Chicago Blackhawks’ Big-Picture Problems Surface After Another Playoff Loss

Since the Chicago Blackhawks lost their first-round playoff series to the Nashville Predators, fans have been left in a state of shock wondering about the future of the franchise.  It seems the Blackhawks have now exposed their weaknesses to the division and teams league-wide.

After the Chicago Blackhawks were uncharacteristically swept out of the playoffs last week, the anti-’Hawks tweets began to pour in.  I guess after you win 3 Cups in 6 years, people get tired of you beating them.

I don’t think many fans were completely surprised the ’Hawks didn’t win the Stanley Cup this year considering the many talented teams in the Eastern Conference.  The problem was when and the way they were knocked out.

As we all know, the Blackhawks were swept by the Predators after being favored to return to the Stanley Cup Final.  They were the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed and got beat by the 8 seed.

The Predators were stronger on the puck, faster to the corners and played a perfect trap game.  The Blackhawks were shut out the first two games at home, not playing Chelsea Dagger once in the United Center and giving ’Hawks fans little to cheer about.

Next I’d like to discuss a couple big-picture problems going forward after this type of loss.

Elitist attitude must reform to blue-collar attitude

After the ’Hawks were shut out in Games 1 and 2, leaders like Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith all said they weren’t worried and used the typical “we need to just play our game” line.  Because of the Blackhawks’ history of coming back from deficits in the past, I think a lot of Blackhawks fans weren’t worried either, which dug us all into a hole together.

To what point does your pride and resilience become overconfidence?  Being one of the best teams in the league the last several years, the Blackhawks are no stranger to having a target on their backs every time they come to town.

Nashville was one of those teams that had been a casualty along the road of the Blackhawks’ previous Stanley Cup runs and didn’t want to continue to be road-kill.

After losing the series, Kane had the following comments about the Nashville Predators:

After losing for the second straight year in the first round, Kane criticized the way he was beaten.  Does it really matter how you lose the game or series?  If top players on the Blackhawks have attitudes that discount their opponents’ strategy to beat them, they aren’t taking full responsibility for their own failures.

These players needs to start by looking themselves in the mirror and deciding that kind of team they want to be in the future.  They can adapt to the competition and start to out-work their opponents, or they can continue to “play their game” and get by on raw talent, which seems to be thinning more each year.

“Red Rover” trap now on tape

Knowing the Blackhawks love to carry the puck into the offensive zone, the Nashville Predators did their best impression of “stacking eight men in the box,” when defenses in football make your quarterback beat them through the air.

Chicago Blackhawks

Every sport has these types of shifts where your opponent takes advantage of your strength by forcing you to embrace a weakness.  That weakness for the ’Hawks was giving up the puck.

The Blackhawks are built as a puck possession team, meaning they excel passing the puck up the ice and forcing their opponents to defend for most of the game.  As many of you know, the way you get into the offensive zone is by crossing the blue line with the puck or dumping it in.

The Predators were lined up on the blue line waiting for the Blackhawks to try to carry it in, forcing disruption and forcing turnovers.  The Blackhawks seemed to refuse to adjust their game and dump in the puck, resulting in a muddled Blackhawks offense and a strong transition game for the Predators.

The term Joel Quenneville described this prevent defense to his players was “Red Rover.”  Red Rover is a game played by children where two groups lock arms and call over one person from the other group.  That person runs and attempts to break the link of the other team, but if they cannot they become part of their group.

Just like Red Rover, it looked like the Predators were locking arms and forcing the Blackhawks to give up the puck.  Even when the ’Hawks did succumb and dumped the puck in, goaltender Pekka Rinne was ready every time to stop the puck behind the next and pass it up to his defensemen to start the break.

My big worry is that this abominable playoff performance by the ’Hawks is now on tape and most likely seen by every coach in the league.  Whao’s to say every team won’t implement this defense against the ’Hawks every time they play them next year?

It’s almost like the secret is out that a basketball player can only dribble correctly.  The Blackhawks are full of talented players and by no means are they this one-dimensional, but they need to show signs that they are capable of adapting to their opponent before they’re the ones being marginalized.

Another Central Division team gets by Chicago

Last year, the St. Louis Blues finally got past the Blackhawks after battling with them to get out of the Central Division.  We all remember how dramatic it was for the Blues, and this series against the Predators didn’t fall short of that excitement for their fans.

I guess after years of being the Blackhawks’ punching bag, the Predators finally had enough to beat them and this kind of celebration can be justified.  Blackhawks fans were a bit surprised because they only won the first round of the playoffs, but this was a big moment for their fan base.

Meanwhile, Blackhawks fans have been looking themselves in the mirror wondering if this could be the beginning of the end.  The Blues and Predators have proven they can beat the Blackhawks in the playoffs, Minnesota has played the Blackhawks extremely well and the Jets dominated the Blackhawks this year in the regular season.

Next: Debrincat Leads Continued Youth Movement

The problem with all this is that none of these teams are afraid of the Blackhawks anymore, and that scares me the most.