Perils of tanking, costs of fandom and intrigue of Nick Lardis: Lazerus NHL mailbag

New York Times

4 days ago

Before we get to the silliness, futility and futile silliness of a summer hockey mailbag, I just wanted to say a quick thanks for the overwhelming and unexpected response to my column about my dad a few weeks ago. It was just something I wrote in a daze on the plane that night; I tend to think with my fingers and was just trying to put the mental chaos I was feeling into something coherent for my own sake. And I've never been so uneasy about an edit as I was when I had my mom read it first. But all your comments, tweets, texts and personal stories were genuinely heartening and comforting. My mom, my brother and I read them all, and we all thank you.
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Now, on to the promised nonsense. I'll let the results of our Chicago Blackhawks fan survey next week address all the conspiracy theories and rending of garments about Danny Wirtz and the rest of the team brass. And none of you asked anything nearly as interesting and involved as 'Reimagine the Blackhawks as Harry Potter characters,' so I'm going to try to be succinct (not my forte!) so I can get to as many as possible. Part 2 will run soon. Questions have been edited for clarity and length.
Let's dive in.
Maybe I'm too late, but I just heard you on 'The Athletic Hockey Show' saying, 'These kinds of rebuilds never work' about the Blackhawks. But I think you're the same guy who's said, 'No one's ever done it like this before.' Who, as a Chicago radio institution put it, are you crappin'? — Ted M.
I say a lot of stupid things, so I'm going to need some accurate citations here. But both of those statements are true. At least, in the modern era. I'd argue that no team in the salary-cap era has won the Stanley Cup by actively tanking. The closest one would be the 2010 Blackhawks, but organizational incompetence isn't quite the same thing as intentionally losing. Sure, you need a couple of big names at the top of the lineup, and the draft is an excellent way to get there. But no team successfully builds exclusively through the draft. Not those Blackhawks. Not these Florida Panthers. Not anyone. At some point, you have to start trying.
And it's true, the Blackhawks have tanked harder than any team has tanked since maybe the 1983-84 Pittsburgh Penguins. And with Chicago GM Kyle Davidson making an absurd 11 first-round picks in the last four drafts, and possibly Gavin McKenna waiting next summer, maybe I'll look foolish in the long run. Wouldn't be the first time. But given how disastrous other full guts have gone (hello, Buffalo and Detroit!), all I can hear in my head is Tobias Fünke saying, 'But it might work for us,' or Chief Wiggum saying, 'No, no, dig UP, stupid.'
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Will Laurent Brossoit ever play a game for the Blackhawks? — Gregory E.
You know, I actually saw Laurent Brossoit — or, at least, someone who WGN's Charlie Roumeliotis told me was Laurent Brossoit — walking out of the locker room after a game late last season, but I'm still not entirely convinced he's a real person and not simply a deepfake we all saw online last summer. If he does exist, I imagine he's in the same dungeon underneath the United Center in which Stan Bowman stashed Nikolai Khabibulin after Antti Raanta's emergence in 2014.
Seriously, though, put it this way: If Brossoit — a very good goalie, historically — is physically able to play this season, it should be for the Edmonton Oilers, not the Chicago Blackhawks. Lord Stanley knows they need him.
Will you please stop being a smug elite journalist who is above reproach and who has never done anything wrong? And please get off your high horse and report sports rather than your political and progressive views. When you report sports, you are actually a very good reporter. Nobody but your political believers cares about your personal opinions; just do the sports. — Jed I.
Three things: First, very kind of you to call me elite. Thank you. Second, I'm literally an opinion columnist. It's my primary role at The Athletic. So, no? Third, I only included this question because my 13-year-old daughter was Googling me (as, I suppose, you do as a kid these days) recently and found a robust Reddit thread entitled, 'Does anyone like Mark Lazerus? [serious question]' and she read every word and showed all her friends and thought it was the funniest thing ever. And she was correct.
[serious answer]
At what point should fans be much more upset about the costs involved with attending and supporting a team that seems to think of them as piggy banks? I have had full-season seats since 1994. The costs around this incarnation of the team are ridiculous. From parking to concessions and even merch, I feel like the club is raising costs whenever and however they like, with absolutely no consideration for the people who go to 30-plus games a year. I am not angry about the team trying to make a buck, but this is getting ridiculous. They have one of the lowest salary outputs in the league, the squad will most likely have yet another bottom-five finish, and if/when they get to be decent again, all I know is my seats will go up another 10-30 percent. When does it stop? Is the problem me? — Andrew C.
