Back to the Blackhawks analysis today. We looked at the core in our last discussion, now we go down to the next level. But, before we get there, the Hawks have made their first move of the offseason.
Assistant coach Mike Kitchen was relieved of his duties. He was responsible for the defense and special teams; he became the first casualty. One of the first things Bowman said in his press conference was that Coach Q is staying; I don’t think many would argue that. He didn’t say anything about the other coaches. Whose call is it anyways? Now, word is that Q was not happy about this move, yet, I’m pretty sure they talked about it. I don’t think it was a surprise. Q may not have liked it… I’m sure he didn’t like it, but I’m pretty sure he understood the need for this type of move. As they continue to look at everything, there may be more situations like this… ones that Coach Q and Bowman do not see eye to eye on… and that’s fine. At the end of the day, they need to both be on the same page with the final decision. I’d like to think they both have a good amount of input, although I guess at the end of the day Bowman trumps it.
So who’s next? As we talked about in Core Concerns, besides something creative with Hossa and/or Crow, I don’t think Toews, Kane, Keith, Seabs, or Hammer should be moved. What about that next level of guys… the young guys that are playing? Who should stay and who should go. Arguably, Bread Man is part of the first group. He was a no show in the playoffs; we can say the same about most. At 24 years old, the age is right; at 6M per, is the price? His chemistry with Kane is magic, but again, there were no performances in the Preds series. Is Panarin just a regular season guy? Does he have it in him to be a postseason guy? The answer to that question may lead us to the answer of what to do with Panarin; maybe the jury is still out there… And then there’s the center of that Kane & Panarin line. At 27 & 4.5M per year, Anisimov was really good this year. I think this was one of the reasons the Hawks lost the series; the fact that Artem was not himself after returning from the injury. He was directly linked to one of the biggest problems in the series… the performance at the dot. The inability to win a face off, and get the puck on the stick of his wingers, hurt the Hawks. If you don’t have the puck, you can’t score. I thought he was at his best in front of the net. If there is one thing the Hawks need more of, it’s guys like that… scoring those dirty goals… making the goalie really work. I don’t think we made Rinne work hard enough.
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Rounding out the millionaire club, is Kruger at 3M per year. At the age of 26, he’s still young enough, and as far as this series went, he was one of the guys that actually stood out; he played his ass off, and was one of the Hawks’ best players. That’s great for Marcus, and horrible for the rest of the core and the guys I mentioned above. I like Kruger a lot. Historically one of the best penalty killers showed up large on the biggest stage; too bad there weren’t more guys like that this year. If there were, we may still be discussing playoff games.
We haven’t even got to the young guys yet; that’s next. Will there be another move before then? So far, I’m not really loving getting rid of any of the guys so far. That goes back to what I said earlier; I don’t think major moves are necessary. As we continue to sift through the ashes, the goal is to put our finger on what happened, and figure out how we can never let that happen again. More to come…
MK
Fine with kitchen being gone. The Bhawks special teams were average, at best, this year. Normally, the penalty kill is solid but not this year. For some reason, the power play has never really been great. You would think with all the talent, it would be top 5. So bye bye kitchen. Q should understand.
As for panarin, he is young and getting a lot of money. He did disappear in the playoffs, but that can be said about everyone. So give him another year before rushing to change.
Same goes for anisimov. Think he was not 100%, and that affected his play, especially at the dot. Get healthy and come back strong. The kane, panarin, anisimov line was one of the best in the nhl all year.
Kruger is young, too, and getting paid well. He seems weak and not very good offensively, but his performance in the playoffs was raised. He is a great penalty killer as well. Think he stays, too.
Going to be tough to pull the trigger on any of the Bhawks…stay tuned!