Morin is not a good match for the Blackhawks. While I have not seen ALL the details it looks like a straight up trade for D-man Tim Erixon of the Blue Jackets. While we wait for TVR to return to the line-up the Hawks have continued to look for the right 3rd defensive pair. Erixon will be the latest in the rotation.This trade will have two net effects.
First, it will add $200,000 of cap space for the Hawks to play with. Tim hits the cap this year at $600k while Morin weighed in at $800k.
Second, this will help with next years player/cap problem. Morin would have hit us at $800k again next year. Erixson has only a one year contract and either will be gone or will replace one of our higher salaried D-men that will need to be removed due to cap issues.
What I am not sure about are the terms of the contract with Erixon. But from what I can tell it is a two way contract meaning that he can be sent to the Icehogs without having to go through waivers. Again this will help Q and Stan figure out a right mix to 1) win the cup this year and 2) align a team for next season.
So, no surprise to me. We will likely get to see Jeremy when we play the Jackets this Saturday in Columbus.
P.S. Dahlbach, who has been benched when the times got tough, will go back to Rockford for the time being.
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
What's in a name? And (No?) More Morin
Would a Zemgus Girgensons smell any different with a different name? Maybe the question to ask is would a Zemgus Girgensons get as many votes with a different name? Earlier today it was reported that Latvian native Zemgus has over 800,000 votes. Compare that to the next two players, Kane and Toews, with 375,753 and 367,962 respectively. As a centerman in his rookie year last season Zemgus scored 8 goals and ended the season with 22 points. This years he is at 8 goals and 14 points to date. So how does he get so many votes? It has been reported that his country of origin is so excited that they are taking the Chicago approach of voting early and often. Latest census data shows Latvia with a population of just over 2 million people. It was estimated that the same number of people participated in the Blackhawks victory parade in 2013. Over 8 million people watch the games where Patrick Kane scored an overtime winner to clinch the Stanley cup and again when the Hawks beat Boston in 17 seconds. Assume about 4 million of those were Chicago fans. With those numbers you have to really wonder if the Latvian government has hacked into the NHL voting system. OK, that was a joke, but has someone in Latvia written a program to perform repeat voting to run the numbers up that high? Should we really allow unlimited voting for our Allstars? Is the whole idea of having the general population vote wrong? But even if we went with hockey insiders conducting the vote we have the problem with the eastern heavy population as we have seen with the NHLs individual achievement awards. What ever the case, this ridiculousness is an indication of a broken system.
Sharpie returns to the Hawks line-up tonight to take on the devils. Nortrom returns to Rockford, no surprise, as does Morin. The Hawks use a little known rule of a "conditioning assignment" to move Morin without putting him through waivers where he would likely get snatched up. Typically this is used for a player coming back from an injury. The NHL has indicated that they will not investigate this move. Bowman would be happier to trade Morin, take his salary off our cap and get a good draft pick. (My opinion) So this will buy Bowman about 14 days to find a suitor willing to add to their offense. I really think Morin could work on another team but he just does not fit in Chicago. Barring any major injuries to the Hawks offense, everyone knock on wood now, if Morin is not traded during his conditioning assignment he will be put on waivers and likely find himself in a Panthers uniform. I think Dale would like to have him in Florida.
Sharpie returns to the Hawks line-up tonight to take on the devils. Nortrom returns to Rockford, no surprise, as does Morin. The Hawks use a little known rule of a "conditioning assignment" to move Morin without putting him through waivers where he would likely get snatched up. Typically this is used for a player coming back from an injury. The NHL has indicated that they will not investigate this move. Bowman would be happier to trade Morin, take his salary off our cap and get a good draft pick. (My opinion) So this will buy Bowman about 14 days to find a suitor willing to add to their offense. I really think Morin could work on another team but he just does not fit in Chicago. Barring any major injuries to the Hawks offense, everyone knock on wood now, if Morin is not traded during his conditioning assignment he will be put on waivers and likely find himself in a Panthers uniform. I think Dale would like to have him in Florida.
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Anyone seen Jeremy?
