April 27--After the Blackhawks lost to the Blues on Monday night, winger Patrick Kane said what was on the mind of every Hawks player and fan: "It just doesn't really feel right."
In fact, very little about this Hawks season felt right, on and off the ice.
It was a season that started with Kane, now the front-runner for the Hart Trophy, which goes to the NHL's most valuable player, under investigation for sexual assault. Even though a prosecutor would dismiss the case without filing charges, it was hardly the way the Hawks envisioned beginning their defense of the Stanley Cup.
As the investigation played into November, the Hawks' season on the ice got off to a bumpy start.
Defenseman Duncan Keith did not initially tell the Hawks about an injury he suffered in the Stanley Cup playoffs last season, thinking it was no big deal. That injury turned out to be a torn meniscus that required surgery and forced Keith to miss 10 games in October and November.
Patrick Sharp, a fan favorite who helped the Hawks win three Cups but was traded in July, helped lift the Stars to first place in the Central Division as his former team struggled to generate scoring beyond Kane, Artem Anisimov and Artemi Panarin.
Established NHL defensemen Trevor Daley and Rob Scuderi had a cup of coffee with the Hawks before the team decided neither was quite the right fit and dealt them -- and both thrived with the changes of scenery.
Keith lost his cool during a game late in the season and ended up getting suspended for a high-sticking penalty against the Wild's Charlie Coyle, costing Keith Game 1 of their playoff series with the Blues, a game the Hawks lost. Andrew Shaw was suspended later in the series for using a homophobic slur.
And then there was the public-relations nightmare the Hawks went through with suspending and reinstating prospect Garret Ross, who was charged with "revenge porn" for sharing an image of a woman engaged in a sexual act without her consent, a charge that later was dropped on a technicality in March.
It just didn't really feel right.
That's not to say this season was without Hawk joy.
There was Kane, who, with a renewed focus on the ice, went on to have his best season. His 26-game points streak was the longest in the NHL since the 1992-93 season, and he became the first American and fourth Hawk to win the Art Ross Trophy for leading the league in scoring.
There was a franchise-record 12-game winning streak in December and January that reminded everybody these Hawks were still formidable. Then there was the transcendent Game 6 against the Blues at the United Center when the Hawks made everyone believe they were going to come back from a 3-1 deficit to win the series.
Which is why after Game 7, it just didn't feel quite right.
General manager Stan Bowman sensed the chance to win another Cup was at hand, so he went for broke at the trade deadline, trading away high draft picks (first-rounder this season, second-rounder in 2018) and prospects (Marko Dano and Phillip Danault) for Dale Weise, Tomas Fleischmann and the biggest fish of the trade market, Andrew Ladd.
It's the prudent thing to do when you sense a few adjustments may take your team over the top. But after sacrificing a little bit of their future, the Hawks exit this season with nothing to show for it. No hardware. Not even a deep playoff run like in 2014 that captivated the city's attention into late May.
It's only April, and there will be no more Hawks games. No more chances for fans to gather in their neighborhood bars and cheer on the Hawks. No more scouring the Internet for playoff tickets. And no more staying up late to see if the Hawks will pull it out in overtime.
The Hawks are done.
It just doesn't really feel right.
chine@tribpub.com
