Post 2017-2018 Report Cards Report Cards and Season Preview of Sorts: The Defense, oh Dear God, The Defense

If I may summarize before even getting going on this.....it was bad.
This was the most poorly managed aspect of The Blackhawks this past season.  It might be a stretch to say it was the nail in the coffin, given the goaltending disaster and the frequent & prolonged scoring droughts, but I really think it needn't have been as awful as it was.

Carl Dahlstrom

Big Carl played 11 games, apparently, but I clearly remember only two.  In one of those games he was the best of The Hawks' defenders, pushing the play effectively while still managing to mind the store defensively. The other game that springs immediately to mind was a complete disaster in which everything he involved himself in turned to mud.  Not especially quick and not always operating with confidence, Dalhstrom is nevertheless a big piece of furniture who, with adequate coaching, could develop into a solid, stay-at-home-crease-clearing-S.O.B with a smidge of offensive awareness about him. As I'm unconvinced that adequate coaching is available let's go with Incomplete and likely to be leapfrogged by Snuggerud or Hillman but there ya go.
TRAINING CAMP UPDATE: assigned to Rockford, thank goodness, 'cos he was horrifying in his preseason outings.

Gustav Forsling

Goose came out of the gate very strongly last season.  Paired primarily with Jan Rutta he looked confident, moved the puck north reasonably well and added a little offensive dash.  When the team went into its extended funk, though, Forsling was one of the first casualties, first in the form of being scratched and, soon enough, a demotion to The AHL.  That was fair enough, too, as Goose was becoming increasingly yippy with the puck and the opposition were suddenly exploiting his defensive limitations.  An absolutely horrifying effort vs. Brooklyn in late January was the last we'd see of Forsling, the plan likely to get him some big, high-responsibility minutes in Rockford and see about bringing him back, later.  Unfortunately for Forsling, the guy who replaced him in the lineup was deemed adequate...

If Forsling is going to stick with The Hawks something has to change.  He's simply not strong enough on the puck to be a pure defender; at 6', 186 lbs he loses most of his battles around the net.  While he was often able to skate his way out of trouble...he wasn't always able to pull it off, and when that tactic goes awry the result is often terrible and the error memorable.  While he's an okay puck-lugger, he's far from being an elite talent.  Goose has to either get bigger or get quicker.  A solid B until his slide, final grade a C.

TRAINING CAMP UPDATE: on the shelf after wrist surgery, 10-12 weeks.  

Cody Franson

The second-worst handled Hawks d-man this year, IMO.  Franson did exactly what he's done for his entire career (albeit a little slower) and still found himself in the AHL by mid-season.  As far as I'm concerned Franson's only sin was his lack of speed, and I'll mitigate that by pointing out that he bloody knows he's limited in that regard and makes up for it, somewhat, through smart positioning.  Contrast that with Seabrook who thinks he's still quick and is caught out of position on a nightly basis.  Yep, he had a few screamers this season, but he was absolutely the best PP quarterback The Hawks had at their disposal yet found himself in and out of that role, as well as in and out of the lineup entirely.  I honestly believe that he was the best fit for third-pairing duty + first PP unit but, for reasons I cannot fathom, he was instead cast to the gulag.  Seriously, were any of Franson's slip-ups any worse than Keith's inability to make a pass, any pass, in the last half of the season?  An unreserved B. 

Erik Gustafsson

After going the better part of two seasons between NHL games I had assumed that Gustafsson had been written off.  He looked dismal in last year's preseason and was certainly not on my radar at all.  However, all he did was buckle down and, by all accounts, play like an All-Star in Rockford, putting him on the top of the will-call list by the time things went south in Chicago.  Gus provided some occasional offensive spark, made possible by skillful passing and a low, hard point shot.  He's not a very fast skater but is deceptive enough to gain a few seconds advantage when breaking out.
However...
Gustafsson is a bad defenseman.  He's not strong, loses more puck battles than he wins and, most infuriating, doesn't even seem to be paying attention a lot of the time.  His positioning is garbage and his decision-making often dubious.  Too often he was standing idle while the puck crossed The Hawks' goal line.
Gus won a game or two for The Hawks last year but he was also largely responsible for a couple of losses.  The holes in his defensive game could likely be coached out of him, but probably not by The Hawks' current coaching staff.
I see Gustafsson duking it out for the 6th or 7th d-man slot, at best and, if he makes the cut it will have been at Forsling's expense, 'cos we can maybe afford to have one of these two around but certainly not both of them.  Coulda been a B if he'd been arsed about playing some defense but he wasn't so it's a C for Gus.

Blake Hillman

I dunno how much you can tell in a four game audition.  Hillman was okay, making no massive mistakes but not really distinguishing himself in any way, either.  Seems to play a bit bigger than he is and could maybe be a useful mind-the-store type guy for half of what Connor Murphy costs?  Incomplete.
TRAINING CAMP UPDATE: dispatched to Rockford.  


Michal Kempny

What's that?  Kempny didn't finish the season with The Hawks organization?  Well, lucky him.
I just wanted to include Kemps here to underline that, for all his apparent strengths, Coach Quenneville sometimes gets it very, very wrong.  I don't know if there was a personality conflict (and Kempny may well be a catalyst if that's the case) or if Q had a bad first impression of Kempny that he could not overcome, because Q never seems to change his mind.  Regardless, Kempny was put in a position where, if he made even the smallest mistake he'd be stuck to the bench and then in the press box for the next game, while Oesterle (and TVR, last season) was out there making a mess and rarely missing a shift.  That's gotta feel weird.
Kempny was the only Hawks d-man with a + rating when he left, and by a long margin, at that (+12 when he was traded).  Once he was traded to WASH he soon found himself playing alongside John Carlson on their second pairing.  From The Hawks' press box to The Capitals second pairing.
Oh, and a Stanley Cup win, too.  Let's not forget that.  Grade A because fuck Quenneville.

