Blackhawks rebuild 2.0

[Hairyducked Idiot]

This was all locked into place when we gave everyone from the dynasty reward contracts that had nothing to do with their future value

The Seabrook one is the only contract that truly bit them, and it was completely unnecessary and bad the day they signed it. But there were dozens of avoidable mistakes along the way that doomed them.

 

Also true

[squally1313]

This was all locked into place when we gave everyone from the dynasty reward contracts that had nothing to do with their future value

The Seabrook one is the only contract that truly bit them, and it was completely unnecessary and bad the day they signed it. But there were dozens of avoidable mistakes along the way that doomed them.

 

Also true

Bryan Bickell also says hi, though his was just mostly bad (not Seabrook bad) until his diagnosis. Probably a similar situation with Toews and whatevers been going on there the last couple years.

[UMFan83]

The Seabrook one is the only contract that truly bit them, and it was completely unnecessary and bad the day they signed it. But there were dozens of avoidable mistakes along the way that doomed them.

 

Also true

Bryan Bickell also says hi, though his was just mostly bad (not Seabrook bad) until his diagnosis. Probably a similar situation with Toews and whatevers been going on there the last couple years.

 

Seth Jones? Or are you only talking about contracts awarded with the Hawks were still good? The Hawks still have a $5.5m cap hit on Keith this season, though he provided an adequate amount of value during the first part of his deal.

[minnesotacubsfan]

Goony,

 

Are you saying that this was the wrong path to take now, or that it never should have come to this?

 

I definitely agree with the latter. I'm much less certain I agree with the former.

I think it’s shameful to tank professional sports seasons and that’s all Chicago teams do now. Every other big city team/organization manages to take a year or two step back before rebounding. Chicago has embraced the tank and should be embarrassed, but aren’t.

 

its become so endemic to Chicago sports that even Tim is trying by jettisoning nsbb!

[UMFan83]

Not adding to or detracting to any point made, just thinking about Jersey's comment about all the tanking going on in this city....here are the recent tanks and my rating for how much of a tank they were

 

2022- - Bears 6/10 - Doesn't seem like its designed to be a long term rebuild, but they went all the way for one season to ensure they got a top pick

2022- - Blackhawks 10/10 - Clearly removing every valuable asset from the organization to rebuild from ground up

2021- - Cubs 5/10 - Traded away virtually all their best players, but have yet to try to completely bottom out

2017-2020 - Bulls 8/10 - Tried to rebuild through high draft picks, but kept good players on the roster that prevented them from having top 5 lottery odds (this could be by design or more likely incompetence)

2017-2019 - White Sox 10/10 - Gut rebuild

2010-2014 - Cubs 10/10 - Gut rebuild

 

Our new issue is teams not wanting to tank so hard and ending up stuck in mediocrity, which arguably is worse. The Cubs are trending towards mediocrity, the Bulls have completely embraced it, the White Sox wallowed in mediocrity for several years before rebuilding, the Blackhawks were mediocre at best for a half decade before pulling the plug.

[Tim]

Goony,

 

Are you saying that this was the wrong path to take now, or that it never should have come to this?

 

I definitely agree with the latter. I'm much less certain I agree with the former.

I think it’s shameful to tank professional sports seasons and that’s all Chicago teams do now. Every other big city team/organization manages to take a year or two step back before rebounding. Chicago has embraced the tank and should be embarrassed, but aren’t.

Wait, are you saying no other "big city" team has ever tanked? In any sport? I think that's a bit hyperbolic.

[minnesotacubsfan]

Goony,

 

Are you saying that this was the wrong path to take now, or that it never should have come to this?

 

I definitely agree with the latter. I'm much less certain I agree with the former.

I think it’s shameful to tank professional sports seasons and that’s all Chicago teams do now. Every other big city team/organization manages to take a year or two step back before rebounding. Chicago has embraced the tank and should be embarrassed, but aren’t.

Wait, are you saying no other "big city" team has ever tanked? In any sport? I think that's a bit hyperbolic.

 

I dont think he's saying that, I think he's saying that no other "big city" has seen their teams embrace the tank across sports (baseball, football, basketball, hockey etc) quite like Chicago has in the last 20 years or so

[WrigleyField 22]

Sports tanking is the real reason everyone is leaving Illinois.

[jersey cubs fan]

I think it’s shameful to tank professional sports seasons and that’s all Chicago teams do now. Every other big city team/organization manages to take a year or two step back before rebounding. Chicago has embraced the tank and should be embarrassed, but aren’t.

Wait, are you saying no other "big city" team has ever tanked? In any sport? I think that's a bit hyperbolic.

