Chicago Blackhawks: It is time to make some major changes
By Todd Welter
The Chicago Blackhawks need to start turning things around in short order.
One of Bowman’s last bold moves was to upgrade the defense. He sent away Duncan Keith (at his request) and Adam Boqvist. He traded draft picks and committed significant cap space to bring in Seth Jones. He was also able to trade for Marc-Andre Fleury and convince him to not retire.
What has the upgrade gotten so far? The same old bad Blackhawks defense. Chicago has been outscored 38-22 through its first ten games.
Right now, they are allowing almost four goals per game which is good for second to last in the league. They are currently dead last in the league in high danger goals allowed and save percentage.
The offense is not doing any better. The Blackhawks had a nice win against the Ottawa Senators but those five goals came on a hat trick from Kane and two goals from Brandon Hagel. Otherwise, the offense has sputtered.
On the rare nights the defense has played well, the offense has not matched the defense’s performance. For example, the second-best defensive performance of the season so far happened last Saturday in St. Louis and the offense was blanked.
The offense ranks near the bottom in the NHL in goals per game but is in the top-five in shots on goal. They are second to last in expected goal for percentage and rank in the bottom ten in expected goals.
They can get the pucks on net but they can just get it into the actual net. The only thing working right now is the penalty kill as it is in the league’s top-10. Otherwise, this team is just lost on the ice, and the record shows.