Blackhawks and Sharks Offseason Previews.

 Offseason plans, with the Hawks and Sharks being the first two west teams eliminated, they are going to be the first in my offseason preview series, as I will breakdown why each 16 teams missed the playoffs and what I personally think they could do in the offseason to improve their team and be more competitive next year. 

In today's offseason preview blog post, the focus is on analyzing the performance and future strategies of the Chicago Blackhawks and the San Jose Sharks, the first teams eliminated from the NHL playoffs. We take a look at the primary reasons for their elimination as both teams suffered this year from the build of their team and scoring issues, we also take a look at some players on expiring contracts and the teams draft capital as well, and I give some ways these teams can improve in the offseason which for the Blackhawks inclues getting younger, adding better wingers for Bedard and making a decision on Hall, while for San Jose that entails getting younger, figuring out the goalie situation long term and taking serious looks at moving Vlasic and Couture. 

Chicago Blackhawks  

Significant Pending UFA'S:

FOR T.Johnson 16-12-28 56GP

C,RW C.Blackwell 8-4-12 39GP

WIN R.Pitlick 0-0-0 9GP

WIN Z.Sanford 0-6-6 29GP

LD J.Tinordi 0-8-8 45GP 

RD N.Zaitsev 2-5-7 34GP

LD J.Megna 0-2-2 34GP

Kamil Krzaczynski USA Today Sports 

Significant Pending RFA'S:

RW T.Raddysh 5-9-14 66GP

LW,C L.Reichel 3-8-11 54GP

C C.Guttman 4-4-8 27GP 

LW,C M.Entwistle 4-3-7 58GP

RW,C R.Johnson 2-3-5 42GP 

LD I.Philips 0-6-6 33GP

RD L.Crevier 0-3-3 24GP

Current draft capital for the Blackhawks in 2024: 9

1RD: CHI, TB

2RD: CHI, LA, VAN

3RD: CHI, OTT

4RD: NONE

5RD: NAS

6RD: CHI

7RD: NONE

3 reasons why the Blackhawks missed the playoffs:

Not built to win this year: 

Now for the Hawks, this year was not a year for them to be going to make the playoffs.

They are still in a rebuild and as much as they got Connor Bedard last year which was a major win for that team, it still is not a piece that's going to get them straight to the playoffs. They still need some more pieces to go around Bedard. So this was a little bit more of another rebuilding year and this team was not built to win. They were built to be another bottom dweller and I am a little bit surprised that the Hawks are as low as they have been. I mean, they got Bedard, they got a couple of offensive weapons. I thought they would have been a little bit better than this. I thought they probably would have been somewhere between bottom 5 and bottom 10 in the standings, but they are still a bottom 2 team, which is a little bit surprising in my opinion, but like I said, this team is not built to win. They don't have a whole bunch of really legit NHL superstars, and in that case, they really don't have a lot on this roster, so that's a huge reason as to why the Hawks once again missed the playoffs and were the second team eliminated from playoff contention.

Injuries especially on the forward group:

Another one was the injuries, especially on the forward group. Early on in the season, Taylor Hall goes down with an injury. That was a bad blow. Anthony Anthanasiou missed a ton of time this year due to injuries. They acquired Beauvillier, and he goes down with an injury, he was out for I think it was a month, month and a half, so that was a bad blow. I think Foligno was out with an injury for a little bit of time, so that was a bad blow. There was a couple of other guys in the Hawks group who went down with a injury, and then Bedard was also out for I think it was like a month and a half due to an injury too, so there was a lot of injuries on the forward group that really decimated it.

At one point, they had to claim Zach Sanford off waivers and trade for Rem Pitlick, which usually is a decent bottom six add, but those guys were playing third line minutes, so the Hawks were not a team who really had a lot of offensive weapons to begin with, and then they lose a ton of offensive weapons in season that really did hurt that team. So that was a bad start there for the Blackhawks, and probably another reason as to why they have one of the worst goal scorings in the NHL, 

lack of scoring: 

And lastly we have to couple the fact that this team had a lot of injuries on the forward group with the fact that this team also did not have a lot of really good offensive weapons to begin with. I mean, Nick Foligno was a decent offensive weapon, Jason Dickinson's actually had a pretty good season, but I mean, if you look at this team, only four players have over 30 points this year at this point in time and there's probably going to be a couple more before the end of the season, but as of right now, Dickinson, Foligno, Kurashev, and Bedard are the only four guys who have over 30 points. 

