E Runs
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Chicago Tribune:
Tip to this season’s Blackhawks: Stop trying to be last season’s Blackhawks.
You’re not that team. Stop thinking you are. Stop living off it, too.
The Hawks just dropped under .500 overall. They just lost their fourth straight at home to plummet to a sorry 4-7 in the United Center. They have the worst winning percentage in the Central Division and second-worst in the Western Conference.
And jeez, the way they blew it Wednesday night, losing to sub-.500 Phoenix 2-1 in their own building the same way they lost to sub-.500 Edmonton 2-1 in their own building the game before. Listen, “One Goal’’ is supposed to be a slogan, not the end of the scoring.
Play like this is your job. Play like this matters. But mostly, play faster.
Skate faster. Pass faster. Shoot faster.
Fight to get to the rebounds in the slot faster. Heck, fight to get to the slot faster, period.
Move the puck out of your own zone faster, and for God’s sake, get to the boards faster and win the puck faster.
This is a puck-possession team that almost never has the puck and rarely does something good when it does. There are long stretches where they pass as if Mike Martz is behind the bench. This just doesn’t look like last season’s champions, and that’s the point: They aren’t that team.
Get over it, you and them. Everybody, wake up. The Hawks can’t explain it because they have no idea who they are.
So, here’s the deal: Joel Quenneville needs to take this team back a couple years to when he replaced Denis Savard. Let me be clear: I’m not blaming Quenneville here. I think he’s the best bench coach in the league and one of the smartest coaches altogether. I’m just thinking perspective and approach here.
Four games into that 2008-09 season, Quennville came in with new ideas for a new team: He wanted everything done faster.
Speed is the most intimidating weapon in hockey. Making plays at top speed is what champions do. See the ’85 Oilers, the ‘90s Avalanche, and the last 15 years of the Red Wings for details. That was Queeneville’s point, and he even wanted players to make mistakes faster so at least they could recover faster defensively. Get back to their zone quickly to make themselves available to move the puck quickly the other way. The concept was simple: If the Hawks have the puck, the other team can’t score.
And the Hawks had the puck, believe me. Had the puck a lot. They became the fastest team in the league because they went tape-to-tape better than anybody.
The concept, the approach and the teaching methods were new back then. Fun, too. The young Hawks took to the idea of aggressively capturing the puck and owning it, refusing to give it up until the red light went on. Young, undecorated players listened eagerly to Quenneville, then executed his plan all the way to the Western Conference final. They had done something.
We all know what happened last season. Same approach, better execution. The Hawks didn’t just do something, they did everything. Now they are doing everything they can to piddle on that wondrous accomplishment because they are nothing like that team.
They are not that team, period.
Almost half the roster was turned over. Depth and character were lost. New bodies are being integrated. The best players, however, were retained in Stan Bowman’s version of “Apuckalypse Now.’’ Talking to you, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook. You guys haven’t played consistently as if you are the best players on the Hawks. Jeez, most of you haven’t played as if you could even be the best players in Rockford.
It’s not that the Stanley Cup champions can’t defend their glorious title. It’s that this team is not the Stanley Cup champion. That group is gone. See ya. Au revoir. This group is a new team that has won nothing.
This needs to become 2008-09 again. Some good, young talent. Some potential depth and heart. Some possibilities in goal. Some chance to become a team. Quenneville has to get their attention and teach them the basics of the system all over again, and fast.
Tip to this season’s Blackhawks: Stop trying to be last season’s Blackhawks.
You’re not that team. Stop thinking you are. Stop living off it, too.
The Hawks just dropped under .500 overall. They just lost their fourth straight at home to plummet to a sorry 4-7 in the United Center. They have the worst winning percentage in the Central Division and second-worst in the Western Conference.
And jeez, the way they blew it Wednesday night, losing to sub-.500 Phoenix 2-1 in their own building the same way they lost to sub-.500 Edmonton 2-1 in their own building the game before. Listen, “One Goal’’ is supposed to be a slogan, not the end of the scoring.
Play like this is your job. Play like this matters. But mostly, play faster.
Skate faster. Pass faster. Shoot faster.
Fight to get to the rebounds in the slot faster. Heck, fight to get to the slot faster, period.
Move the puck out of your own zone faster, and for God’s sake, get to the boards faster and win the puck faster.
This is a puck-possession team that almost never has the puck and rarely does something good when it does. There are long stretches where they pass as if Mike Martz is behind the bench. This just doesn’t look like last season’s champions, and that’s the point: They aren’t that team.
Get over it, you and them. Everybody, wake up. The Hawks can’t explain it because they have no idea who they are.
So, here’s the deal: Joel Quenneville needs to take this team back a couple years to when he replaced Denis Savard. Let me be clear: I’m not blaming Quenneville here. I think he’s the best bench coach in the league and one of the smartest coaches altogether. I’m just thinking perspective and approach here.
Four games into that 2008-09 season, Quennville came in with new ideas for a new team: He wanted everything done faster.
Speed is the most intimidating weapon in hockey. Making plays at top speed is what champions do. See the ’85 Oilers, the ‘90s Avalanche, and the last 15 years of the Red Wings for details. That was Queeneville’s point, and he even wanted players to make mistakes faster so at least they could recover faster defensively. Get back to their zone quickly to make themselves available to move the puck quickly the other way. The concept was simple: If the Hawks have the puck, the other team can’t score.
And the Hawks had the puck, believe me. Had the puck a lot. They became the fastest team in the league because they went tape-to-tape better than anybody.
The concept, the approach and the teaching methods were new back then. Fun, too. The young Hawks took to the idea of aggressively capturing the puck and owning it, refusing to give it up until the red light went on. Young, undecorated players listened eagerly to Quenneville, then executed his plan all the way to the Western Conference final. They had done something.
We all know what happened last season. Same approach, better execution. The Hawks didn’t just do something, they did everything. Now they are doing everything they can to piddle on that wondrous accomplishment because they are nothing like that team.
They are not that team, period.
Almost half the roster was turned over. Depth and character were lost. New bodies are being integrated. The best players, however, were retained in Stan Bowman’s version of “Apuckalypse Now.’’ Talking to you, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook. You guys haven’t played consistently as if you are the best players on the Hawks. Jeez, most of you haven’t played as if you could even be the best players in Rockford.
It’s not that the Stanley Cup champions can’t defend their glorious title. It’s that this team is not the Stanley Cup champion. That group is gone. See ya. Au revoir. This group is a new team that has won nothing.
This needs to become 2008-09 again. Some good, young talent. Some potential depth and heart. Some possibilities in goal. Some chance to become a team. Quenneville has to get their attention and teach them the basics of the system all over again, and fast.
