With the draft in Dallas this year, they aren't going to give up their 1st round pick.

Bowman had his back against the cap ceiling last summer - not only that but he had quite a few NHL ready prospects in Rockford last year as well - give those two facts it was obvious the Hawks would be playing a lot of kids this season. Now that these kids have had their audition Q and Bowman are going to have to figure out who stays and who goes. This summer Bowman will have cap space to work with and we all know the Hawks aren't in a position to be developing players as the core gets older so I would only expect to see (outside of Schmaltz & DeBrincat) only a handful of these kids back next season, and the rest of the roster filled out with veteran guys.

I have 100% confidence the Hawks will be back contending again next April.... Had Bowman had the cap space this team would be playoff bound. Like I have said plenty of times: the problem isn't what the Hawks have - it's what they don't have. With that said - now that Bowman has some space and the Hawks needs are nothing major - there is no question in my mind that this will be a very much improved team come October.

I think this season was Bowman's "worst case scenario" nightmare when he designed this team last summer, but with failure comes a nice draft pick... IMO, this is a great team (an incomplete but great team) that just had a terrible season.

Lets not forget going into the playoffs last season the Hawks were one of the favorites to win the Cup again. Look, teams can go down hill or fade - but they don't go down hill or fade away over night. They were beasts a year ago. Look at who the Hawks lost and who Bowman replaced them with - rookies and bargain bin signings.

That's why I made the trade this year, but the 2019 pick though. I hear ya! I just though I adjusted for that already.

I know you're a true hawks fan and know your stuff HF28. I'm not so sure they had quite a few NHL ready prospects last year. In Fact the Hawks "System" was 2nd or 3rd worst in the entire NHL. I mean the Ice Hogs were 25-39-9-3. AND besides Debrincat didn't have anyone that wasn't on the NHL roster. I do see your point though that besides a lottery player...it may take a few years which they don't really have....with that said...taking on 1 year rentals really does mean they will have enough for UFAs. I also hear your point that I thought I address in the description that many things factor into the results this year. Injuries/starting slow/salary cap/etc... I also believe that if just Crawford was better they'd make the playoffs...but another 1st round exit. I'm too spoiled for just 1st round exits. I want more!!! ALSO, what do you do with the UFAs @ the TDL when you're a boarderline playoff team? I think he should bit the bullet...IF...you're a boarderline playoff team. If they're playing great! GREAT! But Rutta and Oesterle can Bring in something great. Maybe better separated. Them being UFAs would make next year VERY costly. Lastly, also again to a great point you made...TBL didn't make the playoffs last year also due to injuries and now they're clearly a top team. HOWEVER their farm system is MUCH better than the Hawks which is why i do want to build that up a bit...but we can do that after Toews/Kane/Keith are gone I guess. THANKS FOR CONTRIBUTING!!!

I'm glad you appreciate my commentary, at times I feel like Rodney Dangerfield (I get no respect, no respect I tell ya) lol

But yea, the thing is that the Hawks have plenty of prospects but they're all bottom 6 forwards and #5-6 defenseman - the Hawks are rich with players like that. The Hawks lack the top end talent, I mean we do have Schmaltz and DeBrincat (and Jokiharju) but it would be nice to have a few more guys with top 6 or top 4 potential but we don't which is why of course this top 10 pick will be welcome, and if I'm Bowman I would be really trying to move up in this draft with Nashville's 1st - if Bowman can get another top 15 pick they're going to get a fantastic prospect and I would be satisfied walking away from the draft with 2 top 15 picks.. If the Hawks can walk away from the draft with Bouchard and Veleno, I'm a happy camper. Of course the ultimate prize would be winning the draft lotto and taking Dahlin. If the Hawks land the #2 or #3 pick it would be hard to resist taking Svechnikov when the Hawks desperately need a stud defenseman... If you're in that position maybe the best course is to trade down and take Boqvist - or maybe even swinging a deal with the Islanders for both of their firsts - pick #7 and pick #12 then that way the Hawks could potentially get Bouchard and Wahlstrom and I would rather have both of them than Boqvist, and if Bowman can move up with the Nashville pick well the Hawks could walk away with 3 top 15 prospects.. So I would be thrilled with Bouchard, Wahlstrom & Veleno - the Hawks would be set when you factor in we already have DeBrincat, Schmaltz & Jokiharju.

As far as fixing this team - I think this upcoming UFA class has pretty much everything the Hawks need. The Hawks need a #4 defenseman and a couple of depth defenseman, then add to that a couple of veteran defensive forwards like Antoine Vermette or Tyler Bozak and Tommy Wingels. I also think it would be wise for Bowman to sign a legitimate 1b backup to Crawford. Vertigo comes and goes and the Hawks need a backup plan if Crawford is out again - so signing a guy like Carter Hutton would be a good idea. Hutton will be cheap and he can start so. I think Forsberg and Berube have potential but they're just not ready yet, and relying on them in case Crow goes down next season would not be wise.

So yea, adding John Moore, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Antoine Vermette, Tommy Wingels and Carter Hutton would drastically improve this team. The Hawks would be back to contending.... And I wouldn't be opposed to Bowman swinging a deal with Carolina to bring Kruger and Darling back either. I mean I would be fine with trading Anisimov for Kruger & Darling - especially if Carolina retained salary.

So I'm really not all that concerned with this season... I don't think this "fall from grace" is as telling as some make it out to be... Bowman just didn't have the cap space to make needed improvements from last season, besides - the Hawks lost Hossa, Hammer, Kruger, Darling, TvR etc and it was impossible to replace those guys with almost no cap space and with the likes of Murphy, Wingels, Bouma, Gustafsson, Rutta etc... It just wasn't going to happen with the lackof cap space Bowman had..... But like we know, Bowman will have cap space this summer and adding what the Hawks need to contend again should not be difficult...... And yea, if the Hawks are a bubble team come the TDL next year then people can worry this team may not get back to winning Cups and if that's the case then you sell and approach this team from a different direction in the summer of 2019... Then you start thinking about a "rebuild" and start thinking about moving Kane, Toews or Keith but for right now, let Bowman work with the cap space he has this summer and see how he improves this team.

But yea I think the Hawks disappointing season has more to do with the players the Hawks don't have rather than what they do have... And trading guys like Saad is unnecessary - it would do more harm than good. Although I do believe Bowman trades Anisimov (or maybe Murphy) - either with Nashville's 1st to move up in the draft or to snag a top 4 defenseman like Justin Faulk... So I think they're the only guys that are going to be moved this summer, well unless Bowman has blockbuster trades up his sleeve...