 

I dont think he's saying that, I think he's saying that no other "big city" has seen their teams embrace the tank across sports (baseball, football, basketball, hockey etc) quite like Chicago has in the last 20 years or so

I can’t think of another big market team that has done what the Blackhawks did this year, in terms of blatant over the top tanking. I think teams have unintentionally became really bad. Then you have the Bears pulling the almost unheard of move of a new guy bringing in absolutely nothing in his first year, and sabotaging a first round QB with zero help. The Cubs pulled off their 2nd tank in less than a decade and blamed it on the pandemic their owners political party claimed wasn’t real. It’s all rather disgusting.

 

When NY teams perform this poorly, heads roll. But Chicago applauds it. And all the teams are doing it together.

[WrigleyField 22]

I still blame Hinkie for ruining a generation of sports fans to trust the process.

[UMFan83]

Wait, are you saying no other "big city" team has ever tanked? In any sport? I think that's a bit hyperbolic.

 

I dont think he's saying that, I think he's saying that no other "big city" has seen their teams embrace the tank across sports (baseball, football, basketball, hockey etc) quite like Chicago has in the last 20 years or so

I can’t think of another big market team that has done what the Blackhawks did this year, in terms of blatant over the top tanking. I think teams have unintentionally became really bad. Then you have the Bears pulling the almost unheard of move of a new guy bringing in absolutely nothing in his first year, and sabotaging a first round QB with zero help. The Cubs pulled off their 2nd tank in less than a decade and blamed it on the pandemic their owners political party claimed wasn’t real. It’s all rather disgusting.

 

When NY teams perform this poorly, heads roll. But Chicago applauds it. And all the teams are doing it together.

 

The Knicks have been mostly terrible for 20 years, the Nets are good maybe 1/3 of the seasons, the Devils had a bad run for awhile as you mentioned, the Jets are a national laughing stock, the Giants made the playoffs for the first time in 5 years this year, the Mets have made the playoffs 4 times in the last 22 years. The Yankees and Rangers are the only consistently good teams. They may roll heads but its not helping them build good teams. They have a bunch of mediocrity and below average teams because their teams don't gut rebuild.

 

Now look at championships since 2010.

 

New York: 2011 Giants

Chicago: 2010 Blackhawks, 2013 Blackhawks, 2015 Blackhawks, 2016 Cubs (all built off the backs of gut tank jobs)

 

I'm mostly writing this as a devil's advocate post just to see how venomous goony's response will be. I hate gut rebuilds. They fail more often than they succeed and you are just pissing way multiple seasons with the hope that something goes right. Chicago does them a lot and it sucks, especially when every team in the city sucks at the same time. I'd kill for one Chicago team that has its horsefeathers together and you can count on being at least good every season like the Yankees. But we're left with this crap.

 

I still think given where the Hawks were when Bowman was fired, this one made sense. I would have kept Debrincat or Dach or both though.

[Tim]

Wait, are you saying no other "big city" team has ever tanked? In any sport? I think that's a bit hyperbolic.

 

I dont think he's saying that, I think he's saying that no other "big city" has seen their teams embrace the tank across sports (baseball, football, basketball, hockey etc) quite like Chicago has in the last 20 years or so

I can’t think of another big market team that has done what the Blackhawks did this year, in terms of blatant over the top tanking. I think teams have unintentionally became really bad. Then you have the Bears pulling the almost unheard of move of a new guy bringing in absolutely nothing in his first year, and sabotaging a first round QB with zero help. The Cubs pulled off their 2nd tank in less than a decade and blamed it on the pandemic their owners political party claimed wasn’t real. It’s all rather disgusting.

 

When NY teams perform this poorly, heads roll. But Chicago applauds it. And all the teams are doing it together.

The 76'ers did it very famously.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Fans everywhere are way too enamored with tanking. I have a theory that the psychology of "no-lose" situations are appealing. Bad teams lose most of the time and most good teams' seasons end in devastating defeat.

 

But a rebuild can't lose, or at least that's how it feels. There's no downside, it's all just the pure fun of dreaming of a future that can't possibly hurt you because it isn't real yet.

 

With a dash of our society's weird moral legacy of believing that suffering as a prelude to happiness is not only a positive thing but an outright necessity.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

And the Blackhawks dynasty was mostly definitely not built off of tank jobs. Those pre-2009 teams were trying very hard to win. They just sucked at it. Khabibulin and Aucoin were massive free agent signings at the time.

[UMFan83]

And the Blackhawks dynasty was mostly definitely not built off of tank jobs. Those pre-2009 teams were trying very hard to win. They just sucked at it. Khabibulin and Aucoin were massive free agent signings at the time.

 

Fine but they drafted in the top 10 five straight years before making the playoffs in 2009 and had 15 total picks in the first 2 rounds of those drafts. Whether it was purposeful, due to ineptitude or due to frugality, it had the same affect as a gut rebuild would have

[CubinNY]

I still blame Hinkie for ruining a generation of sports fans to trust the process.

Bernstein and Boers made a daily routine out it during the early Theo years.

