Don’t let him ruin Boqvist he’s so talented

You're right about Boqvist. They're not using him correctly. You're right about Kubalik. He needs more ice time. IDK about the others. There's a lack of effort by the players too. It's not ALL on one guy. Three own goals in three games hurts too.

What are the odds Suter would be the #1C by game 3 back in November???

Just soo much going wrong at once.

Kane played the most of any Hawk last night. Debrincat 2nd among fwds, Strome 3rd. Kubalik 4th. D TOI was spread out among everyone but Boqvist. I didn’t watch the game but based on TOI I think he likes skill.

I don't even think Suter expected to be a center on this team. I still want to see him on the wing, but that likely won't happen until Soderberg plays, whenever that will be. Boqvist and Kubalik have been given poor opportunities every game. Maybe it's because this team is just that bad. It's hard to watch, that's for sure. That 4th line gets way too much ice time, and I don't care how good they've played. They've played the most minutes together among any of the forwards on the team, they better play good together. That's what drives me nuts, of course a line plays better than the others when they've played together for a while. Maybe it's, you know, time to do that with other lines?! It's so mind boggling man. At least let them build chemistry. I rather lose with chemistry than lose because they have none.

I always go back to the saying “luck favors the prepared.” Chicago, in no way, shape or form, we’re prepared for the change in direction they found themselves in. They chose an inexperienced, directionless coach. They rewarded poor job performance by not firing the GM, but by giving him a promotion on top of his GM job. Finally, between the drafting and development of prospects, there hasn’t been significant progress with an actual direction of what the team is style wise and finding a philosophy of how to develop the players in general.

On the whole, the Blackhawks just haven’t found an identity and philosophy to actually build off of while building a young team. Their young players (cat, strome, kuba, etc.) have all had varying degrees of individual success, but haven’t helped contribute to any team success for the hawks. They don’t have any style that they fit into and they don’t actually influence any style themselves. Luck favors the prepared, and the hawks haven’t been prepared, and therefore luck has not been on their side for a long time.

I disagree. They influence the style called "score goals" and Jeremy Colliton doesn't want to be a "score goals" coach. He wants to be a "Grind and backcheck coach" so if he wants to build a team that way he needs to get Bowman to trade Kane for Rousell, DeBrincat for Maroon, Strome for B. Tanev, Kubalik for Khaira, and Boqvist for Borowiecki or Gudas.

You guys are hitting on my thoughts exactly. To me it boils down to roster construction. I'm not so sure "identity" is the right term because you can't be just one thing. You need to be a bunch of things and the Hawks can't do any of them. TBL is an awesome team than to win in many different ways. Even Patrick Kane can't be Patrick Kane unless the team as a whole has the ability to help him in the ways he needs. Other physical and speedy guys that move when they don't have the puck. He's not set up for success AND he doesn't have any other line as a threat.

What do the Hawks need. Well here's my wish list.
Conor Garland. Speedy, Shifty, Gritty forward than can score. Not an easy thing to get. Place him with Kubalik/Toews.
Barclay Goodrow or Blake Coleman - Fast, Big, Physical, Defensive Winger.
(2) UFA goalies next year - Freddie and Raanta... No I don't think a long term Binnington deal is good for the Hawks.
The hardest one of all...a #1 Dman. Can't do it without a #1 Dman, but we can draft and try to get this in time.

You know what? Yes, agree there completely! So the question is, what’s the rub with keeping Colliton? Because clearly the way he wants the team to play is going to have an effect on how the prospects are developed. With that being the case, I’m even more worried that our prospects of the future aren’t getting the proper growth and direction.

I know. I've been frustrated with people talking poorly about Boqvist, but after looking at how he's being forced to play and his ice time, the best thing for him is to be in the AHL. He can become an offensive beast down there and prove to the NHL coaches that he is an offensive defenseman and that he needs to be allowed to score. IMO, Colliton is Dach's dream coach. Dach is a power forward. Colliton was a defensive player and is a defensive coach. Kirby Dach's defensively sound, big body forechecking ability allow him to get those A+ opportunities. His offensive prowess comes where? From the front of the net. If Colliton is the guy, he just has to relax on the offensive players. Again I say, look at a team like Tampa Bay, Kucherov and Point and Stamkos are all getting paid to score points. I think eventually Colliton could be a good coach, but they need an offensive associate coach to help him out. For the PK and defensive bottom 6 guys, Colliton can be and is a fantastic coach. For our Patty Kanes and Dom Kubaliks and Alex DeBrincats and God Save him, our Adam Boqvists, JC needs a little help. We have to remember, he's only been a North American coach for 5 or 6 years and an NHL coach for 2. With patience and help from veteran management, Kirby Dach's Chicago Blackhawks are gonna be super duper hard to play against.

Okay, so firstly, I totally with you’re assessment of Colliton. He is the coach that he is and he favors a certain style and certain players can get behind it. I do think it’s a detriment to the other players such as boqvist, cat, strome, Kane and kuba for sure though. In that sense, I almost feel that Colliton is here to baby and coddle one player and ONLY one player.

Secondly? And this is where I differ, I don’t think the hawks will ever truly become a difficult team to play against in the defensive sense. They’ll never be the islanders or blues styled team that that essentially imitates. The reason is two fold. 1) Colliton has shown his hand in terms of the coach he is and style he wants. To this point, the youngsters and even veterans in the team have not bought in in my opinion. That’s just me though. 2) and this goes back to what I said about drafting and luck favoring the prepared, Chicago hasn’t committed the entire organization to a unified philosophy of how they want to grow and move forward between playing style and players. Essentially, I don’t believe they have drafted tough enough players, specifically on defense, to play such a style. Regula is an offensive minded dman who isn’t great on defense and Vlasic has a looonnnggggg way to go in development. Reason I bring them up is because they are the only players in defensive development that are over 6’2’’. There is just no toughness in this Chicago team, plain and simple. We have a few grinders, but not not defense. Zadorov and Murphy are exempt cuz they are full timers and not prospects.

I do agree Colliton could be a good coach, but he’s got the wrong team to do it with. He’s only around in my eyes to cater to Dach. As being tough to play against, we need at least 2-3 more drafts worth of tough, big, and quick forwards and dmen to get to that point. That’s just my two cents.

I agree with both of you. After the series against Vegas, I made a comment on this site along the lines of "I never want to see Patrick Kane dump and chase a hockey puck ever again."

Unfortunately, that's all this team does, there are very few controlled zone entries. Watching this team and then watching the Islanders is like watching two different leagues. This team doesn't have the players to grind. What Colliton and co. don't seem to realize is not every line plays a complete grinding game on a team like the Islanders or Blues or Lightning. The Islanders don't allow goals, but it's not because Barzal is this elite defensive presence that grinds teams down. The rest of the team has that elite defensive presence. You watch the Barzal line then watch the Nelson or Pageau line and you can tell which line is meant to score, which line is meant to defend, and which line is meant to hold a lead. Colliton doesn't seem to get that concept and for whatever reason, he and Bowman are on the same page and now the hawks have two 4th lines in their bottom 6. It's unfortunate because guys like Wallmark have some actual offensive potential, but it dies when he's put on a grinding line.

Colliton is running this team like he ran Rockford in the AHL. I saw probably close to 30 Rockford games when he became the coach and it's just an uncanny resemblance. He thinks everyone's a grinder. It's sad.