Are the Chicago Blackhawks a playoff team? That is a question I’ve been struggling to wrap my head around the past couple weeks. This season has been a rollercoaster from the firing of Joel Quenneville, to the many multi game losing streaks, to the current resurgence the team is on it has been difficult to get a read on this team. Are they a team destined to pick in the top five or are they a team that can be a playoff hopeful? This team reminds me of the 2007-2008 team that narrowly missed the playoffs. That team was the team that kickstarted the Blackhawks run as one of the NHL’s elite franchises. From a fan standpoint there were many similarities to the current situation the Blackhawks find themselves in. Looking back on this team can also give Blackhawks fans a frame of reference on how to feel about this years team heading down the stretch.
The first similarity between the two teams is the Coach. In 2007 the man behind the bench for the Hawks was legendary player Denis Savard, a coach with very little experience. Current skipper Jeremy Colliton finds himself in a similar situation as Savard as a coach on his first NHL job trying to command a locker room filled with players that in some cases might be older than him. Savard managed to get the respect of the players in the room by not being afraid to shake things up and reprimand players for their mistakes, whether they were 16 year veteran Martin Lapointe or top prospect Patrick Kane. As the year went on Savard began playing his younger players more and more and would put them on the ice in high leverage situations which certainly helped the development of youngsters like Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith. While Colliton and Savard are two completely different coaches we’ve seen the Blackhawks current coach implore a similar strategy to the coach of 11 years prior. Colliton hasn’t been afraid to sit veterans like Chris Kunitz or Cam Ward in favor of younger players and in many of the close games on the Blackhawks recent hot streak he has had young defensemen like Gustav Forsling and Carl Dahlstrom in those high leverage situations.
Another similarity is the makeup of the rosters. The 2007-08 roster was certainly a young one with many players under the age of 25 playing key roles. The previously mentioned Kane, Toews, and Keith weren’t the only young guns playing key roles as Brent Seabrook, Dustin Byfuglien, Dave Bolland, and Patrick Sharp all solidified themselves as legitimate NHL players that season. The way this reminds me of this season is because Coach Colliton has also been turning to many young players who are starting to solidify their case as a part of the team’s future like Dylan Strome, Dominik Kahun, Alex DeBrincat, and Erik Gustafsson are doing this season. If these current players can pan out the way the players given opportunity in the past were the Blackhawks can be back on track soon.
Another parallel of the roster makeup involves the treatment of a promising defenseman. In 2007 the Blackhawks suited up a 20 year old D-Man for 13 games by the name of Niklas Hjalmarsson. Despite carrying an unreal 56.0 CF% Hjalmarsson would spend the majority of the season in Rockford. Does a promising young defenseman who seems like he can handle playing in the NHL being sent to the minors sound familiar? Well that’s the exact situation 19 year old Henri Jokiharju finds himself in currently. Jokiharju’s CF% is an impressive 54.1% but was recently sent to join the Icehogs.
While his possession metrics were great Hjalmarsson looked overmatched at times and was learning to survive rather than thrive. He benefited greatly from playing the rest of the season and part of the 2008-2009 season in Rockford and would be NHL ready within a year as he was relied on heavily in the 2009 playoffs and would become the anchor of the Blackhawks defense for three Stanley Cup runs. The hope is Jokiharju can benefit from playing in Rockford and will be able to dominate soon and will return to the NHL much more mature and confident.
With these similarities being noted, how should the Blackhawks approach the rest of the season? In 2008 when the trade deadline approached, despite being in the playoff hunt, the Blackhawks didn’t act as buyer they made low risk trades that could help their future. They sent forward Tuomo Ruutu to the Carolina Hurricanes for Andrew Ladd, two young players with potential that needed a change of scenery. Ladd would go on to be one of the Hawks key depth forwards over the next two seasons. They also sent veteran Martin Lapointe to Ottawa in exchange for the draft pick that would become Ben Smith. The Lapointe trade was one that the Hawks may end up making similar moves to this season, a player that can help the team down the stretch but is on an expiring contract and can have some value to another team.
The 07-08 team relied on their young players for the rest of the season and narrowly missed the playoffs. While missing the postseason was considered a failure, the last two months of the season provided opportunities for Kane, Toews, Keith, Seabrook, and the rest of the young core to play some meaningful games and give them experience for the coming years.
That provides me with optimism about this season. I hope the Blackhawks can continue to play strong and provide their young players with some meaningful games at the end of the season. Even if they miss out on the playoffs, Stan Bowman has proved he can find value outside the top ten picks with selections of players like Teuvo Teravainen, Phillip Danault, and Nick Schmaltz in the first round. So enjoy this ride Blackhawks fans, we can’t guarantee the results will be great, but sometimes the journey is more fun than the destination.
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