from Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times,

Already holding a glut of bottom-six guys in Ryan Hartman, Vinnie Hinostroza, John Hayden, Jordin Tootoo, Tomas Jurco and Tanner Kero, Bowman added Laurent Dauphin in a trade and Bouma and Tommy Wingels in free agency. Nick Schmaltz or Patrick Sharp will be a third-liner next season, too, depending on which gets to be Patrick Kane’s left wing.

Even with Andrew Desjardins and Dennis Rasmussen becoming unrestricted free agents and Marcus Kruger having been traded to the expansion Golden Knights, the Hawks have loaded up on fringe players. Some are fast and skilled and some are big and physical, but only Hartman has showed much of a knack for scoring goals.

Throw in prospects knocking on the NHL door, such as Alex DeBrincat, Alexandre Fortin, Kyle Baun and David Kampf, and there’s no telling what the Hawks’ third and fourth lines will look like.
That’s a problem because what has separated the Hawks from the pack in their best seasons has been their depth. Their third line in 2015 featured Patrick Sharp, Antoine Vermette and Teuvo Teravainen. Their fourth line had Andrew Shaw. In 2013, their fourth line was Michael Frolik, Dave Bolland and Kruger. In 2010, their third line was Andrew Ladd, Bolland and Kris Versteeg.

The 2017-18 Hawks have nothing resembling those lines.

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