Joakim Nordstrom has started the last 5 games for the Blackhawks. Jeremy Morin has watched from the stands since the first game of the road trip in Calgary. The 22 year old Nordstrom joined the Icehogs late in the 2012/13 season. He had 16 games with the Hawks last year and 5 so far here. He stands at 6'1" and a mere 160#s. Morin has been around since mid-way through the 2010/11 season when he split his time between Rockford and the Hawks. He played 3 games in each of the next two years, 24 games last year and 15 so far this year with the Hawks. He is 23 years old, also stands at 6'1" but bulks up at 192 pounds. Now I personally thought Morin was playing pretty well and I am a bit surprised that Q had him sit these last five games. But Jeremy, while he has moments of grandeur, is also prone to mistakes. Morin hits our cap at $800k this year and next. There are plenty of teams that can absorb that salary and use a player like Morin. That could be some well needed cap space for the Hawks. I keep thinking, look for that trade.
How about that goal by Danny tonight. Follows up on his own rebound slapping one out of mid-air. Nicely done.
Give Richards credit for being in the right place for his goal getting up toward the net. His line is on fire. That goal never would have happened without the neat little drop off from Kane to Versteeg. But Kane misses out on an assist on a play he made happen.
The second half of the second period seems to be a problem for the Hawks. During the first 30 of this game the Hawks led both SOGs and FOs. But by the end of the second they were only up one SOG and down one FO. While they did not give up a goal during that time they seem to struggle with the long change during the last half of the period. Great game overall but that second period always scares me.
And the Hawks return home with 10 out of 12 points defeating some of the hottest teams in the league. They get three days off and then play the Blues, who also have 3 days off, at the UC.
#Blackhawks
How about that goal by Danny tonight. Follows up on his own rebound slapping one out of mid-air. Nicely done.
Give Richards credit for being in the right place for his goal getting up toward the net. His line is on fire. That goal never would have happened without the neat little drop off from Kane to Versteeg. But Kane misses out on an assist on a play he made happen.
The second half of the second period seems to be a problem for the Hawks. During the first 30 of this game the Hawks led both SOGs and FOs. But by the end of the second they were only up one SOG and down one FO. While they did not give up a goal during that time they seem to struggle with the long change during the last half of the period. Great game overall but that second period always scares me.
And the Hawks return home with 10 out of 12 points defeating some of the hottest teams in the league. They get three days off and then play the Blues, who also have 3 days off, at the UC.
#Blackhawks
333 North
We took a trip downtown today to visit 333 (that's pronounced "tree turty tree") North Michigan Avenue, home of the new Blackhawks store. The store is very bright, flashy and spacious unlike the old store that was dark, dingy and crowded. While I didn't check numbers, I believe they had a Jersey on the wall for each of the active players. There was plenty of staff walking around to help answer any question you might have and even someone at the front of the store greeting you and wishing you well when you left.
So herein lies the rub. I was actually looking for a backpack that I saw online. I asked one of the wandering clerks who informed us that they, indeed, had none. We were informed that they were tying to be more of a boutique store. Wha, huh! I thought this was "THE" Blackhawks store. A boutique store? Boutique, scmootique. Bring back the old dingy store loaded with all the chotchkies, random shirts, hat and gloves an the occasional autographed item. I used to love scanning around the room and finding little treasures tucked away in the corners of the displays.
Keep the new larger store, but pack it to the gills with product and memorabilia rather than try to sell a small assortment of high end products.
My advice to you: Don't bother making a special trip to 333. Just stop by if you are in the neighborhood.
As an aside, we also went to the store in Oak Brook mall a couple of weeks ago. That store had much more to choose from. Maybe they did not have every jersey in stock, although they could have in the back, but they had a much larger selection. Oak Brook is worth the visit.
So herein lies the rub. I was actually looking for a backpack that I saw online. I asked one of the wandering clerks who informed us that they, indeed, had none. We were informed that they were tying to be more of a boutique store. Wha, huh! I thought this was "THE" Blackhawks store. A boutique store? Boutique, scmootique. Bring back the old dingy store loaded with all the chotchkies, random shirts, hat and gloves an the occasional autographed item. I used to love scanning around the room and finding little treasures tucked away in the corners of the displays.
Keep the new larger store, but pack it to the gills with product and memorabilia rather than try to sell a small assortment of high end products.
My advice to you: Don't bother making a special trip to 333. Just stop by if you are in the neighborhood.