Couldn't have said it any better myself. It'll never stop. And every single one of you (well, at least those without a trust fund) should have reached that point years ago. Nearly every team in every league has made it all but impossible for an average family of four to reasonably attend a game. And for billionaires to keep asking for the same amount of money (or more!) from working-class fans when they're actively trying to put a failing team on the ice or on the field or on the court, as the Blackhawks and so many other teams have done in this era of long-term tear-down rebuilds, is genuinely unconscionable. It's wealth inequity and late-stage capitalism at its worst. Eat the rich, man. (Sorry not sorry, Jed I.)
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How detrimental is it to Connor Bedard's development not to find at least one high-performing winger to help open up Bedard's game? I understand wanting to make room for young players, but having a third year of plugging in secondary options on the top line seems risky. — JR.
I've been beating this drum for a while now. But to be fair to Davidson, he did try to get Jake Guentzel last summer and had to settle for Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teräväinen, both of whom seem to have been poached for the second line by Frank Nazar. The fact is, Bedard does need someone who can keep up with him — physically and mentally — for him to reach his almost limitless potential. But the fact also is, no stud winger in his prime is looking to sign with the Blackhawks until they show they're serious about trying to win. Call it a Catch-98. Part of the perils of tanking.
Favorite 'KPop Demon Hunter' song? Are you Team Huntr/X or Team Saja Boys? — Conor H.
Please. I'm here for the bops, not the abs. And how does that Saja Boy with the gray hair even see? Truthfully, the songs all blur together for me as my 9-year-old plays the movie on an endless loop, the way I did 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' when I was her age. But someone explain to me how you make a movie that focuses so seriously on a trifurcated three-person songwriting process — the lyrics, the harmonies, the beat — and then have it culminate in a completely spontaneous yet perfectly structured final song, like the kind you see in a Broadway musical? It's just bad screenwriting. It's 'Up' all over again. (Do NOT get me started on 'Up.' You think I'm an insufferable pedant with the 'dynasty' talk …)
Who is your 'long-shot' prospect who gets some NHL time this year? — Anthony D.
Samuel Savoie. The Blackhawks have a ton of talent in the system. They don't have a ton of sandpaper. Savoie's nasty side could be enough for him to leapfrog a bunch of guys.
What did players who had the type of OHL season Nick Lardis had last season do the following year? Did they open in the NHL? How many points did they follow their monster year with? — Joshua T.
It's difficult to find a historical trend for Lardis because so few players in the modern era have done what he did last season. Since the turn of the century, only John Tavares (72) has scored more goals in an OHL season than Lardis' 71 last season (thanks to Elite Prospects for the data). Of course, Tavares was 16 when he did that and Lardis was 19, so temper your expectations a bit. But next on the list in the 21st century? Alex DeBrincat, with 65 goals. He was 19, too. DeBrincat jumped right into the NHL the next season, a year earlier than expected, after a very impressive rookie tournament in Traverse City and a strong preseason. Could Lardis do the same? Sure. Is it likely? No, but I do expect we'll see him at some point in the 2025-26 season.
For more Chicago comparisons, Patrick Kane had 62 goals and 83 assists in his one OHL season, and walked right into the NHL as the No. 1 overall pick. Dave Bolland had 57 goals and 73 assists as a 19-year-old in the OHL and played one game in the NHL the following season.
The only real conclusion I can draw from these numbers is that OHL goaltending stinks.
Which Blackhawk, who played with the team before 2000, would you want on this current Blackhawks team in their prime? — JP G.
This is where I get myself in trouble. I genuinely think every single player in the NHL right now is significantly better than the very best player on the planet in, say, the 1950s and 1960s. I don't think it's particularly close, either. MacKenzie Entwistle would skate circles around Rocket Richard. The game is virtually unrecognizable, and the year-round, life-long training has transformed these guys into near metahumans. So while the standard answer would be Stan Mikita, who, relative to his peers, is one of the greatest of all time (or Bobby Orr, if you want to be cheeky), I'd want someone from the 1990s. I'd pick 1991-94 Jeremy Roenick.
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Montreal surprised everyone last season, and the Blue Jackets very nearly made the playoffs, too. What needs to go right for the Hawks to be in the mix rather than another year in the basement? — Andrew L.
I won't be shocked if the Blackhawks are markedly better this season. I also won't be shocked if they're truly abysmal. But to really be in the playoff mix? It would have to involve Spencer Knight being a Vezina Trophy finalist. I don't see any other way.
(Top photo of Nick Lardis: Jamie Sabau / USA Today)