Hawks captain Jonathan Toews disgusted with how GM Kyle Davidson simply blew up his team around him
The Chicago Blackhawks have a very spotty past, make no mistake about it. But to ignore what that team was able to do over the better part of a decade, controversy and scandal aside, would be unfair. 3 Cups in 5 years puts them into modern day dynasty discussion. It's just too bad their legacy had to be tainted the way it was when it would have been so easy to just have everything dealt with properly back in 2010, rather than having a massive cover-up take place and having the league turn a blind eye to the problem.
Moving on from that line of thought (because that's an entirely different can of worms), for captain Jonathan Toews, who was a key piece in his team's trio of Stanley Cups, the current state of the Blackhawks is enough to leave a very sour taste in his mouth. He wouldn't come out and say it directly, but Toews seems absolutely disgusted with the direction that new management has taken his team in. His recent conversation with Mark Lazarus contains plenty of evidence of that.
"At the end of the day, we're talking about a five-plus-year process, according to Kyle, so that part of it doesn't sound appealing to me at all. I can't speak for (Patrick Kane), but I definitely feel that the amount of turnover our team has gone through every single year these last three or four years, that's where it gets really, really draining. And exhausting.
"You have a guy like Alex DeBrincat who was under Kaner's wing. And I like to think that Kirby [Dach] and I had that bond in some ways, too. And out they go, out the door.. over and over, we've seen that turnover. I'm learning to be more patient, but there's no doubt that timeline is pretty daunting... I'm not going to sit here and say what I'm going to do or what the future holds for me, because I really don't know.
"When we traded Hags, and then Cat and Kirby, reality really set in that, OK, this is where we're at, and they've got to really focus on the future and it's just unfortunate that it's come to that. But it is what it is. So much of that stuff has been out of my control for quite some time, and it's a weird place to be in as a captain."
"You have a guy like Alex DeBrincat who was under Kaner's wing. And I like to think that Kirby [Dach] and I had that bond in some ways, too. And out they go, out the door.. over and over, we've seen that turnover. I'm learning to be more patient, but there's no doubt that timeline is pretty daunting... I'm not going to sit here and say what I'm going to do or what the future holds for me, because I really don't know.
"When we traded Hags, and then Cat and Kirby, reality really set in that, OK, this is where we're at, and they've got to really focus on the future and it's just unfortunate that it's come to that. But it is what it is. So much of that stuff has been out of my control for quite some time, and it's a weird place to be in as a captain."
Toews and Kane are both set to become UFAs next summer, and while GM Kyle Davidson has stated publicly that he does not intend to ask either of the two Hawks' legacy stars to waive their NMCs, trading everyone on the team who they care about to try to force them to request a trade isn't much better. It sends a clear message that there's a new sheriff in town and that times, as they have become accustomed to in Chicago have changed. It's no wonder why Toews, and I'd assume Kane, are frustrated with where the team is at.
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