Toews, Jones, Johnson and other Blackhawks reflect on their roughest campaigns

This has been a difficult - and at times demoralizing - season for the Blackhawks.

The roughest stretch on the ice came from Nov. 14 to Jan. 3 when coach Luke Richardson's squad dropped 21 of 23 games.

Twelve times the Hawks failed to score more than 1 goal.

Then came the trades. Jake McCabe and Sam Lafferty went to Toronto; Jack Johnson was shipped to Colorado; Max Domi was sent to Dallas; and - of course - Patrick Kane is now with the New York Rangers.

That's a lot of adversity to deal with, prompting me to ask several veterans, "What is the most difficult campaign of your career?"

You'd think several players would choose this one - but nobody did.

After much deliberation, defenseman Seth Jones almost picked this season but went with last year. Jonathan Toews and Tyler Johnson also selected the disappointing, stressful and controversial 2021-22 campaign.

Meanwhile, Connor Murphy dug up some rough times from earlier in his career, and Max Domi said he had a difficult time dealing with the empty stadiums due to COVID.

Instant dumpster fire

When coach Jeremy Colliton assembled his team for training camp last season, there were some who believed the Hawks were serious playoff contenders.

General manager Stan Bowman bolstered the roster by adding a top goaltender in Marc-Andre Fleury, a No. 1 defenseman in Seth Jones and capable veterans in blue liner Jake McCabe and two-time Stanley Cup-winning forward Tyler Johnson.

Also, Jonathan Toews was returning after missing the previous season.

Combine that talent with Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat, Brandon Hagel, Dylan Strome, Kirby Dach and Connor Murphy and it was a no-brainer to think the Hawks should at least compete in the Central Division.

But Johnson remembers getting an odd feeling right away.

"Even in training camp there I kind of had an inkling that it was gonna be a different year," he said. "Then obviously our start was bad (9 straight losses). Then the (sexual abuse) stuff about the organization a long time ago came out.

"At one point, you're like, 'Oh my gosh. What's happening?' "

What happened was a multilayered mess in which Colliton should probably shoulder much of the blame.

For some reason, Strome was always in Colliton's doghouse, and Dach wasn't mentored or used correctly. And was Colliton ready to lead a playoff-caliber roster? Probably not.

Certainly, the players were to blame as well. Toews didn't score until the 26th game; McCabe and Jones struggled early on; Johnson got injured; and the players just didn't mesh on the ice at all.

"In a lot of ways (there wasn't) a whole lot of direction with the franchise," Toews said. "As players we were just trying to find our ways of playing together."

After Colliton was fired, the Hawks actually won 10 of their first 16 games under interim coach Derek King, but then came a six-game skid that all but ended any dreams of a miraculous turnaround.

"That was the first coaching change I've had in the middle of a season," said Jones, who did finish with a career-high 46 assists. "That was a little bit difficult with guys getting readjusted to that.

"At the same time, nothing was clicking for us. We just didn't have a good year. Myself, the points were there, but the overall game wasn't there.

"A lot of guys can say that about their games that were on that team. For your team to be successful, everybody's got to have career years, or be at the top of their games at the same time."

Johnson played in the first eight games, then missed four months after having artificial disc replacement surgery. By the time he returned, the Hawks were 19-27-8.

"That whole year," Johnson said, "I've just tried to forget about it to be honest with you."

The way back machine

Connor Murphy broke into the NHL with Arizona in 2013-14, but it was the next year in 2015, that left a truly foul taste in the defenseman's mouth. The Coyotes were actually 16-20-4 after 40 games, but then won just 5 of the next 33 games en route to a 24-50-8 record.

Murphy, 21 years old at the time, played in 73 games and managed just 4 goals and 3 assists while posting a minus-27 rating.

"It was terrible," Murphy said. "I wasn't comfortable yet in the league. Didn't feel confident or ready in my game at all. I think that's pretty hard when you're young and trying to get your feet wet and feeling like you're struggling to stay afloat."

Where is everyone?

Max Domi was chosen 12th overall by Arizona in 2013 and played three years for the Coyotes before being traded to Montreal in June 2018. Domi pumped in a career-high 28 goals for the Canadiens in 2018-19 and 17 more in the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 campaign.

Things went sideways, though, after Domi was traded to a Columbus team that struggled to find its way in bizarre circumstances.

"Everyone was going through it, but that was mentally pretty taxing," said Domi, who scored 18 goals for the Hawks this season before being traded to Dallas at the deadline. "New stadium, new team and you can't really hang out with anyone. You can't go anywhere except for your house or the rink. ...

"Our whole team was kind of struggling. It was almost like a cloud was following us around. It was weird. ... Not having fans was tough.

"I'm a guy that enjoys the environment of some of these arenas and sold-out rinks. It usually gets the best out of me."