If not for Corey Crawford the Hawks would have come up with nothing against the Rangers. And I hear many people saying that Crawford cannot get us a cup. I don't think we could get one without him. Without him we might not even make the payoffs the way things have been going. While the Hawks played well overall in this high speed game it was the defense that was lacking. Again there were too many shots on Crawford that either never should have happened or should have been blocked. The Hawks had 8 blocked shots while the Rangers had 18! There where many defensive lapses but none that hurt the team more than Roszival missing the pick-up on the OT goal. We have better players in our system than him. While he does make some good plays, he is making way too many mistakes at this point. Combine that with 4 missed power plays and you end up losing. The Hawks are now 21st in the power play rankings.
On the good side, our penalty killing was stellar and the offense was good when we weren't on the power play. We may need to start declining these penalties. Tuevo was having a great game and Talbot was tested by some of the best shooters in the league. Unfortunately Talbot stood up to all of them. At least the Hawks got one point out of the game and gave nothing up to their own division.
Looking back at the game against the Oilers, the Hawks were lethargic in that game. Luckily they tied it up late and then, thanks to the skill of Vermette and the coaching of Toews, they were able to get the OT win.
About the new guys: Vermette is looking pretty good. He is certainly trying to fit in to the Hawks system. I am not too sure about Dejardins but we need to give him some time to fit in. I am really impressed with Timonen given that he had been out for so long. I really think he will come along. I will restate my playoff defensive pairs:
Seabs-Dunc
Oduya-Hammer
Timo-TVR
But be aware that TVR has not returned to playing yet, he is still in practice mode. Raanta has had to starts with the Hogs getting a win and an OT loss. He has made 47 saves on 53 shots with a .887 SV% over those two games. He gave up 3 goals in each of the games including the OT goal at 1:27 of the OT.
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Sunday, March 8, 2015
Thursday, March 5, 2015
New kids on the rink
I made it out to Johnny's today for practice. All Rostered Hawks were there except for Oduya. Oduya was at the rink but did not skate with the team. Q later indicated that Oduya skated but was not likely to play this weekend. Also in attendance was John McDonough looking on from the side lines.
Q indicated that Crawford would start against the Oilers and that he has been happy with Terevainen's play but is not likely to play as Q wants to get a look at Dejardins.
The new guys looked OK and seemed to be talking a lot with the other players and coaches.
Practice consisted of board battles (also know as how to stay away from Hossa), some 3 on 2 work, power play/PK, 4 on 4 and some break-away work. Q worked them for about 50 minutes and most players stayed on the ice at least to the 5 extra minutes that I stuck around.
Lines were as follows:
23-19-81
10-80-20
29-91-11
42-16-65
Power plays were:
2-7-19-81-65
10-80-44-91-23
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Q indicated that Crawford would start against the Oilers and that he has been happy with Terevainen's play but is not likely to play as Q wants to get a look at Dejardins.
The new guys looked OK and seemed to be talking a lot with the other players and coaches.
Practice consisted of board battles (also know as how to stay away from Hossa), some 3 on 2 work, power play/PK, 4 on 4 and some break-away work. Q worked them for about 50 minutes and most players stayed on the ice at least to the 5 extra minutes that I stuck around.
Lines were as follows:
23-19-81
10-80-20
29-91-11
42-16-65
Power plays were:
2-7-19-81-65
10-80-44-91-23
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Monday, March 2, 2015
And we're done
The trade deadline has come and gone. Due to the injury to Patrick Kane, Bowman had some cap space to play with. And now that we have passed the trade deadline he can go as high as he wants with the players in the system. So where does this leave us?
We all know that there will be a large cap problem come game one of the next season. The three players picked up this week all have expiring contracts. So they, unless signing on for a longer tour of duty, they will not increase that existing problem.
Let's start with Dejardins. He has been a face off leader having a better than 58% record at the dot the past three seasons. This years he is at 49.8% to date. Still not to shabby. But Ben Smith, who was traded in his place, has been a consistent 50%er himself. So no gain there. Andrew is 6' 1" and 195. Ben Smith is 5' 11" 207 pounds. So really not too much there. I have heard that Dejardins brings a little more energy and feistyness to his game. But I also expect that from Smith as we get closer to the playoffs. Points-wise there is really no difference between the two this season. So put these guys about even. But herein lies the rub. Andrew's contract expires at the end of the season where Ben would carry $1.5M into next year. So Scotty just reduced his cap problem for next year. This is his first salary cap reduction trade.
As for Vermette and Timonen we lose nothing short term. I'll address that in a minute.
Vermette has a 56% or better face off record for 5 seasons! The Hawks can certainly use some help in that area, especially on the PK, if Vermette plays there. Vermette also has 24 goals and 21 assists this season . Not too shabby. He could be a big help.
