Blackhawks Obituary

April 21, 2017

The television show The Wild World of Sports used to have an early narrative that included the agony of defeat. The Blackhawks and their fans now know this feeling. The series was painful to watch. The Hawks had 109 points and 50 wins this season. Many people, including yours truly, thought they would easily get to the finals and play for the Stanley Cup. However, 1 week and poof, they were done.  What looked so promising became embarrassing. getting swept 4-0 by the 8^th seeded Nashville Predators. With the agony wearing off I tried to think of reasons for this stunning result:

The Over the Hill Gang - The Blackhawks looked old, slow and sloppy. Too many giveaways in their own zone, getting beaten to loose pucks and loosing every scrum. Where’s Andrew Shaw when you need him? Oduya and Campbell will be gone. Contracts will make it difficult to unload Seabrook, Hossa and Hjalmarsson     

Three goals in four games - A team with 6 twenty goal scorers and one with 19 didn’t seem to show up. They made bad plays at both ends of the ice, most notably Hossa’s giveaway in game 3 OT. Not that it mattered. There was no way the Hawks were going to win that game coughing up a two goal lead. Corey Crawford did his job and only Kane and Kruger did theirs. Toews played the worst series I’ve ever seen from him.       

Coach Q-He’s great at changing lines, mixing his defense pairings, and match ups against other team lines. However, as a coach couldn’t he look at tape to come up with a plan to combat what the Predators were doing to stymie the Hawks? The only strategy I saw was the dump and chase which never worked because the Predators were faster to the puck. This allowed them to set up their offense, relentlessly attacking, carrying the puck into the Hawks' end. The other change was playing Kane every other shift. He can’t do it alone. He just looked spent at the end of the game.

     What may be the biggest reason for the series defeat? By clinching home ice early, the Hawks lost all their momentum by resting and not caring how they played the last three games. It seems things have to keep moving for them to find their groove, like during the regular season. The inactivity may be a reason for the slow start. Meanwhile, at the end of the season the Predators were fighting for a position to get in the playoffs. These games had the intensity of post season play, giving them an edge. Until next season...