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The similarities between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks are growing. Both teams won a Stanley Cup with a young core of stars that set things up for a bright future. Both teams have a captain and leader, in Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Toews, who had to overcome concussion issues to get ready for the playoffs this season. Both teams looked like they were coming together just at the right time to return to the high internal and external expectations that surround them.
And now, both teams are done. Out in the first round for the second consecutive year. When the Penguins were eliminated, the talk was of wasted opportunity.
"We had a lot of confidence in this group," Penguins forward Jordan Staal told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "To come up short is disappointing."
The Blackhawks felt the same way. Even as Mike Smith turned away every shot in the Coyotes' 4-0 clincher Monday night in Chicago, the Blackhawks believed that if they kept coming, kept digging, they'd find a way to break through.
"Even when we went down 2-0, 3-0, there was never a doubt in our mind we were going to find a way to come back," Toews said after the game. "It's frustrating when you play that well and you put that much pressure on a team and they don't break, you don't find a hole. I don't know what else we were supposed to do."
The Blackhawks are at a loss right now, and it's turning out to be a tough postseason for offensive-minded puck-possession teams in the West. The Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, San Jose Sharks and Vancouver Canucks are gone. The favorites are out. In their place are the teams built around defense and goaltending like the Nashville Predators, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes and St. Louis Blues.
There's been a culture change in the West.
"You look at the other series, it's kind of comparable," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said during his postgame news conference. "The scoring is low. Patience."
And now we find out whether Chicago has the same kind of patience. In Pittsburgh, the debate already has kicked in. Should coach Dan Bylsma be held accountable for three straight underachieving postseasons? Is it time to move Staal? What should the Penguins do with their high-priced, underperforming defensemen?
Post-Gazette columnist Dave Molinari put it best in his assessment of GM Ray Shero when he said that patience is crucial, but too much of it can be devastating.
Chicago GM Stan Bowman can look at the patience shown in Pittsburgh and see that it doesn't automatically result in a return to the high level the group once enjoyed. He doesn't even have to look that far.
Division rival Detroit is another team that has patiently kept its team essentially intact since winning a Stanley Cup, and the success is eroding. The Red Wings returned to the Stanley Cup finals after winning it in 2008, then advanced to the second round in consecutive seasons. This year, it was a first-round exit.
"To me, that doesn't look like you're going in the right direction," coach Mike Babcock said on the night his team was eliminated.
So perhaps patience isn't the answer in Chicago. And knowing that organization's recent history, it's unlikely that will be the course of action. When his team isn't winning, there are few more impatient than Blackhawks team president John McDonough. Since jettisoning former GM Dale Tallon and former coach Denis Savard, McDonough has largely left the team alone since it won a Stanley Cup in 2010. But more than anyone else, he knows the competitive landscape of Chicago sports. Under McDonough, the Blackhawks emerged as the darling of the Chicago sports scene, but that will quickly disappear if this group continues to underachieve.
Chances are, he won't stand pat while that is happening.
The Blackhawks have big money committed to their group of stars. Patrick Kane, Toews, Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp, Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith are all signed long-term. But unlike many teams locked into contracts, very few of these players have the right to refuse a deal. According to CapGeek.com, Seabrook's limited no-trade clause doesn't kick in until next season. Kane's and Toews' limited no-move clauses don't kick in until 2014-15. Hossa and Sharp don't have any protection against a trade. Only Keith has an ironclad no-movement clause.
So there are options if Bowman wants to break up the core. If Bylsma's job security can be questioned, so can Quenneville's. Despite the stability provided by Scotty and Stan Bowman, at some point losing hockey minds and evaluators like Tallon, Rick Dudley and Kevin Cheveldayoff comes with a price. It might be time to bolster that front office rather than subtract.
The easiest course of action is to stand pat in Chicago and let the same group try to find a way to break through next season. But a peek into the future in Pittsburgh and Detroit shows that positive returns to that plan are no guarantee.
And now, both teams are done. Out in the first round for the second consecutive year. When the Penguins were eliminated, the talk was of wasted opportunity.
"We had a lot of confidence in this group," Penguins forward Jordan Staal told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "To come up short is disappointing."
The Blackhawks felt the same way. Even as Mike Smith turned away every shot in the Coyotes' 4-0 clincher Monday night in Chicago, the Blackhawks believed that if they kept coming, kept digging, they'd find a way to break through.
"Even when we went down 2-0, 3-0, there was never a doubt in our mind we were going to find a way to come back," Toews said after the game. "It's frustrating when you play that well and you put that much pressure on a team and they don't break, you don't find a hole. I don't know what else we were supposed to do."
The Blackhawks are at a loss right now, and it's turning out to be a tough postseason for offensive-minded puck-possession teams in the West. The Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, San Jose Sharks and Vancouver Canucks are gone. The favorites are out. In their place are the teams built around defense and goaltending like the Nashville Predators, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes and St. Louis Blues.
There's been a culture change in the West.
"You look at the other series, it's kind of comparable," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said during his postgame news conference. "The scoring is low. Patience."
And now we find out whether Chicago has the same kind of patience. In Pittsburgh, the debate already has kicked in. Should coach Dan Bylsma be held accountable for three straight underachieving postseasons? Is it time to move Staal? What should the Penguins do with their high-priced, underperforming defensemen?
Post-Gazette columnist Dave Molinari put it best in his assessment of GM Ray Shero when he said that patience is crucial, but too much of it can be devastating.
Chicago GM Stan Bowman can look at the patience shown in Pittsburgh and see that it doesn't automatically result in a return to the high level the group once enjoyed. He doesn't even have to look that far.
Division rival Detroit is another team that has patiently kept its team essentially intact since winning a Stanley Cup, and the success is eroding. The Red Wings returned to the Stanley Cup finals after winning it in 2008, then advanced to the second round in consecutive seasons. This year, it was a first-round exit.
"To me, that doesn't look like you're going in the right direction," coach Mike Babcock said on the night his team was eliminated.
So perhaps patience isn't the answer in Chicago. And knowing that organization's recent history, it's unlikely that will be the course of action. When his team isn't winning, there are few more impatient than Blackhawks team president John McDonough. Since jettisoning former GM Dale Tallon and former coach Denis Savard, McDonough has largely left the team alone since it won a Stanley Cup in 2010. But more than anyone else, he knows the competitive landscape of Chicago sports. Under McDonough, the Blackhawks emerged as the darling of the Chicago sports scene, but that will quickly disappear if this group continues to underachieve.
Chances are, he won't stand pat while that is happening.
The Blackhawks have big money committed to their group of stars. Patrick Kane, Toews, Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp, Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith are all signed long-term. But unlike many teams locked into contracts, very few of these players have the right to refuse a deal. According to CapGeek.com, Seabrook's limited no-trade clause doesn't kick in until next season. Kane's and Toews' limited no-move clauses don't kick in until 2014-15. Hossa and Sharp don't have any protection against a trade. Only Keith has an ironclad no-movement clause.
So there are options if Bowman wants to break up the core. If Bylsma's job security can be questioned, so can Quenneville's. Despite the stability provided by Scotty and Stan Bowman, at some point losing hockey minds and evaluators like Tallon, Rick Dudley and Kevin Cheveldayoff comes with a price. It might be time to bolster that front office rather than subtract.
The easiest course of action is to stand pat in Chicago and let the same group try to find a way to break through next season. But a peek into the future in Pittsburgh and Detroit shows that positive returns to that plan are no guarantee.
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