Positive Vibe Monday: The Blackhawks Now Have 69 Points On The Year, Nice Things Blog

This is without a doubt the worst Monday of the year. The weekend was fill with booze and basketball as we celebrated our Irish-American culture. Alcohol paired with sloth is always a good way to make you hate yourself on a Sunday night with the thought of your Monday morning alarm clock hanging over you like a guillotine. Sunday scaries were punctuated by yet another 3rd period collapse by our beloved Chicago Blackhawks. Then I noticed the standings…

And because I have a small adolecent brain I had a slight chuckle for a second. So even though you never want to have fewer points than games played, I still just want to brighten everyone’s day with all the things that are #nice about the Chicago Blackhawks right now.

1) Alex DeBrincat

25 goals and 40 points on the year despite very limited top 6 opportunities. In a normal year, 25 goals might’ve been enough to be a Calder Trophy Finalist. Huge year for DeBrincat and it’s only going to get better for him. A long summer off could be important for his development. No grind of the playoffs for the young guy. He can just get right back to work on his game. If he gets a tad stronger and a half a step quicker he is going to be a PROBLEM for the NHL for years to come. The kid can flat out play. Some guys just know how to score and DeBrincat is definitely one of them. You can pencil him in for 30 goals a year between now and the end of time. I have this grand vision of Sikura feeding DeBrincat next year and we all just laugh and laugh and drink champagne and enjoy the Stanley Cup Final.

Advertisement

2) Jonathan Toews Getting His Swagger Back

It’s been a good month for the Captain. 11 points in 10 games in March. Jonny always seems to pick it up the second half of the year, but this year it was too little too late. It’s nice to see him producing, it’s even nicer to see him attacking and using skill to create chances like he did against the Blues. That little shoulder dip and lateral explosion that led to a wrister off the cross-bar last night was a thing of beauty. It’s great to see signs of offensive life because if the Blackhawks are ever going to get back to the top of the mountain they’re going to need more production out of their $10.5M man.

For a long time in this 19 and 88 era, Toews had been mentioned in the same breath as Sidney Crosby. Now, that was always a bit ridiculous, but it was a fun way to take the piss out of people on the internet. While Toews wasn’t better than Sid, you could make an argument that he was without a doubt a top 5 most valuable player every year. That narrative has taken a hit.

I always thought of Anze Kopitar, Patrice Bergeron, and in earlier years Ryan Kesler, as Toews’ true contemporaries. Toews has not been the same caliber of player as Bergeron and Kopitar this year. Kopitar and Bergeron are both significantly out-pacing Toews offensively while still being Selke caliber centers.

Kopitar, Bergeron, and Toews are all roughly the same age. They’ve all been through significant playoff wars. Both Bergeron and Kopitar, like Toews, saw their production dip significantly before springing back to where they had been in earlier years. We’ve also seen Eric Staal bounce back the past two years being a dominant offensive player again. Toews can do it too. None of those guys are significantly faster or more skilled than Toews. He has all the tools to inch back towards being a point per game guy. I reject the notion that he’s washed.

3) Nick Schmaltz Is Really Good

I’ve been saying this all year, but Schmaltz is close to being an all-star type center. He will likely finish with 55 points in his first full pro season. I feel like he is just scratching the surface. If he decideds he wants to be top production type center he can do it. He just needs to be a little bit more willing to play through the middle of the ice and around the net and have a tad more of a shoot-first mentality. He is another guy who has the tools to be a point per game center.

4) Hinostroza Looks Promising As Always Too

Vinnie played in his 41 NHL game of the year last night and recorded his 24th point. Pretty god damn good. A little simple math says that he’d finish with 48 points over a full 82 game NHL schedule. He’s another guy that with a little more experience and maybe a little more time in the weight room this summer and he could be approaching 55-60 points next year. 24 points in 41 games despite playing under 14 mins a game and in mostly bottom 6 role. He’s already tied for 3rd on the team with 9 primary assists in 5-on-5 play.

5)John Hayden Is An NHL Power-Forward

This blog is starting to get repetitive, but I don’t carrrreee. I am very optimistic about the Blackhawks young forwards. Hayden fits the role of power-forward that the Blackhawks haven’t had for a long time. Hayden is enthusiastic as a fore-checker, he plays physical, and goes to the net. A summer of getting maybe a smidge quicker and perhaps Hayden is a guy who put up 10-15 goals while playing tough and hitting people and punching people while having great hair. Big, handsome, guys with great hair are good for morale.

6) Corey Crawford Will Be Back Eventually

Having an NHL goalie turns out to be very important. Who knew.

7) Brandon Saad Can’t Be This Bad Forever

Rough year for good ole #20 and it looks even worse because the guy you sent out the door for him DOUBLE his point production. Saad does a lot of things right, but he needs to play through the middle of the ice more and play with a bit more enthusiasm as well. Times have changed in Chicago as have the expectations for Saad. In the first stint here he was a role player. Now he’s a $6M man and needs to play like it. The Blackhawks made that trade hoping for 30 goals, but probably expecting a minimum of 55 points. He isn’t going to come close to that. Some of that might be luck, as Saad is going to have a career low shooting percentage below 8%, but some of it also a willingness to do power-forward shit. People always make the Saad to Hossa comparison because there’s many similarities. Both exceptionally strong, both great defensively, high end speed, blah blah blah. Saad doesn’t shoot the puck like Hossa. Saad needs to get inside to score more goals. He’s only going to score more if he gets to the net more. It’s a simple equation.

Advertisement

8) The Blackhawks Have 8 Prospects In The NCAA Tournament

I’ll do my best to keep everyone up to date on how these guys do. I think some guys are very close to turning pro(Sikura, Hillman, and Gilbert) while others are probably a year or two away (Krys and Mitchell).

9) I Don’t Think Duncan Keith Can Be This Bad Forever

I do think Duncan Keith has been suffering from bad goalie PTSD more than anyone else on the team. His brain seems to be broken. Forcing plays that aren’t there. Failure to read plays when he has the puck. He skates it and puts into trouble at a rate we’ve never seen from him. There have always been some whispers that maybe Keith has a bit of a fragile psyche and that maybe that has led to some lapses in judgement on the ice and maybe it also led to the organization feeling they needed to keep his best friend Brent Seabrook on the team at all costs. You can see Keith is struggling on the ice so much this year and I think it’s because he’s playing a little scared. I’m not a scout, but to me his legs still look strong and fast. Its his mind that has betrayed him. A combination of being a -20 and having a shooting percentage on the entire year of 0.6% will do that to a guy. Nobody needs the security blanket of Corey Crawford more than Keith.

10) Every Loss Helps The Blackhawks Lottery Ball Situation

I’m very anti-tanking. I think that leads to a loser culture that can carry over to the following year. That’s fine if nobody is going to be back and its a FULL tear-down and rebuild. That’s not the Blackhawks situation. I already outlined all the guys who will be back next year and beyond. Those guys need to develop winning habits and play the right way. Further more…I just want to enjoy watching them play.

Having said that…

Effort matters, results…not so much. So like the game last night against St Louis…I was satisfied overall with the effort, and having a result being a few bad plays by defensemen who I already know stink and a few leaky goals let through by a guy who will never be the true No.1..that’s not the worst thing. 18.3% of being in the top 3 is a good place to be. Obviously Rasmus Dahlin is the prize, but I would be absolutely EXTACTIC if the Blackhawks walked away from this draft with Brady Tkachuk and K’Andre Miller with their first round draft picks.

So there were are. A good ole list blog of everything that is #nice about the Blackhawks.