Chicago (24-26-6) saw its season come to a close on Monday night with a 5-4 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars, finishing on the outside looking in at the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
This is where we expected them to be at the close of this season, not playing in the postseason and looking forward to next year, as they continue to go forward in their rebuilding process.
• While the expectation from the outside was that Chicago would not be playing in the postseason, the expectations inside the club still were on competing for a Stanley Cup. For the future cornerstones of the organization like Kirby Dach and Alex DeBrincat, not playing Stanley Cup Playoff hockey is unacceptable.