About Last Night: Twenty Five Percent

On last night's game, itself:
- Jonathan Toews continues to show signs of life, especially when SURPRISE SURPRISE he's combined with other talented forwards.  Last night he played primarily with Hossa and Teravainen which amounted to The Hawks having two lines that represented an actual threat to score.  Doesn't that sound better than just one line?  More about that in a bit.
- Crawford did not look especially great but his D frequently struggled to clear the zone as well as they are able.  Sometimes that happens.

The Bigger Picture:
- This was going to be a post about how Joel Quenneville needs to do something, anything, to live up to his reputation as a "Top NHL Coach".  I remain mostly unconvinced that this is true; I believe he has been a decent coach and can be an effective strategist but, given the talent he's had at his disposal both in Chicago and in Colorado, the job was half-done for him.  He's had the leeway to make many poor decisions and still find success when the players rise above those circumstances and I'm leaning toward thinking that almost any experienced coach could have "guided" The Hawks teams of the past six or seven years just as ably.
Last night's lineup, though, was a small step in the right direction as Q doubled down with two capable lines and at least gave The Senators some decisions to make as far as matching lines was concerned.  The Hawks' best line, among the best in the league, has been the only consistent threat all season, accounting for 35 goals-for which is about 50% more than all the other Hawks forwards combined.  How this trio has managed to remain effective for so long is mind blowing given that they face the opposition's best shut-down men night-in-night-out, especially on the road.  We've already seen Panarin appear to wear down a bit and opposing coaches keying on the rookie, specifically, so the need to have another line that at least might score a goal, someday, is be essential to get Panarin a little less of that personal attention.  
The Hawks have been somehow getting by with 25% of their lineup doing more than 50% of the scoring.  It's time to exercise some patience with the players that have some chance to contribute and cut bait with those that aren't going to do more than skate up and down the rink.  Last night's lineup was encouraging but let's see how long this lasts.  
- On that tack, I find it puzzling that Q has spent as much time tinkering with his third and fourth lines as he has with the ostensible "first" line (i.e. whichever unsuitable wingers Toews has been burdened with, lately).  It's all the more of a head-scratcher when we consider that he persevered with Shaw-Toews-Garbutt for much of the Circus Trip when, as the road team, they ceded last change to their opposition for six straight games, a stretch in which the aforementioned "first" line found modest success in one game.  
- Where the third and fourth lines are concerned, they are what they are; The Hawks are not blessed with incredible depth in the bottom six or eight right now, and that's just something that they'll have to make the best of.  Perhaps establishing consistent lines down there will at least allow those six guys to develop a little chemistry...I don't know.  I'm pretty sure that having Dano and Mashinter play 5-to-8 minutes apiece is not helping these lines gel; Dano needs to play more, Mashinter needs to be playing in the ECHL or some other place, far, far away.  Quenneville's deployment of Dano has hardly set him up to succeed and the few opportunities Dano has been afforded have been halfhearted, at best.  The kid needs a little more rope than he's been given, as he's paying dearly for each and every mistake.
- Andrew Shaw has been a nightmare.  In the past he has usually been able to bounce around the lineup and be sort of effective but, this season...not so much. He's been undisciplined, out of position more often than not and, whilst skating with Toews the last few weeks, probably more of a hindrance than a help.  But, he's Quenneville's guy and, until some other team decides they need a less capable Steve Downie or whichever goof you like, we're stuck with him.
- One last mini-rant on depth and deployment: looking at what should be The Hawks' bottom six Kruger needs to be there, even though his meager offensive skills have all but departed, and Kero has probably been the best of the rest of the group. Shaw, as discussed, is a made man so he's a lock, and Dano should at least be given a chance to play.  This leaves Garbutt, Desjardins and Mashinter for Quenneville to tinker with.  Hinostroza, Baun and Hartman all had their looks, each failed to accomplish anything in their NHL auditions, and only Hartman has been less than shitty even at the AHL level.  Would reinserting Tikhonov or Bickell or even Morin (ha!) be any worse an idea than carrying on with some of the others? Tikhonov knows how to play positionally and keeps his feet moving, at least.  As it is now he's the highest paid interpreter on The Hawks' staff.