if this team were to get in as WC...what an embarassment for the NHL; a team this horrid in nearly all defensive metrics is a playoff team...

well if it is going to happen they need to start winning now and score 4-5 a game in addition sweep the 4 game (2 each) vs the aves and coyotes

do that and our 2019 blackhawks are in and have earned the right to get bounced in 4 or 5 vs jets, preds or flames...

Terrible game, no excuse for that effort today . Hoping for a big bounce back tomorrow .

They had a nice run after the all star break. Boy they were awful today, I'm so glad they weren't buyers at the trade deadline.

What puzzles me is the lack of mental awareness today, they must of had a great time in LA last night, young players smfh

Terrible game, no excuse for that effort today . Hoping for a big bounce back tomorrow .
- oldduffman

Chicago is lost without The Drake, clearly he’s the glue that holds this team together.

I'm curious to see what they look like after a JC-led training camp. The D is pretty bad. Dahlstrom has to play tomorrow, right? But who sits? Forsling probably, but Koekkoek made strong case for sitting today too.

No points from Kane, Toews, DeBrincat, Saad, or Gustafsson today. One assist from Strome. This team doesn't win if they don't score.
- matt_ahrens

Havevto think that the Blackhaewks are practicly a laughing stock around the league with their leaky porous defense. The Kings, too, have fallen badly
Their arsenal is disguised with a few top name players but truth be told they are more a collection of paupers if you look at the talent overall. About eight NHL players someone.said.

That being said, Colliton better get tough next fall or his team will resemble the Kings of this season.

Havevto think that the Blackhaewks are practicly a laughing stock around the league with their leaky porous defense. The Kings, too, have fallen badly
Their arsenal is disguised with a few top name players but truth be told they are more a collection of paupers if you look at the talent overall. About eight NHL players someone.said.

That being said, Colliton better get tough next fall or his team will resemble the Kings of this season.
- jhawk59

Stan needs to overhaul the bottom 6 and defense first.

Who cares, he's not a Hawk anymore. Its not like Carolina is winning anything soon as TT a top 6 player on that team. Come playoff time if they make it 1 or 2 really good checks and those arms are going to get really short again.
- BetweenTheDots

I care if someone spreads fake news. Carolina is winning more games than Hawks and TT has been really good.

A suggestion was made to bring up the kids. Who? The Hawks forward in Rockford are know better than what is here. Supposedly, we have Rockford’s best forward here now and he is still looking for his first NHL goal and he has played a 1/4 of an NHL season. Think the brass has made it clear they want Jokijarju in Rockford. Plain and simple the kids that are talented are still 2-3 years away yet. As honest as I can say and it hurts a great deal; the organization is a DISASTER right now. No clue And no direction, equals bad hockey and that is exactly what we are witnessing.

Stan needs to overhaul the bottom 6 and defense first.
- DarthKane

They need some 101 classes on basic defense. Its a joke. Total fire drill out there. My how far this team has fallen.

A suggestion was made to bring up the kids. Who? The Hawks forward in Rockford are know better than what is here. Supposedly, we have Rockford’s best forward here now and he is still looking for his first NHL goal and he has played a 1/4 of an NHL season. Think the brass has made it clear they want Jokijarju in Rockford. Plain and simple the kids that are talented are still 2-3 years away yet. As honest as I can say and it hurts a great deal; the organization is a DISASTER right now. No clue And no direction, equals bad hockey and that is exactly what we are witnessing.
- ChicagoHope

How is an organization, going through a retool or rebuild after a decade of success as arguably the most successful team of the last decade a "DISASTER"?

What I find interesting in most of the commentary coming from players, coaches, and management is their avoidance to discuss how poor they are defensively.

They talk about improvement in the last couple months and its a process and we are not where we want to be blah blah.

Their defensive play and metrics hardly improved during that winning streak. Their scoring and pp exploded giving them wins..and ward had a couple of great games stopping 45 shots per to get them a win. The PK has been awful giving up almost a pp goal per game the last 15 games.

