Bowman: ‘It’s just not clicking right now’
er.
They weren’t run out of the United Center in any of the first six games of their season-high seven-game homestand and even outplayed the Oilers, Capitals and Golden Knights for long stretches. But the last game — a 4-1 loss to the Flyers on Thursday — was shocking both in how poorly the Hawks played and the way Colliton blasted his team’s work ethic afterward.
The loss left the Hawks tied for the fourth-worst record in the league, based on percentage of possible points earned — not exactly where they had hoped to be when the season kicked off in Prague three weeks ago. But Bowman isn’t ready to blow things up. He still has faith in the team he put together over the summer.
“I don’t know if it’s ever too early to be concerned about things,” Bowman said. “Results certainly matter. I’m not trying to diminish that, but when you do a lot of good things over a long period, it’s going to go in your favor. In the shorter sample, we did a lot of good things, but it didn’t translate into victories.
“At some point you need that to happen. You need that strong play when you’re limiting the opponents’ opportunities and you’re controlling the game, you’re controlling the scoring chances. You do that enough times, your team is going to start winning a lot of games.”
When retooling his roster, Bowman focused on a glaring lack of forward depth and shoring up the defense. He didn’t worry about finding players who know how to put the puck in the net.
Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat and Jonathan Toews combined for 120 goals last season, each setting a career high. Even accounting for some regression, Bowman had no reason to fix something that wasn’t broken.
And now? Well, the offense appears to be broken. The Kane-DeBrincatToews trio combined for six goals through eight games, and a power play that last season went 32for-91 over a two-month stretch is just 3-for-27 this season.
“I’ve thought about it a lot, and there isn’t always a perfect answer to that question: Why?” Bowman said. “Players’ performances are variable. It’s not a straight line. Like last year, if you did this it’s not like next year you do that. It’s more absolutely. Things waver because they’re not robots.
“They’re humans and they’re athletes, and for whatever reason sometimes their performance isn’t perfect. But that’s what we’ve got to figure out as coaches and as managers. We’ve got to get them to that level. We know that they can play at a very high level. It’s there. It’s just not clicking right now.”
Making the scoring slump even more frustrating is that nearly all of Bowman’s offseason acquisitions have been as good or better than expected.
Defensemen Calvin de Haan and Olli Maatta are the capable veterans the Hawks needed. Dominik
Kubalik, 24, is closer to a finished product than most rookies, and Ryan Carpenter’s faceoff ability and smart play have made him a perfect addition to the fourth line.
Alex Nylander still has a lot to prove, but he has been a bright spot with his willingness to adapt to a fourth-line role and return from a one-game benching with a positive attitude.
But the most intriguing newcomer remains Kirby Dach, the baby-faced center the Hawks drafted at No. 3 in June. A concussion at a prospects tournament in September delayed his NHL debut, but Dach is trying to prove he belongs with the Hawks.
Bowman was careful not to say Dach is here to stay. But so far the GM likes what he sees of the 18-yearold.
“The concern with young players is if they start changing their game just to survive to get through a game and they stop being the player they could become,” Bowman said. “Then you have to make the decision: Is that the right environment for him. We don’t want (Kirby) to just be a player that’s trying to survive his shifts. I don’t get a sense of that. Each game he’s made some nice plays.
“If anything, I see him gaining a little more comfort as we go along. I don’t know how that’s going to play out over the next few games, but it’s certainly a nice start for him. He’s staying true to the player he was, and if you’re able to do that, then there’s an excitement for how much better he’s going to get over the next three, four or five months.”
On the other hand, defenseman Adam Boqvist, the Hawks’ top pick last year, isn’t close to joining the Hawks. When Connor Murphy went down Tuesday with a groin injury, the Hawks had an immediate need for a right-shot defenseman. They called up Dennis Gilbert, who shoots lefty, and moved the lefthanded de Haan into Murphy’s role.
Boqvist, 19, who has played just three games for Rockford because of an injury, was never considered.
“When he’ll be in Chicago and at what point, it doesn’t do a lot of good to sit here and try to map that out,” Bowman said. “Because so much can change with our team here, with the health of our team, with his performance. Let’s just see how it goes. I liked his training camp. I thought he was good, impressive. His skill set is noticeable. His talent has never been questioned.
“It’s just being able to be used enough so you can show what you can do. It’s not that he can’t do it. He just hasn’t had a lot of reps as a pro.”
Bowman took a lot of heat last year for hiring the unproven, 33-year-old Colliton to replace the future Hall of Famer Quenneville, and perhaps rightfully so. Colliton’s tenure with the Hawks has been marked more by hope than wins.
Bowman knew enough about Colliton two years ago to hire him to coach the IceHogs and trusts him enough to coach the Hawks. He still believes in Colliton.
“The one thing is his ability to weather the storm in some tough circumstances and still be confident and upbeat,” Bowman said. “Preach the message of what it’s going to take for our team to get to that next level. It took a little time last year, but we saw it. We saw progress and we saw the light bulb really went on.”
But so far this season, the light bulb is still flickering.