Rozner: Chicago Blackhawks' defense meeting low expectations

Answering one of the biggest questions entering the season, Corey Crawford has been terrific for the Chicago Blackhawks.

And not just in goal.

Crawford also made the best pass of the night Sunday against Calgary, picking up a power-play assist, and he was the only player jumping to Patrick Kane's defense when Kane was trying to pull an opponent off another Hawks player who was attempting to protect Crawford.

These are good things.

When your goalie is playing well, that's also a good thing, and Crawford and Cam Ward have done more than their fair share this season, including during this stretch of terrible hockey.

But when your goalie is your best defender, passer and enforcer on the back end, it's probably not such a good thing.

And that's where the Hawks are defensively these days.

Of course, it's not all on the defense. As is frequently preached here, defense is a team concept, and the forwards have done an equally terrible job of getting back to help, being on the right side of the puck and picking up the third and fourth skaters.

Don't underestimate how much the offense can affect your defense with mental and physical mistakes.

Still, the Hawks' defense? It's bad and it shouldn't be a surprise.

Again, this is what happens when a dynasty ends with aging and expensive players.

So what to do now? Simple. Play the kids.

The Hawks appear to have some very good defensive prospects in the pipeline, though you never know until they get here, and then - with rare exceptions - they need time to find their game at the NHL level.

Until then, the Hawks must go with a process that should have begun last season and play the young defensemen as much as possible.

Let them make mistakes. Let them suffer. Let them learn.

It's the only way.

It was interesting that Erik Gustafsson was a healthy scratch for the first time this season Sunday night given that Gustafsson played very well for Jeremy Colliton at Rockford last year.

Gustafsson isn't young in age at 26, but he's young in games played at only 103. He has great offensive instincts but is pretty much a disaster in his own end, so getting a game to watch from upstairs is not a bad idea.

Henri Jokiharju (19) has serious potential, and Gustav Forsling (22) has displayed a big upside at times. Jan Rutta is also not a child at 28, but his NHL experience is a whopping 78 games.

Connor Murphy (25) has three more years at $3.8 million, so he's here to stay. If he can be average as a sixth defenseman, that would be helpful.

But the only way to know what these defensemen will be is to let them play.

A lot.

It could take years, and that's tricky because Crawford has only a year left on his deal after this season. That makes him a possible trade candidate along with Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook, though all three of them have full or limited no-movement clauses.

Getting the timing right on building a defense while there's still something left of Crawford, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane is complex at best as the Hawks think in terms of reappearing in the Western Conference, which has become very fast and talented the last two years.

The Hawks probably hope to be the Penguins, who went seven years between Stanley Cups before going back-to-back, but there has to be a cornerstone or two on defense and depth throughout the lineup for that to happen.

There's great excitement that they may be able to bring back Artemi Panarin in free agency, but he would be very expensive and wouldn't solve the gaping holes on defense.

The Hawks as an organization don't speak about rebuilding, and if that's the case then they have much work to do quickly in order to compete again with this core.

It will not happen without a rebuilt defense.