from Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Sun-Times,

The defending Stanley Cup champions are “struggling’’ — i.e., they no longer have the most points in the NHL (Anaheim does), are 4-1-5 in their last 10 games and have dropped to 4-6 in shootouts.

It’s Januworry.

With three weeks until the Sochi Olympics begin and three months until the playoffs start, much of the fretting is devoted to an old, apparently comforting standby — the Lack of a Second-Line Center. This “failing” is the reason for all that has ailed the Blackhawks the last few years, not that there has been much ailing. The Hawks can win a game 6-0, and someone will bring up the deficiencies of Michal Handzus, Marcus Kruger or Andrew Shaw centering the second line.

Still, it has to be a relief to goalie Corey Crawford, who used to be everybody’s target practice. Can’t win a Stanley Cup, they said, until he did. Not tough enough between the ears under pressure, they said, until he was.

But people move on to the next victim. It’s like a bored kid playing with his food.

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