They are at the top of the league is GA 244, PP GA 53, GA/Gm =3.75, and Shots allowed 35 while at the bottom of the league in save% .893 (hmmm tied with the sharks)

A suggestion was made to bring up the kids. Who? The Hawks forward in Rockford are know better than what is here. Supposedly, we have Rockford’s best forward here now and he is still looking for his first NHL goal and he has played a 1/4 of an NHL season. Think the brass has made it clear they want Jokijarju in Rockford. Plain and simple the kids that are talented are still 2-3 years away yet. As honest as I can say and it hurts a great deal; the organization is a DISASTER right now. No clue And no direction, equals bad hockey and that is exactly what we are witnessing.
- ChicagoHope

So after 10 years and 3 Cups in a hard-cap league - throw in only one (I yoinks) top-10 draft pick in that time - yes, some bad contracts trying to keep the run going, some bad cap and TDL moves - it’s not surprising that the cupboard in Chicago is a bit bare and inexperienced.

But to say “No clue. And no direction” is somewhat unfair and untrue, don’t you think? Even you seem to recognize that there is talent in the organization - yes, a couple of years out - more potential than proven, certainly....

The plan is to go with the youngsters, keep them developing below the pressure cooker in the Show (witness Jokiharju), make some hockey trades bringing in some more young talent (are you not happy with Strome over Schmaltz? Caggiula over Manning? Murphy over Hjalmarsson at this point in the latter’s career? The high potential of Beaudin over the “just a guyness” of Hartman?)

Please - the organization is not a disaster - bad hockey now, yes - hopefully leading to good hockey in the future.

I care if someone spreads fake news. Carolina is winning more games than Hawks and TT has been really good.
- MjulQvist

I don't know if it's fake news or not, to me he's a casualty of the hard cap nothing more nothing less.

It's interesting how the new owner comes in and Carolina starts winning more than they are losing.

If we switched defensive players with Carolina I'd imagine we would be in the playoffs as well.

eklund has brought up the nhl point system again...

nhl will never go to a 3 pt system...it would skew the historical record going forward

i would like to see the loser pt eliminated..

OT/SO winner gets 2 pts and loser gets 0. Done. Maybe if games go to shoot out ya keep the loser pt.

I don't know if it's fake news or not, to me he's a casualty of the hard cap nothing more nothing less.

It's interesting how the new owner comes in and Carolina starts winning more than they are losing.

If we switched defensive players with Carolina I'd imagine we would be in the playoffs as well.
- BetweenTheDots

I've read this on the board lately - it's the players that suck, they were bad under Q and JC, etc.

I tend to agree, but then we have the Islanders. Last year they were worst in the league in goals against - 3.57. This year? Best in the league in goals against - 2.31. Same defensemen. Mostly the same forwards. What happened? Barry Trotz.

I've read this on the board lately - it's the players that suck, they were bad under Q and JC, etc.

I tend to agree, but then we have the Islanders. Last year they were worst in the league in goals against - 3.57. This year? Best in the league in goals against - 2.31. Same defensemen. Mostly the same forwards. What happened? Barry Trotz.
- mohel

Was happy when Trotz finally got his Cup. That guy is one helluva coach. All the years behind the Preds bench, he had less then talented teams. Yet every year they were very tough and always a top defensive club. Don't know if JC is a new breed HC where its all O and no D, but it ain't working. And how they come out so friggin flat against the Kings is beyond me.

Was happy when Trotz finally got his Cup. That guy is one helluva coach. All the years behind the Preds bench, he had less then talented teams. Yet every year they were very tough and always a top defensive club. Don't know if JC is a new breed HC where its all O and no D, but it ain't working. And how they come out so friggin flat against the Kings is beyond me.
- z1990z

On being flat.... I'd think the players are good enough at math to know they're out of it.

I've come to appreciate Trotz - good human in addition to being a proven coach.

On defense.... They won't improve without an organizational demand to do so. They will improve if there is such a top-down focus. Still think they need a top four guy in a big way.

Was happy when Trotz finally got his Cup. That guy is one helluva coach. All the years behind the Preds bench, he had less then talented teams. Yet every year they were very tough and always a top defensive club. Don't know if JC is a new breed HC where its all O and no D, but it ain't working. And how they come out so friggin flat against the Kings is beyond me.
- z1990z

Coaches coach the players they have - perhaps the Hawks don’t have good defensive players up front or on the blue line. And without a training camp to put whatever system he wants to use in place - well, this is what we get. I don’t know that he decided to try to win games 7-6 - or that the skaters keep making mistakes, can’t recover, and goalies can’t overcome every screw-up.

