it's not bad tbh
Only the goaltending is a major issue

It’s honestly deeper than that. The only reason it doesn’t seem bad is because on paper the team (offense only really) is very strong. However, behind the scenes, the team suffers from a poor playing style and our player development staff hasn’t done a great job of growing talent in the last five years.

That’s all without even bringing up the lack of a clear direction for the next few years. It’s not a rebuild cuz stan says we can still make the playoffs, but he also says we’re not good enough to compete, so which one is it?

in the middle like Montreal lol

To be fair though, Montreal does have a clear direction and vision for their team though.

Not in the last 8 years ....

Sure, but at now it’s finally taking form. I’d even argue that you guys haven’t that bad for 8 years or even lacked a direction that whole time. You guys shoulda been in the 2014 cup final if it wasn’t for Kreider taking out price.

Weve done an ok job developing talents, its just there hasnt been enough talent to develop. Whens the last time stan traded a roster player for picks/prospects? He just downgrades our assets into oblivion. Saad became smith. Panarin became zadorov, crawford became nothing. Were in a rebuild but were drafting 17th overall but we finished 24th. Compared to last year where we shouldnt have been a playoff team, the offense is slightly worse maybe the same, defense is slightly better, and goaltending is significantly worse

for the life of me I don't get this teams decision making.
Why bring back Subban. He had a .890 save% last year and a .902 the year before. He's awful.
It's not like they didn't have a backup level goaltender in Delia.
They should have hit up CAR and taken Reimer off their hands or something.
They could have probably had him for next to nothing and it would at least be better than what they currently have.

I'm not certain I get the MTL love here, good young centers, but that D is about to get real old with Weber (signed at 7.8M through his age 41 season as a reminder) and Petry (33 in Dec, signed for 4 years at 6.25 after this season) and I'm not certain 13M+ for the next three seasons for goaltending is ideal. I do like a lot of what they have, I'm more confused by the "if only the Blackhawks had as good of a GM/direction on MTL' when I see a team with 3 long term 6M+ contracts for players in their 30's that I doubt will age well.
As far as the Blackhawks goaltending, I didn't get the Subban re-signing. I think they should have brought back Crow on the 2 year deal, let him be the #1 this year with 55-60 starts, and then do a tandem next year. As a fan I'm hoping the goaltending is surprisingly fine despite seeing it as potentially cratering the team if it's not.