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This morning in Montreal, at the Hawks' pre-game skate, Joel Quenneville has unveiled new lines:

Smith-Toews-Kane
Sharp-Shaw-Hossa
Saad-Richards-Morin
Bickell-Kruger-Versteeg

Some will blame Quenneville. But, really, who could blame him?

The Blackhawks have had a couple of “slow” starts since 2007, like last year when they went on to a pretty successful season and the Western Conference Finals. But at 6-5-1, and coming off back to back regulation losses to the Maple Leafs and the Jets, a couple of questions need to be asked.

First, is there a “problem,” ie, coaching, dressing room, roster?

Second, what are the potential solutions.

A regular commentor on my message board pointed out this morning that while the Hawks must lead the league in Corsi, they’re 6-5-1 and not looking very good. The bottom line is wins and losses are the only stats that really matter, everything else can give you some insight on this or that. But that’s really it.

At the end of the day, hockey is not a terribly complicated game. The team that moves their feet, makes tape to tape passes, avoids bad turnovers, wins puck battles—usually wins hockey games.

It’s not glamorous. But even a “finesse” team like the Hawks and the Glory Red Wing teams before them, were at their best—when they focused on those things first. The Hawks are really doing none of those things or at least not doing them consistently.

Theories abound as to why.

The team has tuned out the coaching staff?

Possibly. More on that in a second.

Is the roster composed less than optimally? Consider the Corsi comment (comedic value aside). The Hawks are putting a lot of shots on net—while being unable to score. This is just an impression—but one shared by many observers—many of the shots seem to be clean looks for the goalie, from far out. Cause and effect.

Generally speaking, when a coaching staff has to continually try to pound home the same message, but the players either aren’t capable of hearing it or executing it, trouble ensues.

But I’ll submit that’s not what’s at play here. To me, the roster is the problem. This in turn is forcing the coaching staff to play certain guys out of position (Andrew Shaw), or give too many minutes to guys who aren’t really ready (David Rundblad), at least two players aren’t delivering in their roles every night (Bryan Bickell, Brandon Saad).

But bad GMs overreact and throw the baby out with the bathwater. These issues are, to varying degrees fixable. Or at least a couple of them are.

Another oft-repeated observation on my message board thread (that’s perhaps a bit severe, but I think has some merit) is that the Hawks really have just two legitimate centers: Marcus Kruger and Jonathan Toews.

For much of 2011-12, Kruger was the Hawks’ second line center. Maybe it’s time to give him another go there and move Shaw back to the wing, where he can be the feisty agitator he was back then—when he was a revelation, as opposed to focusing on a center’s defensive responsibilities over 200 feet of ice.

Hawk fans know Kruger as a defensive specialist, but he put up numbers in the Swedish (including Elietserien or “Elite”) Leagues and World Junior competition that suggest playmaking talent—a skill he has occasionally shown in the NHL.

For now, Kruger remains on the 4th line, Shaw at 2nd line center.

The new lines? Meh. Sharp's been playing like a man, so maybe he gets Hossa going a bit. Swap out Shaw for Troy Brouwer and you have a line that was very successful in the 2010 postseason. Brad Richards has been hot of late—maybe he gets Saad going. Bickell-Kruger-Versteeg? They could pose a tough fourth line matchup.

At the end of the day, it will be a little more effort around the net and a bounce or two that will get the Hawks going. When, and will it stick, are the questions.


All for now,


JJ

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