Brent Seabrook was really the only calming, consistent presence on a Hawks blue line that featured an inconsistent Duncan Keith, a green Nick Leddy, a misused Steve Montador, and a useless-in-everything-but-shot-blocking Niklas Hjalmarsson.

Those defensive issues made Johnny Oduya‘s arrival to Chicago much more welcome. The Hawks acquired Oduya from the Winnipeg Jets, to a massive uproar from Hawks fans that wanted more. Only “more” wasn’t availabe in this year’s market. Oduya was as good a move as Stan Bowman could have hoped to make.

For the most part, it was a move that worked out well for the Hawks, at least in the regular season. His speed and puck movement helped make up for at least some of the loss of Brian Campbell and he was a contributor on both special teams.

He was also a great linemate for Nick Leddy. Leddy was forced into a role that he likely wasn’t ready to assume, in trying to replace Campbell, and Oduya’s presence helped to settle him down. During the regular season, the two performed really well together. But in the last few games of the regular season, and in the postseason, the shine from that pairing dulled.

Both Leddy and Oduya were completely beat and outmuscled to every puck against the ruthless forecheck of the Phoenix Coyotes. Oduya was particularly awful, getting tossed around like a rag doll by the Coyotes forwards.

Essentially, it was two completely different seasons for Oduya with the Hawks. He showed that he could be a good piece, as an offensive player, but against a physical team like Phoenix, his play in the defensive end is going to be a major concern. Now that the Hawks have seen both sides of the coin, will they seek to bring back Oduya, who is an unrestricted free agent?

Bowman has already said that the team will look at bringing Oduya back. Whether or not that actually happens remains to be seen. He likely wouldn’t cost much, but the Blackhawks could look to bring in a defenseman with a more physical game, like a Matt Carle or Jason Garrison.

I would say that the chances are pretty decent the Hawks will bring back Oduya. It’s no lock, but they like his offensive game and he’ll be on the cheaper side of things.

It seems we can’t go an offseason without some sort of drunken mishap from the star winger. This summer has already included an adventure in Madison, Wisconsin, with alleged violence against women and blackout drunkenness. Pretty much what you’d expect from any frat star on a college campus, but not an NHL superstar.

Not that Kane should be sitting at home on weekend nights catching up on the latest episodes of Mad Men, an activity I’d expect more out of Jonathan Toews. Kane is 23 and has more money than he knows what to do with. Let him have his fun.

But when it gets to be an embarrassment to the organization, there is an issue. With these latest photos, Kane is walking a fine line that is going to make someone at the top of the Hawks’ front office very unhappy.

I’m not suggesting the Hawks will trade Kane over this. They could use his lackluster 2011-2012 season as an excuse to do that. But I’d expect some sort of meeting with the top dogs in the organization that features plenty of fingerwaving.

If this was a case where Kane had a great year and the Hawks played their tails off in that first round loss to the Phoenix Coyotes, then it would be a different story and these allegations wouldn’t be as big of an issue. But he didn’t, and the Hawk didn’t, with both underachieving all year.

Eventually, it’s going to get to the point where “it’s just Kaner being Kaner” is no longer an acceptable excuse. I’m all for the lives of athletes remaining private, only Kane’s isn’t. And he doesn’t seem to mind so much. I bet the Blackhawks do, though, and it will be interesting to see how they handle it moving forward.

No one is expecting Patrick Kane to be a saint, especially with what we know of his personality at this point. But he either needs to tone it down, not the route I’d expect him to take, or learn how to control his liquor a little better so he can avoid these types of situations in the future.

With the Montreal Canadiens already having hired a member of the Blackhawks’ front office to be their new general manager, in Marc Bergevin, there are whispers that at least one another member of these Hawks could end up joining him.

Hockey Night In Canada put the word out that Bergevin could look to bring head coach Joel Quenneville from the Hawks to man the bench for the Habs. It’s nothing more than a rumor at this point, but is intriguing.

Quenneville and Bergevin go way back and Bergevin was one of the reasons’ Quenneville ended up in Chicago. Add that on top of the fact that Q is competent in the French language, though not fluent, and you can see why the rumors would be out there.

