Overall (B)
13 - 6 - 2, 28 points, First in The Western Conference
I have to say that this is unexpected. With all of the untested players in the lineup I assumed that The Hawks would be in third place in the Central Division or duking it out for a Wild Card spot with Dallas and Edmonton. As it is, Edmonton's renaissance is a little ahead of schedule, Dallas has had no end of injuries to their top-six and The Predators, who I really thought would be leading The Central at this point, were miserable out of the gate.
People may point to The Hawks' remarkable run in late October - early November, in which they posted a sterling 11 - 0 - 1 record, and mistake that form for what The Hawks really are, but let's remember how they got that streak done; winning close, winning late and winning largely on the backs of Anisimov's and Hossa's hot hands. That twelve game stretch could just as easily have resulted in a 6 - 6 - 0 record.
But it didn't. Players get hot, their teams win games they probably shouldn't have, just as they'll have games in which they just cannot score, or cannot kill a penalty to save themselves. That's what we've seen during the last week. It's just the ups and downs of a team that's not quite complete.
The goaltending has been a large factor in where The Hawks find themselves: Crawford has won more than a few games pretty much on his own, while he has lost only one, maybe two games in which he was chiefly responsible.
Forwards - The Old Boys (B+)
Four out The Hawks' Top Five have delivered as expected, plus a little more. As mentioned, Hoss and Large Arthur enjoyed a few weeks in which they could do no wrong, with Panarin and Kane performing solidly, as well. With the big guys sporting identical 22.9% shooting, though, the personal stats and the overall record flatters to deceive; as nice as it would be they're not going to maintain that level any more than Richard Panik was going to be a legitimate first-liner. You take it when you get it and you hope it continues. Only Toews could perhaps be rated as disappointing, with a mere 12 points in 21 starts and, perhaps more startling, is only +2, playing in what is ostensibly a scoring role. He's been hampered by a rotating cast of left wingers, which is not ideal, but he's Johnny Effing Toews and he's supposed to rise above that kind of chaos. And now he's hurt, and it's likely his noggin, so we'll have to wait and see how that shakes out.
Marcus Kruger has been....Marcus Kruger. The stat line for Krugs often fails to tell the whole story, as he faces the opposition's top six almost exclusively, rarely starts a shift in the offensive zone and often gets pummeled in possession (as arrived at via shots attempts for vs. attempts against). Kruger's version of success doesn't even necessarily involve a scoring chance as the endgame; if he can get the puck to center ice and into the opposition's end before he tags up with Toews or Anisimov he's done his job. Apart from taking more penalties than usual, Kruger has delivered magnificently.
The Guys (C)
I've liked Dennis Rasmussen for the most part. Yeah, he's had a couple of nasty, evil games, in which everything he touched turned to mud, but I think he's worked hard to improve and genuinely applies himself as best he can. The problem is...he's not terribly skilled. His skating has certainly improved and his positioning has been above average, but his hands are not great, his shot is ordinary and, for a biggish guy, one wishes he was better at protecting the puck with his body. Still, the role he's settling into is as a complement to Kruger, shutting down the other guys' top lines and getting the puck to the other end of the field. He's being used more and more as a primary penalty killer and, despite The Hawks' struggles there, he's done an alright job of it. The more of that kind of duty Moose can soak up, the less Toews and Anisimov need take on, and that has a lot of value. Still needs work on faceoffs, though.
Richard Panik was sure fun to watch in the first ten or so games but the honeymoon's over. I think he's still quite a capable agitator (and not a dirty player, either, which is kind of odd) and dislodger of pucks, so I feel like The Hawks are getting what they paid for. I wouldn't mind seeing Panik buddied up with a couple of the The Young Ones, kind of in a Bickell / Stalberg sort of role. But with worse hands.
Desjardins - incomplete, as he's played only a handful of games, but I see Rasmussen as the better choice between the two.
Tootoo has been a waste of time and money and I hope we never see him again.
