Go Big Or Go Home June 19, 2013, 7:18 AM ET [1288 Comments] John Jaeckel

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If you read this blog regularly, get ready for what will become a regular theme/refrain.



The Hawks need players who play bigger.



They don't necessarily have to be bigger, but they have to play to their size if they are bigger, or play the game—and get results—like bigger players if they're small.



One example: C/W Marcus Kruger, who at 175 pounds, rarely loses a board battle, blocks shots, absorbs checks and always goes to the front of the net.



An example of a player who plays "small"—6'3", 210 pound winger Viktor Stalberg, who, for all his speed, rarely wins a battle physically or finishes checks.



For all the theorizing about stretch passes and zone entries, Hawk fans—and the Hawk organization—can learn something from the Boston Bruins. Even if they can't beat them in the Stanley Cup Finals. And don't get me wrong, the power play is awful (no net presence?) and the Hawks are getting destroyed in faceoff dot (although that, too, is an result of playing small).



The Bruins, to a man, play big.



The Hawks have a few, and that's a few too many in a matchup against a team like Boston, players who play small. Disappear in physical games, give up on pucks, cherry pick, wilt under a forecheck.



The problem is, those kinds of players, in a series like this one, put a much larger burden on the rest of your roster. If you're not going to go to the front of the net, then your teammate's centering pass goes right to an opposing defenseman and very quickly the other way. If you're not going to win the puck on the wall, your linemate has to. If you're not going to take the hit to make a clearing pass, then the whole team has to expend more effort to get the puck out—and on and on and on.



I don't know (or care) where Mike Emrick ranks in the pantheon of hockey announcers, but every now and then he'll utter a memorable and apt quote. The other night it was something to the effect of: "Bodychecking is allowed in the pro game."



I hope those who always yammer on about finesse hockey, Corsi, puck possession, transition, etc., enjoy their President's Trophy and Campbell Bowl. Because that is as much as this particular Blackhawk team will ever win with this many passengers in tough games against teams like Boston.



It's not that the Hawks should change their game. It's that they need to play it harder, more physically and fearlessly. Can they do it with the roster they have? We definitely find out tonight and for any remaining games in this series.



Boston, as was especially evident in Game 3, smells blood in the water, and senses the Hawks are about to give up. The refrain on their bench Monday night was "keep hitting them."



My sense is this Hawks roster has too many players—Stalberg, Patrick Kane, Brandon Saad, perhaps Nick Leddy— who look pretty as all get out at full flight, but are nowhere to be seen in ugly, tightly checked games. Sure Kane has been the hero of a few series clinching wins over the years. But have you ever noticed how many of Kane's big playoff games happen at the end of series—when the other team is worn down? Conversely, many of the Hawks' "physical" players—Carcillo, Brookbank, Mayers, Bollig—are ridiculously limited.



You need your skill players—like Patrick Sharp for example—to play hard and give 100% physical effort. And you need all of them to do that. Like Boston's: Horton, Lucic, Krejci, Marchand, Bergeron, etc.



You don't want to have a distinction, like the Hawks clearly have, between your skill players and your physical players. They should all be one and the same. Like Boston.



Few, if any, players in the game are more skilled than Pavel Datsyuk. Few players are tougher pound for pound.



I know, I know. Hawk front office apologists will say that's asking for too much, you can't have a team full of (both) skilled and physical players.



Yes, you can. The Hawks used to have a lot of them, in addition to Sharp, Toews, Hossa: Byfuglien, Brouwer, Ladd, even Versteeg and Campbell played bigger than their size.



And there are a few teams like that today.



One of them will be the team that gets to have a parade. As it is most years.





All for now,





JJ