This is really ugly. They won't do anything till the off season so whatever interest I still had in this team is quickly evaporating. They really need to a White Sox like tank job....just wish now it had started in the previous off season. They need to get young and fast again and that is gonna take awhile. Maybe they can dump some dead weight at the trading deadline....maybe find some team still in contention with injury trouble and not afraid to spend to fix it.
The good thing about these two games is that it should awaken ownership on just how far away they really are from where they need to be. Band-aids won't fix it....it will take a complete over haul. The next question is.....are the right people in place in the front office to do what needs to be done.
I don't think they are.....
The answer to your last question, is no. What they truly need, is Bowman gone. This team will not go anywhere with him at the helm. He has made terrible decision after terrible decision. How good would Philip Danault look on the Hawks right now? But no, Bowman traded him for shit (Fleishmann and Weise, who were gone as quick as they were acquired). How's Nylander working out right now? Garbage, while Jokijarju has been a solid option for Buffalo. Panarin for Saad? Yeah, we all have seen how that turned out (I like Saad, but it's obvious that Panarin is the better player). TT, Hartman, Motte, Schmaltz -- all Bowman picks that were supposed to be "the next big thing," only to disappear.
Other than the core -- who was not assembled by Bowman -- which player has Bowman found that adequately fills in and can be a part of the "new core"? There are literally only three: Dach, Debrincat, and Boqvist. The fact that all these players were picked within just the last 4 years (after being at the helm for the last 10 years), it's ridiculous that this team is currently in the position they are in now. Our cupboards shouldn't be this bare as they are now; and Dach and Boqvist were just picked in the last two years, who knows if they will be the real deal.
All Bowman is good for is drafting shit players and getting retreads back.