As for Timonen, he is a tough cookie. While he has not played this year he has been cleared and could add some depth to our struggling defense. Imagine the pairs being Timonen(L)-van Riemsdyk(R), Keith-Seabs and Oduya-Hammer. Those would be 3 damn good pairings. I would put Rundblad and Cumisky as the odd men in. Roszival needs to retire.
We did give up a few picks over the next few years. So what? Let's take a look at the system.
Start with forwards:
As for Defense:
We all know that there will be a large cap problem come game one of the next season. The three players picked up this week all have expiring contracts. So they, unless signing on for a longer tour of duty, they will not increase that existing problem.
Let's start with Dejardins. He has been a face off leader having a better than 58% record at the dot the past three seasons. This years he is at 49.8% to date. Still not to shabby. But Ben Smith, who was traded in his place, has been a consistent 50%er himself. So no gain there. Andrew is 6' 1" and 195. Ben Smith is 5' 11" 207 pounds. So really not too much there. I have heard that Dejardins brings a little more energy and feistyness to his game. But I also expect that from Smith as we get closer to the playoffs. Points-wise there is really no difference between the two this season. So put these guys about even. But herein lies the rub. Andrew's contract expires at the end of the season where Ben would carry $1.5M into next year. So Scotty just reduced his cap problem for next year. This is his first salary cap reduction trade.
As for Vermette and Timonen we lose nothing short term. I'll address that in a minute.
Vermette has a 56% or better face off record for 5 seasons! The Hawks can certainly use some help in that area, especially on the PK, if Vermette plays there. Vermette also has 24 goals and 21 assists this season . Not too shabby. He could be a big help.
As for Timonen, he is a tough cookie. While he has not played this year he has been cleared and could add some depth to our struggling defense. Imagine the pairs being Timonen(L)-van Riemsdyk(R), Keith-Seabs and Oduya-Hammer. Those would be 3 damn good pairings. I would put Rundblad and Cumisky as the odd men in. Roszival needs to retire.
We did give up a few picks over the next few years. So what? Let's take a look at the system.
Start with forwards:
Peter Regin – Probably on his way out
Dennis Rasmussen – Good potential, needs to learn to play in
the states
Ryan Hartman – We saw him, we loved him, he will develop
And then there are the rest of the forward that have
potential. Any of these players could be on the Hawks next year. Each of them has potential to develop.
Drew LeBlanc
Cody Bass
Phillip Danault
Dane Walters
Pierre-Cedric Labrie
Garret Ross
Matt Carey
Brandon Mashinter
As for Defense:
Trevor van Riemsdyk - If he recovers well, he returns this season
Kyle Cumiskey - Another guy we saw and we loved.
Stephen Johns - This is another strong defenseman
Viktor Svedberg- Viktor need to be a bit more consistent.
Ville Pokka - This is the guy we got in the Leddy trade. I've seen him play and think he has good potential. He is young and learning.
We also have two goalies that I think could take us to the cup in Crawford and Raanta. I'm not 100% convinced about Darling yet. As for any worries about Raanta, he just needs more ice time which is why he is back in Rockford. This way we will have our top 2 goalies working on a regular basis in preparation for the playoffs.
Monday, February 23, 2015
DISaster on ice – Now playing at the UC
I’m not sure if it was #JohnWiedeman or #TroyMurray who
said that the Hawks were DISconnected
in yesterday’s game. #Quenneville said the team was DISjoint. Had #TraceyMyers not taken the day off she would have
said they were DIScombobulated. We
were all in DISmay as we watched the
Hawks fall apart in the second period. What a DISappointing period. The Hawks could do nothing to DISarm the Bruins. It was with DISgust that Crawford was pulled from
the game. The Hawks were DISgraced
by the negative reviews of their fans in attendance. I am sure there was a lot
of DIScussion between periods on how
to set things right.
The hawks have really looked DISorganized in many of their games as of late. It may be that they
are DIStracted by the deaths that
have haunted the team this season. Whatever it is, they need to DIScover the answer quickly. They must DISpense with their poor performances.
They must look to DIScern a solution
to the problem.
Yes the fans are DISappointed.
They are DIScouraged by recent
performances. Who wouldn’t be DISpleased?
There is DIStrust in the quest for
the cup. Yes this has been a DISturbing
time. Let’s not DISpose of our allegiance. There is too much talk of DISsembling this team. But it is not
time to DISband. Don’t DIScount this team. Don’t be DIScouraged. This trend will DISappear. This team will DIScover the answer.
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Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Dee-troit Sucks
Wow, our second and final meeting this season, unless of course, we meet in the playoffs. That would be insane. I have to admit that the game was very fun to watch. The Hawks came out skating and played well all the way through as did the Wings. The game was only "not tied" for a total of 82 seconds, not counting the outcome of course.
