(Author’s note: Now that the new site has been established, it’s time to bring back an old favorite of, roughly, three or four people among the billions that exist!)
We’re going to do this dance one more time.
Don’t close the screen in disgust when the bolded statement below hits your eyes because it requires an explanation. But there’s been a thought hovering in the back of this mind related to the Blackhawks and The Plan™ that must come to the surface for one final examination:
There’s an undeniable part of my mind that wants to see the Blackhawks fall out of the top three in the draft lottery so they’re not rewarded for their actions this season.
This is not some crusade for morality based on what the Blackhawks have done over the last few years, although there’s certainly a strong case there. No, this is more about the way the Blackhawks have chosen to handle this season, throwing an entire 82-game schedule into the trash for a chance at landing a No. 1 pick
Look at some of the other teams near the Hawks in the standings and see how different their approaches to this season have been: they’re, at least, trying – even if they’re failing spectacularly at it. Columbus threw a Brinks’ truck of money at Johnny Gaudreau but was undone by an absurd number of injuries. San Jose’s letting Erik Karlsson skate 25 minutes a night in a season that’d inspire soliloquys if the existence of the Sharks’ goaltending was anything more than a rumor. Anaheim is giving its young players a chance to sink or swim at the NHL level instead of stashing them down in the AHL.
Chicago, though? It’s been no secret what the long-term goal was here ever since the Alex DeBrincat trade last summer, even if the GM’s never come out and said it. There’s been no effort made towards winning games in the present.
That wasn’t the case when the Blackhawks landed Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane all those years ago, though.
Ahead of the 2005-06 season, the Blackhawks signed a slew of free agents and held a big press conference and a photo shoot with all of those “big” signings as a way to drum up interest coming out of the lockout that nuked the prior season. That December, the Blackhawks made the insanely lopsided trade to acquire Patrick Sharp. Despite those efforts, that team sputtered to 65 points in the standings and landed Toews at No. 3 in the 2006 draft. That summer, the Blackhawks traded for Martin Havlat, who was a point-per-game player in ’06-07, although injuries limited him to 56 games. Still, that team was trying, and was rewarded for those efforts by jumping from fifth to first in the draft order because of the lottery and Patrick Kane went to Chicago in 2007. You know the rest from there.
This season, though? Look at some of the lineups the Blackhawks have trotted out this season. Look at who’s skating on the power play. Look who’s skating 18, 19 or 20-plus minutes per night – it’s a joke. The team leader in goals has TWENTY. The top two point-producers from the season aren’t even on the team anymore. Yeah, the players are trying hard and the players don’t tank. That’s all true. But based on the decisions from above their heads (and over the coach’s head, too) it’s as close as a professional sports team can come to sabotaging its own season without warranting a congressional investigation into match-fixing and if the hockey gods forced the draft lottery’s ping pong balls to bounce in a manner that benefits another franchise, they’d have karmic justice on their side.
Of course, should the Blackhawks end up with the No. 1 overall pick and select Connor Bedard this summer, all of this will be summarily dismissed as thoughts of the past, because being a sports fan require neither logic nor reason nor consistency. That’s the fun of it all.
The Week That Was
Tuesday, March 28: Stars 4, Blackhawks 1
We’re at the point of the season when the losses have piled up so high that they’re becoming indistinguishable from the others.
Thursday, March 30: Blues 5, Blackhawks 3
A win would’ve been 100 percent acceptable here just to embarrass Jordan Binnington again.
Saturday, April 1: Devils 6, Blackhawks 3
The Devils are the frontrunner for most fun team entering this year’s playoffs, right?
Red Telephone
About a month ago, Ben Pope of the Sun-Times wrote an article about the lack of communication among younger players in the NHL, something affecting matters both on and off the ice. It was especially interesting to see the article mention the lack of on-ice communication between players, because that seems like such a vital part of every team sport.
Want to see why?
Watch this goal the Avalanche scored against the Hawks on March 20 and listen for any sort of on-ice communication between the Chicago players:
DENIS THE MENACE!#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/axZjgdO7AC
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) March 21, 2023
Spoiler alert! There wasn’t any. At least, none that the ice-level microphones picked up and aired over the broadcast, which suggests that there wasn’t enough of it. And that lack of communication between defenders is why this simple 3-on-3 rush became an easy goal for Colorado’s Denis Malgin. Just look:
At the start of this play, Malgin has the puck and enters diagonally with Joey Anderson on his back and the duo of Nikita Zaitsev and Ian Mitchell on D for the Hawks. Valeri Nichushkin is down at the bottom for Colorado and Bowen Byram’s up on the rush as well. But with three players back, Chicago shouldn’t be in any danger here.
Here’s where the trouble starts. As Malgin skates right and overloads that side of the ice, there’s zero communication between Zaitsev and Mitchell. Anderson’s doing his job, picking up the third man in, but the other two quickly fuck up this entire play:
Malgin drops the puck to Nichushkin and continues on his path towards the goal. Zaitsev covers precisely no one, coasting backwards into no man’s land near the crease. Mitchell is left covering two players and, about a second later, the obvious occurs:
Any communication between Zaitsev and Mitchell prevents this from happening. Would’ve been nice if a veteran guy like Zaitsev could’ve stepped up there, screaming at Mitchell to stick with Malgin while Nichushkin becomes Zaitsev’s responsibility and this whole play doesn’t happen. But little plays like that are probably why Zaitsev seemed to have worn out his welcome in two prior stops while Ian Mitchell seems to be in his final days with the Blackhawks.
The Week That Will Be
Tuesday, April 4 at Calgary Flames
Nothing to offer on this game so, instead, go listen to Kyle Kinane’s hilarious stand-up bit about getting kicked out of Canada while at the Calgary Airport.
Thursday, April 6 at Vancouver Canucks
Looking forward to the ESPN documentary on the riots in Vancouver following the 2011 Stanley Cup Final.
Saturday, April 8 at Seattle Kraken
Chicago’s already lost eight in a row and has a record of 3-14-1 since Feb. 25. With six games left, it does seem like it could be due for a brief market correction before this season ends. We’re back to the “unsustainably bad” routine again.