Follow JJ on Twitter @jaeckel!
The Glass Half Full contingent in Blackhawk Nation might be holding on to the notion today that a road point in the NHL is always a good thing. And while that may be true, the Blackhawks went into action in Calgary last night needing a shot of mojo—in the form of a win or at least a very well played game against a sub .500 Flames team.
They got neither.
Both Hawk goalies gave up weak goals, Antti Raanta before he got pulled and Corey Crawford when he lost a Calgary forward behind his own net in OT. The Hawks got caught too far up ice and made bad turnovers in the neutral zone, leading to countless odd man rushes for the Flames.
The Hawks are 3-3-4 in their last ten games and clearly are slumping, if not a team in moderate disarray. It would be one thing if you could point to a key injury or two. You can't. The Hawks just seem to lack chemistry and structure and are not playing their game—which typically begins and ends with rock solid defense over 200 feet of ice.
Maybe the Olympic break comes at a good time, allowing may Hawks to either relax or at least have some fun with their countrymen over in Russia. But in the meantime, more games remain on the schedule against tough opponents. Starting at 9:30 Central tonight in Vancouver.
It will get harder before it gets easier.
Maybe that challenge, as it often does with the Hawks, will bring out their best.
But something, clearly, needs to change.
Anyone assuming this team will cruise to another Cup or another Cup Finals doesn't understand what they're looking at. That's not to say the Hawks couldn't get their act and their game together and really steamroll again at some point. But, that looks less and less likely as this "dry" spell wears on.
The truth is, the salary cap forced the Hawks (albeit to a much less severe extent than it did in 2010) to jettison some valuable pieces over the summer of 2013. They were "replaced" by guys who played on a Rockford Ice Hog team last year that looked and played a lot like the Hawks have of late: out of control, frenetic, far too irresponsible defensively. I'm not blaming guys like Ben Smith or Brandon Pirri per se, but rather, those who assume that Michal Frolik, Dave Bolland and Viktor Stalberg aren't missed are mistaken.
Personally, I will submit to you, dear readers, that GM Stan Bowman needs to be working the phones and seeing if he can add some energy, toughness and veteran discipline to his team. The #6 defenseman role is one that I would look at. It's basically been a revolving door of Sheldon Brookbank, Michael Kostka and Michal Rozsival all season, and it hasn't been great.
The Hawk penalty kill is 27th in the league, as opposed to the top 5 unit it was last year. The third line is anemic and underperforming.
A few of the grandstanders in the Twitterverse took me to task for relating a trade rumor (as though I made it up or "proposed" it—yeesh) that involved the Jet's Andrew Ladd a couple of weeks back. While the surging Jets are maybe less likely to deal their captain now, I would argue an Andrew Ladd is exactly what the Hawks need right now: tough, disciplined at both ends of the ice and kills penalties.
There is no answer at Rockford right now.
Otherwise, it has to come from the Hawk dressing room as composed today. Can it? Sure. Might it not? Absolutely.
If you detect some pressure, that's because there is some.
All for now,
JJ
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»