There's a very likely chance that Tyler Johnson and Seth Jones will probably also hit over 30 points by the end of the season, but still, this has been a team that doesn't even have a whole bunch of players over 20 point, I mean, only seven players on this team have over 20 points this year, and will most likely be the only 7 to finish with over 20 points this year for Chicago. So this is a really bad stat there for the Hawks, they didn't have a whole bunch of really good forward depth, they didn't have a really good amount of forward scoring, only two players have hit the 20 goal mark in Dickinson and Bedard, so just given that fact  it's been really tough there for the Hawks to get offense going, that's probably another reason why they got Eliminated. 

So the injuries, especially in the forward group, the lack of scoring, and the fact that this team was built to lose are probably the three main reasons why this Hawks team was eliminated quite so early from the playoffs.

5 ways the Blackhawks can improve in the offseason to get better for next year:

Jamie Sabau USA Today Sports

1) Either move or keep Hall: First they need to make a determination on Taylor Hall, now Hall's going to be entering the final year of his deal, he's got a $6 Million dollar cap hit and this team is most likely not going to make the playoffs next year, I expect some improvement, but I don't expect them to definitely be making very many strides next year to the playoffs, so they gotta decide, would they be willing to keep Hall until maybe the deadline and then flip him at the deadline and risk an injury given Hall has a long and lengthy injury history, or will they try and move him in the offseason and get what they can for him, I mean they were able to acquire Hall for pennies on the dollar given the fact that the Bruins just moved his contract as a cap dump, so to get anything back for him would be pretty good for the Hawks, so I do wonder about that.

2) Add 1-2 top 4 D: next up I feel the Hawks will explore the possibility this offseason of adding another 1 of maybe even 2 top 4 D, now there's going to be a lot of defensemen coming off the roster like we said this offseason with guys like Tinordi, Zaitsev and Megna, and I would not be surprised if there's a couple other guys moved, which I will talk about that in a second, so I could see the Hawks go after one or two top 4 defensemen, especially in free agency, they have a plethora of cap space to work with for this offseason, so if they can get someone who's either a little bit younger on a longer term deal or maybe more of a veteran on like a one or two year deal, I could definitely see the Blackhawks do that, or I could even see them trade some of their draft capital to add some more blueliners as I think they are at that point in their rebuild where they could use pick to get pieces who are already established, so definitely I expect them to add some more pieces on the blue line to improve that top 4 for next year.

 

3) Get Solid wingers for Bedard: next up is something I think the Hawks should really try and get done this offseason and that is get a couple of solid wingers for Bedard. Now as much as Hall's been a really good winger, I think they could definitely try and improve that team even more, as I said earlier they have tons of draft capital and on top of that, they also have a couple of really good prospects, so I do wonder if they try and package something together to either trade for a player who is young and can grow with Bedard, or they go into free agency and try and pay one of the better free agents in the market like Marchessault or Teravainen for example, so I do think there's a couple possibilities out there, but I would not be overly surprised if the Hawks were either big players in free agency or big players in the trade market to try and get some more elite level talent who can play with Bedard on his wings.

4) Move Murphy: next up I think that the Hawks really need to consider moving Connor Murphy, now I was talking about this right before the trade deadline and I expected them to consider moving Murphy as he has been a decent player for them throughout his career, but he was injured at the deadline so the Hawks weren’t able to move him, but now I do think there's a very likely chance he could get dealt in the offseason, I think he's got either one or two more seasons left on his contract after this year at just over a $4 million dollar cap hit, but he's a really good top four defensemen, can play really good second pair minutes on a cup-contending team, so I definitely think Murphy will get moved, and the Hawks will be able to get a really good return for him this offseason. 

5) Add more youth to the team: and lastly here I think they need to continue on with their rebuild and continue to become a more younger team. Now I mean Frank Nazar is having a fantastic season over in the NCAA, and I would not be overly surprised if he makes the NHL in the not-too-distant future, they're most likely going to have another top three pick, and there's a very unlikely chance that they fall out of the top three, so they'll be able to draft another solid stud, maybe they get Celebrini, they can easily bring him in next year, if they get a second or a third overall pick, I think there's a very likely chance they go after another forward that I could also see be an NHL forward at as early as next year, so it's going to be interesting to see exactly who they go after, but they could definitely draft someone and have him play at the NHL level next year, and on top of that, there's also still some more young players in their system (such as Moore, Phillips, Gajan .etc), so there is other young players in their system too, so they have a lot of decent young players and I think getting some more youth into that system will be a fantastic piece of work there for the Blackhawks this offseason to continue to add young talent to make this team better for the long run.

