Long trip no excuse for Blackhawks' skid
Comments (...)CHICAGO (MCT) — How easy it would be to blame "Disney on Ice" for the Blackhawks resembling a Mickey Mouse operation at the start of their longest road trip since 1994.
To attribute the cold, Stanley Cup reality the Hawks have confronted recently to the "Dare
to Dream" ice show (tickets still available!) forcing 26 days between games at the United Center.
To wonder how an organization with the NHL's best business savvy, according to The Hockey News, approved a schedule that locks the Hawks out of a building the team co-owns at a time they need the warmth of home ice.
But doing so would leave the wrong impression of why the Hawks have looked so lost in losing six straight games. That would give coach Joel Quenneville and general manager Stan Bowman and every Hawks star not playing up to his reputation a free pass they haven't earned lately. As much as it still baffles me why a sports town annually accepts the way an ice show and a circus send both United Center co-tenants on hellish road trips, the Hawks' problems extend beyond their travel itinerary.
Those problems were harder to detect during a first half that fooled many of us, including perhaps team officials, as the Hawks piled up points against the softest part of the schedule. The quality of opponents began to increase just before the All-Star break, and, not surprisingly to astute observers, the Hawks' play started to decline.
Good teams exposed the Hawks' shaky defense that created shakier goaltending, their lack of a dynamic second-line center and how thin the margin of error becomes when All-Stars go into slumps.
By the way, I expect the real Marian Hossa to rejoin the Hawks any day now. Hossa hasn't scored a point since the All-Star break. Patrick Kane played his best game in a month Tuesday against the Avalanche but has only one goal in his last six games. Can somebody find that cape SuperKane left in Ottawa?
Jonathan Toews hasn't scored a goal since Jan. 20. Dave Bolland has two goals in his last seven games. Of the Hawks' marquee offensive players, only Patrick Sharp has scored like one lately. Viktor Stalberg? Since his hat trick against the Blue Jackets on Jan. 10, he has three goals in 11 games. No wonder the Hawks have only 12 goals in the last six games.
If Quenneville's coaching and Bowman's judgment are fair to question during the longest losing streak in four years, so are the performances of players paid handsomely to carry teams through adversity. When the Hawks' stars play like stars, nobody worries about Quenneville's constant line-changing or commitment to a puck-possession style. If the stars begin clicking again offensively, perhaps the Hawks can survive giving up 2.96 goals per game — a stat proving Bowman must shore up the blue line before a deep playoff run seems realistic.
Nothing about Bowman's priority list has changed since September: Deal for a top-four defenseman and second-line center — or a rugged forward if Bowman can beat the Canucks and Red Wings to it. Bowman hoped to solve one problem by trading for veteran center Brendan Morrison, but Morrison has yet to score in four games and looks every bit of 36.
If the Hawks go into free fall during the last, toughest part of this trip, Bowman might consider shaking up the status quo by packaging a veteran with a young prospect such as Jimmy Hayes for the right impact player. Trading for a goalie would cause a major ripple, but fix the defense and watch how quickly Corey Crawford's confidence returns.
Meanwhile, with 28 games left, Quenneville suddenly faces a mandate to adjust philosophically on the only NHL team without a shutout, one that isn't built to win games 2-1.
He needs to tweak a defensive system that isn't working and accept he can't use Bolland as a fourth-line checking center until Bowman delivers a scoring threat for the second line. He should rethink his personnel on a penalty-killing unit that lacks body-sacrificing shot-blockers. When Duncan Keith struggled early last season, Quenneville benched him — and the same approach on a star-studded roster would illustrate what a master motivator Coach Q can be.
This would be an ideal time for Quenneville to remind us why he was the second-fastest NHL coach to win 600 games and for Bowman to convince a growing list of doubters. This remains an enviable roster of talented players still capable of a Cup run if they can wake up.
There are no excuses for the Blackhawks to keep playing so poorly, wherever they are.
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