But that's exactly my point and both of you even said so....their All-Stars - aka: their core - are still there!! And the studs to which I refer to in Rockford have been there long enough to warrant a shot in the NHL to fill in the gaps....I'm failing to see where we actually disagree here.
- jules
Perhaps I'm splitting hairs on how you worded the sentence about this being the same team. Your larger point is, the top-tier guys of the cup team are still in place. This is true. But, those players' presence alone doesn't make this team a champion. The past two seasons have proven that.
The team's core issues are as follows, and not necessarily in order:
1.) Poor depth of scoring - During the Cup run, the 'Hawks had six 20+ goal scorers, and two more with 15+. This past season, they had five with 20+, and one more with 15+. That's a big gap. In total during 2011-12, they scored 21 fewer goals than they did during the Stanley Cup run 262 - 241. Here's the point - with the all-star core there, the team is scoring less. That means that the complimentary pieces haven't been nearly the quality they were in 2009-10.
2.) Poor face off performance - As a team, they've gone down from 52.2 to 50.6 as a team since 2010. In 2009-10, they had three players taking regular faceoffs who were over 50%, and five who were at least 48.8%. In 2012, they had two guys win over 50% in Toews and Mayers. The next highest was Bolland at 48.4. Seems like a small drop, but across the whole season, it's a bad trend, especially for a system predicated on puck possession.
3.) Inconsistent Goaltending - This is self-explanatory. Hard to really fault the team too much, because Niemi was kind of a lightning in a bottle scenario, and the team was too cap strapped to hold onto him.
4.) Lack of "snarl." - Replacing the likes of Andrew Ladd, Dustin Byfuglien, Troy Brouwer, Ben Eager, and Adam Burish with guys like Bryan Bickell, Andrew Brunette, Fernado, Pisani, and Micahel Frolik has made this team noticably soft and not remotely intimidating. They are on the right track with guys like Carcillo and Mayers, but need to get a lot more nasty to get back the mojo of the cup years.
Hence, it's difficult to claim the 'Hawks are on the right track simply because the core guys are all there. Whole teams win championships, not a small groups on a team.
Concering the kids, what players exactly are you referring to who have been in Rockford for a long time and are ready to contribute? I don't think you can necessarily make a direct correlation between time spent in the AHL and readiness or entitlement for the NHL level. While I would agree that the 'Hawks coaching staff seem more hesitant to give some guys a shot than others - I think you really have to look at the development of players rather than just the time served. Perhaps the more alarming undertone to this situation is that the minor league system is not properly developing its prospects - or that the GM's ability to evaluate young talent is lacking.
The only ones that one could claim fit your description are Bradon Pirri, Kyle Beach, and Shawn Lalonde. Possibly Jeremy Morin, but a major concussion last year set him back. None of those guys look like serious contributors at the NHL level yet, regardless of projections. Pirri's a great AHL scorer, but can't make the jump to the NHL speed, and gets schooled in the faceoff circle. Kyle Beach is a bust. Shawn Lalonde doesn't appear to progressed at all since his Rockford debut three years ago. The larger point I'm making here is just because players have been marinating in the minors for a few seasons doesn't mean they're ready, or that they deserve a spot on the NHL roster.
Now, there's another 'twener group with players like Ben Smith, Jimmy Hayes, and Bradon Bollig who have already made appearences. If those are who you are referring to - that makes a bit more sense, although Bollig aside, these guys haven't spent a ton of time in the AHL. And at present, they are lower line contributors at best - hardly the major contributors the team needs from role players this season.