Hossa had a fantastic game. How many Wings did he skate around and away from? How many times did he take the puck away from some one. I wish Hossa had taken the third shoot out. I think he would have had a better chance against Howard.
The only really bad play for the Hawks, and of the game for that matter, was the Roszival give-away in the OT. I really would not mind seeing him replaced with Erixon.
Hartman had another strong game tonight.I think he will stay around although I think Carcillo might have been better to get under the skin of the Wings tonight.
Both Howard and Crawford were keys to keeping their teams in the game.
I really miss this division rivalry.
In other news:
The Wolves have loaned Jake Chelios to his home town team the Kalamazoo Wings, their EHCL affilaite.
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Hossa had a fantastic game. How many Wings did he skate around and away from? How many times did he take the puck away from some one. I wish Hossa had taken the third shoot out. I think he would have had a better chance against Howard.
The only really bad play for the Hawks, and of the game for that matter, was the Roszival give-away in the OT. I really would not mind seeing him replaced with Erixon.
Hartman had another strong game tonight.I think he will stay around although I think Carcillo might have been better to get under the skin of the Wings tonight.
Both Howard and Crawford were keys to keeping their teams in the game.
I really miss this division rivalry.
In other news:
The Wolves have loaned Jake Chelios to his home town team the Kalamazoo Wings, their EHCL affilaite.
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Friday, February 13, 2015
Getting the Devil out
As #TraceyMyers has been saying the Hawks came out looking discombobulated. On top of it Crawford lets one in that should have been stopped.
On the good side we got to see Hartman and Comisky. Hartman gives a huge hit 8 seconds in to his first shift in the NHL. He continued to play a rough and tough game and could have a role in the playoffs. Comisky played some great defense and stepped in up front like a Blackhawk. Toews compared him to Nick Leddy due to his speed.
Hossa with the goal and then an assist on the Toews goal. that was great pressing by Toews on that goal. It was good to see Johnny score as it appeared that he accidentally used teflon tape on his stick instead of sticky tape. He just could bee to keep anything on his blade all night.
To continue my rant about the defensive pairing, Hammer and Oduya looked good together and were able to clear the zone and move the puck forward. They look MUCH better together than they do when they are split up.
It took almost 30 minutes but the Hawks finally turned themselves around, for the most part, and started playing some better hockey. Let's see if they can keep on playing during the Sunday matinee against the flightless birds.
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On the good side we got to see Hartman and Comisky. Hartman gives a huge hit 8 seconds in to his first shift in the NHL. He continued to play a rough and tough game and could have a role in the playoffs. Comisky played some great defense and stepped in up front like a Blackhawk. Toews compared him to Nick Leddy due to his speed.
Hossa with the goal and then an assist on the Toews goal. that was great pressing by Toews on that goal. It was good to see Johnny score as it appeared that he accidentally used teflon tape on his stick instead of sticky tape. He just could bee to keep anything on his blade all night.
To continue my rant about the defensive pairing, Hammer and Oduya looked good together and were able to clear the zone and move the puck forward. They look MUCH better together than they do when they are split up.
It took almost 30 minutes but the Hawks finally turned themselves around, for the most part, and started playing some better hockey. Let's see if they can keep on playing during the Sunday matinee against the flightless birds.
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Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Canucked
That first period looked pretty poor. Errant passes were wild and shooting was scarce. I was pretty scared going in to the second period as that has not been the best period for the Hawks this season.
Kane opened up the scoring in the second on a nice centering pass that got tipped in by the Canucks. Had it made it through Richards had an easy open netter. But my fear of the second period came to pass and Vancouver puts in 3 unanswered goals. I STILL believe that the defensive parings need to be corrected. (See my blog from a few games ago here) The Hawks are not getting out of their zone and through center very cleanly.
The Hawks finally start playing in the third period but the Sedins do them in by first pairing for the 4th goal and then again for the OT win.
But what about Hossa? Six goals in three games. Insane. Two power play goals are good but the Hawks will need to play 60 minutes to win. they played about 15 today.
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Kane opened up the scoring in the second on a nice centering pass that got tipped in by the Canucks. Had it made it through Richards had an easy open netter. But my fear of the second period came to pass and Vancouver puts in 3 unanswered goals. I STILL believe that the defensive parings need to be corrected. (See my blog from a few games ago here) The Hawks are not getting out of their zone and through center very cleanly.
The Hawks finally start playing in the third period but the Sedins do them in by first pairing for the 4th goal and then again for the OT win.
But what about Hossa? Six goals in three games. Insane. Two power play goals are good but the Hawks will need to play 60 minutes to win. they played about 15 today.
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