The Blackhawks still can’t replace Brandon Saad on the top line with Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa.
The Blackhawks still can’t replace Brandon Saad on the top line with Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa. (Paul Vernon / AP)

It's not one or the other. It's not either-or. Not for me, anyway. The Blackhawks need both a top-six forward and top-four defenseman to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.

This is not some great pronouncement. This is just watching. This is what most people figured coming into the season and not much has changed that view.


I could be wrong, but I see the Hawks struggling too often to move the puck quickly and regularly screaming for five-on-five goals from someone other than Patrick Kane's line. The Hawks do not consistently look like the HAWKS.

They can't give up five goals to the Coyotes and they can't be happy they needed seven to win Tuesday night. The Coyotes should not trouble a championship-caliber team. A championship-caliber team should know how to protect a three-goal lead.


The Hawks' inconsistency is not a surprise. Just look at a few of the important players they lost:

— Brandon Saad, a left wing they still can't replace on the top line with Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa.

— Patrick Sharp, a right wing whose streak scoring seemed to deodorize slumps by half the roster.

— Johnny Oduya, a defenseman coach Joel Quenneville trusted in critical situations.

The salary cap, however, might force the Hawks into choosing one or the other, if they even have a shot at one of them, that is.

Nobody in the NHL is anxious to help Stan Bowman. See the Sharp clearance sale to the Stars for details.

If Bowman wants to make a move, it could cost him the kind of overpayment of a top prospect that the Sharp deal required. Maybe more.

Yeah, the Hawks become a different team in April, May and June, and it's possible that the streaking Stars turn into the old gagging Sharks or the latter-day choking Blues when it comes time to deliver in the playoffs.

But the Hawks can't depend on that, and talent matters. The Hawks can't miss the chance to make moves as soon as possible because they play in the NHL's fastest and toughest division.

As of Wednesday morning, the Central Division accounted for both Western Conference wild-card playoff spots. The Central also is the only division in which six teams have scored more goals than they've allowed, and one of those teams won't make the playoffs.

In the Pacific Division, by comparison, only the Kings claimed a plus goal-differential, but two of those teams in minus territory will make the postseason.

After beating the Coyotes on Tuesday night, the Hawks had 46 points, leaving them third in the Central.


But here's the thing: It also left them closer to the Avalanche, who don't hold a playoff spot, than the Stars, who hold the top record in the division and the league.

It's tight, it's tough, it's dicey. But it would be less so if, for instance, Teuvo Teravainen was having Artemi Panarin's season. Or if Andrew Shaw was having even an Andrew Shaw season. Don't even bring up Bryan Bickell.

And it's not that Trevor van Riemsdyk has been bad among the top-four defensemen, but he's not a veteran, and Quenneville loves veterans. Especially veteran defensemen. Especially veteran defensemen who've won Cups for him.

Van Riemsdyk might have a bright future, but he's going through what a lot of young defensemen go through. Quenneville doesn't like going through the playoffs that way. Heck, Quenneville probably doesn't like going through the Central Division that way.

This is not panic. This is trying to be smart and get ahead of the market.

There's always an urgency to win every possible Cup when you're running the way the Hawks have since 2010. Nobody has repeated in the hard-cap era, but that doesn't mean the Hawks can sit this one out, and they know it.

Because once this window closes, there's no guarantee it'll ever open again. Here's a question for late-coming Hawks fans who believe it's their birthright to celebrate in Grant Park every other year:

What have the Oilers and Islanders won since the 1980s?

Same question for the powers in the mid-'90s and early 2000s. The Avalanche haven't won a Cup since 2001. The Devils haven't won since 2003. The Red Wings have won just one Cup in the last 12 seasons, none in the last seven.

Bowman has made some magical moves in the past. This season might turn out to be his most difficult. He might face dealing, say, Teravainen or van Riemsdyk – the bright future traded for the unforgiving present. Good reason to get started now.

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