So those are my thoughts on the Blackhawks, as those are the 3 reasons I think they missed the playoffs, and those are 5 ways I could see them improve in the offseason to get stronger for next season and although I don’t think playoffs are in this teams future as early as next year, I think with the right moves we could see them take strides and maybe only be a bottom 10 team instead of a bottom 3 team next year so we will have to wait and see.

San Jose Sharks

Significant Pending UFA'S

WIN K.Labanc 2-7-9 43GP

LW M.Hoffman 10-12-22 63GP

WIN A.Barabanov 4-9-13 46GP

RW, C R.Carpenter 5-7-12 56GP

RW J.Bailey 2-9-14 52GP

LD/RD J.MacDonald 6-2-8 30GP

Robert Edwards USA Today Sports

Significant Pending RFA'S

RW.C L.Kunin 9-6-15 68GP

WIN F.Zadina 13-10-23 68GP

C, LW T.Bordeleau 6-3-9 18GP

RD C.Addison 1-16-17 63GP

RD T.Emberson 1-9-10 30GP

LD H.Thrun 2-4-6 42GP

Current Draft Capital for the Sharks in 2024: 9

1RD: SJ, PIT*

2RD: SJ, NJ

3RD: TB

4RD: VGK

5RD: CHI, PIT

6RD: NONE

7RD: SJ 

3 Reasons the Sharks missed the playoffs

Built to lose

So to start with the Sharks, in a similar way to the Blackhawks, was a team constructed once again to lose, just like the Blackhawks, this team was constructed to be a bottom dweller this year and they were starting to tear it down last year as they moved Meier in season and moved Burns beforehand so we knew this year it was going to be a bad team, we knew this was going to be one of the worst teams that we've seen in quite some time, so I was not overly surprised this was the first team to be eliminated from contention, this team was completely built to lose and after the Karlsson trade right before the start of the season, that defense looked absolutely atrocious, and there was a lot of people who thought that the defense would have been the killer for that team and one of the worst defences we have seen in quite some time, so I'm not surprised that they were the first team eliminated this year do to being built to be bad.

Underwhelming offense

Next up is the underwhelming offense that in my eyes was a little bit surprising, given how many good NHL forwards they had entering the season, I thought they would have had a couple of decent players, but only four players so far this year have had over 30 points, that was Thomas Hertl who had 34 before he got traded to Vegas, that was Eklund who had 36, Zetterlund who had 38, and Granlund who had 51, and only one player has had over 20 goals, and that was Fabian Zetterlund, 

and only seven players have had at least 20 points and two of them are not even on this team right now, as Hertl and Duclair have been dealt at the deadline, so given all of that, I mean this team, as much as they have a lot of really good talent on the offensive group, don't have a ton of really good scorers this year, so having the lack of scoring that I thought wouldn’t have been a issue for them this year, was another reason as to why they were eliminated so early. 

Low valued defence 

And lastly the 3rd reason why I think the Sharks missed the playoffs and were one of the first teams eliminated was because of their awful defence, now this year the Sharks the 2nd lowest team only ahead of the Blackhawks for the lowest goal scoring in the NHL, but on top of that, they also had the worst goals against in the NHL by a large margin, as they gave up 31 more goals than the next closest team in Columbus, so the Sharks have have been having a really bad defensive performance this year, and that's probably due to their bad defense, as like we talked about earlier, this defense was built to be an extremely horrible defense as they had to use guys like Rutta, Vlasic and Burroughs who on most teams would be 6/7 D-Men as 2nd pair D-Men and they either played inexperienced guys or older players who should play lower in the lineup too high, so this year the Sharks were a extremely bad team defensively and that in my eyes was another reason why the Sharks won.

So I'm not surprised that for the Sharks the bad defense, the way the team was constructed and the forward group, that wasn’t able to produce really a whole lot this year, and then the fact that this team was built to lose, were probably the three main reasons as to why this Sharks team missed the playoffs again this year, so interesting stuff there but the Sharks will once again miss the playoffs. 

5 ways the Sharks can improve in the offseason to get better for next year: 

1) Figure out goalie situation long term: Now this team is still just starting their rebuild, so there is no way they are going to make the playoffs next year, and they're probably going to be a bottom 5 team again next year, but some ways I can see them trying to improve this offseason would 1st be , they need to figure out their goaltending situation, Vanecek and Blackwood are both going to be entering the final year of their deals, so they need to figure out who's the future starter of this team, is it Magnus Corona who's in the minors right now, is it one of the other guys they have in the system or do they need to still try and find or draft their future starting goaltender, and if so, when do they want to bring him up, and if Vanecek and Blackwood don't want to extend with San Jose beyond this year, then do they move them in the offseason or do they try and go into the season with 2 pending UFA goaltenders and consider moving them at the deadline, so that's going to be an interesting thing to watch out for as we could see the Sharks make some moves in Net this offseason. 

