The entire hockey world is kicking back with a cold drink at a quaint cottage by a lake right about now. I\u2019m in the pickup line for my daughter\u2019s marching band practice. So much for Gary Bettman\u2019s beloved parity.<\/p>\n
Anyway, on to Part 2 of my summer mailbag<\/a>. Space (and my editors\u2019 patience) is limited, so I did my best to keep the answers concise so I could get to as many of your complaints \u2014 er, questions \u2014 as possible.<\/p>\n It seems the consensus among fans, media, and the rest of the league is that the Blackhawks are bound for yet another lottery pick. I know the players believe they can be more successful than that, but I\u2019m wondering what you\u2019ve heard as far as the front office\u2019s internal expectations, if anything. Does Kyle Davidson\u2019s brain trust believe they can surprise people and be at least competitive, if not a playoff team? \u2014 Tom R<\/b><\/p>\n Call me a cynic, but I think the Blackhawks brass would be very happy either way. Despite fan frustration and bored pundits like me screaming for them to do something, the Blackhawks have positioned themselves in a way that makes this a no-lose season. Either the young players take a massive step toward something special (and it\u2019ll have to be massive to get them out of 31st or 32nd place), or they\u2019re as bad as the public expects and have a great shot at drafting Gavin McKenna. Either fits the plan just fine.<\/p>\n After the Blackhawks finished the 2023-2024 season with 52 points, I thought they should have had 70 points in the 2024-2025 season. They didn\u2019t and ended up with only 61 points. How many points this season should the Blackhawks have to be considered a successful season? \u2014 Joshua B<\/b><\/p>\n Uh, I don\u2019t know, 75? Doesn\u2019t matter. The Blackhawks brass doesn\u2019t care about their points total this year, so you shouldn\u2019t, either. If Connor Bedard scores 35 goals and Frank Nazar posts 50-plus points and Sam Rinzel looks like he looked at the end of the season and Artyom Levshunov reins himself in without stifling his creativity and Kevin Korchinski settles into a permanent role and Oliver Moore does, too, then that\u2019s all that matters. If they don\u2019t, well \u2026<\/p>\n Can you put the Crosby contract method in Connor Bedard\u2019s head by asking him repeatedly (like a child on a road trip) about it? Nine-point-eight for the next 20 years is almost 200 million. Sounds fair to me. \u2014 Gregory E.<\/b><\/p>\n Good luck with that. In 20 years, $200 million might buy you a gallon of gas. Or, at the rate we\u2019re going, guzzolene<\/a>.<\/p>\n The 1901 project gets scrapped. The White Sox have been sold and relocated. The Bulls have a new standalone arena while the Bears win back-to-back Super Bowls in Arlington Heights. Danny Wirtz purchases then gets approval to demo the United Center to build a new hockey wonderland in its place. He leans on you to build a new hockey oasis. You have the creative mind. You have the travel experience for what does and does not work. You are also a parent trying to entertain your kid. From food, to the outside entertainment, to transportation, to the pregame video and anthem singer, to the goal song, to the press-box design and so on. Give us your dystopian Blackhawks Arena proposal for fans, staff, players, and reporters to create the most magical and over the top experience possible. \u2014 Grant M<\/b><\/p>\n Honestly? Just win. The food tastes better, the music sounds sweeter, the seats feel more comfortable, the insane prices seem more palatable and the kids become fans faster when the team is good. Nobody cares anymore that the Florida Panthers\u2019 soulless arena is in an endless parking lot across from a mall, do they?<\/p>\n Did the Blackhawks make a strategic mistake by signing Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews to identical long-term contracts? Did it tie up too much money in two players and prohibit them from building the type of team that Kane\/Toews had around them before their large contracts? \u2014 Barry K<\/b><\/p>\n No, they didn\u2019t make a mistake. Yes, it certainly made things difficult, and it\u2019s true all three Stanley Cup wins came before those contracts kicked in. But the cap was supposed to keep rising forever, and they had no alternative. With their contracts coming due at the same time, the team couldn\u2019t elevate one over the other, nor did one deserve to be elevated over the other. And they were 25-26 years old, in their absolute primes (Toews, at that point, was viewed by many as the second-best player on the planet<\/a>) and in the midst of the greatest run in franchise history. They earned every cent of those contracts. Had the Blackhawks known the cap was going to flatten toward the end of those deals, they certainly would have rethought the price tag. But hindsight is always 20\/20.<\/p>\n I was always curious about the awful Phillip Danault trade. Was that all Stan Bowman and was there an internal backlash over it? \u2014 Vince L<\/b><\/p>\n It was a horrible trade. We knew it right away. The worst one he made, really, even worse than the Artemi Panarin one. But what would you give to be in a situation in which the Blackhawks are making potentially reckless win-now trades like that at the deadline again? For the first time in my life as a Mets fan, I can tell you, it kind of rules.<\/p>\n What shifts are you seeing in engagement since you guys both do X\/Twitter and Bluesky? What do you see from the creator sides? What should we be doing to help you with articles and tweets? \u2014 Anonymous<\/b><\/p>\n