I'm not bummed. Not sure why, but I'm just not. I was VERY bummed after the OT loss to LA in Game 7 as I thought whoever won that series was beating NYR and that would mean a repeat.
After sleeping on it, I'll summarize my assessment as this:
- Q is getting a lot of criticism and he deserves every bit of it. What we've seen over the last couple of seasons make us wonder if he's a great coach or a good coach that was fortunate to be at the helm of a great roster. When I look at what Mike Sullivan has done, THAT is impressive. The list of head scratchers surrounding Q is long - starting with last season, his failure with Daley and his insistence on weak players (Runblad, Mashinter, etc). Even if we go back to his mis-management of the playoff roster in the 15 Cup Run with Vermette/TT. When we look at this season, we saw his wishy washy nature with the kids and he was absolutely embarrassed by Laviolette this series. He had no answer. Then we have his abandoning of the young guys for old retreads. I'm not as in love with Kempny as others are, but he's young and he's part of the future. You have to play your young guys to get them game action. How does playing a retread like Oduya - who clearly didn't have it anymore - make you a better team this season and more importantly, next, when guys like Oduya, Rosi and Campbell will all be gone? But most egregious is his marriage to Kitchen. ST on this team are consistently inconsistent. That a team who has Kane, Toews, Panarin, Keith and Seabrook on it's first PP unit is ranked 18 or 19th and looks as bad as they do is unthinkable. Most NHL coaches would die to have that first unit. Lastly, his management of the team over the last 10 games of the season led to this.
- GM - this is the bed Stan created. We can talk about the cap, the market, etc - but smart GMs pay for expectations of future performance, not past performance. The bottom line is that he has overpaid BADLY - both in terms of cap hits and NMC for MULTIPLE players - including Toews, Kruger, Seabrook and going back to Bickell. We also saw a big contract given to Anisimov before he played one shift. While he's gotten credit for his cap management, we are going to see the effects of this big contracts, his failure to get anything for assets (last offseason) and giving away of whatever pipeline there was.
- Kane - He didn't step up this playoffs, but frankly he's earned the mulligan. Let's look at what he's done in the two years since his contract kicked in - Year 1 - after a VERY trying offseason, he went out and won the MVP of the league with a brand new line including a journeyman center and a rookie who spoke no English. He got that kid the Calder. He and his line carried the team all season. Then this season, he comes in second in the league in scoring and his linemates also put up big numbers. He's proved he cam play with anyone and up his game and theirs. While he didn't star this series, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. What should not go unnoticed is that his linemates absolutely sucked this series. Anisimov was laughably brutal at the dot and Panarin waffled from lazy to disinterested to inaccurate.
- Panarin - see above. Disappearing in the playoffs - not good.
- The Kids - completely disappeared in the playoffs. Kero, Hartman, Schmaltz. Schmaltz was bad in Game 1 and got demoted. Hartman was completely invisible the entire series. Its as if the game was too big for them. But we've seen with Schmaltz - he's streaky. He had the nice little run, but I believe he ended the season without a goal in @ 25 games. A guy playing on the first line and getting a lot of shift time with Kane and Panarin?
- Crow - he's polarizing. People talk about the goal tending. We'll he did keep him in the games, he's just not the type of goalie that steals a game for his team. It's rare. For all of the 'he was outstanding' - he did still give up 5 goals in a critical 2nd game. When I watch him, it's as if he struggles with concentration. There are a lot of baffling goals that go in when it comes to 50 - ones we don't see with other goalies. I would give him more credit if not for the mediocre to bad run he had through January. That was a 25 game stretch where, statistically, he was one of the worst goalies in the NHL.
- Seabrook - when it was announced, we knew it was a terrible contract. We say it last season in which he looked out of shape. He slowed down significantly. Yes, he plays D, but you know what, it's ok for D men to score goals. Especially ones that play on a PP unit with Toews, Kane and Panarin. 3G all season. I believe he hadn't scored a goal in the last 50 games of the season. 50!!!
- The D - yes, slow and old, but also offensively impotent. There is no D man on this team that can get a shot through from the point. None. Zero. How many goals did we see scored against the Hawks from the point this season via a screen or a redirect? Answer - lots. Keith in particular - he literally cannot put a shot on goal. Wide every single time. These are talented players. It has to be a system thing.
- Toews - which brings us to the Captain. His performance was pathetic. It was pathetic for a $4M player. It was unthinkable for the highest paid player in the league. Until that meaningless goal, no goals in 13 straight playoff games? Outside of February, his season was garbage. At least 4 instances of 9+ game goalless streaks. Sure, we'll hear about the intangibles, but for $10.5M, he needs to put pucks in net. Period. Secondary apples like the one in Game 3 don't bear a lot of weight - a routine pass to a D man who makes a routine pass to one of the best shooters in the game who snipes is something to be excited about? All of the 'other things' he does, he wasn't doing. He effectively ended the game last night when it was 2-0 in the 3rd. D pinched into the zone to get in the rush. Toews loses a routine board battle against a bum which turns into a 3 on 1 effectively ending the game/series/season. It's one thing to say he looked ineffective this series - it's quite another to be honest and say he looked disinterested. Multiple instances of him not exerting effort.
Which brings us to the offseason. What to do? How excited are we about what's in the pipeline? The Hawks need D help - youth and speed - BADLY. The core is aging quickly. Oduya, Campbell and Rosi are all gone. Seabrook should be gone if they can find anyone to take that albatross contract. The team needs an injection of youth (not just guys like Kero) but young talented guys ala Pittsburgh, particularly on the blue line. That will require cap money. Money that is tied up in a few contracts. I would frankly be fine with seeing Seabrook, Kruger and Crawford off the roster. Hard to justify the spend on Crawford when an option that looks to be ready and perhaps 90% or better the goalie that Crow is, is available on the roster for probably half that cap hit. We all know of the Seabrook and Kruger contracts.
Kitchen has to be fired immediately. The performance of the PP unit in particular, with the talent on it, is simply unacceptable.
Which brings us to the sacred cows. I'd be fine with both Q and Toews saying good bye. For Q, I think this team needs some fresh blood and a new system. For Toews, I've now seen it two seasons in a row. If this is who this player is now, the window is closed. This team, as they've proved, cannot and will not win anything with this version of him. Couple that with the cap hit and it's crippling. 28% of the cap in two players. As someone said earlier, is there any other sport that has the two highest paid players in the league on the same roster? Everyone loves their dog but at some point you gotta put Rover down.
I personally thought this core would win one more Cup. I'm changing my tune. I think the window has closed. I attribute that to the decline of Toews, the lack of pipeline and the decline of various core players that happened quicker than we thought.
It was a fun and historic run and while I think they'll continue to be a playoff team, I don't see this group seriously contending for a Cup without changes noted.