But whether or not Quenneville remains in Chicago, rather than bolting to Montreal, is not the bigger story here. It’s the fact that there is a discourse in the front office in Chicago. There has been for a while, and now everyone in the hockey world knows about it.

Among the things to keep in mind include the fact that Quenneville is not Stan Bowman‘s guy. Q was in place before Bowman assumed the job. Bowman brought in a heap of veterans this past summer, many of which Quenneville misused, including Steve Montador. Then there’s the end of year press conferences, which appeared to open up another debate.

The second line center debate for the Blackhawks is a big one outside, and apparently inside, of the organization. Most feel the Hawks need a second line center from the outside of the organization, but Quenneville was quick to praise the work Marcus Kruger did on that unit this year, while Bowman stated his plans to use Patrick Kane in the middle of that line next season. That tells you all you need to know right there.

At this point, there’s not much of a reason to believe these rumors. One could see the connection and the fact that it’s a possibility, but we have yet to hear much about any real coaching changes to be made, though you can expect Quenneville to, at the very least, evaluate who’s standing next to him behind that bench.

I’d expect the Blackhawks to address the coaching situation, to a degree, but we certainly haven’t heard the last of these rumors so stay tuned.

That fact has opened up a very large can of speculation as to where Luongo could be playing his home games next season. There are plenty of obvious destinations. The Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning are two teams in incredible need of goaltending, or he could return to the Florida Panthers, the club that sent Lu to the Canucks.

According to reports, Luongo will submit his “wish list” of teams he’d like to be traded to next week, and we could see Luongo traded in the very near future, assuming there’s a general manager out there willing to take on a contract near $7 million for six more years for a 33-year-old goaltender.

Apparently, the Chicago Blackhawks are going to be on that list though. This is a highly interesting development, but does it actually mean anything?

Some believe that the Hawks are in need of goaltending help. Corey Crawford had a poor regular season, and his soft goals in the first round of the postseason did nothing to quiet his critics.

I’ve been in Crawford’s corner for much of the season, and thought that he really regained his confidence back down the stretch, and even in the playoffs, save those goals he allowed in Games 3 & 4.

But that’s not really the point here. The point is that it’s Roberto Luongo. This guy has taken a mental beating the past couple of seasons, with the Blackhawks serving as the main culprit. His struggles at the United Center are already well-documented. Could you imagine him having to hear “Chelsea Dagger” on a nightly basis?

The Blackhawks may very well be on Lu’s wish list. They’re a team that could seek out some goaltending help, and they would come without the massive media frenzy of a team like Toronto. Of course, if Lu wants to go without the frenzy, he could just take his talents back to South Beach.

Whether or not the Blackhawks are actually on his list, I highly doubt anything comes of that. The Blackhawks are likely to roll with Crawford and Ray Emery as their goaltending tandem next year. And even if that wasn’t the case, Roberto Luongo is one of the last people in the entire NHL that I’d expect to be sporting a sweater with four feathers on it next season.

As hilarious/awkward as it might have been to see, it’s just not going to happen. If he’s going anywhere, it’s very likely that it will be a club in Florida that he heads to.

The Chicago Blackhawks‘ early exit from the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs have plenty of fans examining potential scenarios and situations for guys currently on the roster, given that we don’t know exactly what the free agent and trade markets are going to look like in a couple of months.

One of those potential, and very possible, scenarios is the departure of defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson.

At this point, I’m surprised he’s actually still with the team. I expected Hjammer to be traded last summer, but Stan Bowman elected to trade Brian Campbell to the Florida Panthers instead.

Hjalmarsson is one of the more overpaid players in the league, making $3.5 million a year for barely more than being a shot blocker on the blue line. Not that that’s his fault. Bowman elected to match the offer sheet from the San Jose Sharks. This one’s on Bowman.

Hjalmarsson isn’t terrible, but there isn’t much he contributes to this Hawks blue line. He blocks a lot of shots. That’s about it. He doesn’t put up too many points out there and he’s not very physical, with just 42 hits this season. He also demonstrates an incredible inability to get the puck out of the defensive zone.

As of right now, it’s likely that the Blackhawks are going to re-sign Johnny Oduya. That’s not set in stone, but assuming they do, your top four defenseman are set, with Oduya, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, and Nick Leddy. Hjalmarsson hasn’t turned into that top four defenseman that many hoped he would. And that means it’s time to cut him loose.

