Yesterday, Joel Quenneville (or as I call him, Coach Wizzo) dumped some rancid muck out from his blender that were supposed to resemble productive NHL lines. As will happen when the Bears and Bulls stink and the baseball season is over, the internet was set ablaze with this Blackhawks news. Before we go any further, here are the aforementioned “lines” that were rolled out in yesterday’s practice:
Ryan Hartman – Jonathan Toews – John Hayden
Brandon Saad – Artem Anisimov – Patrick Kane
Lance Bouma – Nick Schmaltz – Alex DeBrincat
Patrick Sharp – Tommy Wingels – Richard Panik
The first thing that we should all be reminded of is that Joel Quenneville rarely sticks with crazy line combinations unless they are absurdly successful. So there is little chance these lines stick longer than 40 minutes. For conversation sake, lets say they stick for a full game.
At a glance, this looks like there might be one line that would be of concern to the Washington Capitals, tonight. Saad/Anisimov/Kane is a legitimately dangerous line. After that, Coach Wizzo just arranged some bits and scraps and tried to make them resemble a productive line-up.
I am heavily stressing the word “tried“, here.
Jonathan Toews has been struggling to score, despite his line’s pretty consistently good possession numbers. He has 3 goals in the last month, but were they in important tight games? Definitely not.
So Jonathan Toews might get trotted out with two bottom six forwards. Ryan Hartman has had four assists centering #ElGato, but he is not finding the back of the net either. In fact, he hasn’t had a goal since October 28th. John Hayden has been “fine” playing on the 4th line but he had two goals and three points in the last month. I am fairly certain these moves are not the solution to the Captain’s goal scoring dry spell.
The makeshift third line is interesting, to say the least. We all know what hoopla has been going on with Alex Debrincat. He is one of the hottest players on the roster and he is getting very favorable, sheltered match-ups stapled to the third line. Quenneville has been asked if this is the case and he not denied this assumption. That is the only logical reasoning behind keeping him where he is, given this team’s huge problems.
Nick Schmaltz is coming off a long stretch of playing left wing and is getting thrown back out on the pivot. Hartman and Schmaltz are both in the basement as far as team face-off percentage, 41.8% to 40.1% respectively, so I suppose this is somewhat of a wash. #ElGato will certainly get more forced passes, because Schmaltz has shown to pass up shooting opportunities in favor of a feed to a team-mate, many times to his detriment.
Lance Bouma is, well, Lance Bouma. He is a good fourth line player with some decent hands, and he will pound some rebounds in the net. It looks like maybe Quenneville is putting Bouma out there to keep an eye out for opponents trying to take off Debrincat’s head.
The fourth line is a hot mess. Patrick Sharp cannot score a meaningful goal, and his mobility has only been decent. Richard Panik has become one of the coldest players on the team. As a result, I hereby bequeath this line the “Siberian Line” both for the overall temperature and it’s current state as the location where players are exiled.
I stated this yesterday but this still begs to ask the question, How long until just blending up the same players is not enough?
The Blackhawks are right at the 1/3 mark of the season and only the defensive corps is improving. To put this quite bluntly, some personnel needs to change if Joel Quenneville expects different results. I am also not sold on Vince Hinostroza, or Matthew Highmore, as the final solution to the Blackhawks problems. That said, giving it a try certainly can not hurt. This team needs a spark, and a move like bringing one of those players up could be a wave of momentum to kick some of the stale line-up into action.
Or do nothing and try to sell the illusion that you are interested in kick starting this team by continually flip-flopping the lines for a period or two.
What else can they do? By Christmas, the Blackhawks will have played 35 games which is 42% of their regular season. Stan Bowman is on the clock. Bottom line. He cannot wait until the trade deadline to bring in some help or, god forbid, wait for Dylan Sikura to arrive and save the franchise. Waiting that long will, most likely, be too late. Bowman needs to fire up that iPhone and make something happen.
The Blackhawks’ current pace of 87 points MIGHT get them in the playoffs. In the past 3 seasons, one 87 point team has made it into the playoffs and they were just barely the last wildcard team. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I would not place any bets on that result carrying itself out. Their best player is nursing an injury that may or may not affect him for the remainder of the season, and this team has not shown that they can carry their own weight without him.
Be concerned. Be very concerned.
This team, as it stands, is potentially just one significant injury away from finishing last in their division and missing the playoffs. The time is now to make something happen or seal their fate.