Before the season finale at the United Center last April, Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson announced Jonathan Toews would be playing his final game for the organization, a clear indication the team was moving on from the Patrick Kane-Toews era.
“I don’t know if it’s necessarily putting the past behind us,” Davidson said that day. “It’s more so clearing the deck to some extent to allow the organic growth for young players into leadership roles and offer this new era of Blackhawks players the same opportunity that Toews, Kane, (Duncan) Keith, (Brent) Seabrook, they were all offered when they came into the league.
“When there’s a player like Jonathan or Patrick in your locker room, you defer to them.”
By some stroke of luck, the Hawks defied the draft lottery odds and won the right to select phenom Connor Bedard with the top pick. The plan was for Bedard to infuse the organization with hope, though Davidson still needed to find some veteran leadership to surround the rookie and provide for that “organic growth.”
Davidson did just that, acquiring veterans Corey Perry from Tampa Bay and Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno from Boston. Perry, 38, and Foligno, 36, were past their prime and had no chance to be around when and if the rebuild turned the corner, but if the Hawks’ version of “The Expendables” could rub off on Bedard, the inexpensive gambit would be worth it.
Unfortunately for “Kyle from Chicago,” his best-laid plans haven’t worked out as expected, even as Bedard’s brilliance has been as good as advertised.
Only 19 games into the season after Sunday’s 4-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues at the UC, the Hawks’ growth spurt appears to be lacking.
“We just weren’t alert, kind of aware tonight,” coach Luke Richardson said afterward. “And not a physical effort … I don’t know why, but I think they were the hungrier team tonight and we let them be.”
The Hawks fell to 6-13, and have regressed since a promising start to the season.
Perry remained absent from the team for undisclosed reasons and was not expected back any time soon, if at all. His mysterious disappearance, and Davidson’s reluctance to provide any updates, has been another black eye for an organization that promised more transparency after the Kyle Beach incident.
Hall, meanwhile, played in only 10 games before suffering a right knee injury. He’ll undergo knee surgery Monday and has been ruled out for the remainder of the season. That leaves Foligno to carry the load in the leadership department, a job he seems willing to take on.
Foligno decried the lack of backchecking, the inability to mount momentum after cutting the first-period deficit to 2-1, and the failure to replicate the success of Friday’s overtime win over Toronto.
“It’s a disappointing one, because we really felt like we were understanding of how we had success against Toronto,” he said. “And now we’re right back in the loss column.”
There’s no one coming to replace Hall or Perry, as Davidson conceded Saturday.
“There are probably other teams that would be far more aggressive than us in trying to add talent, if we were to look at that,” Davidson said.
Makes sense not to keep adding older guys to a rebuild when the playoffs are already a pipe dream before the start of December. So the “collective leadership group,” as Davidson referred to them, will have to make up for the absence of the two leaders he acquired this summer.
“They’re definitely big losses,” Richardson said Sunday of Perry and Hall. “But Nick has been great for us this year and we knew that.”
Richardson then name-dropped Jason Dickinson, Tyler Johnson, Seth Jones and Connor Murphy as part of a “strong leadership group” in the locker room.
“Do we take a couple blows? Yes,” he said. “But right now I think everybody’s got a chance to step up even more, and they’ve done that.”
If not, Bedard will have to fend for himself, a scary thought for any 18-year-old, much less one who is the face of the franchise.
Sunday’s matinee game on the West Side was one of the Hawks’ kids days, a marketing ploy called “Best Day Ever” designed to get children into hockey — and team sweaters — at an early age. It was the best day for the Hawks, but there were plenty of children fidgeting in the stands, a trait that will serve them well if the Hawks’ rebuild doesn’t pan out by their teens.
Bedard’s presence will help keep the stadium mostly filled, even as the Hawks flounder. At a couple of souvenir stands on the upper level, concession workers estimated that 90% of the Hawks sweaters they sell are Bedard’s No. 98, though the only other one for sale was Seth Jones’ No. 4.
Bedard also is the undisputed star of the Hawks’ video board, with as many clips of him skating as some of the stars from the three-time Stanley Cup champions of recent vintage. He also drew a laugh from fans watching a team-made video during a break that asked Hawks players about their first phones. After most of them described their days of owning a flip phone, Bedard chimed in by saying: “iPhone 5. I think I was 11.”
Oh for the good old days of 2016.
How much mentoring Bedard actually needs is unknown. On the ice he’s already their best player. He seems polished in interviews, and Richardson said he sees Bedard getting into more skirmishes in games, which means he’s not waiting on teammates to be his enforcers.
“I told him just get in there and have your stick up, then people will stop coming around you and protect yourself,” Richardson said. “And he gets in there when his teammates need him and that’s a good sign.”
Bedard gave a postgame “award” to Dickinson after Friday’s win, which Richardson pointed to as a sign of his comfort level.
“He speaks very comfortably to the team, he stands up in the dressing room and addresses the team just like an experienced guy, but in a more controlled, quieter tone after the game,” Richardson said. “He’s not the yeller, rah-rah. I think Nick stood up and screamed when (Bedard) gave it to ‘Dickie.’ So that’s the rah-rah part. But I think Connor, he acts like a veteran already. He’s very composed.”
But losing could get old quickly for anyone, no matter their age or experience. Foligno said it’s not too early for the Hawks to be concerned about their recent play, including the veterans in his assessment.
“We’re (19) games in now, a quarter way through the season,” he said. “You have to understand, in order to have success, what it is. Otherwise you’re being ignorant at this point. We’re going to keep working at it. But there’s got to be a commitment from everybody.”