This is what the Chicago Blackhawks do, and because they do, it seems like it could go on and on and on.
And it may. The Hawks may indeed figure out a way to extend their window of championship worthiness beyond the point when the demands and restrictions of the salary cap system say they can.
On the basis of two weekend playoff victories at home over the Minnesota Wild, arguably the NHL’s best team since mid-January, the Hawks surely look like they’ll be in the NHL’s Final Four this spring for the fourth time since 2009, with a shot at winning their third Stanley Cup.
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The Anaheim Ducks, dominant over the Calgary Flames so far in jumping ahead 2-0 in that series, seem to be shaping up as the roadblock in Chicago’s way. But that’s in the conference final.
Right now, it’s the Wild, a team that learned once again on Sunday night that while everybody talks about fourth liners and support players in the Stanley Cup playoffs, with Chicago, it’s the stars that kill you every time, it seems.
Two goals from Patrick Kane. One from captain Jonathan Toews. One from winger Patrick Sharp.
The big names, hogging the spotlight again for the Windy City crew.
The 4-1 victory at the United Centre now means the Wild have visited Chicago seven times for playoff contests over the years, and lost seven times.
The killer part in these two games was that it was Minnesota’s top defenceman, Ryan Suter, who put his team behind the proverbial eight-ball in both games. In Game 1 on Friday, Suter was manhandled by Brandon Saad on a one-on-one rush, and Saad put the Hawks ahead early en route to a 3-0 lead.
On Sunday, Suter was last man back on a Minnesota power play when Marian Hossa picked his pocked, setting up what was basically a two-on-one break with Toews. Devan Dubnyk made a valiant effort to deny Toews, but the puck crossed the goal line, again for the first goal of the game.
When Kane made it 2-0, he managed to sneak behind Suter to create the chance.
While Suter’s been doing that, the fact that Minny doesn’t really have stars like Chicago has been made clear. Zach Parise and Mikael Granlund scored in the opener, but the rest of the Wild’s best attackers have been mostly silent, including Chris Stewart, Thomas Vanek, Mikko Koivu and Jason Pominville.
We’ll see if the Wild can be better at home in St. Paul tomorrow night. But the Minnesota season is squarely on the line in Game 3.
For the Hawks, swinging for the fences this spring is paying off. Moreover, given the challenges staring Chicago in the face next season, it was probably necessary.
Antoine Vermette was acquired for a first round pick and a prospect at the trade deadline, which won’t help Chicago’s relatively thin group of non-NHL prospects, a group buttressed to some degree by the free agent signings of KHL forward Artemi Panarin, Swedish defenceman Erik Gustafsson and Colgate University forward Kyle Baun.
The bigger problem for GM Stan Bowman is that extensions for Kane and Toews, both entering their prime, kick in next fall, increasing the combined salary cap hit for the pair to $21 million per season from $12.7 million. Saad, playing for less than a million in salary this season, needs a bump as an RFA, and likely will triple his pay.
All of a sudden, the Hawks are going to be squeezed severely, and this is even after Nick Leddy had to be sacrificed at the beginning of this season. Sharp and his $5.9 million cap hit seem almost certain to go. Goalie Corey Crawford, seemingly with his game back together now after a shaky first round, comes at an annual $6.5 million cap hit, also expensive for Chicago the way the team’s payroll is structured.
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By next season, it may be Toews, Kane and Duncan Keith, and then a large number of affordable players to fill out the roster. Proven and reliable types like Johnny Oduya may have to go.
This doesn’t mean the Hawks won’t be a playoff team next season. But a championship team? That seems a stretch.
So this spring matters even more. While not a last gasp situation, exactly, this is a team used to playing for a Cup year after year.
No matter what, it’s going to be different starting next fall.
Other Weekend Takeaways:
Unhappiest Place on Earth: The Calgary Flames hate going to Anaheim. Just hate it. Probably has something to do with the fact they haven’t won a game there in nine years.
NINE years.
Sunday’s setback in Game 2 of their second round playoff series against the Ducks meant the Flames have now lost 21 straight at the place they used to call The Pond.
It makes Minny’s record in Chicago look not so bad at all.
It sure looks like the Flames, expected by almost everybody to be a bottom feeder last fall, have exhausted their possibilities against this very strong Anaheim team, now 6-0 in the post-season.
