So where do Blackhawks go from here?
The Blackhawks officially slumped into the NHL's middle of mediocrity Monday night when Phoenix eliminated the Hawks from the 2012 playoffs with a 4-0 victory in the United Center.
Even at their best, dominating the first period by compiling a 16-2 advantage in shots on goal, the Hawks could do no better than a 0-0 tie.
That's how it went the entire game. The Hawks led in shots 28-8 after two periods but trailed 1-0. They finished with 39 shots to Phoenix's 20 but still lost big.
The Coyotes' first goal came on a power play. Soon after, the Hawks had a man advantage, generated nothing, and drew boos from the crowd of 21,636.
Essentially a 1-goal deficit signaled the end of the Hawks' season, and the Coyotes advanced past the first round of the playoffs for the first time since moving to Phoenix.
Meanwhile, the Hawks haven't won a postseason series since winning the Stanley Cup two years ago.
All of which raises the question, how long can Hawks management allow this product to disappoint fans, considering the last two Hawks seasons represent the NHL's definition of average at best.
Losing in ice hockey to a Canadian team last year is one thing; losing to an Arizona team this year is something altogether different.
The only thing ice is used for down there is to water down cactus juice. Yet the Arizona team still will be playing in May and perhaps even June, and the team from Chicago already is on ice — or make that off it — until autumn.
The trend is not the Blackhawks' friend, so where does this organization go from here?
The Hawks have been in a rebuilding mode — or maybe a transition phase, whatever the appropriate term is — since the salary cap broke up the team that won the Stanley Cup.
So what looked like a budding dynasty when Patrick Kane scored the championship goal in Philadelphia in 2010 … well, that potential has devolved into a process of restocking a roster around the sturdy core of Kane, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Marian Hossa and a couple of other cap eaters.
Processes take time, however, and it's time to wonder how much of it the Hawks have before fans grow impatient. Even Hawks chairman Rocky Wirtz and club president John McDonough acknowledge that work remains before the franchise returns to being all it can be.
Hockey is a precarious entity in Chicago. Wirtz and McDonough must be ever vigilant to not only keep progressing but to keep from regressing. The Hawks likely have another year to rise above mediocrity before casual fans begin focusing more on the Bulls and maybe even the White Sox in Chicago's sports pecking order.
If the Hawks don't start going farther in the playoffs next season, something dramatic might have to be done for fans to continue believing management is as passionate about winning as they are.
Maybe all the Hawks need is a goalie as good as Mike Smith, who was remarkable in keeping the Coyotes in the game so his teammates eventually could win it.
Other possibilities will be to break up the core with a blockbuster trade, fire head coach Joel Quenneville sometime, and/or dispatch the family front-office bloc of Stan and Scotty Bowman.
Who knows what the answer is?
Rocky Wirtz and John McDonough better before this middle of mediocrity spells doom.
mimrem@dailyherald.com