Blackhawk Blues

January 18, 2018

In the most recent past, the Chicago Bears have been really awful and the Bulls-bad. Chicago sports fans have always found winter solace in the Blackhawks. This year, not so much. The Hawks are just trying to make the playoffs. I know there are many games left, however the way they have been playing, it doesn’t look like good times are ahead. Although they have had two disappointing first round exits, the seasons had excitement and hope. This year there is just despair with little hope. They are in 11^th place 3 points out of a wild card spot.

It’s going to be extremely difficult if Corey Crawford doesn’t come back, which seems more likely with each passing day. He can be counted on to keep you in and win games. Without him the current goalies, Forsberg and Glass, are 5-4-1. They are not the only reason for this record but I believe with Crawford it would be better. Back in 2010 the goalie was Antti Niemi. He did an admiral job. What made him good was the Hawks puck possession and limiting shots on goal. It doesn’t look like they repeat that as puck possession has gone way down and they have problems keeping the puck in the opponents' end of the ice.

Another bad omen is the Hawks are terribly inconsistent. One night they beat first place Winnipeg and then in what was the lowlight of the year, losing 4-0 against a bad Detroit team. It’s always one step forward two steps back. If this continues and they don’t put together a winning streak, they will miss the playoffs. That winning streak scenario looks highly in doubt.

Another ailment is the Hawks run into scoring difficulties. Even the power play just sucks. They pass it around too much and usually end up with an errant Duncan Keith shot.  At one point I thought the offense was bad because they had to help out in their own zone.  Now I’m not so sure, but wouldn’t better fore checking and puck possession ease the defensive load and lead to less scoring opportunities for their opponents? The Toews and Saad combination isn’t clicking and they can’t find a third lineman. Only Kane keeps scoring while missing injured Anisimov. At this point Panarin or Saad?

With a plethora of defensemen Coach Q can’t seem to find the right pairings. What makes it difficult is there are a lot of young evenly talented players who tend to make mistakes. The biggest bugaboo is getting the puck out of their zone. Sometimes it’s an offensive player helping out or one of the young defensemen. What’s extremely maddening is Duncan Keith continues to lose the puck in his own zone.  As far as helping out the offense, the overpaid and slow Brent Seabrook has only 2 goals, Keith has zero. Not to get too down on Keith, he does have 22 assists and for the most part plays respectable defense.

So there you have it. When GM Bowman was pissed about getting bounced out in the first round of the playoffs he vowed changes. What will he do if they miss the playoffs?