Could the Blackhawks miss the playoffs

[PONCHE]

I didn't even mention the Canucks. The way playoff format is set up its more between division than conference. Max 5 div teams can make playoffs and when the teams are close its dilutes point totals so the likely hood 5 central teams make playoff isn't high. So it's not whether Hawks are better than Canucks it's whether Hawks are still better than stars, blues, preds, wild, and jets.

Ps hey Warhippy didn't you say Canucks would be in contention to be bottom feeders last year. Maybe you should stick to tennis

Probably, Yes, Probably, Definitely, Yes.

[ForsbergTheGreat]

i completely agree thus I gave mine. I don't understand how anyone who watches even a minute of hockey a year can say the hawks who have won 3 of last 6 cups is going to make playoffs. Thus his post is not an opinion but imo a troll post.

Kings in their previous years had won a cup, went to the conference finals and then won another cup. Identical to what the Hawks had done in their last three years.

[ForsbergTheGreat]

With the roster they have, every one of those all-star players would need to collectively sh!t the bed at the same times for them to even come CLOSE to missing the postseason.

Yes, they ARE that good.

Keith,

Seabrook,

Hjalmarsson

^ on of the best top 3 Ds you'll see in this league.

Toews,

Hossa,

Kane

^do I need to say anything?

Then there's the progress they hope to have from Terevainen and Dano

Not to mention one of the most well structured bottom 6 systems that I've ever seen.

Also, Joel Quenville.

The Blackhawks only real weakness imo is their tending. And that's been their weakness for a number of seasons now and they're still winning Stanley Cups so..... yeah.

They are simply TOO good to miss completely.

I love to hate the Hawks, but they are the upper echelon.

Last year Hawks finished only 3 points ahead of the 8th placed jets.

Kane's and toews are great. But they lost two key top 6 players and hossa is another year older. Turning 37.

Compare the Hawks top 6 to the stars and on paper its not even close

Benn Seguin nuchiskin

Sharp spezza hemsky.

Scary good. Sure they don't have Keith or seabrook but klingberg is a year older coming off an unreal rookie season. They upgraded their shutdown role by obtaining oduya and now have niemi to push lehtonen. The only reason the starts came up short last year was the seguin injury. As soon as he came back the stars were one of the best teams outside of cbj.

Put it this way. Last season both preds and blues finished above the hawks. Wild was one game back and jets were 3 points back. Two less victories and the Hawks would have missed post season last year. The division is that tight

Preds if anything remain on par.

Stars made big improvements.

wild with a full year of dubnyk should be better

Jets improved removing Kane and keeping stafford and Meyers. Possibly getting petan and ehlers in the line up.

The only teams that took steps back were the Hawks and blues

Blue took a step back unless tarasenko continues his current development curve

And Hawks lost two key top 6 and their back end warrior

Imagine losing burrows and Kesler and juice in the same year without bringing in vbrata. They lost 50+ top 6 goals. And are attempting to replace it with anisimov (career high 22 goals. Only 7 last season) and two rookies.

[greetingsfrombrazil]

They've never been great during the regular season, always making the playoffs as the 3rd in the central division. I suppose that will happen again this year, perhaps as a Wild Card. But as long as they have Toews and Keith playing more than 70 games per season, they will make it. If they get hurt, watch out

[Brad Marchand]

I only see it being a realistic possibility if Kane gets the Voynov treatment and is forced to sit out most of the year without cap relief. Otherwise, I'd be pretty damn sure the Hawks would make it.

[GB5]

Please refrain from making future posts - cdc

I hate when people respond to a decent post with a crap response like this.

To answer the question, yes they could miss the playoffs. Just one look at some of the other recent cup winners to miss the playoffs last year says that anything can happen in a very competitive western conference.

[PONCHE]

I didn't even mention the Canucks. The way playoff format is set up its more between division than conference. Max 5 div teams can make playoffs and when the teams are close its dilutes point totals so the likely hood 5 central teams make playoff isn't high. So it's not whether Hawks are better than Canucks it's whether Hawks are still better than stars, blues, preds, wild, and jets.

Ps hey Warhippy didn't you say Canucks would be in contention to be bottom feeders last year. Maybe you should stick to tennis

While I understand the premise of your post I don't know that I agree with it. You're saying its going to be hard for 5 central teams to make the playoffs. I counter by saying that I think it would be almost as difficult to have 4 teams from the Pacific. (Anaheim is a lock.... pretty much every other Pacific team is questionable at best.) And while its true that Chicago will play its largest group of games against it's division, the second largest grouping will be against the Pacific.

After all 5 Central teams found a way to make it last year. Do you really think that the Pacific has improved much? I don't.

