After yet another disappointing and uninspired Blackhawks game, Thursday night, I sat down and asked myself if the Blackhawks are really as bad as we FEEL like they are. It is very easy to fall into that hole of doom and despair when fans are living day-to-day in a Hawks vacuum.
Quite honestly, I hadn’t even thought about how the Blackhawks lined up against the rest of the league in the standings and it was really a mistake to even look. As I mention in Thursday night’s game recap the Blackhawks sit at 24th in the league and they sit in 6th in the Central Division.
The Blackhawks are four spots and four points out of the wildcard. Of course, most of these facts are somewhat irreverent at this point in the season, because there is still 80% of the season remaining.
Now, people love to throw out the cliche, “the regular season doesn’t matter, anyway” at you. Which is true to a degree. The regular season doesn’t matter if you’re in the top 16 teams, which the Blackhawks are not.
As the Blackhawks sit in North Carolina waiting to play the Hurricanes, tonight, they are on pace for an 80 point season. No 80 point team in this salary cap era has made the playoffs. I think you see what I’m eluding to, here.
Could they be even worse than what their position in the standings tell us, you might ask?
MOST DEFINITELY!
Just last weekend, the Hawks went 2-1 which looks decent on the outside but, if you break down the games, they could have very easily been 0-3. Corey Crawford absolutely stood on his head in those games, posting two shutouts in a row and then giving up only two goals in the third game. Two of the five goals the Hawks scored in those three games were empty net goals. Throwing those goals out, the Blackhawks were only plus one in goal differential. Had Corey Crawford just been just his normal self in those three games the Blackhawks very easily lose all three. They did not play their best, just good enough to win.
It is not hard to imagine them going through an extended winless streak, in the near future, either. The only teams they should really be able to mop up, for the remainder of the month of November are the Panthers and injury ravaged Ducks. Let’s be honest with ourselves, though, those games aren’t a sure thing either.
Especially, with the roster the way it stands.
The Blackhawks need to make some kind of changes to get this team trending in the right direction pretty soon, or they will fall into the black hole. To put things back into perspective a slightly, back to back first round exits followed by missing the playoffs is pretty close to what got the entire coaching staff and general manager fired in Los Angeles last summer. That was a two time Stanley Cup winning staff in LA, so feeling me that stupid “3 CUPZ” nonsense doesn’t fly.
What can they do, though?
Right off the bat, they need to stop blowing smoke up everyone’s behinds about players like Patrick Sharp, Alex Debrincat and Gustav Forsling. They are on absolutely opposite ends of the spectrum.
Sharp IS, in fact, the guy that is two years past his previous status as a borderline Blackhawks third line left-wing. He is also, STILL, coming off two major concussions and hip surgery. He is Brian Campbell, last year, minus the speed. It’s time he is phased out, not moved up the lineup so he can be the newest iteration of Michal Handzus being dragged up and down the ice. He won’t be here next year, and is not working this year. Dump and change.
Anyone who reads me knows that I err on the side of caution with young players, if that luxury is available. Debrincat doesn’t cost the Blackhawks, in-game, as much as Gustav Forsling does, but the kid is raw. He clearly doesn’t have a defined spot on this roster and, as JJ mentioned yesterday, the kid is on this team to score goals. If he’s not scoring meaningful goals, then why is he being dragged through this muddy mess? For his own good, swap him with someone in Rockford and let him just clown AHL guys for a month. He is one of the few guys that is waiver exempt and it’s bringing anything significant. I don’t doubt that he can eventually do things very similar to what Patrick Sharp did for this team. Just stop forcing it.
I like what Gustav Forsling can bring to this Blackhawks team. He’s a young promising player. Right now he is just one of eight defensemen on this team, and six of them are playing better. Send him down with Debrincat. You don’t even need to bring anyone up. Just let him breath a bit, and get his feet back underneath himself. Jordan Oesterle can be the 7th defender and can do that just as good as Forsling. If anyone thought putting Forsling on the ice with Brent Seabrook was a good idea, they need to have their head examined. That combination was doomed to fail.
What else should the Blackhawks try?
I suggest they stick with a reasonable set of lines for longer than 30 seconds. At the very least, keep Saad-Toews-Panik together. Settle on where you want Schmaltz and Anisimov. Decide who you want on Kane’s left side and stick to it. You cannot have chemistry when you’re playing 5 shifts with a guy.
Keep Cody Franson in the lineup. He is very aware of what he is but, if for nothing else, the power play. He’s the only Blackhawks defender consistently getting shots through to the net. That, alone, should have him playing every night.
These are just a few ideas rattling around in my big bald, empty head. After this weekend I’m sure I’ll have more. Hang in there fans, there is a long road ahead.