30 Teams in 30 Stories

The Windy City Really Blows
 

Waving good bye to the fans has become an annual event for Chicago.
 
It's been a rough season for the Chicago Blackhawks, who find themselves with yet another GM, going through yet another transitionary phase. This transition has been particularly tough though, as Chicago sits 26th in the league and 13th in the Western Conference with a 10-21-5 record.
 
It's been a rough season for a club which was hoping to see big boosts after an off-season which seen them land star winger Martin St. Louis. While St. Louis is having another excellent season, leading the club in goals (16, assists (23) and points (39), the rest of the club has been far less brilliant.
 
"We've got to come together and play better as a team," said forward Nikolai Antropov, a disappointment himself with just four goals so far this season. "We've done better lately, but we'll need more of it.
 

Nik Antropov needs to pot a few more goals for Chicago.
 
Indeed. While Chicago has rattled off three straight wins, the team is still eight points out of the playoffs and are just 2-7-1 in their last 10 games at Chicago Stadium.
 
"We're going to have to right this ship. We're far to proud of an organization for this," attested veteran blueliner Colin White.
 
While things aren't terrible up front or in the pipes, both sides of the coin could use some upgrading, where the lack of a true number one centre looks problematic. James Reimer meanwhile hasn't looked terrible for Chicago, but hasn't really stolen the show most nights either.
 
On defense however, the Blackhawks appear to be needing three blueliners capable of playing top four minutes. Niklas Hjalmarrson is a nice piece to work around, but the team overall has to many stay-at-home type defensemen and few who are capable of moving the puck effectively.
 
As such, the Hawks often find themselves pinned deep, resulting in to few offensive chances of their own. The Blackhawks ranked dead last in the league in shots per game, manaing fewer than 21 per game, while allowing 27.89 shots against per game, the fourth most in the league. When you're getting outshot by that type of margin every game, it tends to limit what you can do overall.
 
"Getting the puck up the ice is an ongoing problem," said Head Coach Mike Keenan. "When you're top defenseman capable of moving the puck is Ryan Wilson by a country mile, you'll have that problem.
 
Things could be manageable if they could get larger contributions from some key members of the team. Shawn Horcoff has picked up just 17 points in 36 games, not nearly enough for the $7.25 million he gets paid annually. Matt Frattin, a top prospect coming into the season, has managed just five assists in 36 games meanwhile, playing just over seven minutes a game in the process.
 

Shawn Horcoff and Matt Frattin need to pick it up for the Blackhawks.
 
The club did make one move to help things, landing Lee Stempniak from the Nashville Predators. Since coming over, Stempniak has eight goals and 15 points in 19 games.
 
"It's been like a breath of fresh air to me," said Stempniak of coming to Chicago. "Trent Allen (Nashville Predators GM) knows (expletative deleted) about running a team so getting out of there likely saved my career."
 

 
Lee Stempniak was just thankful to get out of Nashville alive.
 
The Hawks will need more of those kind of moves if they want to remain in the playoff picture moving forward. If not, expect an early golfing season once again in Chicago.

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1 Response to 30 Teams in 30 Stories

  1. "Trent Allen (Nashville Predators GM) knows (expletative deleted) about running a team so getting out of there likely saved my career."

    Yeah, Trent, you suck balls.

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