There’s a paradox of playing along the wall in hockey: games are won by winning battles along the wall but are also lost by staying along the wall.
What does that mean exactly?
Teams that win 50/50 pucks most of the time will have a competitive advantage called possession. Although these wars are waged all over the ice, a large fraction occur along the boards.
Winning pucks in these scrums requires hustle to get to the puck first, compete level to outduel the opponent in order to gain possession, and hockey sense to know what to do next.
However, that competitive edge degrades significantly for teams that play on the perimeter hugging the boards. It’s rather tough to generate high danger scoring chances from the outside.
Instead of sticking to the outskirts of the ice, dart up the middle and drive hard to the net. Or if behind the cage already, take the puck to the crease rather than pass it back out to the point.
The Blackhawks have struggled mightily with both forms of board play as they are outmatched in puck battles and seem allergic to the center lane of the neutral and offensive zones.
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Board Battles
No matter the system, all teams need to engage along the wall across the whole rink. So can the Hawks not only go to those areas but also come away with the puck with regularity?
As far as strategic mindset, yes, that should be theoretically present as head coach Jeremy Colliton is stressing work ethic and competitiveness. Those two ingredients lay the foundation.
Even if players are expected to play in this manner, actually doing so consistently is the crucial factor. In addition, some will naturally be better at board play than others given their hockey DNA.
Jonathan Toews, Kirby Dach, Andrew Shaw, Lucas Wallmark, Mattias Janmark, Matthew Highmore, and David Kampf stand out as ones who can lead the way on all forward lines.
Prospects like Evan Barratt, Matej Chalupa, MacKenzie Entwistle, Brandon Hagel, Reese Johnson, Tim Soderlund, and Pius Suter are warriors who aren’t shy to mix it up along the boards.
Even prospects who are further away from knocking on the NHL door -- like Cam Morrison, Lukas Reichel, Antti Saarela, Landon Slaggert, and Josiah Slavin -- are also willing combatants.
On the backend, it’s the veterans who have the experience and acumen to be leaned on to do the heavy lifting plus mentor the young D like Adam Boqvist, Ian Mitchell, and Lucas Carlsson.
Connor Murphy, Calvin de Haan, and Nikita Zadorov are defensive specialists so the expectation is high for them to excel at this art of digging out pucks to start flipping the ice.
Health permitting, Brent Seabrook should be in that group as he was supreme at it in his prime. Duncan Keith is capable yet I see him stick defending more than being against the wall.
For those not listed, what do they do?
Yes, they need to fish out pucks when the situation presents itself. However, if linemates are doing the dirty work, then they need to be off to the side, aware and ready to pounce on the puck.
Once they have the puck, the job isn’t done as they need to advance the puck and generate offense which takes us to the next form of board play.
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Perimeter Play
When Teuvo Teravainen and Nick Schmaltz were on the Hawks, they were often chastised for keeping to the outside as they avoided the rough stuff. Alligator arms was a term often used, too.
Current players like Dylan Strome and Alex Nylander as well as -- to a certain extent -- Patrick Kane have a penchant for trying to create on the perimeter. That’s not always a bad thing.
If teammates like Alex DeBrincat and Dominik Kubalik are willing to attack the middle and release shots any which way, then feeding them from the boards isn’t an unsavory practice.
Where being glued to the wall becomes problematic is when the entire line is bunched up there with no one creating space and/or wreaking havoc between the circles and in the slot.
One line formula to follow for forward lines is having a playmaker, a shooter, and a space creator. The playmaker can get away with being on the perimeter but not the other two.
Keeping an entire line to the outside is an excellent method to give the opposing goalie an easy night in the crease. Matters get worse if the opponent shrinks the ice in the neutral zone.
So if the Hawks can stick to that line formula or some variation of it, penetrating the zone and getting the puck to the high percentage shooting areas will start to pay dividends.
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On Bowman
No doubt about it that the Blackhawks naming Stan Bowman as one of two presidents -- namely of hockey operations -- while retaining his general manager title is monumental news.
To be honest, the news isn’t surprising and was somewhat predictable -- at least the elevation to president status. Remaining as GM is shocking but not if you think of the longer term.
In other words, he may be the GM for the time being but -- as others alluded to on the message boards for the last blog -- a new GM may be hired once league and team finances are better.
Either way, it remains to be seen whether Bowman’s upgrade is a good or bad decision as evidence will emerge in years to come.
However, the feeling is quite a bit different this time around versus previous iterations of Blackhawks administration. Amongst those changes are:
* A new structure with a chief executive officer in Danny Wirtz and co-presidents in Bowman and Jaime Faulkner overseeing two distinct yet collaborative sides of the organization.
* A restructuring in hockey operations including three assistant GMs in Kyle Davidson, Mark Eaton, and Ryan Stewart as well as shifting Norm Maciver to vice president of this area.
* Fresh, diverse voices on the coaching staff with adding Kendall Coyne Schofield as the headliner along with Erik Condra plus Brian Campbell and Chris Kunitz over the past two years.
* Demonstrably articulated foundational values of youth, innovation, and a growth mindset after finally ditching the long-standing One Goal slogan that really wasn’t clearly defined.
* Addition by subtraction by parting with former president John McDonough who was rumored to be an impediment to a healthy evolution of the franchise on and off the ice.
* An end to living in the past trying to recapture the glory and aura of the Stanley Cup era earlier in the decade and instead letting today and tomorrow’s players be themselves.
It’s not all positive as the frustration of Bowman wielding more power is a real emotion pervasive in Blackhawks fandom. Like any GM, Bowman isn’t immune to criticism.
From contract renewals to trades to free agent signings to draft picks, there are many points in Bowman’s managerial history that many argue are displays of poor management.
Beauty -- or ugliness -- is in the eye of the beholder with each individual decision Bowman has made and that won’t change in this new chapter of Blackhawks history.
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On Faulkner
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t outwardly praise the hiring of Faulkner as the other president -- specifically of business operations. Her resume is impressive and her mindset is even more so.
To illustrate, in yesterday’s virtual interview, she mentioned that she spends a lot of time during games simply talking with fans. She literally puts herself in the right places.
If you want to market the team and the game to the fans, no better way to do that than to constantly be amongst them and listen to what they have to share.
Market research and analytics are her specialty. Yet, nothing can ever replace just talking with and observing fans which lets what you directly see and hear guide decision making.
Interacting with fans face to face during a pandemic will be challenging but Faulkner has extensive integrated marketing communication experience that will serve her well in fulfilling her charge.
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Readers Q&A Mailbag
Last chance! If you have any questions you want to ask about the Blackhawks or IceHogs, please send me a private message or email me at [email protected].
All questions will be answered and featured in next week’s mailbag blog to close out a whirlwind 2020. Thank you to those who have submitted questions already!
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