Several potentially good defensemen in the system - don’t know about the forwards below the big league team - need to keep procuring and developing 200 foot skaters.

They didn’t seem to come out flat - they started well until two terrible and avoidable penalties - and some very bad mistakes on the PK - got them in a very early 2-0 hole. They came back but aren’t good enough to sustain pressure over a long period of time.

On being flat.... I'd think the players are good enough at math to know they're out of it.

I've come to appreciate Trotz - good human in addition to being a proven coach.

On defense.... They won't improve without an organizational demand to do so. They will improve if there is such a top-down focus. Still think they need a top four guy in a big way.
- mohel

A top-4 defenseman (or two) - and some forwards who can be 200 foot players.

Let’s also see what Colliton can do with these guys with a summer of some development and then a full intensive training camp.

Coaches coach the players they have - perhaps the Hawks don’t have good defensive players up front or on the blue line. And without a training camp to put whatever system he wants to use in place - well, this is what we get. I don’t know that he decided to try to win games 7-6 - or that the skaters keep making mistakes, can’t recover, and goalies can’t overcome every screw-up.

Several potentially good defensemen in the system - don’t know about the forwards below the big league team - need to keep procuring and developing 200 foot skaters.

They didn’t seem to come out flat - they started well until two terrible and avoidable penalties - and some very bad mistakes on the PK - got them in a very early 2-0 hole. They came back but aren’t good enough to sustain pressure over a long period of time.
- StLBravesFan

Hi, Sage, hope you're well. How do you explain the change in the Isles? The players looked like bad defensive players last year, now they don't.

I've read this on the board lately - it's the players that suck, they were bad under Q and JC, etc.

I tend to agree, but then we have the Islanders. Last year they were worst in the league in goals against - 3.57. This year? Best in the league in goals against - 2.31. Same defensemen. Mostly the same forwards. What happened? Barry Trotz.
- mohel

I believe Barry ws hired in the summer? So he's had all of training camp to implement his system. I love that 4th line the Islanders have, and their blue line is a lot better than ours right now as well.

It still irritates the poop out of me, you are on the PK and you let slow as (frank) Brown behind you for a breakaway PP goal? Can't coach stupid, and that's on both dmen. I'd rather have broken down Hjalmarsson than dumb dumb Murphy on my team

A top-4 defenseman (or two) - and some forwards who can be 200 foot players.

Let’s also see what Colliton can do with these guys with a summer of some development and then a full intensive training camp.
- StLBravesFan

My point with the Isles was more focused on the possibility of improvement without wholesale changes, rather than an indictment of JC. But he has to give the firm message that this defensive effort is a ticket to the bench.

I believe Barry ws hired in the summer? So he's had all of training camp to implement his system. I love that 4th line the Islanders have, and their blue line is a lot better than ours right now as well.

It still irritates the poop out of me, you are on the PK and you let slow as (frank) Brown behind you for a breakaway PP goal? Can't coach stupid, and that's on both dmen. I'd rather have broken down Hjalmarsson than dumb dumb Murphy on my team
- BetweenTheDots

That blue line that is better than ours had the highest goals against average last year.

I believe Barry ws hired in the summer? So he's had all of training camp to implement his system. I love that 4th line the Islanders have, and their blue line is a lot better than ours right now as well.

It still irritates the poop out of me, you are on the PK and you let slow as (frank) Brown behind you for a breakaway PP goal? Can't coach stupid, and that's on both dmen. I'd rather have broken down Hjalmarsson than dumb dumb Murphy on my team
- BetweenTheDots

And then Koekkoek floats off to the right of the net instead of staying on Brown to make sure the King can’t put a rebound back in. Which, of course, he did.

My point with the Isles was more focused on the possibility of improvement without wholesale changes, rather than an indictment of JC. But he has to give the firm message that this defensive effort is a ticket to the bench.
- mohel

It's just not the dmen either on the 5th goal Strome doesn't cover the forward right in front of Corey instead skates by him, i guess defense is optional to him.