If I just look at the breakdowns of age here, this team has a lot of things going for it next year and beyond -
players 32 and older:
Duncan Keith
Brent Seabrook
Corey Crawford
players 28-32 years old
Artem Anisimov
Patrick Kane
Jonathan Torews
players 25-27 years old
Brandon Saad
Connor Murphy
Erik Gustafsson
players 24 and under
Dominik Kahun
Alex Debrincat
Dylan Strome
Henri Jokiharju
Gus Forsling
Collin Delia
Drake Caggiula
Dylan Sikura
John Hayden
David Kampf
Brendan Perlini
Dominik Kubalik
this is not a team like the Kings, Sharks or Ducks that have a lot of older players, how on Earth can anyone not be optimistic about this group when only 3 players on this roster would be considered outside of prime years?? the vast majority of our team is 26 and under, that means these guys are still learning the game and generally can and do improve. Kane and Toews are barely over 30 years old as well..this is exactly what you want to see from a team trying retool.
if we add 1-2 decent forwards like Donskoi, Tanev, Nelson whoever - they are all 26 and under as well...and will only add to our future core. the Hawks are going to make a big jump next year, they will make the right moves.