Today's News Clips Dec. 21, 2019
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Today’s News Clips Dec. 21, 2019 Chicago Tribune Blackhawks Q&A: How many chances will Alex Nylander get to stay in the lineup? Would Eddie Olczyk consider taking over as GM if Stan Bowman gets fired? Jimmy Greenfield Dec. 20, 2019 No matter how mediocre the Blackhawks have been during much of 2019, they’ve almost always been interesting. As have your questions. Thanks for taking the time to read and to write over the last 12 months. I’ll be back with another mailbag in 2020. Now let’s get to the questions — but first, join our vocal and growing Blackhawks fans Facebook group. Most Hawks fans on social media want Jeremy Colliton and Stan Bowman fired yesterday. First, would that make sense, and if so, who would be prime candidates for those positions? Would Marc Crawford be considered with his reinstatement? — Kevin P. I could see Crawford becoming an NHL head coach again now that the Hawks let him return to his job instead of firing him for past transgressions. But not soon, and certainly not this season. Colliton’s future is linked with that of Bowman, who is by far the more interesting story. Coaches get fired all the time. General managers do not. Hawks President John McDonough preached accountability when Joel Quenneville was fired last season. If the Hawks don’t make the playoffs for a third straight season, it would seem somebody needs to be held accountable. Who’s your favorite player to interview? Does that depend on the score or whether it’s a game day? — Margaret L. Great question. On the current roster, I’ll go with Duncan Keith. The intensity he brings to the ice, he brings to interviews as well, so you have to be ready for him. Last month I was interviewing Keith, and in the middle of the conversation, he brought up something I wrote about him earlier in the season about having lost a step. It was a reminder that these guys read what I write, and I loved that he mentioned it. An honorable mention goes to Robin Lehner, who is a dream come true for a reporter. He’s nearly always available and he’s unfailingly honest. What more can you ask for? You didn’t ask, but my least favorite players to interview are the ones who talk the fastest and make transcribing a pain in the butt. How long will the staff and management put up with Alex Nylander’s constant mental mistakes? I know there is virtually no depth with Andrew Shaw and Drake Caggiula out. At least Dylan Sikura, Anton Wedin and Matthew Highmore seem to be engaged when they are in the lineup. Can’t say that about Nylander a good portion of the time. I’ll take hustle and work ethic over talent and lack of focus anytime. — Jonathan S. For a long, long time. It helps that Nylander scored his first goal since Nov. 16 against the Jets on Thursday, but even if he hadn’t, I don’t think he’s at risk of coming out of the lineup. The embarrassment of Nylander either not playing or being sent down to Rockford would be enormous with defenseman Henri Jokiharju — whom the Hawks sent to the Sabres in July for Nylander — playing every game and having success. Jokiharju is far from a star, but he has become an established NHL player with a defined third-pairing role on a team in the playoff hunt. Nylander has had multiple opportunities on the Hawks’ top two lines and hasn’t produced much. With three points in his last three games since his undeserved promotion to the top line, he’s now on pace for 32 points this season. Nylander’s talent is evident. So are his inability to score consistently and his tendency to make rookie mistakes such as a recent turnover against the Blues that led to a goal. But here’s one thing to keep in mind: Nylander is a rookie, and rookies make mistakes. Because he’s 21 and other top-10 picks from his draft class are already established stars, there’s an expectation he should be doing more. The Hawks are in a rebuild, which is why they’re playing six rookies most nights and why they’ll continue to give Nylander every chance to succeed. Any chance Ed Olczyk would consider becoming the Hawks general manager as soon as Stan Bowman gets the boot? How about (recently fired Sharks coach) Peter DeBoer’s taking over behind the bench if we continue to go south with Jeremy Colliton? — Bill Z. Most people have asked if Olczyk would consider taking over as head coach, the chances of which I would put at zero. But would he be willing to become the GM if Bowman gets fired? That seems at least within the realm of possibility. One thing to keep in mind is Olczyk has a fantastic life. He’s a beloved local TV analyst who is also very successful doing national broadcasts. He survived a scary bout with colon cancer and, at 53, isn’t a kid anymore. But he’s also far from an age at which he wouldn’t have the energy or desire to take on a new challenge. I have no idea if he would consider taking over as GM, but if the Hawks decide to fire Bowman and ask Olczyk if he’s interested, I suspect he at least would think about it. If Marc Crawford was cleared of wrongdoing by the organization, why will he not be reinstated until January? — Perry C. To be clear, Crawford wasn’t cleared of wrongdoing. The Hawks just said he had done nothing wrong since joining the team over the summer. Here’s what the Hawks wrote in their statement: The Chicago Blackhawks, and independent legal counsel, conducted a thorough review of assistant coach Marc Crawford in response to allegations of misconduct in previous coaching positions. During this process, we engaged with many of Marc’s former players, colleagues and executive management. We do not condone his previous behavior. Through our review, we confirmed that Marc proactively sought professional counseling to work to improve and become a better communicator, person and coach. We learned that Marc began counseling in 2010 and he has continued therapy on a regular basis since. We believe that Marc has learned from his past actions and has committed to striving to reform himself and evolve personally and professionally over the last decade. We have experienced no incidents during Marc’s coaching tenure with the Chicago Blackhawks. We have determined that Marc will remain suspended from team activities until January 2, 2020, at which time he will resume his assistant coaching duties, subject to his continued compliance with his contractual obligations and team expectations. In addition, he will continue with his counseling moving forward. We will have no further comment. The statement doesn’t explain why, if he is being reinstated, the suspension continued. The return date of Jan. 2 is exactly a month after Crawford was initially suspended, so my guess it’s just a tidy way of giving Crawford a one-month suspension based on his past behavior, which the organization and Crawford agree in the statement was unacceptable. Which is a better predictor of NHL success for players: draft position or organizational development? Nature versus nurture. The Hawks seem to be able to find the occasional nugget in the lower rounds, yet many of their higher-round picks fail to pan out. — Michael J. For me it’s nature, no question. The top of NHL drafts are still the greatest predictor of success. After that, it’s a crapshoot. The Penguins are a good example. They had enormous, franchise-altering success with Evgeni Malkin (No. 2 pick), Sidney Crosby (No. 1) and Jordan Staal (No. 2) from the 2004-06 drafts. The next three times they had a first-round pick, they took Angelo Esposito, Simon Despres and Beau Bennett, none of whom panned out and none of whom was selected higher than No. 20. There’s an old saying from the screenwriter William Goldman about the movie industry that I think loosely applies to predicting the success of young athletes: “Nobody knows anything.” What Goldman — who grew up in my hometown, one reason I always remembered this quote — meant is you can do all the research you want, but ultimately so many things are unknown, it’s nearly impossible to predict how things will work out. The Hawks have had some wild misses with their top picks over the last 15 years. The game-changing success of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane with their top picks in 2006-07 was sandwiched between misses with first-round picks Cam Barker, Jack Skille, Kyle Beach and Dylan Olsen. An argument can be made that the Hawks failed to develop those players properly, but does that mean they properly developed Kane and Toews? More likely, the Hawks hit it big because they had the No. 3 pick to take Toews and the No. 1 pick to use on Kane. The Hawks have done pretty well with their first-round picks in more recent years with Kevin Hayes (2010), Teuvo Teravainen (2012), Ryan Hartman (2013), Nick Schmaltz (2014) and Henri Jokiharju (2017). Only Teravainen (No. 18) and Schmaltz (No. 20) were top-20 picks. Yes, they’re all with different teams now, but each is having a decent amount of individual success. The Hawks have drafted well and turned many of their top picks into valuable assets.