I don't see anyone in the Central having too much trouble beating up on Arizona and Edmonton, or even Calgary, San Jose and Vancouver for that matter

[ForsbergTheGreat]

While I understand the premise of your post I don't know that I agree with it. You're saying its going to be hard for 5 central teams to make the playoffs. I counter by saying that I think it would be almost as difficult to have 4 teams from the Pacific. (Anaheim is a lock.... pretty much every other Pacific team is questionable at best.) And while its true that Chicago will play its largest group of games against it's division, the second largest grouping will be against the Pacific.

After all 5 Central teams found a way to make it last year. Do you really think that the Pacific has improved much? I don't.

I don't see anyone in the Central having too much trouble beating up on Arizona and Edmonton, or even Calgary, San Jose and Vancouver for that matter

The problem is this year there isn’t going to be as big of gap from 13^th spot to 8^th like there was this year (over 30 point gap). Oilers will be stealing some more points and that will drive playoff numbers down, it’s really just math, each team plays their division 29 times. Not every team can come out with 58 points from divisional games. Last year the Hawks went 15-14 within their division. With their conference getting better, they are going to have to get even more outer division points, last year they went 33-14-6, not much they can do to improve that stat.

The competition this year is so close. The only team I think is a forsure lock (like you said) is the Ducks. Simple because they are so much better than everyone else in the pacific. SJ, CGY, VAN, and LA are all a tossup as to who makes the playoffs and I expect all of them to be in the running. But at minimum two of those teams must make the playoffs. And teams in the pacific did get better. Flames, Oilers both improved, do Hawks still come away with 4 points from the oilers series, do they still come away with 5 points in the flames series? Are they able to improve on those series, they are going to need to if they lose more ground in their own conference.

Hawks in comparison to the ducks, aren’t that much better than their division. They were only one regulation loss to the jets from sliding into a tie for 5^th in their division last year. The Hawks didn’t improve this season. They removed two big pieces of their top 6. Saad and Sharp were two core players. 4 of the hawks top 8 point contributors last season are gone. Anisimov has only cracked 40 points once and that was 5 years ago. You can’t lose that much of your core (and no real replacements) without having a negative impact. In a conference that is so tight, any negative impact, even the slightest could put you on the outside of the playoffs.

Add to the fact that, that they’ve played more hockey than any other team in the league the last 3 years. Last playoff their D core ran on 4 players, any now they lost Oduya, Kings tried to go full season giving Doughty 28 min a night and at the end he just ran out of gas. There is bound to be a bit of a cup hangover, almost all teams experience it in the first couple of month. In 2011 when they ran in to some similar cap issues they dropped to 8^th seed, only one game ahead of the 9^th place flames.

Goaltending, Crawford isn’t really a huge game stealer.

Top 6 with the loss of Saad and Sharp. I would place them in the middle of the pack of the west.

And for top 3 D, Hawks do have a decent top 3, not the best in the league, but how’s their top 4 look?

Keith, Seabrook. Hjalmarson (Dailey)

Compared to:

Weber, Josi, Jones (ellis)

Gio, Brodi, Hamilton (Wideman)

Lindholm Fowler Vatenen (Despres/Bieska)

Pietrangelo Shattenkirk Bouwmeester (Gunnarsson)

Byfuglien Myers Trouba (Entrsom)

It’s really tight, and that’s just in the west.

Really the point I’m trying to make isn’t that hawks don’t have a chance at making the post season this year. It’s that if you really break it down, they aren’t as comfortable as being a lock as everyone believes they are. I won’t be shocked if the hawks miss playoffs this season, just as I wasn’t shocked that the kings missed the playoffs this last season. It’s going to be another tight race this year and the hawks could very well see themselves a few points out come April.

[Maginator]

Good post OP. Seriously some posters need to stop having such a closed mind. Yes obviously the Hawks are a great team, but OP made some very valid points.

Nashville and St. Louis are locks. It'll be a dog fight for the rest of the teams including the Hawks IMO. Kane is a big factor.

[mpt]

Not going to happen; even if Kane is behind bars they will still make the playoffs

[PONCHE]

The problem is this year there isn’t going to be as big of gap from 13^th spot to 8^th like there was this year (over 30 point gap). Oilers will be stealing some more points and that will drive playoff numbers down, it’s really just math, each team plays their division 29 times. Not every team can come out with 58 points from divisional games. Last year the Hawks went 15-14 within their division. With their conference getting better, they are going to have to get even more outer division points, last year they went 33-14-6, not much they can do to improve that stat.

The competition this year is so close. The only team I think is a forsure lock (like you said) is the Ducks. Simple because they are so much better than everyone else in the pacific. SJ, CGY, VAN, and LA are all a tossup as to who makes the playoffs and I expect all of them to be in the running. But at minimum two of those teams must make the playoffs. And teams in the pacific did get better. Flames, Oilers both improved, do Hawks still come away with 4 points from the oilers series, do they still come away with 5 points in the flames series? Are they able to improve on those series, they are going to need to if they lose more ground in their own conference.

