Chicago Blackhawks Current Situation Is Not As Dire As Previously Thought

Before this weekend the Chicago Blackhawks had a five day break before returning to action on Saturday, when they outplayed and beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-1, only to subsequently lose to the Philadelphia Flyers by the same score.

But I am not here to talk about those games or give any recap.

What that break did was this: it let all the other teams that were 2-4 games behind the Blackhawks in the standings and in games played catch up.

What we saw was the Blackhawks maintain a thinly-held 7th seed in the Western Conference, one point behind Phoenix and one point ahead San Jose.

It’s not the best of places to be in after earning a 2nd seed at the end of last season. If you really want to look at it negatively, the Blackhawks lost only 22 games last season compared to the 19 this season they already have lost with 33 games left in the season.

But I am not here to look at it negatively.

Most Blackhawk fans knew, but maybe didn’t accept, that the Blackhawks were going to be a less talented team this year. It was going to take some time for the new team to get acquainted with eachother, for the goaltender situation to pan out, and for Coach Quenneville to get the lines right.

Throughout the beginning of the season the Blackhawks’ points were somewhat inflated, meaning they had played more games than most other teams had.

Now, because of the five game break, the teams are, for the most part, on par with eachother in games played.

After toiling for the beginning of the season, and despite the two losses, the Blackhawks are becoming an unified team. They’ve found their goaltender in Corey Crawford and found the best possible defensive pairings.

And, maybe the most important part: the team is healthy.

With that said, I don’t see the Blackhawks missing the playoffs unless they seriously fold down the stretch of the regular season. A top seed isn’t necessary to perform well in the NHL playoffs. History has proven that lower seeds can make a run towards the Stanley Cup.

The Blackhawks play Minnesota Tuesday and then go on the All Star break.

They aren’t as potent as last season, but the outlook of the season hasn’t looked this optimistic all season long.

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