Sayonara Blackhawks

February 15, 2018

In what used to be an exciting time of the year, the Blackhawks have skated themselves into oblivion. They have looked bad, barely having a pulse. You can use the absence of goalie Corey Crawford as an excuse, however there is a myriad of other reasons why this season turned sour.

Last year after getting swept out the playoffs in the first round, General Manager Stan Bowman was pissed off. He vowed there would be changes. He fired an assistant coach and then hit the trade market.

Two time 30 goal scorer Artemi Panarin was traded for former Blackhawk Brandon Saad. No matter who has skated with Patrick Kane this year they haven’t been able to replace his scoring. Saad is not the same player he was in his when he left the Hawks. He has moved up and down in the line-up rotation once ending up on the fourth line.  The idea was he would make Jonathan Toews better. Well Toews hasn’t been good for three years. This was clearly evident by his disappearing act the last two times they made the playoffs. Teams don’t win many games with only two goals. The fact that Tommy Wingels is on the first line says it all.

The best defenseman on the team, Niklas Hjalmarsson, was traded for Connor Murphy. He is one of the many defenseman who has been a healthy scratch multiple times. Often when he plays he makes mistakes allowing opponents to score. As a whole, the defense has been terrible. The contract Bowman gave Seabrook makes him unmovable. Speed is a real problem, especially when he gets beat down the ice negating an icing infraction. It seems that logging too many minutes and age have caught up to Duncan Keith. He looks slower and continually gives up pucks in his own end. Trevor van Riemstyk is probably better than the majority of the defense but was left unprotected and drafted.

I’m afraid to see what Bowman is going to do. He must be really pissed at missing the playoffs. Bowman has made some good moves over the years. He has brought in rent-a-players that have helped the Hawks win Stanley Cups. However, it should be noted that the core group that won these cups was put together by Dale Tallon. Can Stan Bowman trade or fire himself?

Quick Hits – Great Super Bowl. I thought the Eagles had a chance. The key play, 4^th down option at the one yard line, was eerily similar to a Bears 2 point conversion. Given that chance in the Super Bowl, John Fox would have gone for the field goal. Baseball anyone?