To quote the great Tom Petty in Free Fallin’, which could be the subtitle of the 2017-2018 Chicago Blackhawks season, I’m “gonna leave this world for awhile.” I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t watched nearly as many games this season as past, even as compared to last year. The team has been flat, uninteresting, and uninspired. It’s been that way since being swept out of the playoffs by their rivals the Nashville Predators, despite major shake up happening with some Core players.
The biggest two moves of that shake up were the swap of Brandon Saad and Artemi Panarin, and the swap of Niklas Hjalmarsson and Connor Murphy.
Saad was promised to bring back some of the two way grit that was missing from the injuried Hossa, and someone who could compliment Jonathan Toews on his left side. Saad was everything advertised and more in his first two games back in the Indian head sweater scoring 4 goals and adding an assist. However, now, 58 games into the season, Saad only has 25 points (14 goals/11 assists). Brandon Saad has looked nothing like the two-time Stanley Cup Champion that was brought back to Chicago. Saad has a cap hit of 6M through the 2021 season. We can hope that this season is the outlier.
Murphy, along with Saad, was brought in to start a youth movement on the West Side. Lately, it seems that Murphy almost has trouble cracking the lineup. The majority of the season, he’s been asked to play his off side, and clearly hasn’t won the favor of Quenneville. Quenneville’s treatment of Murphy has a weird Trevor Daley-esque feel to it (for those who don’t remember, or have chosen to forget, Daley was given up on and shipped off to Pittsburgh. He went on to win two straight Stanley Cups as a key contributor on the Power Play). Now, Murphy is still here, but rumors are that he is at least coming up in trade conversations. I think it is way to early to give up on Murphy because, frankly, I don’t think he has been used properly.
There have been some bright spots. The Hawks have added a ton of speed. You’re seeing Nick Schmaltz and Vinnie Hinostroza coming into their own. The Hawks have also added Alex DeBrincat from Juniors and Anthony Duclair from Arizona. The other youngsters have shown some promise as well. Players like David Kampf, Gustav Forsling, Erik Gustafsson, and Jordan Osterle have all had moments of excitement around them. There are things to be excited about…
With that being said, this is hardly a eulogy for the season. There are two dozen games left, including tonight against The Great 8 and the Washington Capitals. But with the trade deadline looming on February 26th, it is more of question around what’s going to happen next.
There are obviously a couple options. Since Stan Bowman has, rightfully, come out and said that the Hawks will not be buyers in 2 weeks, do our Hawks sell or stand pat?
As we sit right now, before puck drop over on Madison, the Blackhawks have a bleak .6% of making the playoffs, according to Hockey Reference. For the first time since the 07-08 season, we’re watching a Hawks team that will not be making a post season appearence.
Obviously more changes need to come before the Hawks can return to their Stanley Cup glory. One of the moves is possibly in management. There is a good portion of the fan base that thinks it is time for Quenneville to move on. As of today, I think I would count myself among this group. It’s not because Quenneville is a bad coach, far from it. He is an undisputed Hall of Fame coach. With that being said, there is a consensus among former athletes that if you have the same voice in the locker room for an extended period of time, it begins to just be background noise. Quenneville has been behind the bench for the better part of 10 seasons. It might be time for a switch just to get a new voice in the room. Others will point to his management (or lack thereof) of young players (see: Nick Leddy). Some will point to the ineptitude on the Power Play. Both are legitimate arguments, but more than anything, it might just be THAT time.
What about player changes? A change behind the bench would more than likely just be the beginning. The Hawks have some very large contracts that haven’t been preforming. Brent Seabrook’s regression has been well noted by every Blackhawks blog. We mentioned Brandon Saad’s struggles earlier. Toews just hasn’t been Toews for about 4 years. Maybe it’s injuries. Maybe it was diet (although, that was supposedly changed this year). But Toews has looked anything but the “Best Player in the World” that many labeled him just 5 years ago. Duncan Keith, unfortunately due to miles and injuries, is a 2nd pairing defenseman on a good team at this point. And, unfortunately, the Blackhawks salary cap is still haunted by the ghost of Marian Hossa.
As every blog has mentioned, it is likely going to take a prospect and/or a pick to get a team to take the whole of Seabrook’s contract. Hawks fans have had to deal with this recently (See: Sharp/Johns, Bickel/Teravainen trades). Moves like this don’t typically happen at the mid-season deadline. If Seabrook is moved, it would be more thank likely around the draft or start of free agency.
The same could be said for Hossa’s contract.
Saad seems like a bad, sell low move at this point. Same with Connor Murphy.
Toews isn’t being moved.
Which leads us to some actual possibilities. It would be incredibly unpopular, but Keith and Artem Anisimov are probably the most marketable assets to bring back high picks and/or blue chip prospects. Keith is still a solid defenseman. He can still play a top 4 role on a Stanley Cup team. Artem Anisimov is a big body, middle 6 forward. He can play Center and wing, and play that needed “net front presence” on the Power Play.
Players like Lance Bouma, Tommy Wingels, and Michal Kempny also might be skating for a different organization come February 27th. Wingels and Bouma are both bottom 6, high energy players. Kempny is a solid 4th-6th defenseman, who can move the puck a little. All three could command a decent pick or prospect in return from a team looking to fill a need.
With the cap supposedly going up between 3-5 Million next season, it would be nice to see the Hawks move one or 2 of the 5M+ contracts off their books. Going into the 2018-2019 season with around 12M in cap space would allow the Hawks a good chance to fill in some of the holes.
The Hawks struck early by trading Ville Pokka for career AHLer Chris DiDomenico on Thursday. It feels like the organization gave up on Pokka a bit too early. With that being said, I believe there is very little chance that Pokka will be the only member of the organization leaving before the end of the season.
Who’s next?