[UMFan83]

Blackhawks turn Kane trade into a social media video production. Interesting to see the process play out though

 

[NewUserName]

 

I dont think he's saying that, I think he's saying that no other "big city" has seen their teams embrace the tank across sports (baseball, football, basketball, hockey etc) quite like Chicago has in the last 20 years or so

I can’t think of another big market team that has done what the Blackhawks did this year, in terms of blatant over the top tanking. I think teams have unintentionally became really bad. Then you have the Bears pulling the almost unheard of move of a new guy bringing in absolutely nothing in his first year, and sabotaging a first round QB with zero help. The Cubs pulled off their 2nd tank in less than a decade and blamed it on the pandemic their owners political party claimed wasn’t real. It’s all rather disgusting.

 

When NY teams perform this poorly, heads roll. But Chicago applauds it. And all the teams are doing it together.

The 76'ers did it very famously.

 

The Red Wings are a large market hockey team that has embraced tanking since Yzerman has taken over. He had a head start because the previous GM tried to keep the Wings a playoff team several years after they clearly had no way of winning the Cup.

[Tim]

I can’t think of another big market team that has done what the Blackhawks did this year, in terms of blatant over the top tanking. I think teams have unintentionally became really bad. Then you have the Bears pulling the almost unheard of move of a new guy bringing in absolutely nothing in his first year, and sabotaging a first round QB with zero help. The Cubs pulled off their 2nd tank in less than a decade and blamed it on the pandemic their owners political party claimed wasn’t real. It’s all rather disgusting.

 

When NY teams perform this poorly, heads roll. But Chicago applauds it. And all the teams are doing it together.

The 76'ers did it very famously.

 

The Red Wings are a large market hockey team that has embraced tanking since Yzerman has taken over. He had a head start because the previous GM tried to keep the Wings a playoff team several years after they clearly had no way of winning the Cup.

Which is exactly where the Blackhawks were when the new GM took over.

[NewUserName]

The 76'ers did it very famously.

 

The Red Wings are a large market hockey team that has embraced tanking since Yzerman has taken over. He had a head start because the previous GM tried to keep the Wings a playoff team several years after they clearly had no way of winning the Cup.

Which is exactly where the Blackhawks were when the new GM took over.

 

I would agree. Though I think the Hawks pulled the trigger on Bowman before the Wings made Holland uncomfortable enough to go somewhere else

[jersey cubs fan]

I can’t think of another big market team that has done what the Blackhawks did this year, in terms of blatant over the top tanking. I think teams have unintentionally became really bad. Then you have the Bears pulling the almost unheard of move of a new guy bringing in absolutely nothing in his first year, and sabotaging a first round QB with zero help. The Cubs pulled off their 2nd tank in less than a decade and blamed it on the pandemic their owners political party claimed wasn’t real. It’s all rather disgusting.

 

When NY teams perform this poorly, heads roll. But Chicago applauds it. And all the teams are doing it together.

The 76'ers did it very famously.

 

The Red Wings are a large market hockey team that has embraced tanking since Yzerman has taken over. He had a head start because the previous GM tried to keep the Wings a playoff team several years after they clearly had no way of winning the Cup.

the red wings did not tank. They just suck and have for over half a decade. There’s a difference between sucking at hockey and tanking.

[NewUserName]

The 76'ers did it very famously.

 

The Red Wings are a large market hockey team that has embraced tanking since Yzerman has taken over. He had a head start because the previous GM tried to keep the Wings a playoff team several years after they clearly had no way of winning the Cup.

the red wings did not tank. They just suck and have for over half a decade. There’s a difference between sucking at hockey and tanking.

I dont disagree that they have sucked for a while. And the beginning of their downfall was poor drafting, other teams improving their International scouting and a GM who gave out bad contracts out of loyalty. But when Yzerman took over it was an intentional suck....tank. They have had all kinds of cap space and could have easily had a half way decent team. Probably a similar situation that the Cubs were in when Epstein took over.

[Tim]

lol @ this game.

 

Outshot 27-13

Outhit 25-18

Faceoffs - 43%

Down in PP opps 4-2

 

Winning the game 4-0.

 

Hey, we're also have more giveaways (12-6)!

[jersey cubs fan]

lol @ this game.

 

Outshot 27-13

Outhit 25-18

Faceoffs - 43%

Down in PP opps 4-2

 

Winning the game 4-0.

 

Hey, we're also have more giveaways (12-6)!

Felt like a Jones desperate to be loved game. He played pissed off. The team also played with a ton of energy, and may have won for the final time this season.

[UMFan83]

Hawks are now 3 points behind Columbus for worst record. I didn't realize this but the difference between finishing with the worst record and second worst record is huge in terms of odds of #1 overall.

 

Worst team has 25.5% odds

2nd worst team has 13.5% odds

 

If the Blackhawks can just suck a little harder they will have 12% better odds of Bedard. Regardless of your views on tanking, if you are gonna tank and are in mid-March of an already lost season, tank your ass off