What happens if blackhawks lost

View Obituaries Place an Obituary Celebrations. Home Drive Working. Blackhawks lose to Blues, finish October winless. Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. Marc-Andre Fleury saved 36 shots but the Blackhawks still lost Saturday. AP Photos. Thanks for signing up! Check your inbox for a welcome email.

Email required. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Notice and European users agree to the data transfer policy. The Latest. Man released without charges after fatal domestic stabbing on South Side The year-old was stabbed in the leg by a year-old man about a. By Sun-Times Wire. Things reached their most absurd level at the start of Game 7 when analyst Pierre McGuire was on the NBCSN broadcast going on and on at the start of the game about Toews' ability to send a message in Game 7's, both last year and this year, by winning the opening faceoff.

In all seriousness, that is perhaps the least impactful moment in a hockey game unless somebody scores within the first 10 seconds, nobody is sending a message at that point in the game. All of that has helped create the illusion that he might actually be the best player in the world he is not , instead of just one o f the five or six best, which is what he probably really is. And there is no shame in that. He is quite possibly better than 99 percent of the players in the league right now.

This is not insulting to him. This brings us to the playoffs where the Blackhawks were not only eliminated in the first round in a Game 7 loss to the St. Louis Blues , they were eliminated while not receiving a single goal from Toews, and only one from Patrick Kane , the NHL's regular season scoring champion. Not even 24 hours after the loss, those stat lines have not gone unnoticed.

For the most part, it's pretty tame stuff, at least compared to what you would read if it was, say, Alex Ovechkin facing that situation. Nobody is really out for blood here. It's mostly just surprise that, hey, Jonathan Toews didn't score in the playoffs or come through at the big moment and we didn't really see that coming.

The harshest criticism probably came from Steve Rosenbloom of the Chicago Tribune:. The captain plays in too many situations and takes too many shifts to go scoreless and have people expect the Hawks to win. The Hawks are not about pushing a series to seven games. The Hawks are not about moral victories. We love to build players into something they are not.

With Toews, it's the idea that he always gets the big goal in the big game. When they fail to reach that expectation, we tear them back down and criticizie them for, well, falling short of the expectation we set for them. I have argued before on this very site that the success of the Blackhawks is not just about them having Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane on their team. The main question is whether they'll be able to lure free agents after missing the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since The streak can't stop now.

It will be difficult, however, because a lot of other teams have better trade bait than the Hawks. Artem Anisimov has a limited no-trade clause, and Brandon Saad doesn't have one, so they could be dealt. Neither is having a great season, and chances are the Hawks would be selling low on Saad, who still is young enough to have a bounce-back season. Could they trade Erik Gustafsson? He is young 26 , inexpensive and one of the highest-scoring defensemen in the NHL.

A playoff contender might bite. It depends on whether the Hawks believe he can overcome his defensive deficiencies. The Hawks probably would trade Duncan Keith, but he has a no-movement clause.

The most likely scenario? Bowman makes a couple of smaller deals for draft picks or players who can fight for roster spots next season. Counterpoint: Fine, and they are? The cupboard is practically bare at Rockford now that Collin Delia is with the Hawks. The top prospect is Dylan Sikura, who hasn't shown much in two stints with the Hawks but could develop into a top-six forward.

As for the rest of the IceHogs, nobody has enough of a high ceiling to warrant much excitement. Anthony Louis is leading the team with 25 points in 41 games but he projects at best to be a bottom-six forward. Counterpoint: The Hawks haven't been tanking and still are doing a good job of losing. But that makes having the fewest wins in the NHL even sadder.