Chicago Blackhawks Window

[pokey10]

Lets do the Window Opening/Opend/Window Closing game. I believe the Hawks still have another good two more years as a threat to come out of the West. Im reluctant to anoint them as the Best of the West. With the likes of Edmonton, Anaheim, Nashville and St. Louis they will have a work load. But I think the Hawks have an 'Open Window'. Thoughts?

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[jetsforever]

Kane+Toews+Keith = window

 

[Kingsfan1]

Kane+Toews+Keith = window

+ Panarin

 

[Hockeyholic]

I'd say it's starting to close. Seabrook & Toews will be anchor contracts. Hossa is nearing the end. Q is an excellent coach. That said, I have a feeling he is gone if they don't get to the third round this season.

 

[ChiefWiggum]

Their forwards are fine. Kane, Toews, Panarin are highly effective players and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Hossa may need a replacement soon because nobody can outrun father time. But they seem to spit out quality forwards out of their farm system with ease, so there may be no problem there.

Their defense is aging and definitely needs an upgrade. Seabrook is no longer the elite defenseman he once was and Keith is beginning to slow down in my opinion. When I watched him in 2010, it was like he just glided around the ice, but now his speed has taken a dip

Crawford is Crawford. Let's not get into a debate here over whether he is a quality starter or not. Point is that he hasn't regressed and has won Cups before at this level.

Conclusion: They need an upgrade on defense and maybe a few more depth forwards, but when you have Kane, Toews, Panarin in their primes and another good year or two of Duncan Keith left, there should be no reason why you can't ice a championship team.

PS: Anaheim and St Louis will have taken a step back next year, Nashville won't be back in the Stanley Cup Finals.

 

[Mikeshane]

Tough one but I'm gonna say yes their window is closed because of salary issues.

They aren't getting good value on many contracts, if they could renegotiate Toews and Kane's contract and get a few free buyouts it would be different, but they can't.

 

[Rick74*]

If they can dump seabrook's contract and make some moves, sure.

On second thought, I don't give a ****.

 

[Teemu]

Right now, the clock is set at two years. It'd take another Panarin-style miracle to extend it beyond that.

 

[Aceboogie]

I dont really buy the window argument alot of the time. I dont think Hawks will be that perennial contender each year but I do see them going for a long run in like 4 years when everyone thinks the window is slammed shut. As mentioned above- Toews/Kane/Keith can keep a "window" open for a long time

 

[Kaners Bald Spot]

Right now, the clock is set at two years. It'd take another Panarin-style miracle to extend it beyond that.

Yes. The Panarin/Hjalmarsson pending UFA in 2019 ends the window.

 

[Uberdachen]

Window? What are they, starving vagabonds? Is the Stanley Cup a cooling pie? Use a door, Blackhawks. Use a goddamn door.

 

[Fugazy]

Kane+Toews+Keith = window

Don't forget Panarin.

 

[Peat]

Window? What are they, starving vagabonds? Is the Stanley Cup a cooling pie? Use a door, Blackhawks. Use a goddamn door.

You've got to be hungry for the cup. Winners don't use doors, they get that delicious pie by any way necessary.



I'm not sure they've got the depth to do it. If I'm overestimating how important the depth is, then as long as Kane/Keith/Toews can contribute.

 

[HolyJumpin]

PS: Anaheim and St Louis will have taken a step back next year, Nashville won't be back in the Stanley Cup Finals.

I don't see why any of these statements are correct. St. Louis won't have Shattenkirk but they'll have Robby Fabbri back and a more seasoned core. There will at least one new defenseman and probably a new forward.

Anaheim might be getting a bit long in the tooth but they don't seem to ever stop being consistently good in the weakest division in hockey.

Nashville will still be a cup contending team if they keep their heads on straight and can get their goaltending problem addressed before Pekka really tanks.

Chicago's contending days are over for a while. They might make it to the Playoffs but players regress and the supporting cast just isn't there. Years of contending start to take their toll. They look gassed by the Playoffs. I think they're going to compete pretty well in the regular season but I just think that they're completely beatable in the playoffs.

 

[Ricky Bobby]

Chicago is done as a serious contender.

They're set to follow a similar path as the Wings who prior to this year made the playoffs for 7 straight years to only get knocked out in either the 1st or 2nd round.

Kane + Toews + Seabrook contracts are crippling their cap situation and the cap is barely increasing.

Krueger + TVR are quality depth that are due to be lost to Vegas. They'll likely also lose a key piece in Hjalmarrson because they can't afford him. They lost Shaw last off-season as well as an affordable good youngster in Teravainen.