The Young Ones (B-)
Better than I had expected, but still not enough. That's not a criticism of Schmaltz, Motte, Hartman and Hinostroza, as I don't think anyone expected any of these fellas to storm in and solve The Hawks' depth issues right away. Honestly, I figured on only two of these guys sticking with the team this long, and the fact that Coach Q has exercised unforeseen levels of patience with them is encouraging beyond words. I almost put money on Hartman being punted to Rockford in favour of Brandon Mashinter.
These four have been given a ridiculous amount of leeway and I'm all for it. Maybe this approach will cost The Hawks a place in the standings, maybe not, maybe more, but they've never paid much attention to any kind of legacy plan before, the attitude being something along the lines of "Stan will fix it up at the trade deadline", so I find this kind of refreshing.
I read something last week in which an unnamed NHL GM rated our four new forwards and, I dunno if the guy gleaned his observations strictly from highlights packages, but I think he really sold them short. In his assessment he rated Schmaltz as a "possible" top six guy, Hartman and Motte as bottom six complementary-type players and Vin Hinostroza as a marginal NHLer, at best. I don't disagree with his reckoning of Hartman, but I believe he'll emerge as a damn fine third-liner, as he's gritty, decently quick and has okay hands. Schmaltz is harder to peg, as he'll have a good game where he shows flashes of creativity and puck patience, but follows that up with a game in which he wanders or is frightened away from the puck far too much. He'll swing from being impressive to awful on consecutive shifts, some nights. I think there's a lot more in him.
Motte has been a pleasant surprise, suggesting a great deal more of a nose for the net than advertised. His audition on Toews' left did not go especially well, though, so his destiny may not be the top six, but I still like what I've seen.
Hinostroza has had 1½ great games. He's given us a taste of what he might deliver if he takes the frenzy down a notch and takes a look around once in awhile. If he can relax, long term, we could have an actual scoring fourth line. If he can't settle himself down a bit, well, there's always The AHL.
Still, these four lads have a combined 9 goals and Hartman, quite unexpectedly, leads them with 4 markers. That's good, isn't it? Sure, we just need more. I enjoyed the Hino- Hartman - Motte combo vs. San Jose and wouldn't mind seeing them together for a few more games, at least.
Defense (B)
I thought this was the one part of The Hawks' lineup that was sorted. There was even the unexpected gift of TVR being unavailable for several weeks, yet...something just doesn't feel right.
Keith, Seabrook and Hjalmarsson have all been generally steady, although the first two have made very occasional catastrophic mistakes that, arguably, led directly to losses. Still, all in all, no seriosu complaints about these three.
I haven't been mad about Campbell; he's not been awful but, apart from isolated events, hasn't been the breakout artist I expected. He hasn't seemed especially comfortable alongside Forsling and I wonder if they play too similar a style to be paired up. Does he not trust Goose? Is he unsure what he should be doing vs. what Goose plans to do? Does anyone know what Goose is trying to accomplish? Anyway, Soupy just seems....tentative. He was better with Keith, but Q seems unwilling to stick with that duo, for some reason.
Kempny and Forsling....the new guys, have been okay. Kempny, I think, has been pretty much as I had hoped & expected; unspectacular but mostly competent. Forsling...I just don't know. At first, I thought he had the biggest balls in the West, skating himself out of numerous unenviable situations, but now I wonder if his confidence is greater than his speed, as he's been chased down quite a bit, lately. He's nearly worthless in front of the net, standing alone far too often while the opposition shoots & scores, and he needs to study Hjalmarsson's active stick technique. The skill seems to be there, but he sure lacks the size and strength for real d-work, and I'm unconvinced that his speed will make up for his physical shortcomings. I could really go either way on this guy.
Goal (A-)
As mentioned, Crow has outright stolen some games for The Hawks, but he's had a few real stinkeroos, as well. All goalies have them, it's going to happen, but Crow is smart enough and not so vain that he won't reflect on what went wrong and make a genuine effort to make corrections. No worries here.
That'll do. Let's go Duck hunting.
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