Several NHL scouts bury the Blackhawks in season predictions.

It's beginning to look like the once mighty Chicago Blackhawks have begun a precipitous fall in the eyes of many talent evaluates around the National Hockey League.

The Chicago Blackhawks are coming off their worst season in recent memory, one that was plagued by poor performances from players who were expected to be key components of the Blackhawks roster and one that was plagued by some rather serious injuries as well. The result was that the Blackhawks were left outside of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs and instead had to sit at home and watch the postseason from the comfort of their own homes. Now that might sound pretty good after grueling season after grueling season of playoff contention, especially when you include just how much teams were gunning for the Blackhawks during their 3 Stanley Cup Championship dynasty, but there's no question that both the organization and it's fans were disappointed. 

Surprisingly though there have been relatively few changes to the Blackhawks roster over the course of the summer and that was a considerable surprise given that general manager Stan Bowman has always gone the extra mile in an attempt to bolster his team's chance at success. That leaves the Blackhawks with the same core group of players that failed to deliver last season and that is something that scouts around the league have taken notice of, and not in a good way either. 

In a recent article for The Athletic Chicago Blackhawks insider Scott Powers touched base with a number of pro scouts from around the league, all of whom chose to remain anonymous for rather obvious reasons, and asked them to evaluate the Chicago Blackhawks roster. Although there were some positive takeaways when it comes to certain players on Chciago's roster the overall sentiment from the scouts who were interviewed was that the Blackhawks simply were not going to be good enough to compete this season.

One of the big concerns for observers is obviously the health of goaltender Corey Crawford. Crawford went down to a mystery injury that cost him the majority of the 2017 - 2018 NHL regular season and his status for this upcoming season remains in limbo at this time. One scout made it clear that if Crawford isn't going to return the Blackhawks have no hope. 

From The Athletic:

Let’s assume Crawford is back. If they have no Crawford, they have no chance.

That however was not one of the more damning takes on Chicago's current status believe it or not. The reality of the situation is that the Blackhawks are currently competing in a rather tough division in the National Hockey League's Western Conference and unlike in previous years there are teams with far more talent than the Blacklhawks can boast at this stage ahead of them.

Once again from an NHL scout:

I got them penciled in for last place in the division. Things can happen or whatever else. We know the top teams are Winnipeg and Nashville. They’re the cream of the crop. Dallas got better. St. Louis obviously got better in the middle, the question mark is the goaltending. Colorado got better. Minnesota is going to take a step back in my opinion. They’re not going to fall down, but they’re older. That leaves the Blackhawks.

The good news is that this is the kind of stuff that the Blackhawks will be able to use a bulletin board material to motivate their players, the bad news is that if the NHL's talent evaluators are indeed correct it may not matter.