2. Call FEMA. I believe Bryan Bickell qualifies as a disaster this postseason.
He has yet to score a goal in 15 playoff games. He has managed five measly assists. And he just made the last, killer mistake to ensure a loss in Game 5 because he couldn’t dump the puck past the Ducks' defense.That play is as simple as it gets in hockey, other than double-shifting Patrick Kane when you’re trailing.
The point is to get the puck deep to ensure a clean line change, especially during a period in which your bench is farthest from your defensive zone, as was the case in Monday night’s overtime period.
Bickell had one job on that play. He blew it. His team is on the brink of elimination.
Johnny Oduya and Brent Seabrook were going for a change as Bickell approached the Ducks zone, but instead of just flipping the puck into the opposite corner, he slid it at Francois Beauchemin’s stick just inside the Ducks’ blue line.
The puck caromed up to Jakob Silfverberg, who turned the play up ice, catching the Hawks' defensemen attempting to change the way the Hawks usually catch other teams.
Silfverberg hit Ryan Kesler at the Hawks' line as Oduya vainly tried to get back, and after Corey Crawford stopped Kesler’s blast, the puck rocketed directly to an open Matt Beleskey facing an open net a couple strides ahead of Kane, and that was that.
It used to be that the playoffs were worth Bickell’s frustrating and underwhelming regular seasons.
Not anymore. Not at that price.
Bickell is a player the Hawks certainly would think of moving when the salary-cap reaper calls this offseason, but who’d want his $4 million per when he scores just 14 goals in the regular season and gets nothing in the playoffs?
And when he makes that play at the Ducks' blue line at a critical moment, you can imagine every other general manager thinking, “Nah, I’m good, thanks.’’