colliton runs where Defenseman poop their pads all over the ice, the Hawks don't have any forward depth.

Let's look at that:

1st line capable talent
Debrincat
Kane
Toews

Hopefully Debrincat is just having an off year...

Kane is Kane.

1st/2nd flex
Toews

If Toews didn't have the year he had last year, he'd be a pretty firm 2nd line center based upon points for the last 5-6 years. I know everything he does for the team, but 10.5 million dollar players are paid to be superstar offensive talents, not well rounded overall players.

2nd line talent
Saad
Strome

I'm not completely sold on Strome yet, he seems to be a complimentary player incapable of driving the play or taking over a shift himself, which you'd like to see from a young 2nd line center who was drafted 3rd overall and in his 3rd pro year. But he's still young so let's give him the benefit of the doubt for this.

Saad is dominant when he wants to be, the problem is he isn't consistent and when he's not that dominant player he falls to a third line talent level.

3rd line talent
Shaw
Kubalik
Kirby Dach

Dach has his flashes and he's going to be a great NHL player. But he needs time to grow his game. Once that happens I think he'll likely be a 1 or 2 center someday. However for this example taking a look at this season and the last couple, he's on pace for 27 points which puts him at low end 3rd line production.

Kubalik has a hell of a shot and on a bad team (like this one) he's probably a 2nd line player. But he doesn't have the playmaking ability required for a top 6 role on a cup contending team. On a good team I think he probably slots down to the third line talent who plays on the PP. He's on pace for 49 points but his shooting percentage is at 16.7 percent which is really high, expect that to drop off.

Shaw is Shaw.

Annnnd finally...

4th line talent
Drake Caggiula
Ryan Carpenter
David Kampf
Zack Smith
Alex Nylander
Some combination of Matthew Highmore/Dylan Sikura/John Quenville/Brandon Hagel

Two whole lines worth of 4th liners who play consistently for this team.

Caggiula gets moved all around the lineup
Carpenter got like 4 mins of PP time recently
Kampf is an AHLer
Zack Smith is an energy guy
Alex Nylander is... bad
All of those AHLs aren't ready and even when they are none of them are more than 3rd or 4th line fillers.

This is why the Hawks are 13-28 when Kane doesn't have a multi point night. And 1-12 when he doesn't record a single point.

This team is poorly coached and badly rostered. Chalk full of 4th liners and players that don't belong in the NHL. Both of those fall on Bowman.

The only reason this team isn't even worse, is because Colliton changed his defensive system. Had he not done that, Bowman and Colliton would have been fired. But since he did, the Hawks started playing better. That's why Bowman is still here right now. That change gave Rocky and McD hope this team could turn it around.

But now here we are, too close to the trade deadline to fire him and bring in someone else. I suspect they will either fire him once they're ruled out of the playoffs for the 3rd straight year, or wait until the season is over.

If there was progress being made I'd say maybe he stays, but this is the third year of a 6th or 7th place team with no top tier up and coming forward prospects other than Dach because Bowman swung and missed on Nylander.

As much as people yell about the defense, the offense is as bad or worse, it's just being masked by Kane and the insane goaltending they've gotten. The Western Conference is loaded with bubble teams and the Hawks still are in 7th place.

Bowman's plan was to rebuild on the fly so that the Hawks would remain competitive and relevant and make Rocky some playoff money. How do you think Rocky is going to feel seeing that the team is status quo for the third straight year after Bowman told him "this team is good enough" the last two years?

Are you willing to bet that after yet another embarrassing season, that Rocky is fine with the status and progress of this team?

I'm not. Money talks. And Bowman is losing Rocky lots and lots of money.
- Toew Drags 4 Daze

FANTASTIC POST !! Please don't be a stranger. You're insight is spot on and appreciated.