Rough start for ‘rebuild’
The absences of Toews, Dach and Nylander are 3 more setbacks
The Chicago Blackhawks’ season hasn’t started, and already their rebuild needs a restart.
Captain Jonathan Toews will miss training camp and likely the start of the season because of an unspecified illness, as first reported by TSN.
He said he doesn’t have a timetable for his return, only that “I’ve been experiencing symptoms that have left me feeling drained and lethargic. I am working with doctors so I can better understandmy condition.”
Toews’ absence could be temporary, but the more devastating developments happened to forwards KirbyDach and Alex Nylander.
Dach broke his wrist trying to check an opponent during an IIHFWorld Junior Championships game in Edmonton, Alberta, and will miss four to five months.
Nylander injured his left knee during this summer’s playoffs and will need four to six months to recuperate fromsurgery to repair a torn meniscus.
The season starts Jan. 13 at Tampa Bay and endsMay 8, a little more than four months fromnow. So two key pieces of theHawks reboot likely will miss whatwas supposed to be a critical developmental season.
Missing a player for a season always is bad, but it’sworse when you’reworking within the limited windowtheHawks apparently have.
Unlike the Detroit RedWings, who aren’t looking to be truly competitive for another four or five years, theHawks didn’t go the route of a complete teardown of the roster.
Both CEODannyWirtz and hockey operations President Stan Bowman shied away from putting a “time horizon” on the team’s return to Stanley Cup contention, but the front office’s personnel decisions do.
Parting with goaltender Corey Crawford and forward Brandon Saad started the clock on the rebuild, but theHawks held on to veteransToews, Patrick Kane and DuncanKeith (and if they did ask any of them if they
wanted to be traded, it hasn’t been made public).
All three become unrestricted free agents after the 2022-23 season, and DominikKubalik is up for restricted free agency the season before that— a two-year test that last season’s 30-goal breakout performancewas no fluke.
So Bowman has two or three seasons to figure out if he’s on the right track with this roster before having to make tough decisions— or, in the case of some veterans who control their fate, the decisions aremade for him.
TheHawks may say the right things in the coming days— that they’re going to forge ahead with the team they have, focus on developing a number of promising young players in the pipeline and stay vigilant for trades and signings that could help accelerate the rebuild.
But there’s no minimizing the variousways this series of events sets theHawks back.
Remember howKubalik is in the spotlight? Well, his two linemates fromlast season’s top line — Toews and Saad— won’t be there when camp starts. The Hawks sent Saad to the Colorado Avalanche in theNikita Zadorov trade, and Toews is out “indefinitely,” according to the team. There goesKubalik’s chance to build on his chemistry with Toews.
TheHawks brass can say it’s on the veterans to maintain their level of play and guide the young up-and-comers no matter who’s on the ice, but howmuch of this “rebuild” can you reasonably heap on Kane’s shoulders before he understandably gets fed up and checks out? TheHawks already riled their veterans when
they cut off negotiations with Crawford and admitted to the rebuild. “It’s sad. It’s really disappointing,” Toews told The Athletic at the time. Now, even some of the young players, for whom theHawks sacrificed veteran talent, won’t be there.
LikeKubalik, theHawks have issued a big challenge to Alex DeBrincat to consistently play as an elite winger. But if youwere going to promote him to the top line to replace Saad, Toews is gone— for now. If youwere going to keep him on a line with Kane andDach, nowDach is out of the picture.
Dach isn’t just another young player on the roster— he’s arguably a foundational piece of the Hawks future— but let’s not beat up theHawks too much for loaning him to Canada for the world juniors and exposing him to injury. Dachwanted to represent his home country, and the Hawkswanted to see him and others face top competition before the season. But it is fair to question theworkload the Hawks have allowedDach to take on. He said in July that between theWesternHockey League, tournament play and his rookie season, “I had been playing hockey for the past 18 months leading up to theCOVID break.” Add on a late summer NHLpostseason, theworld juniors and whatwould’ve been a new season in which he would’ve taken on a more prominent role.
On the subject of missing your top two centers, theHawks signed Carl Soderberg after Dach’s injury. Why does a team embarking on a youthmovement turn to a 35-year-old veteran on a one-year deal when it has yet to come to terms with 23-year-old
Dylan Strome? Bowman said earlier this month about Strome: “I’m always optimistic thatwe’ll get something done. Nothing to report other thanwe’re negotiating with him and hopefulwe’ll get that done.”
TheHawks need to see what they have inNylander, who had 10 goals and 16 assists in 65 games and had a strong training camp in July, but averaged just 10 minutes, 48 seconds of ice time in the two postseason series and took 11 shots with no goals or assists. Bowman saidNylander and defenseman Adam Boqvist — who also struggled at times, especially in the playoffs— can be effective when they’re at their best, but “the goal for us is to get them there more often. Part of that’s on us as coaches and management, but part of it’s on them, aswell, to take the next step.”
In the end, maybe it’s better for theHawks to remove any expectations about what this season could be. And expectations alreadywere low.
Even if Toews, Dach andNylander could have played all 56 games, they stillwould have been playing in front of a green goaltender, whether it’sMalcolm Subban, Collin Delia orKevin Lankinen who ultimately wins the season-long competition to fill Crawford’s pads.
Developing a starting-quality goalie can be an even slower, more painful process than polishing a prospect into a top-six skater.
On the positive side, the Hawks canmove forward with Pius Suter, who’s on a one-year audition to showhe can be a top-six forward; BrandonHagel, whose invitation to the big dance was cut short after one game because of the pandemic shutdown inMarch; andWyatt Kalynuk and Ian Mitchell, the latter trying to prove he belongs in the NHLsooner rather than later.
TheHawks have more leeway than ever to give Mitchell some run if they feel he’s ready.
“The important thing beyond time horizons is seeing improvements,” Wirtz said earlier this month when asked howBowman’s progress will be judged. “We expect each year to build upon the last year, and by all meanswewant to make that as soon as possible.
“Butwe alsowant to be patient with the process.”
Patience will be needed in abundance because “lethargic” might be the bestway to describe the upcoming season.