Duncan Keith

Incredibly disappointing.  Everyone knows what Keith has done in the past and, while he's not going reach those heights again, the quality of his game absolutely plummeted this season.  In practically every game from January-on there were mistakes along the boards, lost coverage in the danger zone in front of The Hawks' net and, worst of all, he appeared to have forgotten how to pass the puck.  Truthfully, I believe his heart just wasn't in it this year and his head and hands went along for that hellride.  Chillingly, he was still The Hawks best defenseman.  B

TRAINING CAMP UPDATE: Looked great vs. DET, quicker than he's been in a few years.

Brandon Manning

Free-agent signing out of Philly.  Manning was undrafted and took five seasons to stick in The NHL so he's paid his dues, I guess, and is where he is 'cos he's had to prove he belongs in The Show.  He's got decent size and has some snarl to his game.  Manning infamously broke Connor McDavid's collarbone a couple of seasons back and took some flak for allegedly stating that he'd done it on purpose.  Seems pretty average in all regards and destined to the bottom three (if that's a thing).  

Chief concern with Manning might be discipline and, with a lot of options on D this year, dumb penalties could well get him a seat in the press box.

Photo credit: Getty Images


Connor Murphy

Say hello to Mr. Average.  Not quick, not exceptional with the puck, okay shot....but not glaringly awful, either.  He's defensively responsible and made the fewest hideous errors of this bunch but he has no offensive flair whatsoever.  That's fine, The Hawks need a steady, dependable Guy back there who will give you the same game, night after night.  Murph would an ideal shut-down man if he had a little more speed but, lacking that, we're left with a pretty solid (if slightly overpaid for what we get)  third-pairing guy who can slot up if absolutely necessary.  We received exactly what was shown on the box: B

TRAINING CAMP UPDATE: Out with a back injury until November-ish.

Jordan Oesterle

Sweet Christ am I glad to see the back of this guy leaving Illinois.

I'll begin with a few positives:

- better than average puck-lugger with good speed, agility and straight up nerve

- very good shot - not exactly heavy but he keeps the puck low and on-target

- he's somebody else's problem, now

Because

Oz is a terrible defenseman.  That he was held in higher regard than Kempny and spent significant  time on The Hawks' top pairing is a friggin' sin, boys, a friggin' sin.  G'wan with ya and don't come back.  A generous C- based on a few heroic games.

Jan Rutta

Early on, paired with Forsling, Rutes looked like the find of the year, another one of those way-off-the-radar guys that The Hawks' European scouts have unearthed the last couple of years.  Some rough outings for that pair led to their separation and, along with missing a week here and there with some minor injuries, he never seemed to get that mojo back until very late in the season.  He was dreadful in that embarrassing late-season collapse vs. VAN but was steady enough after that, closing out the season strongly.  It's hard to say what happened here, whether he stopped doing the things that worked early on or if those things stopped working for him.  It's equally possible that, like Kempny, Coach Q's first impressions of him were not favourable....and we know how that goes.  I won't be surprised if Rutta is traded before training camp but I'd be just as happy to see him get another crack at this.  B-

Brent Seabrook

Well, the old warhorse certainly didn't get any quicker this year but his game was far better than the previous season.  Seabrook appeared more mentally invested this year, which isn't to say that there weren't errors in judgement or missed assignments....it just wasn't as awful as it had been.  As much as anything I was grateful that he (mostly) dispensed with flopping to the ice as his Plan A to break up odd-man rushes.  Going forward, perhaps he'll refrain from passing the puck to nowhere and being the guy facing the wrong way in replays of goals against The Hawks.  Baby steps back to where he can and needs to be, but we have to just hope for the best where Seabrook is concerned 'cos we're bloody stuck with him until he's 68 or some damn thing.  B-

In conclusion, it was a bit of a mess.
It appeared that The Hawks had a lot of tools at their disposal but maybe they weren't of the quality that they seemed, at first.  Or, just as likely, they lacked a skilled craftsman to put them to their proper use, as their deployment ranged from weird to dumb to downright mysterious at times.
There was also the problem of the made men not playing to their potential and either not understanding or simply not caring that they were leading by their example.  If Keith and Seabrook ain't give a damn, what's the message to the young ones, then?

OTHER PRESEASON STUFF
Some interesting stuff is happening with The Hawks' D-corps, not all of it good, but more opportunities exist for a young guy or two to make their marks.
Injuries to Forsling and Murphy open up one assured roster spot and reduce competition for another.  
Brandon Davidson, who played for three different NHL teams last season, appears to be hanging around on a PTO.  This falls under "not all of it good" as Davidson is not The Answer and my fear is that Q will make him his next TVR/Oesterle project.
Hillman, Snuggerud and Dennis Gilbert (who I thought looked fine vs. OTT) have all been dispatched to Rockford's camp.  I thought those first two would stick around longer but, in fairness, neither of them look set to make The Hawks just yet so maybe it is best to get them stuck in over there.
Joni Tuulola?  Easily the worst player on either side in the DET game.  Pass.
The Future, we are told, lies in one, two or all of Adam Boqvist, Henri Jokiharju and Nicolas Beaudin, but none of them are even remotely ready yet. I didn't mind Beaudin vs. DET last weekend and Boqvist looks to be an elite puck-mover in the making, but with considerable defensive issues at the moment.  Jokiharju was awful vs. OTT, a game in which a lot of Guys actually shone, so hopefully he gets another game or three to regain his mojo.  I thought Boqvist appeared the most likely of the three to actually play this season but he was returned to London (OHL) on Wed (Sept. 26) so, of these three, only Jokiharju remains in camp.