Several things- Q has always changed his lines frequently and that has been a common criticism of his. Don't read anything into that. Bolland's loss has had very little impact. He was terrible last year. If you point to a difference between this year's team and last, point to Frolik's departure. Frolik and Kruger were excellent as the top PKers and then Toews and Hossa would jump over the boards next. That is extremely stout. Bickell's signing was always questionable but he was signed as much for the postseason as anything. Don't think Q won't go back to the Toews, Kane, Bickell combination in the playoffs.
Something is clearly wrong? What did you expect? They were never going to roll through the season like last year. They had the long postseason, short offseason, and had the most players in Sochi. Plus, they had 7 players play the max number of games. And now you have a top line forward out. I look at it as a team without much to play for right now with most teams giving them their best game. Who do you think is more up for the matchup? Chicago or Colorado? Even though they lost both games, they still outshot them by 27 shots in 2 games. Overall, as a Hawks fan I am not concerned at all. They'll be ready to go when the playoffs start.
10 Team, 60 Player Roster
G, A, PTS, PPP, PIM, BLKs, Hits, +/-, Shots, W, GAA, SV%, Saves
C- JHughes, Trocheck, RThomas, Zegras, Norris, Bennett, PLD, Stephenson, Danualt
RW- Raymond, Stone, TWilson, Toffoli, KJohnson, Nyqvist, Zary
LW- Keller, Schmaltz, Bunting, Skinner, Barbashev, Duclair
D- QHughes, McAvoy, Doughty, Heiskanen, LHughes, Mintyukov
G- Shesterkin, Demko, Andersen, Kahkonen, Levi, Tarasov, Annunen
Notable Prospects- Nikishin, Kulich, Leonard, Wood, Perreault, Lekkermaki, Ostlund, Othmman, REvans, L-Heureux, Ivanov, Murashov