The Copy-Cat League: Blues vs. Hawks

1
I keep reading how far off the Blues are and how they don't have pieces in place like the Hawks. OK.Well lets compare the Hawks lineup from these playoffs to our own.

Saad-Toews-Hossa
Sharp-Richards-Kane
Bickell-Vermette-Teravainen
Desjarnais-Kruger-Shaw

Keith-Hjalmarsson
Timonen-Seabrook
Cumiskey-Oduya

Then of course Crawford and Darling.

Now for us:

Steen-Lehtera-Tarasenko
Jaskin-Backes-Berglund
Schwartz-Stastny-Oshie
Porter-Ott-Reaves

Bouwmeester-Pietrangelo
Gonnersson-Shattenkirk
Jackman-Michalek


Alright, now that we have both of these, the disconnect is pretty clear. Or is it?
Lets say the lines for the Blues look like this next year Opening Night:

Schwartz-Stastny-Tarasenko
Steen-Lehtera-Fabbri
Jaskin-Backes-Williams/Rattie/Other
Ott-Barbashev/Other-Reaves

Bouwmeester-Pietrangelo
Physical Defenseman-Shattenkirk
Linbohm-Bortuzzo

With Allen and Elliott. I would move Backes to wing which makes sense, but Hitch has been reluctant to do so during his entire tenure here going back to 2011. This team then swaps out Oshie, Berglund, (Rattie?,) and Porter up front and Gunnarsson, Jackman, and Michalek on the back. Realistic enough right? Is it also not realistic to say that the team could with Oshie, Berglund, and Gunnarsson acquire a physical left handed D-man to round out the top four (as well as be moved in other trades maybe for prospects/picks)? Now who that defenseman would be is up for speculation, but there are rumors of teams like New Jersey moving guys.

Now if that roster were to play out, let's compare the top six forwards for each team.

Saad-Toews-Hossa vs. Schwartz-Stastny-Tarasenko
Steen-Lehtera-Fabbri vs. Sharp-Richards-Kane

-On LW: Saad had 52 points in 82 regular season games with 11 in 23 playoff games (about 0.5 ppg in playoffs)
Sharp had 43 points in 68 regular season games with 10 in 23 playoff games(0.4 ppg in playoffs)

Schwartz had 63 points in 75 regular season games with 3 in 6 playoff games (0.5 ppg in playoffs)
Steen had 64 points in 74 regular season games with 4 in 6 playoff games (0.67 ppg in playoffs)

-On C: Okay i don't have to explain that Toews is the obvious winner over Paul with his all-around play, but offensively Stastny managed 46 points with such dynamic players as Ryan Reaves and Patrik Berglund while Toews did it with stars. If Walnuts is allowed to play with Tarasenko and our other skilled guys for more than a game or two, chemistry will develop.

As for Richards/Lehtera
Richards had 37 points in 76 regular season games with 13 in 23 playoff games
Lehtera had 44 points in 75 regular season games with 2 in 5 playoff games

-On RW: Tarasenko had 73 points in 77 regular season games with 7 in 6 playoff games
Hossa had 61 points in 82 regular season games with 17 in 23 playoff games

Fabbri would be a rookie who could be swapped with Williams or another
Williams put up 42 points in 81 games and last had 25 points in 26 2014 playoff games
Kane would compare more with Tarasenko than any of Williams/Fabbri/Other
Kane had 64 points in 61 regular season games and 23 in 23 playoff games with no charges pressed

As for Defense it would be Bo-Petro-Shatty-Other vs. Keith-Hjalmarsson-Seabrook-Timonen.
It's harder to compare that because its not really offensive numbers, but Petro has shown he can log minutes ala Keith and did well in the playoffs IMO as far as our two number one defensemen go. As far as goalies, Allen I think played well up until game five when he started to crumble. All he needs is confidence like Crawford has and I still believe he can be our true number one goalie beginning this season.

That's a lot of numbers and they don't take into account defense, timing of big plays, mental toughness and many other variables. But what they do show is that as far as skilled guys, the Blues and Hawks are not as far apart as it may seem, and that gap only tightens if Stastny can step uf next year when given the opportunity he'll have.

In the playoffs, I was absolutely maddened by the dump-chase offensive approach, defense that backed and backed, and overall fatigue the team showed. Even worse was that feeling of knowing that even with a 1-2 goal deficit we were out of the game. Perhaps all the team really needs as far as major changes IS a new game plan. Hitchcock has never shown much willingness to change, but he and Army have also never been so adamant about a change in strategy. If the team has that, a new re-energized mindset, and rids itself of potential locker room distractions (Oshie calling out the coach, Jackman who's been with the team since 1999 not getting playing time) then maybe, just maybe, the team really is not THAT far behind the mighty 'C'awks.