The answers are plain.  The Hawks are doing the best they can with the money they have under the cap to spend on players.  It really started with trading Nick Leddy, a cornerstone defense-man to come, now with the Islanders.  It continued with the trade of Saad.  A cornerstone winger who is young enough to play beyond the years of Toews and Kane.  And there is the rub.  Looking beyond.  You can't do it right now.  The salary cap doesn't allow you to look past your current team.  Future team be damned.

The Hawks have committed big money to the big four defense-men, who played most of the minutes from the Anaheim series onward.  The salary cap does not really allow you to pay good money to more than 4 defense-men, You have to have the Rundblad's and Van Reimsdyk's to fit in.  Like wise you can only pay so many forwards,

So if you want to vent on someone, vent on Toews and Kane, Seabrook and Keith, or love them for what they are and consider that they are the cornerstones that have to carry the team, with a few scrubs to help.  Because those dudes will be gone, retired at some point. And once they are declining, and only then can we think about replacing them, but not now.

I love Chicago, went to a free concert tonight in the neighborhood park, Winnemac.  The band was provided by the Chicago School of Rock.  Yes, it's a high school.  Didn't have these when I was growing up.  Anyway, very talented kids, played some Dire Straights, Beatles, AC/DC, and Santana.  Really good stuff, at the end they announced they would be playing at Fitzgeralds tomorrow, quite a classic rock venue, they will do fine if tonight was any normalcy.

It reminded me of a tenet from Utopia, by Thomas More, limited open concerts of an hour or so are best.