They'll soon have to LTIR Hossa which will hurt them or pay a team like the Yotes to take him on when he retires ala Datsyuk.

By the time they can build up the team with quality youth in 3-5 years guys like Seabrook, Toews, Keith, Kane will have declined a fair bit.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Their core guys are still relatively young, but they do need an injection of talented youth to make up the lack of depth. They look like the pens did in 2014, a formerly elite team on the decline. Thankfully guys like Sheary, Guentzel, Rust, Dumoulin, Murray, Wilson, Rowney, Kuhnackl, etc seemingly came out of nowhere. Chicago needs that same type of youth renaissance to win another cup.

 

[Menzinger]

They need to do something like what the Pens did with the Kessel trade.

Problem that is pretty hard to overcome though is that Toews and Seabrook are performing well below their caphits. Hard to bring in that need piece to rejuvenate the core with so little cap space.

 

[TK 421]

Their forwards are fine. Kane, Toews, Panarin are highly effective players and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Hossa may need a replacement soon because nobody can outrun father time. But they seem to spit out quality forwards out of their farm system with ease, so there may be no problem there.

Their defense is aging and definitely needs an upgrade. Seabrook is no longer the elite defenseman he once was and Keith is beginning to slow down in my opinion. When I watched him in 2010, it was like he just glided around the ice, but now his speed has taken a dip

Crawford is Crawford. Let's not get into a debate here over whether he is a quality starter or not. Point is that he hasn't regressed and has won Cups before at this level.

Conclusion: They need an upgrade on defense and maybe a few more depth forwards, but when you have Kane, Toews, Panarin in their primes and another good year or two of Duncan Keith left, there should be no reason why you can't ice a championship team.

PS: Anaheim and St Louis will have taken a step back next year, Nashville won't be back in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Curious what you're basing your prediction for Anaheim and St.Louis on. It certainly could happen of course, but prognosticating that they will prior to the ED and UFA seems premature.

 

[Paperbagofglory]

Gary Bettman closes a window but opens a door. They will be fine, the all mighty Bettman will make sure of it.

 

[viper0220]

Gary Bettman closes a window but opens a door. They will be fine, the all mighty Bettman will make sure of it.

This. The NHL and lil uncle Gary wants to land a big TV contract in the US and he needs Chicago for that, big market teams will be given a free get out of jail card(yet again), even if it means another lockout.

 

[JaegerDice]

They have 2-3 years.

If they can move Seabrook and infuse some youth on D, that increases a bit.

Their pipeline as far as forward depth is healthy. Its the backend that's going to drag them down.

If they cant or choose not to move Seabrook out of loyalty, they're done in two years tops.

 

[Bank Shot]

I think they are done.

Keith is on a sweet contract. He's kind of in the territory where he may lose a step or two at any time though.

Kane's contract is fair, but not a deal by any means.

The Seabrook, Toews and Hossa deals are downright bad.

It looks like they may have to dump another two of their complimentary players this season to get under the cap, and Panarin is going to want a raise in the next couple of years.

Too top heavy on their contracts, and the majority of those guys aren't worth their deals. I don't see how they win more Cups in a situation like that.

 

[Fugazy]

I still think they have another 2-3 years of being in the upper echelon.

 

[meenamjah]

their window closed the moment kane and toews got those monster contracts.

 

[CallMeShaft]

Hawks didn't get their ***** handed to them by Nashville because of a lack of depth or core players regressing (though Seabs yearly decline is scary).

The reason the Hawks lost that series, in such devestating and embarrassing fashion, is because of coaching.

A few weeks prior to the start of playoffs, Peter Laviolette shifted his team's system. He gave the green light for his defensemen to skate through the neutral zone, instead of the more conservative way in which the system requires always having two men back.

Quite simply, Nashville, knowing that they wouldn't get anywhere with how they were playing, adapted. And with that adaptation, they got better at transitioning the puck up ice. The four teams who made it to the conference finals all played this structure.

Q didn't adapt. Our system is primary one that relies on the stretch pass, and the players on this team do NOT like to dump and chase. So when Nashville clogged up the neutral zone, our entire structure collapsed.

The one player who is good at skating through the neutral zone and up ice is Kempny. Kempny only got into the series after the Hawks faced the deepest of playoff holes. And Oduya, the guy who should've sat for Kempny, still got playing time in that 4th game (we iced 7 defensemen).


If Q can adapt, the Hawks can survive (at least for now). Otherwise, we'll do well enough in the regular season and go out with a whimper in the playoffs.