KANATA, Ontario — Tuesday brought an end to a fifth consecutive season of misery for Blackhawks fans, the last three of which were somewhat self-inflicted by management with the promise of a bright future.
It has been a humbling, demoralizing stretch for the fan base, regardless of the merits of that rebuilding approach within the NHL’s tight-salary-cap world. Here’s an eye-opening stat: The Hawks are the first franchise since the 1997-2002 Lightning to win fewer than 30 games in five consecutive seasons.
But there is good news: This should mark roughly the end of that misery. The fun part of the rebuild should be coming around the corner — at least in theory.
There’s arguably nothing more satisfying in sports than ascending. It’s like watching a coming-of-age movie play out in real life. When that dismal feeling of losing and dwelling at the bottom of the standings is still fresh and familiar, every win tastes sweeter, every breakthrough feels more inspiring and every bit of success seems more meaningful.
Watching a team climb the standings, exceeding and raising expectations every month and every year, spawns endless optimism. It allows fans’, players’ and coaches’ imaginations to run wild: “If we keep improving at this rate, there’s no telling what our ceiling could be!”
That ascension is rarely a linear process. Adversity along the way, often stemming from inexperienced mistakes, is inevitable. But overcoming that adversity only adds to the satisfaction.
Once a team climbs the mountain and establishes itself as a Stanley Cup contender, victories are most plentiful but joy is not, because the expectations are so high. Senators fans, elated about their first playoff berth since 2017, have surely enjoyed their team’s 44 wins this season far more than Panthers fans have enjoyed their team’s 47 wins.
Grizzled Hawks fans already witnessed this journey in the latter half of the 2000s. The Hawks earned 26 wins in 2005-06, 31 in 2006-07, 40 in 2007-08 (narrowly missing the playoffs), 46 in 2008-09 (advancing to the conference finals) and 52 in 2009-10 (winning the Cup). And there’s a reason why that time period is remembered with such fondness.
There’s no guarantee this 2020s Hawks rebuild will be as efficient or triumphant as that one. But the process of finding out will unquestionably be more interesting than the last five years have been.
Granted, Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson declared the first step forward would happen this season, and it didn’t. That false start stirred up some understandable concerns within the fan base. But it can be blamed on the horde of placeholder veterans proving ineffective and apathetic, not on anything related to the long-term plan.
During the latter half of this season, the Hawks’ new, young core began to finally arrive and acclimate to the NHL, displacing those placeholders. This is their team now, and they will have full rein come autumn — ideally with just a couple talented, prime-aged players brought in to supplement them.
The Hawks’ improvement, which coincided with their arrival, was encouraging, too. Increased team speed and tenacity translated into more competitive games and, eventually, some late-season wins.
So how big of a star will Connor Bedard become? During the next few years, fans will finally get to find out.
And what will Frank Nazar become? How about Artyom Levshunov? Sam Rinzel? Spencer Knight? Who else will emerge from the rest of the Hawks’ Olympic-sized prospect pool as notable NHL contributors?
What roles will each of them settle into? What signature moments will they create? How fast — and how high — will the Hawks ascend?
Discovering all of those answers should be fun — at least in theory.