You can clamor that this deal was the one that set the Hawks back all you like, and maybe it had some effect on the offense of the club. At the end of the year they will be down about 20 goals from last season...not enough to go from the penthouse to dead last in the division. (Hossa being in the lineup makes that up alone IMO)
Crawford getting injured is, by far, a much bigger contributor to their downfall though.
Even bigger than either of those IMO?
Trading Hjarmalsson.
It made the back end completely unbalanced and slotted guys in the wrong spots. It put a bigger load on Keith and exposed Seabrook as a guy who couldn't handle the minutes he once could. Not a coach in the world that could make that defense an effective one.
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