As of mid-November, the Blackhawks were sitting last overall in the NHL. A team that once boasted one of the league's top defences now sits rock bottom in goals against. Though the Hawks signed Doug Gilmour to boost its offence, only Washington has scored fewer goals. The team is in the midst of an 0-8-1 streak.

Though he has been GM for little more than a season, Bob Murray has to accept some of the blame for this. In his first season as GM, the Hawks missed the playoffs for the first time in 29 seasons. Murray dismantled the source of what little success the team had had -- its blueline corps. Last season he dispatched defenceman Keith Carney to Phoenix for little more than Chad Kilger. In the summer he traded steady Michal Sykora to Tampa Bay for Mark Fitzpatrick and a draft pick. He elected not to sign free-agent Gary Suter, who flew to the sunnier climate of San Jose. (To be fair, a recent injury has ended Suter's season.) He recently traded Cam Russell to the Colorado Avalanche. The replacements are questionable: he signed a washed up and injury prone Paul Coffey as a free agent; he traded for youth and inexperience in Jamie Allison and Bryan Muir; he has called up rookies Remi Royer and Alain Nasreddine; he has relied upon the false hope that promising 22 year-old Christian Laflamme is ready to assume more responsibility.

Only Chris Chelios and Eric Weinrich remain accomplished blue-liners. It was increasingly questionable whether Chelios, at 36 years of age, could continue to assume the work load demanded of him. Now, a groin injury suffered in the game against the Leafs has placed him indefinitely on injured reserve. It is telling that the Leafs scored eight of their ten goals after Chelios left the game with his injury.

It used to be that Chicago's strong defence could masquerade less than adequate goaltending. That is no longer the case. The inexperienced blueline corps has exposed a grave weakness in the net. Neither Jeff Hackett nor Mark Fitzpatrick has demonstrated the ability to steal a game. Murray has indicated a desire to acquire a front-line goaltender and predictably the name of Felix Potvin has emerged as a possible replacement. The Hawks may be willing to dispense with under-achieving Alexei Zhamnov, who played under Leaf associate GM Michael Smith when they were both in Winnipeg.

The Hawks had hoped that the acquisition of Doug Gilmour would strengthen what had been the team's weakness: goal scoring. The acquisition of Gilmour has not accomplished that goal. What is worse, the money spent on Gilmour has tied Murray's hands. It has prompted him to make moves -- particularly on the blue-line -- clearly motivated by budget constraints rather than on-ice concerns. Murray is not entirely to blame for this, of course. Owner Bill Wirtz has traditionally not been a generous sort with the pocket book.

The result, unfortunately, is that it may be a long winter in Chicago. The team touted by The Hockey News as one that "could surprise" has certainly done that; but not in a manner anticipated by most hockey analysts.

NOTES -- The New York Daily News is reporting that the New York Rangers are sending their director of pro scouting, John Paddock, to Las Vegas to watch Petr Nedved play. The Rangers want to see Nedved before deciding whether to pull the trigger on an Alexei Kovalev-and-cash deal for Petr Nedved. Hockey.Ontheweb suggested two months ago that such a deal would be a good fit for both teams: see The Nedved Situation.