It is a spectacular sabotage operation. The most memorable since Denis Coderre destroyed a Canada Post concrete slab with a jackhammer in a park in Pierrefonds.
Posted at 7:45 a.m.
In recent days, the Chicago Blackhawks have traded Alex DeBrincat (41 goals) and Kirby Dach (9 goals), let go of Dylan Strome (22 goals) and Dominik Kubalik (15 goals), and bought out the contract of Henrik Borgström (4 goals). How many goals have just left the organization?
Wait, I’m counting on my fingers…
91. Out of 213. That’s huge. And the leak is not plugged. Defenders Calvin De Haan and Erik Gustafsson will get full free agency on Wednesday.
What did the Blackhawks get in return for all these players?
Five draft picks. So guys who might start scoring goals in three, four, five years. Until then, we frankly wonder who will play on offense for the Blackhawks. Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews will become unrestricted free agents next summer. No attacker yet has a contract beyond the summer of 2024. The situation is also heartbreaking for defenders and goalkeepers. Here’s a preview of the roster, before the free agent market opened. Incidentally, these are the goals scored last season.
Lukas Reichel (0) – Jonathan Toews (12) – Patrick Kane (26)
Mike Hardman (0) – Philipp Kurashev (6) – Tyler Johnson (3)
Boris Katchouk (1) – Sam Lafferty (5) – Taylor Raddish (6)
Someone (0) – Reese Johnson (1) – MacKenzie Entwistle (5)
Alex Vlasic (1) – Seth Jones (5)
Jake McCabe (4) – Connor Murphy (4)
Riley Stillman (2) – Caleb Jones (5)
Petr Mrazek (0)
A masochist
No, it’s not a club built to win 40 games. Neither 30. Nor 20. Nor an attractive roster for top free agents. This club, if it stays the same by the end of the week, is built to finish last in the National Hockey League for several years, which will allow it to increase its chances of drafting the best prospects.
I feel from here the concern of some supporters of the Canadian. A team worse than ours? Oh no, oh no. It’s not good for our chances of drafting Connor Bedard next summer. Gotta be worse than the Blackhawks.
Sorry, that won’t happen. And since we are in the subject, I have my helmet full of these so-called “supporters” of the Habs who campaign loud and clear for the forfeiture of their favorite club. It’s a wound. The height of unsportsmanlike behavior. None fan should wish the defeat of his club. Under no circumstances. If so, the system is broken and needs to be overhauled.
Of course I read The Cubs Way. I read Built to Lose. I read Tanking to the Top. I understand very well the strategy of the tanking, which involves dropping down the leaderboard, to fish for better ranks. I saw the Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals and Blackhawks win the draft lottery and then the Stanley Cup. I also watched the Houston Astros draft four straight top-two years and then win the World Series.
Except that this strategy is aging badly. Rebuilds are getting longer and longer. In the National Hockey League, they last an average of six years. In major league baseball, it’s even longer.
Why ?
Because too many teams have dived too deep – at the same time. So much so that even with a lousy roster, it’s increasingly difficult to stand out among the rotten, to secure one of the first three draft picks.
Let’s do an exercise together. Let’s check for parity in the NHL – at the bottom of the overall standings. For three years, which clubs have finished among the 10 worst? And how many times?
Among the 10 worst, for 3 years
- Anaheim Ducks, three times
- Arizona coyotes, three times
- Buffalo Sabers, three times
- Detroit Red Wings, three times
- New Jersey Devils, three times
- Ottawa Senators, three times
- Chicago Blackhawks, twice
- Los Angeles Kings, twice
- Montreal Canadiens, twice
- San Jose Sharks, twice
- Columbus Blue Jackets, once
- Philadelphia Flyers, once
- Seattle Kraken once
- Vancouver Canucks once
Not much diversity, is there? With the exception of the Kings, all the clubs present two or three times in this list are at the heart of a long reconstruction. That of the Sharks will last the whole decade. That of the Sabers never ceases to end. The Devils, who drafted TWO first-round centers, are tired of rebuilding. The Senators, too. These two clubs want to strengthen now. Except that they start from so far that their chances of catching up with the front runners are uncertain.
This division of the league into two groups – winners and losers – is not unique to hockey. This is also the case in baseball, where the rift is even deeper. We are halfway through the season. Eighteen of the thirty clubs are already ten victories behind the leaders of their division. Imagine the number of games without stakes by the end of the season…
Indifference is also what awaits the Blackhawks. Not just in the next few months, but in the next few years. We wish the club’s supporters a quick, five-year reconstruction. Unfortunately, recent history tells us that it is more likely to continue, as for the Sabres, Senators or Devils.