Unlike corporate executives on Wall Street, Blackhawks president and owner Bill Wirtz doesn’t have to certify his team’s results for the first quarter of the season. A daily look at the NHL standings is all the certification anyone needs.
The Hawks completed the first quarter of their season Saturday with a 3-1 loss at Calgary. To use a business analogy–profits are down from the same period last season.
At the same point last season, the Hawks’ record was 12-5-3, good for 27 points. The Hawks were six points off that pace this quarter with a mark of 9-8-3 and 21 points. Coach Brian Sutter sets a goal of 12 points in every 10-game segment. In each of this season’s first two 10-game segments, the Hawks fell short of that goal, getting 11 points in the first 10 games and 10 points in the second 10.
The main reason for the drop in points has been a drop in offensive production. Only two teams in the Western Conference–Nashville and Calgary–have scored fewer than the 48 goals the Hawks had scored through 20 games. That’s 14 fewer goals than at the same point last season.
“If you had to look at something, it’s our goals for,” Sutter said. “The difference is the power play.”
The Hawks’ power play has been a sore spot this season. Entering Monday’s game at Colorado, it was 26th in the 30-team league at 12.7 percent, with 13 goals in 102 chances.
Though the Hawks’ power-play percentage was better at this point last season, the difference in goals is only four. Last year the Hawks were 17-for-94 on the power play through the first 20 games.
Even if the Hawks had four more goals on the power play this season, they still would be a half-goal a game off last year’s pace.
The loss of Eric Daze, who had back surgery before the season and missed the first six weeks, alone makes up for the difference in goals. Through the first 20 games last season, Daze had 10 goals. He played in only five of the first 20 this season and has one goal.
The offense also misses Theo Fleury, who is serving a suspension for violating his substance abuse aftercare program.
“Injuries and putting new people in the lineup, those are a major factor in maybe not scoring as much as you’d like,” Sutter said. “But the bottom line is our power play. Our power play has to be better, no question about it.”
Defenseman Phil Housley, who plays the point on the top power-play unit, believes that the power play has cost the Hawks points.
“Our power play could be better. It could have won us a couple of games, and it has to win us some games,” Housley said. “At the same time, we’ve scored a lot of big goals at the end of power plays. How do you measure that? Statistics don’t tell everything.”
Surprisingly, despite how well goalie Jocelyn Thibault has played this season and how poorly the Hawks played on defense early last season, they have yielded only four fewer goals than at the same point last season (47-51).
The biggest improvement has come in penalty killing. The Hawks struggled all last season and through the first 20 games yielded 21 power-play goals.
They improved that aspect of the game tremendously this season, yielding just 14 power-play goals. They are seventh in the league with a kill percentage of .863.
Still, when taking into account that they’ve scored two short-handed goals and yielded four, overall the special teams are a minus-3.
“The special teams have to be better, no question about it,” captain Alex Zhamnov said. “Power plays are supposed to score goals, not be scored against us.”
So if the Hawks were a stock, how would analysts rate them–buy, hold or sell?
Fleury has been touted as the breakthrough product that will increase profits, but no one knows when the product will hit the floor–or in this case, ice.
“I think we’re only going to get better from here,” Housley said. “There are going to be times when there is going to be transition, it’s just a matter of how we respond to it. The bottom line is we always want to be better, but I see some good things in the future.”
STATS & STUFF
O (NO) CANADA
The Hawks have lost all five games played against Canadian teams this season–two each against Calgary and Edmonton and one against Vancouver. The Hawks have nine games left against Canadian teams with the next coming Dec. 4 at the United Center against Ottawa.
FLAME OUT
Two of the Calgary Flames’ six victories have come against the Hawks. Unfortunately for Calgary, it only plays the Hawks two more times.
OFFENSE LITE
200
With 48 goals in their first 20 games, the Hawks are on pace to score less than 200 goals this season. It would be the first time they failed to reach 200 since scoring 192 goals in the 1997-98 season, Craig Hartsburg’s last season as coach.
Goals for and goals against for the last five seasons:
Season GF GA
01-02 210 207
00-01 210 246
99-00 242 245
98-99 202 248
97-98 192 199
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PRIZED ROOKIE
He wasn’t sure of a spot on the team in training camp, but where would the Hawks be without rookie center Tyler Arnason? He began the week third on the team in scoring with 13 points, second in goals with six and leading the team in shots on goal with 65. Arnason still leads all rookies in scoring:
PLAYER TEAM G-A PTS
1. Arnason HAWKS 6-7 13
2. S. Chistov Ana. 5-7 12
3. A. Frolov L.A. 6-5 11
3. I. Huml Bos. 3-8 11
5. R. Nash Clm. 3-7 10
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FIGHT CARD
Mirroring the rest of the road trip, the Hawks haven’t won a fight. Darren Langdon got the better of Lyle Odelein in Vancouver. In Calgary, Jason Strudwick and Craig Berube squared off and finished in a draw. With Shawn Thornton sent back to Norfolk, Strudwick leads the team with three fighting major penalties. Season record: 2-5-5.
FIT TO BE TIED
The Florida Panthers have gone into overtime in each of their last four games and seven out of their last eight. If the Panthers and Los Angeles Kings play an extra five minutes Wednesday, Florida would tie an NHL record with five straight overtime games.
DOWN ON THE FARM
Trent Yawney’s Norfolk Admirals are tied with Houston for most points in the American Hockey League with 29. The Admirals are 13-4-1-2 with 60 goals for and 49 against. Mike Peluso leads the league in scoring with 24 points (8-16), and Casey Hankinson is among the leaders with 18 (10-8).
THE WEEK AHEAD
At Phoenix
8 p.m. Thursday
Quick look: Thanksgiving special against the struggling Coyotes and former Hawk Tony Amonte. Who misses whom more? The Hawks have struggled to score, but so has Amonte.
At L.A. Kings
9:30 p.m. Saturday
Quick look: Want a dark-horse pick to come out of the Western Conference in June? The Kings wouldn’t be a bad choice. L.A. just ended an eight-game, 17-day road trip. The first home game after a trip like that is always tough, yet the Kings shut out Dallas 2-0.
At Anaheim
7 p.m. Sunday
Quick look: On the L.A. sports scene, the Ducks rank slightly ahead of the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team, yet through Sunday, Anaheim was sitting in seventh place in the West, two points ahead of the Hawks.
Bob Foltman.
