(670 The Score) Back in October, I wrote a Blackhawks season preview outlining what needed to go right for the Blackhawks to make a run at the playoffs. Now that they've officially been eliminated from playoff contention, I thought it might be a good exercise to review those "ifs" and see where the Blackhawks fell short.
Return to form from stars: ✔️
The Blackhawks hit this checkpoint with flying colors, at least up front. Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews put together career years statistically. Kane put the team on his back for the better part of the season. While his pace has slowed lately, he was fantastic and dynamic in a win over the Blues on Wednesday. He's been their best player all year, setting a career-high with 107 points.
Toews has been no slouch either. He has 79 points in 80 games and scored 35 goals for the first time in his career. On top of the offensive numbers, Toews still gave the Hawks outstanding two-way play.
Brandon Saad's numbers improved by 11 points (with two games to go) this season. He currently has 23 goals and 23 assists. At times, he has looked dominant. At other times, he has been invisible. He was a factor more often than not, which I'm not sure could be said for the 2017-'18 version of Saad.
Now to the defense.
Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook didn't quite bounce back as hoped, but I think it's safe to say that their declines at least paused for one season. Neither of them got worse as the season went on. Keith actually ended the season better than he began. Plus/minus is a fairly outdated and overvalued statistic, but it's hard to ignore his jump from -29 last season to +13 this season.
Seabrook is clearly on his last legs but delayed a huge drop-off this season. He's still an acceptable NHL defenseman in limited roles and protected shifts, but until some of the Hawks' young defenseman develop into reliable players, they need Seabrook to be more than that.
Continued growth from the young guns: ✔️
When the season opened, youngsters Nick Schmaltz and Alex DeBrincat were viewed as vital to the Hawks' future. Then, Schmaltz was traded to the Coyotes for Dylan Strome and Brendan Perlini in November. Strome stepped in and immediately found his groove with the Blackhawks. After recording only 16 points in 48 games with Arizona, his numbers exploded in Chicago. He has 49 points in 56 games with the Blackhawks and along with Kane and Erik Gustafsson has been a huge factor on the resurgent power-play.
DeBrincat silenced all doubters, scoring 41 goals to this point and solidifying his spot as one of the game's premier pure goal scorers. His chemistry with good friend Strome is clear, and they could make a dangerous duo for years to come.
Another forward stepping up: ✘
There were a lot of candidates for a young forward outside of DeBrincat to have an impactful contribution this season. Unfortunately, no one truly grabbed the opportunity. Brendan Perlini had a week in which he looked unstoppable, but he was invisible for the majority of his time. Dylan Sikura played 33 games this season, many of them on the top line with Toews and Kane, but failed to score a single goal. Dominik Kahun probably had the best season of the young forward group, recording 36 points, but the Hawks needed more from the unit as a whole.
Another defenseman stepping up: ✔️
Defensively, Gustafsson came out of nowhere with a 59-point season to date. His defensive game needs a lot of work, but he's one of the league's premier offensive defenseman. We'll have all offseason to break down his future with the team, but one has to wonder if he becomes expendable, as most of the Hawks' top defensive prospects are offensive-minded.
A relatively healthy Corey Crawford: ✘
The health of star goalie Crawford was the No. 1 factor in the Blackhawks finding success. When Crawford played, he was outstanding, especially toward the end of the season. Unfortunately, he couldn't play often enough, appearing in only 38 of the team's first 80 games.
The Blackhawks' team defense was bad all season long, and the unproven Colin Delia and an end-of-his-career Cam Ward couldn't do enough to mask the deficiencies in their extended time in net. Could the Hawks have won two or three more games with Crawford in net regularly? In my mind, absolutely. Six more points would look pretty good right now, wouldn't they?
I can't help but wonder how the season would have gone had coach Jeremy Colliton been given the entire offseason to implement his system. The struggles the team endured after Joel Quenneville's firing in early November proved too much to overcome, despite their excellent play in the calendar year 2019.
Jay Zawaski is the executive producer of the Bernstein & McKnight Show on 670 middays from 9 a.m. to noon and a columnist for 670 The Score. He's also the co-host of the Madhouse Chicago Hockey Podcast, which is available on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify or your preferred podcast app. Follow him on Twitter @JayZawaski670.
