Elliotte Friedman didn’t mince words Monday when he sized up the Chicago Blackhawks on Sportsnet’s 32 Thoughts podcast. With Chicago sitting at 4-13-1 and carrying the second-worst record in the NHL, Friedman said the team’s issues go well beyond the standings.
He said management is actively hunting for ways to boost the offense, and that first-round picks and players such as Jordan Greenway and Teuvo Teräväinen could be available. But on the ice, Friedman argued the bigger problem is the way the Blackhawks handle the game away from the puck.
"They have a really young team, one of the things that is the hardest to figure out is how you play when you don't have the puck, how you are successful in the NHL when you have to get it back, and what you have to be good at to do that," Friedman said.
Friedman also said he has heard a common standard from around the league for rebuilding teams: defend home ice and, even in defeat, make the other side work for everything.
"Either you play hard or you play tough, like the other team might beat you...but you're getting your pound of flesh out of them," Friedman said.
"In this day and age, when you go down with a fight, you go down because you go goal for goal with the other team, but lose, or you make really life really hard on the other team, but lose, when I watch Chicago right now, I see a team they don't know how to check yet."
The numbers line up with that assessment. Chicago has the fourth-fewest hits in the league at 309 and the fewest blocked shots by a wide margin at 199. The Blackhawks also rank 12th in giveaways with 298, which Friedman tied to players being knocked off the puck in physical battles.
He said the Blackhawks could benefit from adding more veteran help, especially if they focus on the areas that are causing the most trouble. And in his view, the physical side of the game can’t be ignored if Chicago wants to climb out of its early-season mess.
"They have to be more structured, they have to check, or you're going to get pounded and you know that's what I look at when I see Chicago," Friedman said.
"They have a lot of good young players, and some of these guys are going to be really good players, but they are not yet ready to win in this league because they they're not yet able when they don't have the puck, they don't. They're not good enough yet, or they're not able enough yet to take it back and that you get your butt kicked when you go through that."
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