Hawks in comparison to the ducks, aren’t that much better than their division. They were only one regulation loss to the jets from sliding into a tie for 5^th in their division last year. The Hawks didn’t improve this season. They removed two big pieces of their top 6. Saad and Sharp were two core players. 4 of the hawks top 8 point contributors last season are gone. Anisimov has only cracked 40 points once and that was 5 years ago. You can’t lose that much of your core (and no real replacements) without having a negative impact. In a conference that is so tight, any negative impact, even the slightest could put you on the outside of the playoffs.

Add to the fact that, that they’ve played more hockey than any other team in the league the last 3 years. Last playoff their D core ran on 4 players, any now they lost Oduya, Kings tried to go full season giving Doughty 28 min a night and at the end he just ran out of gas. There is bound to be a bit of a cup hangover, almost all teams experience it in the first couple of month. In 2011 when they ran in to some similar cap issues they dropped to 8^th seed, only one game ahead of the 9^th place flames.

Goaltending, Crawford isn’t really a huge game stealer.

Top 6 with the loss of Saad and Sharp. I would place them in the middle of the pack of the west.

And for top 3 D, Hawks do have a decent top 3, not the best in the league, but how’s their top 4 look?

Keith, Seabrook. Hjalmarson (Dailey)

Compared to:

Weber, Josi, Jones (ellis)

Gio, Brodi, Hamilton (Wideman)

Lindholm Fowler Vatenen (Despres/Bieska)

Pietrangelo Shattenkirk Bouwmeester (Gunnarsson)

Byfuglien Myers Trouba (Entrsom)

It’s really tight, and that’s just in the west.

Really the point I’m trying to make isn’t that hawks don’t have a chance at making the post season this year. It’s that if you really break it down, they aren’t as comfortable as being a lock as everyone believes they are. I won’t be shocked if the hawks miss playoffs this season, just as I wasn’t shocked that the kings missed the playoffs this last season. It’s going to be another tight race this year and the hawks could very well see themselves a few points out come April.

Very well reasoned. I can't disagree with your arguments as they are quite sound.

I guess it just comes down to gut instinct, mine is telling me that they make it. (How far they go is a debate for another day )

Good post. +1

[D-Money]

Any team could miss the playoffs, with enough injury trouble, goaltending issues, or just bad luck.

However, other than the wear-and-tear issue, I don't see it. In many ways, as much as it pains me to say it, I think the Blackhawks may have actually improved. Saad is definitely a loss, but Dano is no scrub, and may be nearly as effective. Sharp is nowhere near the player he once was - I suspect Panarin will actually be an upgrade. Anisimov is also an upgrade at 2C over old man Richards. And Teravainen is only going to get better. Also Viktor Tikhonov and Kyle Baun were great signings; if either pan out, it will be a big boost to their bottom-6.

They play in the best division, yes. But the whole "needing more points against other division, which is stronger" argument doesn't necessarily have merit either. The other teams in their division are going to be playing those same teams, the same amount of times, and if they are indeed stronger there will be less points going to the Preds/Stars/Blues too.

Also, in case anyone missed it, the allegations against Kane are pretty much dead in the water. The rape kit results came in, and none of his DNA was found on/in the girl, so their is no proof they even had sex, let alone whether it was consensual. Explains why the Blackhawks and NHL were willing to parade him in front of the press.

[VanNuck]

The Blackhawks are right now probably at their weakest point since their incredible revelation in 2009... but they will make the playoffs. As long as Toews is captain, Quenville is coach, and Bowmann is GM, they will continue to find ways to win, and they thrive when opposition is strongest.

However, the clock is ticking for them. The Oilers, Sabres, and Jets are on their way up, and they will emerge as top threats to Hawk dominance. Bowmann will soon have to replace Hossa and possibly Kane if they are to even compete with these guys, but I feel he will manage to do it.

[Mathew Barzal]

If Kane is lost and the injury bug hits them then they could very well miss the post season.

[DownUndaCanuck]

I think those kids they picked up will more than replace Sharp and Saad. Dano is one of the most underated prospect/young kids in the NHL, and they've still got the veterans to groom these kids into success. Anisimov, Dano, Teurovainen etc. will really shine, I expect almost all of their sophmores and younger guys to score around 15-20 goals. They just became a much more balanced team.

[Apple Juice]

Hawks will still make it. While Crawford may not be the elite goalie the Hawks may think he is, he comes up big in huge moments and these past coupe of seasons, he has shown that he can take his game to the next level. He can win games for the Hawks

[SaintPatrick33]

I think those kids they picked up will more than replace Sharp and Saad. Dano is one of the most underated prospect/young kids in the NHL, and they've still got the veterans to groom these kids into success. Anisimov, Dano, Teurovainen etc. will really shine, I expect almost all of their sophmores and younger guys to score around 15-20 goals. They just became a much more balanced team.

Bang on dawgz, I thought they got great value, and actually may even have more depth and young speed up front. This is still a team to be reckoned with, just depends if they coast too long during the regular season can they catch a hot streak.