There’s this hockey adage that tends to come up around the trade deadline, when trade targets are being analyzed in terms of how they’ll help a team contending for the Cup. It’s comes with phrases like “fourth-liner on a good team” or “additional blue-line depth,” with the general idea that a player who moves up in the NHL standings in a trade typically moves down the lineup, because good teams have better players occupying the prime spots. Breaking news, right?
This thought doesn’t specifically apply to the Hawks right now with the team being nowhere near Cup contention, but some aspects of this philosophy can still be utilized to analyze portions of the current roster. The idea here is that as the Hawks (hopefully) move up the standings down the road, some players who are in roles beyond their abilities will slide down the lineup as better players arrive via exterior acquisitions or internal development.
Take Louis Crevier, for example. His average ice time is 16:19 this season, although it’s bogged down by some figures in the single digits and low teens from earlier in the season. More recent trends find him logging 18-21 minutes per night, indicative of the top-four role he currently owns. But it feels like Crevier’s a little over his skis at the moment, right? He could still have a lengthy NHL career ahead of him, although it feels more like a third-pairing spot or rotating in as the seventh D-man seems like the correct spot for him. Perhaps a future top-four of Vlasic, Kaiser, Korch and Levshunov pushes him down into a more suitable role.
This is all said with eyes cast towards Landon Slaggert and Colton Dach, who haven’t appeared to be anything more than fourth-liners on a team that is once again destined for the draft lottery. Both have seen time on special teams — Dach on the second power-play unit, Slaggert on the PK — but neither have turned it standout performances in either of those areas and their 5-on-5 numbers aren’t all that impressive, either. So, what happens to Dach and Slaggert when this team (theoretically) improves? Guys like Moore and Lardis and Greene are all seeing top or middle-six minutes right now but may move down a bit in the future when players like Frondell and Kantserov and other high-end talent arrives in Chicago. Dach and Slaggert don’t have any farther down the lineup to go, do they?
Everything we’re doing in the present is in an attempt to sort out what this team will look like in the future. And the general trend for players seems to be that they move down the lineup as a team climbs up the standings because newer, better talent slides into the higher lineup spots, leading to more success on the ice. If current players on the roster are fourth-liners on a bad NHL team, then perhaps we shouldn’t waste too much time debating where those players will be on a good team in the future — because they won’t be on it.
The Week That Was
Thursday, Jan. 29: Penguins 6, Blackhawks 2
I do not remember a single thing that unfolded during this game. Probably for the best!
Friday, Jan. 30: Blue Jackets 4, Blackhawks 2
The good news is that we don’t have to talk about Columbus again for the rest of the season.
Monday, Feb. 2: Blackhawks 6, Sharks 3
Was Jordan Binnington in net for the Sharks in this game? Can’t recall.
Wednesday, Feb. 4: Blue Jackets 4, Blackhawks 0
Let’s pretend this game never happened, because the Hawks certainly did!
Donation Update
This is where I try to find a second Hawks-related thing to write about but my brain doesn’t want to work and we haven’t had any Hawks games in three weeks to write about so, instead, let’s go with an update on our preseason pledge to donate $1 for every Blackhawks goal scored this season to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights, an organization with a stated mission of “dedicated to promoting the rights of immigrants and refugees to full and equal participation in the civic, cultural, social, and political life of our diverse society.” Their cause remains every bit as important now as it did when the season started.
Our last check-in was 25 games into the season when the Blackhawks had 80 goals. At the 57 game mark, Chicago has 151 goals, which means they’ve scored just 71 in 32 games compared to 80 in the first 25. Guess that explains why we’re eyeing draft lottery odds instead of wild card standings, doesn’t it?
Anyway, matching that mark of 71 goals means a donation of $142 is on its way to the ICIRR from this corner of the internet.
The Week That Will Be
Thursday, Feb. 26: Blackhawks at Predators
Coming back from the break by facing the boring-ass Predators is not an enticing return to game action.
Saturday, Feb. 28: Blackhawks at Avalanche
Everyone’s had a good laugh at Nathan MacKinnon’s reaction to receiving that stoat (thanks to LBR for explaining what that is!) at the end of Canada’s silver medal presentation but we probably won’t be laughing when we see what an enraged MacKinnon is capable of in this game.
Sunday, March 1: Blackhawks at Mammoth
Still struggling to recognize that “Mammoth” is the name of an actual NHL team.
Tuesday, March 3: Blackhawks at Jets
Does Connor Hellebuyck just get the rest of the season off at this point? It’s not like anything that’s going to happen in Winnipeg over the next two months is going to be worth his time.