In three of these six abject failures The Hawks were in the thing, had a chance to win or at least get to the coin-toss round, but managed to find a way to screw it all up.
And after each loss we see this:
Lookit that face, that defeated, bewildered expression. He has no more idea why The Hawks are failing so hard than I do. There's not a lot of pride or will left in this group. They only show urgency in brief spasms of realization that they can and should be winning some hockey games. Then one of them makes an ungodly, unforced error, promptly ending any thoughts that can actually compete.
Sick of seeing & hearing this guy, too.
Keith's assessments of goings-on are even worse, maybe because it's more frequently him making the back-breaking gaffe. Who does he think he's kidding, jawing about "a full 60-minute effort"? Any team is allowed to have lulls and it's only sometimes been these lulls that have done them in. The greater sin has been crap like Seabrook sending a pass straight onto an opposing player's stick right in the goddamn Danger Zone™, or Rutta not putting any snot on his outlet passes. Or forwards drifting lazily into The Hawks' zone, oblivious to opposing players sneaking in behind them. Or Gus, or Manning or Forsling, standing idly around The Hawks' net, often with their back to the guy who's about to score.
And with every mistake that results in a goal against you can sense the energy leaving these guys, any momentum gained just cast aside.
Kane is losing his desire. Despite playing almost 28 minutes in Vegas he was only occasionally a factor, just kind of going through the motions a lot of the time. Even with his soul half-sucked out of him he's been good enough to notch some helpies but has netted only one goal in the last month. Yeah, he's not "feeling it" as the kids say these days.
Crawford has been so-so. He's made some incredible saves in recent games but he's also allowed one or more goals in each of those games that he simply whiffed on. His reaction to the Engelland goal on Thursday was encouraging, at least. He hasn't given up, yet.
And even leaving out his spectacular giveaway vs. VGK, Seabrook has been garbage in his own end, struggling to even get the puck up the boards reliably. Yeah, five more years of this horror show.
What else?
Connor Murphy is poised to return which will require another D-man make way. It's a three-way tie for last, there, as Forsling, Rutta and Manning should all be in the conversation regarding who is demoted, waived, traded or placed on an ice floe. I like Forsling's offensive side but, going back to a preseason post in which I asserted that there isn't room for Goose AND Gustafsson on the roster, Gus is clearly the one to keep of these two. The decision makers seem to like Manning despite his general lack of any ability, so his long con will likely continue. Henri Jokiharju has not, it seems, endeared himself to coach Colliton, so maybe HE ends up in Rockford, fer gawd's sake.....
Dylan Strome might be a real thing but Brendan Perlini definitely is not.
NEXT: Back to The UC on Sunday against not-terrible Montréal. Someday I hope to refer to The Hawks as "not terrible" but today is not that day.
Nine Inch Nails - The Big Come Down
No comments:
Post a Comment