The trade rumors will start trickling out once someone hoists the Stanley Cup and the summer officially begins, but you can bet Hjalmarsson’s name will be out there. Perhaps a team like San Jose could be interested in his services?

We’ll see what  happens, but I’d be very surprised to see Hjalmarsson donning that no. 4 sweater in Chicago next season.

The moves were lauded as quality, as the Hawks added the veteran presence and sandpaper necessary for a deep playoff run. However, those moves made little difference, as the Hawks were bounced in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second consecutive year.

Andrew Brunette did the dirty work around the net, but was too slow to be effective, particularly against the Phoenix Coyotes. Jamal Mayers was a pleasant addition, but he didn’t play much against Phoenix. He’s a guy that could return. On the blue line, Sean O’Donnell proved useless for most of the year, while Steve Montador couldn’t do much in the second half of the season, because of injury.

What the Hawks’ busy summer adds up to is a whole ‘lotta nothing. The only two signings guaranteed to return are Dan Carcillo and Ray Emery, who both signed extensions. As long as Carcillo stays in a bottom six role, having those two around next isn’t a bad thing.

It’s hard for me to get on Stan Bowman because of his inactivity at the trade deadline. Acquiring Johnny Oduya proved to be a great pickup, in the regular season, and there wasn’t much action out there at all.

Since Bowman took over, though, there hasn’t been too much to cheer about. I can understand having to cut and trade players after the salary cap situation in 2009-2010, but between last summer, and the four-year deal that he handed Niklas Hjalmarsson, after the San Jose Sharks signed him to an offer sheet, I wonder if Stan Bowman is the man for the job.

Turns out, letting go of both Troy Brouwer and Brian Campbell was a tremendous mistake. Both were dealt so save some money last summer, opening up some cap space that the team didn’t even actually use. Campbell has become the no. 1 defenseman for the Florida Panthers, while Brouwer, who the team didn’t even talk to last summer, has thrived with the Washington Capitals.

Thanks to his last name, Stan Bowman might not be on the hot seat yet. But he’s going to need a strong summer to prevent his seat from warming up. He’ll need to trim some of the dead weight (Hjalmarsson) off of this roster and actually address the glaring weaknesses (center, defense) that have plagued this team the past couple of years.

Crawford surrendered overtime goals in Game 3 and Game 4, both coming of an extremely soft nature. There’s no defending those goals. But without Crawford, is there even overtime?

The regular season wasn’t kind to Corey Crawford. He struggled to find any sort of consistency and lost his job to Ray Emery at one point. That’s the definition of ‘rock bottom’.

There has already been plenty of discussion as to whether or not the Hawks will seek other options to sit between the pipes next season. But just as benching Crawford wouldn’t have been a good idea in Game 6, replacing  him with an outside option could be a bad decision for the Blackhawks.

Crawford’s numbers for the regular season were rough. His save percentage was barely over .900 and he didn’t post a single shutout, with the Hawks standing as the only team without one this season. While the numbers might not show it, Crawford was much better down the stretch and against Phoenix.

He appeared to gain his confidence once March hit, allowing three or more goals just three times in 11 appearances towards the end of the year.

It would also help a bit if the guys in front of him had picked up their game a bit, particularly in the playoffs. The offensive support wasn’t really there, thanks to the big issues on the power play, but the defense was a big issue all season. That’s something I expect the Hawks to address this offseason.

With the Hawks’ inability to handle the puck in their own end and get the puck out of the defensive zone, along with their tendency to get outmuscled, you can’t put everything on the goaltender.

Does Crawford deserve his share of the blame for the Hawks’ struggles this season? Sure. But I think the Blackhawks will give him another year to figure it out, and that’s the right move. After a sophomore slump, let’s see what this guy really has. I’d be willing to bet we see something much more similar to the end of the year, rather than the beginning.

After the near-magic of the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs, some wondered if the Chicago Blackhawks might have saved a little of that for this opening round series against the Phoenix Coyotes. They didn’t.

The Coyotes knocked off the Blackhawks in Monday’s Game 6, ending what can easily be considered a disappointing season for the Hawks.

