The Blackhawks Rebuild Is (Finally?) Happening

The time has come. After a Decade of Dominance, the Chicago Blackhawks are officially in rebuild mode. 

With how that first sentence reads, you would assume that this came as a shock. But, the news was anything but that. In my opinion, there are two big reasons for that.

Reason #1: The Blackhawks Fired John McDonough

On April 27, 2020 - a good month and a half into the season stoppage - the hockey world would have thrown a party over receiving any sort of hockey news. That’s what we got. But, it wasn’t the news any of us would have seen coming - at least none of us who don’t have insider access to the team. 

On that random day in the middle of March 58th (right?), the news that the Blackhawks had fired John McDonough lit up our phones. Personally, there were a few minutes of shock. Then there were a few minutes of very panicked “Oh no, what is my team planning next?” Finally, there was a shrug and the thought of “Well, this is definitely a thing that needed to happen.”

Even though the move made sense to me, I went back to processing step number 2 and stayed in that panic for awhile, because whenever the Blackhawks make a big move, such as this one, the wheels always seem to fall off and the Hawks train derails for a while until something happens to get them back on track. 

In this case, I guess that back-on-track-thing would have been the 24 team Return to Play where the young guys got playoff experience. 

Going back to why the move made sense, John McDonough was all about public relations and maintaining a certain image. Anyone who pays close attention to the team and the trends in the moves they make, it was clear that a roster rebuild would not happen with John McDonough in the front office. They wanted to maintain an image of success and winning. While that sounds great, the product on the ice was absolutely withering away and not reflecting that image. 

Don’t get me wrong - John McDonough did A LOT of good for this organization. His contributions to the Blackhawks front office will be felt for years to come. But, everything has to come to an end at some point. This time, it was John McD’s tenure in Chicago. 

Reason #2: This Needed To Happen

By ‘this needed to happen’, I mean that this needed to happen three years ago. Once the Blackhawks were swept by the Nashville Predators in the first round of the 2017 playoffs (scoring 3 whole goals in the process) the year after losing to the St. Louis Blues in the first round, it was time. 

Sure, you could argue that the Hawks had less than stellar postseasons in 2011 and 2012 and went on to win two more Stanley Cup Championships without rebuilding. And you would, obviously, be correct. The difference here is the core group of players were 6 and 5 years older, respectively. 

So, they waited 3 years. Now, that core (that has been significantly cut down due to trades/retirements/etc.) is 9 and 8 years older, respectively. Only now are they deciding to actually buy into that rebuild. 

You could have convinced me that the window to win one or more championships with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane still on the roster could be reopened if that rebuild did start 3 years ago. Of course, then you get into the discussion of whether or not it would be a rebuild or a retool if those two are still in Chicago . . . semantics. 

Those are the reasons why on October 20, 2020 when the Chicago Blackhawks released a statement to the fans formally announcing a rebuild, I read it and said “ok.” There was no shock. There was no excitement. There was no anything. Just, ok. 

Here’s their statement:

Sure, I do have thoughts about the rebuild, and this is my website. So, now that I’ve laid out why this isn’t a surprise at all, here are some thoughts and questions. 

What has your plan been for the last three years?

You can’t tell me that this organization has been blind to the fact that they’ve needed to enter a rebuilding phase. If they have, then we have a lot more issues than starting a rebuild three years late. 

But, taking a look at some of the moves the Blackhawks have made in the last few years, did they even have a plan?

Summer 2018: 

Signing

Cam Ward, Brandon Manning, and Chris Kunitz

You know, maybe they did know they were rebuilding with their signings that summer. That HORRENDOUS offseason led to the Blackhawks selecting Kirby Dach 3rd overall in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.

Plus, the Blackhawks did get MacKenzie Entwistle in the Marian Hossa contract trade that seemed to have one million moving parts. The jury is still out on Mack, but he has promise. 

Summer 2019: 

Signing

Robin Lehner and Ryan Carpenter

Trading

Henri Jokiharju for Alex Nylander, Dominik Kahun for Olli Maatta, Anton Forberg and Gustav Forsling for Calvin de Haan and Aleksi Saarela (later traded to Florida for Ian McCoshen), 2020 2nd & 7th and 2021 3rd for Andrew Shaw

If the summer of 2018 suggested that maybe they were heading toward a rebuild, the summer of 2019 did the exact opposite. Those moves look like the moves of a team who are trying to acquire depth for a run at the cup. 

Some of them worked out better than others. But, all we are left with is Alex Nylander, Calvin de Haan and the idea of Andrew Shaw. 

I’m a big fan of Calvin de Haan. But if you’re rebuilding, he isn’t a guy to have on your team. Alex Nylander might be. He sure won’t get you any points in the standings, so maybe you get another high draft pick. The idea of Andrew Shaw just leaves you with dead money on the cap. 

Oh, and we have Malcolm Subban, from trading Robin Lehner, to maybe be the Tank Commander to the bottom of the standings. That’s a whole different conversation about the goaltending situation which will come in a different post. 

Two conflicting offseasons and then one very clear - well, sort of - offseason. The Chicago Blackhawks are now officially in a rebuild. But, maybe they should have let their players know that in advance. 

Yeah, if you haven’t heard, the core group was not told the organization would be going into a rebuild. So, that’s fun! 

How do you plan on developing your young talent?

In their statement, the Chicago Blackhawks say they are committed to developing their young players. How? 

I’m going to need them to lay out a development plan or severely upgrade their development staff. Who was the last homegrown talent that the Blackhawks developed after drafting them? Andrew Shaw or Brandon Saad?

The most common trend we see is their drafted players staying in Rockford and fizzling out or getting traded, and also usually fizzling out. So, tell me, Blackhawks. Do you suck at drafting that bad? Or do you suck at developing young players?

The Rockford IceHogs staff needs a full overhaul. If for no other reason than with the roster they had in 2019-20, they should have been a better team on the ice. There was a lot of talent on that roster, but they had to fight and claw for every win. There were so many blown leads. There were so many games where there was no cohesion on the ice. 

There is no possible way to rebuild with all four of Toews, Kane, Keith, and Seabrook all on the roster.

While we are destined to have Seabrook forever due to that boat anchor of a contract, how can this team possibly fully rebuild while still holding on to the other three? They’ve only gotten rid of two key guys - Brandon Saad and Corey Crawford. 

They let Crawford walk in free agency - to the shock of Crawford and the rest of the team. 

For Brandon Saad, the Blackhawks got Nikita Zadorov and a none-too-exciting “prospect” in Anton Lindholm. Nikita Zadorov could potentially be a good add to the Blackhawks blue line. But, they traded away Brandon Saad and Dennis Gilbert WHILE RETAINING SALARY and got no other futures in the process. 

So, sure, let’s start rebuilding by getting rid of two core players for one 25 year old defenseman who may or may not be a good fit for the roster. And . . . that’s it.

You can’t just get rid of older players and call it a rebuild. You have to get some promising prospects or at least some draft picks to potentially draft a promising prospect. 

But, again, do they suck at drafting or developing?

They need to show that they are good at some part of player development and then lean into it. While doing that, they need to attempt to build up the area that is not their strength. 

As we stand now, I’m not convinced that they are good at any part of player development. But, they do get lucky from time to time - like getting Kirby Dach 3rd overall and seeing him turn superhuman in the postseason. 

Now, they have to build around him and hope for the best. 

I’m not getting my hopes up. 

Stay tuned, I guess. I have no idea what’s going to happen . . .