Post-Game Talk: Game 8: vs Lightning | 10/24/15 | Hawks win 1-0 in OT (Toews)

[The Toews Era*]

I think they're doing alright, but yes, they're definitely not at the level they were at the end of last season and in the playoffs, when they were relentless forechecking bulldogs who would start every shift in their own zone and then end every shift pinning the other guys in the offensive zone.

I think there are a few reasons.

1) Shaw is struggling. Just across the board. But he was struggling at this time last season as well. He may just be a guy that elevates his game as the season continues and into the playoffs. It's worth keeping an eye on, but after piling on him early last year I'm going to be patient this year.


2) The defense. The 4th line took pretty much every shift with Hammer and Oduya last year. They've spent time with almost all the D pairs this year. They've spent a fair bit of time with Keith and Hammer, but Keith and Hammer play differently together than Hammer and Oduya, as they're not a pure shutdown pair. The other two pairs are obviously works in progress. And now Keith is out, so everything is getting mixed up again. They can't be as aggressive as they were when they had the comfort and reliability of Hammer and Oduya behind them shift in and shift out. I think once things stabilize on the back-end and the players get comfortable with the styles and habits of the D pairings they find themselves on the ice with most, you'll see an improvement.


3) They're taking even tougher starts than last season so far. This is almost entirely due to the Toews line struggling IMO, because that line has been getting close to the easiest starts of Toews career. Likely in an effort to get Toews and Hossa going, or maybe to ease in the various LW experiments, Toews and Hossa have been seeing easier competition and more offensive zone starts than usual.

In 2014-2015 Toews had a ZSO%Rel of +3.28 and Hossa had a ZSO%Rel of +0.79.

In 2015-2016 Toews has a ZSO%Rel of +13.10 and Hossa has a ZSO%Rel of +12.44.

The 4th line is taking most of the draws in the neutral zone and defensive zone that the Toews line did last season, and it's usually against pretty tough competition (1st or 2nd line players).

As it becomes clearer and clearer that Tik is the guy and Q gets more comfortable dialing up the difficulty for that line, I think you'll see the workload come down for the 4th line and they'll do better as a result.

Good stuff. As an OCD/order/logic type myself, I always used to stress out about Shaw but nowadays oddly I find him to be one of the most reliable and critical Hawks. The punishment he absorbs, his sneaky dominant display against the Getzlaf line (and really plenty of tough opposition over the years), and his offbeat antics (I was incredibly stressed during that triple OT game 2 against the Ducks last year but I think his headbutt calmed me and more importantly sort of galvanized the team a bit). He also has a sneaky useful offensive sense that complements Kruger well. I still think that if he wasn't out injured due to the Stoner hit in 2014 for the start of the Kings series (forget how many games it was), that series works out a little differently. Admirable guy, does more with his innate ability than almost anyone I can think of in the NHL.