When Nate Thompson KO’d Michael Ferland in the series opener with a hard check, it seemed to send a strong message that the Ducks were not going to be physically abused like Vancouver was in the first round, and Ferland was not going to be able to run around and create energy and momentum like he had against Kevin Bieksa.
The scene now shifts to Calgary. But having weathered a Winnipeg Whiteout, that’s unlikely to scare Ryan Getzlaf and Company.
Not About the Fourth Liners: Brandon Prust tried to make headlines on Sunday night, but really, he’s not a significant factor in this series against Tampa, so let’s ignore his silly allegations against Brad Watson.
That is, unless Prust cares to detail the comments he made to Watson…
What does matter is that Montreal’s reputation as a poor possession team is catching up to it, and the fact the Habs were challenged to score goals all season has gone from nagging problem to massive problem.
Habs backers will charge that the offside goal in Game 1 altered this series early. But then Ottawa supporters will say a quick whistle saved the Habs from going to Game 7 in the first round. Tampa, of course, still isn’t happy about the calls that went Montreal’s way last spring.
In the end, complaints about refereeing just don’t matter much.
The Bolts were thoroughly dominant on Sunday night, and now Steven Stamkos is in the series. They’ve got lots of scoring options and showed them off in a 6-2 win. With the Caps and Rangers looking like they’re going to go at it for a while, there’s now a chance for Tampa to go home and maybe end this series quickly.
One More Series to Go: The three leagues of the CHL are down to their finalists, and there has to be great hope in Quebec City (and at Sportsnet, no doubt) that Connor McDavid will bring his marquee value to the Memorial Cup later this month.
McDavid’s Erie Otters stunned the powerhouse Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in six games to reach the OHL final on the weekend against Oshawa. McDavid has been brilliant throughout the post-season, already writing himself into the top six forwards of the Edmonton Oilers next season.
Rimouski and the Quebec Remparts, as host team, will meet in the QMJHL final, but both have already qualified for the Memorial Cup. That’s a better scenario than the past two years when host teams Saskatoon and London, respectively, were eliminated from their league playoffs, and weren’t very impressive Memorial Cup competitors when they resumed action weeks later.
Out west, two powerful squads, Kelowna and Brandon, will clash for the title. So if McDavid completes the picture – sorry Generals fans – it would leave Quebec City with a particularly appealing field for this year’s tournament at Le Colisee.
Younger and younger: U.S.A. Hockey has never been shy about using the world championships to showcase younger players, but this year has taken it to another level.
Jack Eichel, slated to go behind McDavid at No. 2 in the June draft, is there, as is Dylan Larkin, a University of Michigan forward who is the property of Detroit. Defenceman Mike Reilly out of the University of Minnesota is on the team, and we’ll find out in the next few weeks whether he’ll sign with Columbus, the team that drafted him, or explore free agency. Harvard forward Jimmy Vesey, a Nashville pick, is also overseas with the team.
On top off these players, the Americans also dressed 17-year-old old Auston Matthews, expected to be the first pick of the 2016 NHL draft, in an exhibition game against Austria last week. Matthews is the first U.S. player not yet in his draft year to play at the worlds.
Naturally, he scored.
Matthews broke all the scoring records with the U.S. National Team Development Program this season, and was MVP at the world under-18s in Switzerland. He’s expected to choose between the WHL Everett Silvertips and going the NCAA route sometime this month.
It’s abundantly clear already that all the drama surrounding the NHL draft lottery that occurred last month with McDavid will be repeated with Matthews.
Go With The Vet Or the Prospect: It was the early 1990s under Cliff Fletcher when the Maple Leafs had an embarrassment of riches in the coaching ranks.
Pat Burns was the head coach, and his assistants were Mike Murphy and Mike Kitchen, both of whom would get head coaching shots in the NHL. In the minors with St. John’s, meanwhile, was head coach Marc Crawford and his assistant, Joel Quenneville.
Ultimately, Crawford and Quenneville left to further their careers elsewhere, and both won Stanley Cups, while the Leafs are still searching.
Detroit is looking at a similar situation now as they contemplate Mike Babcock’s future with the team. Everyone seems to think the team’s minor-league coach, Jeff Blashill, is ready for an NHL job. The Wings didn’t let other teams talk to him last summer, but if Babcock gets a new long-term deal, GM Ken Holland won’t get to stand in Blashill’s path any longer.
