We are now 10 games into the season and the Blackhawks have a disappointing 3-7-0 record. With Connor Bedard in the lineup, they are 2-2-0. With how high expectations were coming into the season, fans are losing patience.
Lets’ get all the excuses out of the way – Between Bowen Byram’s upper-body injury, Connor Bedard’s start-of-season absence, and Frank Nazar’s suspension, the Blackhawks have yet to hit the ice at full strength. You can also point to the inexperience of the young core, but at a certain point these excuses are just excuses.
Every team faces injuries, every team has young players in the lineup, yet, in the majority of games so far, they’ve look like a disorganized, unenthusiastic mess.
This is year five of Kyle Davidson’s rebuild, and the Hawks are once again on pace to finish at the bottom of the league. While other teams that started rebuilding around that time like San Joe and Anaheim are making steady improvements, the Blackhawks keep running into the same challenges.
This was the year the Blackhawks were supposed to make the jump. Last night, eight of Davidson’s draft picks are in the lineup, including three in the top six. 13 of the players on the ice were drafted by the Blackhawks, either by Davidson or his predecessors.
So what is the issue? After all, the Blackhawks have a young superstar center, an elite young goaltender, and a 20-year-old, second overall pick who has been their best defenseman, and a 19-year-old center who leads the team in points. The staples of a successful team.
You can’t win if you don’t score
The Blackhawks have so much skill, as evident by Connor Bedard, Anton Frondell, Patrick Kane, and Roman Kantserov. On paper, the supporting cast should be effective with guys like Tyler Bertuzzi, Frank Nazar, and Teuvo Teravainen. But it just doesn’t translate to offense.
The Blackhawks have scored only 22 goals in 10 games (5th last in NHL), and they have allowed 40 (2nd last in NHL). This is a recipe for a 3-7-0 record.
The most noticeable issue to is the lack of size. The Blackhawks top six has an average height of 5″11′. When you play a dump and chase, hard forechecking, puck retrieval style of hockey, it’s hard to be effective. As an example; the F1 (forward 1 – first man in) on the first line is Roman Kantserov. Kantserov is 5″9′, he doesn’t necessarily play like it, but he is still a lot smaller than every guy he is battling for pucks with.
Following Kantserov is Bedard and Kane, two guys who aren’t known for their forechecking. Last night against Montreal, the Blackhawks top line was attacking off the rush, and it was a very effective change. So why don’t they do it more often?
Can’t get the puck out
They don’t attack off the rush because of another major issue. Their inability to cleanly break the puck out of their own end. Failing to breakout clean leads to slow up-ice movement and broken plays in the neutral zone, making it nearly impossible to attack off the rush with speed. This forces the Blackhawks to dump the puck in almost every time they attack.
This also leads to the Blackhawks getting hemmed in their own end for extended periods of time. With a young d-core, and a forward core build on speed and skill, it’s no wonder the Blackhawks allow four goals a game on average. Spencer Knight can only do so much.
Time for a coaching change?
Listen, I really liked what Jeff Blashill did last season. Outside of the Andre Burakovsky drama, and maybe his handling of Nick Lardis, I thought he was a great fit for a developing young team with playoff aspirations.
This season has been a different story. Granted, Blashill has not had an easy job, a young team filled with injuries, inconsistencies, and a shortened camp.
My main gripe with Blashill this season isn’t that the team is below .500, it’s the fact that his team comes out flat almost every night. Even if they start the game on time, by the time the third period rolls around, they already look completely checked out. Last night was a prime example. They play a solid first period, then collapse in the second and third.
The young core simply cannot execute Blashill’s system for longer than 20 minutes. Is the system a bad fit, or are the Hawks just taking a really long time to master it?
No matter what it is, it’s Blashill’s job to fix it.
I still believe in the players on this team, but the lack of fight and effort is extremely concerning. Connor Bedard is the only player who looks like he cares. That’s is a major issue that needs to be addressed yesterday. If Blashill can’t get this team emotionally invested, then it’s time for a change behind the bench.