Olczyk: 'The rebuild should've happened a couple years ago' originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
As Eddie Olczyk makes his emotional, 'disappointing,' farewell as the Hawks' color broadcaster, he gave some detail of the team's state in true 'hindsight 20/20' fashion.
"This should've happened a couple of years ago," Olczyk said on 670 the Score's 30th anniversary show. "The rebuild should've happened a couple years ago."
After the Hawks won the Stanley Cup in 2015, they hung around the playoff scene for a couple of years, going in both the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons.
In the seasons after that, however, they fell off, entering a wave of mediocrity. They floated around with a near .500 record for three seasons, making the playoffs just once in the 2019-20 season on a whim. They lost in the first round after going 32-30-8 in the shortened Covid season.
That was Jeremy Colliton's first year as the Hawks' head coach. It didn't get much better from there.
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The Hawks eclipsed 52 total wins over the last two seasons and Colliton was replaced by interim head coach Derek King in the middle of last season. Once the dust settled, the Hawks cleared house by hiring general manager Kyle Davidson and new head coach Luke Richardson.
That's when the domino kept going. The Hawks traded Alex DeBrincat and Kirby Dach just a year after they traded legendary defenseman Duncan Keith. Now, they're awaiting the decision of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, wondering if they'll want to stick around with the rebuilding Hawks at the end of their illustrious careers.
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Shoulda, woulda, coulda. The Hawks started their rebuild late, wasting a few seasons they could have gotten better value from their superstars in the trade market and avoiding the nonsensical trade of Seth Jones, who's now a diamond in the rough.
But, management has a direction they are taking with the team. No matter how much it hurts, it's the first step in getting back to the playoffs.
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