Benko Is Burning

Boy, oh, boy where do I even begin with this team right now?  I had the distinct displeasure of witnessing Saturday’s debacle in Phoenix, the 8^th straight loss for the once Western-Conference leading Hawks.  There isn’t exactly one specific issue that plagues this team but rather a combination.  Let’s start with the special teams.  With a powerplay ranked 16^th and a penalty kill at 28^th, it’s hard to see this team making too much noise come April unless these change in a hurry.  The penalty kill has been terrible all season long and the triangle and 1 setup that Mike Kitchen has implemented needs to be trashed immediately.  The opposing D-men have way too much time to set up in the Hawk zone which almost lets the opposition set up as though they have a 5-on-3 since the top point man can’t go side to side quick enough.  If you make note of most the power play goals against the opposing d-men can walk right up to the circle and fire a shot for a big rebound or a deflection goal.  More time needs to be spent pressuring the points aggressively instead of letting them dictate the play.  The powerplay is another head scratcher at 16^th especially with the personnel this team has.  The famous back-door play they have been using for the better part of the last 3 years has been figured out and there doesn’t seem to be any alternative.

Defense and goaltending are two more areas this team has come up short in all year long.  The 2^nd pairing of Nick Leddy and Nik Hjalmarsson is overmatched on most nights and the 6^th D spot has been a revolving door of Sean O’Donnell, John Scott, and Sami Lepisto.  That won’t get it done.  Duncan Keith continues to an enigma as Hawk fans don’t know on a nightly basis if the former Norris trophy winner will show up or the Keith from last year that was wildly inconsistent.  Goaltending has been another hole lately especially since Ray Emery has cooled off in the backup role and Corey Crawford has been average for the majority of the year.  The Hawks are still the only team in the league that has yet to record a shutout this year and the goaltending has not helped.  As of right now they seem to be splitting the duties and going with the goaltender that has let up the lower number of soft goals, in this case Emery.

So what can be done to fix this team going forward?  Stan Bowman is once again in the spotlight as his past two trade deadlines have underwhelmed.  The area that is in most need of a shake-up is on defense where the Hawks are said to be looking for a 4-6^th type defensemen who will be a UFA at season’s end.  In this case think of eastern conference teams that might be selling come trade deadline day:  Montreal (Hal Gill), Carolina (Bryan Allen), and Washington (John Erskine?).  Goaltending is another area that needs to be shored up with the Hawks being linked to goaltenders such as former Hawk Nikolai Khabibulin and New York Islanders goaltender Evegeni Nabokov despite Bowman insisting that they are satisfied with the status quo.  In terms of forwards we’ve heard names like Tuomo Ruutu and Derek Roy but those would appear to be a stretch at this point with too many other contenders bidding for their services.

It’s hard to really pinpoint what needs to be at this point right now because one win could snap them out of this funk or they can continue with their inconsistent play like they have up till this point in the season.  With a goals against average of exactly 3.00 it’s hard to envision this team making a deep run the way they’re currently constructed.  It appears that there are too many holes at this point that need to be fixed and not enough solid players on the trading block to choose from.  I still feel as if Toews and Sharp may still be playing injured as we have not heard from them much on this trip.  With a brutal week coming up consisting of Nashville, the New York Rangers, and St. Louis at home on Sunday the slide looks like it will continue for at least another week.  The best we can hope for is to pull a few wins out and make a deal or two to shore up the defense for the stretch run and hope this team remembers how to play the solid playoff type hockey that they’ve shown they can at times the past two years.  Let’s Go Hawks!