Couple of other points:
- I said early on this was a team that wasn't going to make the playoffs. Too many holes - major question marks on D, lack of depth at F, issues at backup goalie, the expected decline of Toews (I didn't expect Saad to be his magic elixir), the loss of Panarin and what that would do for one of the most dynamic scoring lines in the NHL, ST issues and most notably, the other teams in the West improving - particularly Dallas with Bishop in net (although I didn't expect Vegas/WPG, but I also expected EDM to be in the mix).
- We've obviously seen the worst. But the key here is that this major slide all started when Crow went down. Yes, the team was iffy and Toews was bad, but Forsling was solid, Saad had a reasonable number of points, etc. Crow goes down and the team went to hell. The backup goaltending has been god-awful. There are two guys minding net who simply are not, nor will they ever be after this season, NHL goalies. Add the bad D in front of it and lazy effort by forwards, and we see the result.
- The mismanagement by Q on a number of fronts is baffling. We can go on and on about the PP system, but look at some of the roster and line decisions - insane. Kepmny continually in the box and Oesterle - who is a disaster on D - is playing first pairing minutes on his off side. He's been a mess and cost the Hawks at least two goals directly last night. Then we look at Cat. This kid is the natural replacement for Panarin - an absolute no brainer to be on the Kane/Schmaltz line. Has he played there at all this season? 20G so far. Kid would have 27-28 if he was playing on Kane's line. Instead Q has his playing with 3rd line plugs including, last night, Bouma and Wingels. Think about that - the Hawks best scorer outside of Kane and he's playing with two guys who should be waived. I'd love to see a stat about how many games Cat has played on a line with guys who have been healthy scratches in other games. Yeah, Schmaltz can't win a FO at center on that line, but Anisimov can't either. And he's got 1 goal in his last 16 games.
The Q assessment is hard. Kinda like the Phil Jackson assessment. Easy to win when you have Michael and Scottie and then Shaq and Kobe. I think a number of NHL coaches would have won Cups with the Core (ok, not Boudreau), but the key is the performance when the chips are down. I've seen enough baffling roster and line decisions, but more importantly, the handling of younger or 'not his guy' players. The (mis) handling of Daley told me a lot.
- We also look at Hino. One of the fastest skaters in the league in a speed league on a team that is dying for speed. Buried in Rockford for 40 games. Has nice chemistry on the first line. Keep him there? No, move him down to the 4th line so Duclair - a guy who has looked anywhere from meh to terrible, can play on the worthless first line.
- Back to Toews. It's speculation about concussions, or backs or effort. What we do know is that his diet DID change. The play seems to have changed when the diet changed. It seems taboo to question his 'heart'. Why? The number of athletes who had to stop playing because of concussions is a small list. The list of athletes who took their foot off the gas after getting the big payday is long. Why can't people fathom that the effort simply might not be there? We are seeing a lot of evidence of it - best case in point was that complete lack of effort on that OT goal.
- Fans - oh and back to the crazies. The word 'fan' doesn't come from 'fantastic' - it comes from 'fanatic'. Keep that in mind!