2) Add more young players: Next up they need to add more young players to this team. Bordeleau hasn't been a consistent NHLer, while Eklund has finally gotten his NHL opportunity this year, so that's really good to see Eklund at the NHL level, but I do think that they need to try and get some more young players NHL opportunities, so I would hope that Bordeleau gets a long look at the NHL next year, and can hopefully be more of a consistent NHL player, I hope that on top of that, Mukhamadullin will get an NHL chance at the NHL level on the defensive end, Will Smith is having a fantastic year over in the NCAA, and I do wonder if he winds up signing at the NHL level, and gets a look at the NHL level with the San Jose Sharks as early as next year, so I do wonder about that and it will be interesting to see exactly what happens there, but I definitely think that this team needs more youth, and there's a very likely chance that the Sharks are going to get another top 3 pick, so if that's the potentiality there, they could try and get Celebrini if they hopefully win the draft lottery, if not they could get a couple of other guys who I think could step in their lineup as early as next year, so there's definitely a couple of options there for the San Jose Sharks to continue to get some more youth in that team for as early as next year. 

3) Add 2-3 top 9 forwards: The 3rd thing I think they look at is adding 2 or 3 top 9 forwards, as we talked about, Hoffman, Labanc and Barabanov, they're all pending UFAs, I expect all of those guys to probably wind up leaving in the offseason, so with that in mind, I expect them to try and go after some more forwards as they need to try and continue to get some more veterans on that team, I wouldn't be overly surprised if they maybe overpay them a little bit on a short term 1-2 year deal (similar to what the Hawks did with Perry and Foligno last year), but I do think this team needs a couple more top 9 forwards, so I wouldn't be overly surprised if they try to add some pieces in free agency or maybe add a few inexpensive pieces via the trade market. 

Robert Edwards USA Today Sports

4) Consider moving Couture and/or Vlasic: Next I think the Sharks have to consider moving on from Couture and Vlasic, now these two are really good cornerstone pieces from their Stanley Cup run a couple of years ago, where they lost to Pittsburgh, but those two I think need fresh starts, Vlasic has not been an overly good defenseman recently, I think he's got 2 years left after this year at $7M and I don't think anyone would want to acquire that contract via trade right now, so I do wonder if they would consider buying out Vlasic, I wouldn't rule out that possibility for this offseason, as for Couture, he's got the rest of this year plus 3 more seasons at $8M, so it will be a very difficult trade to work, but Couture in my opinion (when healthy) is still a really good 2nd line center and I could see teams like Calgary or Boston or potentially even Washington have some interest in trying to add a center like him, so I do wonder about Couture being moved even if the Sharks don't have a retention slot available so I do wonder if we could see the Sharks move on from two long time vets in the offseason.

5) Add 1-2 veteran D: And lastly I think they need to add 1-2 veteran D, I think this defense core this year was way too inexperienced as a lot of younger guys played this year and I think this defence definitely needs a little bit more working on, so as much as they may need to overpay one, or maybe just add a couple of decent depth defensemen, I think they need to add some more veteran-y guys who can definitely help lead that D core in the right direction, and I wouldn’t be overly surprised if they went the Anaheim route and tried to bring in a Gudas-like player in free agency, but I think adding some more vets to that blueline would be a big boost for the Sharks. 

So those are my thoughts on the Sharks, as those are the 3 reasons why I think they missed the playoffs, and those are the 5 ways I can see the Sharks improving this offseason to get stronger for next year, and like I said I don't expect the Sharks to make the playoffs next year and I don't even expect them to be out of the bottom 5 of the NHL, but I think there are some ways that they can wind up improving this team to at least be a bit more competitive then this year and maybe break 20 wins and 50 points so it's going to be interesting to see what happens. 

So that is my thoughts on the Hawks and the Sharks as those are why I think they missed the playoffs, some RFA’s, UFA’s and draft capital for this offseason and I give some ways both teams can improve to get better for next year, and I would love to hear your thoughts, so do you agree or disagree with me and if not I would love to hear your thoughts on all that was discussed and how you think they came improve down in the comments section below.