I just wanted to quickly talk about the Blackhawks’ win today in Detroit. This is one of their best wins of the season in my opinion, and it came without their captain…again.

Yes, Detroit was without 2 of their biggest stars, Datsyuk and Lidstrom, but the Hawks were without Jonathan Toews as well. Heading into today’s game, the Wings had the best home record in all of hockey. That, coupled with the fact that the ‘Hawks are desperate for every point they can get right now, is what makes this win so big for them. They are now 7 points out of the number 9 spot in the Western Conference, and 6 points ahead of the 7 and 8 spots. The more distance that the Blackhawks can put between themselves and the teams below them in the conference, the better.

It is encouraging to see this team putting up some big wins lately in Ottawa, and now Detroit, without Toews being in the lineup. Because of the injuries to Toews, Hjalmarsson, and Montador, rookies like Andrew Shaw, Dylan Olsen, and Jimmy Hayes are all getting the chance to prove themselves at the NHL level. These guys have been providing a ton of energy to this team lately, which is exactly what the ‘Hawks need. A great example of this came today when Shaw got into a fight with Detroit’s Brendan Smith with about 5 minutes left in the second period. The fight energized not just the fans, but the two teams as well, and less than 3 minutes later Patrick Kane scored what ended up being the game winning goal. Sometimes that’s all it takes. A simple fight to boost your team’s energy, and it’s the little things like that these rookies have been providing lately. Hopefully they can keep it up.

I’m not saying that the ‘Hawks will be fine without Toews moving forward, because they won’t be (Toews was leading the league in faceoff percentage before his injury). But, the Blackhawks and their rookies have been showing some good signs the past 3 games. Now all they need is Toews and Hjalmarsson to get healthy again. That will only provide more energy to this team.

The Blackhawks came out today and said that Jonathan Toews will miss at least 2 more games. The ‘Hawks play tomorrow afternoon in Detroit, and Tuesday night in St. Louis. Detroit and St. Louis currently have the 2 best home records in the NHL. Even with Toews in the lineup, these would be 2 extremely tough games to win. Toews has missed the last 6 games now due to what the Blackhawks are calling an “upper body injury.” Some people believe that he suffered a concussion in San Jose during their 9-game road trip. Others are saying that he has a shoulder injury. Regardless of what the injury may be, the Blackhawks need their captain back for the stretch run.

Prior to this injury, Jonathan Toews’ name was being mentioned in MVP talks. That’s how good of a season he was having and how important he is to the Blackhawks. Toews played in every one of the 9 straight losses that the ‘Hawks suffered beginning in late January. Because of the fact that this team was able to lose 9 straight games with him in the lineup gives me no confidence that they will be able to lock up a playoff spot with him out of the lineup. The ‘Hawks are currently on a 2-game win streak after beating Toronto at home on Wednesday and winning in Ottawa on Friday (Coach Q was calling this their biggest win of the year). Because of this short winning streak, some fans are jumping to the conclusion that the Blackhawks will be fine without Toews heading into the home stretch of the season. Those fans couldn’t be any further from the truth! Jonathan Toews still leads the ‘Hawks with 29 goals on the season, even since missing the last 6 games. Also, he is still second on the team in points. He was first before getting hurt. You cannot tell me that this team will be “fine” without him heading into the last 16 games of the year.

From here on out, the Blackhawks have possibly the toughest remaining schedule in hockey with 2 games against Detroit, 3 with St. Louis, 2 with Nashville, and the rest with teams such as Vancouver and New York (the Rangers). So while this could easily be their toughest stretch of the year, not to mention the fact that they have yet to give themselves a comfortable cushion in the standings, they will be playing possibly a handful of these remaining games without their captain and best player. The Blackhawks desperately need Jonathan Toews back in the lineup, regardless of the fact that they have won 2 games in a row.

The NHL trade deadline has come and gone, and the Blackhawks did little to improve their chances at making a deep playoff run this year. Their only moves were the acquisition of defenseman Johnny Oduya from Winnipeg, and the departure of enforcer John Scott to the Rangers. That’s it. Many, myself included, thought that the Hawks might trade for a top 4 defenseman and a top 6 forward. Unfortunately, neither of which happened.

Oduya is a number 5-6 defenseman and will most likely be paired with either Sean O’Donnell or Sami Lepisto, whomever is in the lineup on any given night.  By trading for Oduya, Stan Bowman added a little more depth to the Blackhawks’ defense. The common belief around the NHL heading into the trade deadline was that the Hawks needed to trade for a top 4 defenseman that could kill off penalties as well as play on the powerplay. Johnny Oduya is not a top 4 defenseman, as previously mentioned, and is mediocre at killing off penalties. Odds are that we will not see him on the powerplay. If I had to guess, I would say that Johnny Oduya was not the number 1, or maybe not even the number 2 most wanted defenseman by the Hawks’ front office heading into the trade deadline. However, with the lack of available defenseman at the deadline, it is tough to get too disappointed with Stan Bowman for making this move. He had to trade for one of the few available defenseman, and he did. As for his failure at acquiring a top 6 forward, that is a different story.

While Nashville, one of the Hawks’ biggest rivals and toughest competitors, was strengthening not only their defense (trading for Hal Gill), but their offense as well (acquiring Andrei Kostitsyn and Paul Gaustad), the Blackhawks sat on their hands, it would appear, and did nothing. Yes, Bowman went out and traded for Brendan Morrison last month with the hopes that he could fill the number 2 centerman roll, but that has not worked out thus far to say the least. Since joining the Hawks, Morrison has played in just 7 games and has yet to register a point. I am sure that Bowman made offers at the deadline for players such as Gaustad, Derek Roy, and Jeff Carter, but clearly his offers were not good enough. It sounds as though Stan Bowman and the rest of the Blackhawks’ front office were too reluctant to trade away any top prospects or draft picks to get a top forward. This is what aggravates me and the rest of us Blackhawk fans. If they wanted to, the Blackhawks could have traded for one of the previously mentioned forwards, which would have greatly improved their team and better prepared them for a deep playoff run. Instead, they are going to be battling it out with Phoenix, L.A., Dallas, Colorado, and possibly a couple other teams for a playoff spot.

The Blackhawks are basically the same team today as they were 48 hours ago; a team that is fresh off of a 9-game losing streak, and currently in the midst of a 3-game losing streak. This is going to be a tough and grueling next 2 months for the Hawks. Hopefully when it’s all said and done we will be watching them in the playoffs.

Thanks for reading.