It was a game that, just based off of the first period, you thought the Blackhawks were going to win. They dominated the puck, firing shot after shot at Mike Smith, and not allowing the Coyotes to attempt anything on offense. But it wasn’t enough.

The Coyotes weathered the storm and came back in a big way, taking the elimination game 4-0 on United Center ice, which also kept the Blackhawks winless at the Madhouse this postseason.

Smith was great once again, as he has been all series. However, it’s pretty easy for a goaltender, especially one playing as well as Smith, to make saves when shots are either at his pads or at the big Coyote in the middle of his jersey. The Hawks needed to create traffic, wreak havoc, and elevate the puck on Smith. But they didn’t.

In the end, it was special teams that ended up being the difference. The Hawks allowed a pair of power play goals and once again failed to convert on their own power play opportunities. Say what you want about Corey Crawford, it’s impossible to put this loss, or the other three in the series on him (more on that later).

Overall, this is an incredibly disappointing end to a disappointing season. This was a team that many expected to leap back into Stanley Cup contention, after an offseason of acquiring savvy veterans. Those pickups didn’t all really work out. Nonetheless, this was a much more talented team than the Phoenix Coyotes, but one club obviously wanted it more.

The Hawks didn’t play at a level they were capable of. And it cost them.

I don’t expect an overhaul this summer, but I do expect moves to be made. The defense needs massive shoring up, and Stan Bowman needs to evaluate who he brings in as role players. We said it last year, and we’ll say it again this year: this team will be back. But it’s going to be up to the front office (and the coaching staff) to help them get there.

That’s going to be key for the Blackhawks in game 6. This game is going to fall on the shoulders on how Corey Crawford does in net. If he allows a couple soft goals, the hawks are in trouble. If the Hawks play like they did in game 5, I feel much better about it. Crawford has been so up and down this year no one knows what he’s going to bring to the table tonight. I do have confidence in him as he fought back pretty hardcore last year against the Vancouver Canucks so he does have the big game experience.

Maybe I’m overly optimistic in Crawford as again- he’s been hot and cold this year, but what’s the point in being pessimistic all the time? The Coyotes are a good club, and they’re not going to lay down for the Hawks tonight or tomorrow, but I’ve gotta give the edge to the Hawks here IF Corey Crawford can come up big.

Let’s bring the A game tonight Corey, I’m not ready for hockey season to end. The Hawks are good enough to make a run deep into the postseason so let’s get it done.

A low scoring affair between the Chicago Blackhawks and Phoenix Coyotes, which results in overtime. It’s the theme of this series and it happened again in Saturday’s Game 5.

Luckily for the Blackhawks, this one came with a different result than the past two games of this series. Tied 1-1 in overtime, the captain Jonathan Toews took over, firing a rocket past Mike Smith for the game-winner to send the series back to Chicago.

This was a game that saw a big time improvement, for the most part, on the defensive end for the Blackhawks. Though they weren’t without their gaffes in their own zone, the defense was all over every Coyotes forward, holding them to just 19 shots on the night.

And behind that defense was the embattled Corey Crawford, who put together another good performance between the pipes. He only had those 19 shots to face, but he made some big stops, particularly on Shane Doan, who had more than one opportunity to put the Coyotes up 2-1 late in the third period.

The Hawks’ lone goal in regulation came from Nick Leddy, of all people. Dave Bolland skated in front of Smith as the shot came, and the puck deflected off of Adrian Aucoin, who was trailing him.

Had the Hawks not been able to send it to overtime, and grab the win, it would have been easy to find a goat in Viktor Stalberg. He spent a good chunk of his time in the box, with four bad penalties on the night. One thing that did prove, though, is that if there is a power play worse than the Hawks, it’s the Coyotes.

Though they looked flat at times, you knew the Blackhawks would eventually step their game up at some point, in the offensive end. They did that in the third period, outshooting the Coyotes 12-4 before allowing just one shot from Phoenix in the overtime frame. Now the series shifts back to Chicago.

It’s hard to imagine the Blackhawks losing three consecutive games at the United Center in the postseason. Obviously, they’ve both come in overtime, but you can bet they’ll be ready to go in front of the Madhouse crowd, as they try and push this series to seven games.