As an aside, we also went to the store in Oak Brook mall a couple of weeks ago. That store had much more to choose from. Maybe they did not have every jersey in stock, although they could have in the back, but they had a much larger selection. Oak Brook is worth the visit.
Friday, November 28, 2014
Shooting the Duck(s)
It could be that Richards is turning the corner. After whiffing on a shot in first he then seemed to settle in and looked a bit more comfortable. He finally found the net and later made a diving one handed pass to Versteeg who then set up Kane. I think is he stays comfortable and stops trying too hard we might see more out of him.
Much of the second period looked like the Hawks were on the power play when they were 5 on 5. They probably looked better at equal strength than they did on their actual power plays. That trend pretty much continued into the third.
Let's talk Corey Perry...#10...hit him early and often. The next game I think we will see some action taken against his after he hit Crawford and later cross-checked Hossa. I was surprised that Q did not send Bickell or Carcillo out for the face off after the Hossa hit but I think Q was more concerned with winning the game. Perry can wait for another day.
Overall, great game. Hawks well in control.
#Blackhawks
Much of the second period looked like the Hawks were on the power play when they were 5 on 5. They probably looked better at equal strength than they did on their actual power plays. That trend pretty much continued into the third.
Let's talk Corey Perry...#10...hit him early and often. The next game I think we will see some action taken against his after he hit Crawford and later cross-checked Hossa. I was surprised that Q did not send Bickell or Carcillo out for the face off after the Hossa hit but I think Q was more concerned with winning the game. Perry can wait for another day.
Overall, great game. Hawks well in control.
#Blackhawks
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Scouting the Icehogs...
I made a scouting visit to watch the Icehogs play the Wolves. #1 on must list to watch was Teuvo Teravainen. I believe he still has some developmental issues which is why he has not been called up to the NHL. Let's start with face offs. I am not sure how many he took, but I don't recall him winning a singe face off. He was actually pulled out of the face off circle in the second period and also pulled from a key PP face off. But I think that is a fixable problem.The bigger problem was his tentative play. He is not large at 5' 10" and a mere 169#s but he needs to be a bit more aggressive. He spent most of his time "floating" high in the zone beyond the dots. He has a lot of skill but his size is going to be a bid problem. More bacon cheese burgers.
Garret Ross had a great game scoring two goals. Mashinter with a assist and an empty net goal.
Y'all remember 6' 9" Viktor Svedberg? He cross checks a guy in the corner and they both go down, Svedberg on top cross checks him again. Its the AHL, so no call yet. So Viktor brings his stick over the guys head, down to his upper chest and starts choking him! Finally the arm went up. Unbelievably stupid.
I didn't realize that Terry Broadhurst moved to the Wolves. Not sure how that happened. Alex is still with the hogs but I never saw the brothers on the ice at the same time.
Mac Caruth made some fantastic saves and got the shutout in the 3-0 victory. Darling sat on the bench. Mashinter looked really good. I think he would be the next forward to get pulled up if needed. Klas Dahlbeck and Kyle Cumiskey played great defensive games.
As for the Wolves, they have Colin Fraser playing for them. You old timers might remember him. Brent Sopel now playing with the Wolves. He looks like he gained a few pounds over his listed weight of 201#. Looks more like 220 or 230.
Ty Rattie had a great game. He going to be someone to look for on the Blues once he develops.
And lastly Jake Chelios, son of Chris Chelios, is now with the wolves. Tripped over his own two feet in the first as he attempted to cross over to go after a puck, never saw that from daddy, but played just OK. Didn't see NHL talent there. We'll see if he develops.
Garret Ross had a great game scoring two goals. Mashinter with a assist and an empty net goal.
Y'all remember 6' 9" Viktor Svedberg? He cross checks a guy in the corner and they both go down, Svedberg on top cross checks him again. Its the AHL, so no call yet. So Viktor brings his stick over the guys head, down to his upper chest and starts choking him! Finally the arm went up. Unbelievably stupid.
I didn't realize that Terry Broadhurst moved to the Wolves. Not sure how that happened. Alex is still with the hogs but I never saw the brothers on the ice at the same time.
Mac Caruth made some fantastic saves and got the shutout in the 3-0 victory. Darling sat on the bench. Mashinter looked really good. I think he would be the next forward to get pulled up if needed. Klas Dahlbeck and Kyle Cumiskey played great defensive games.
As for the Wolves, they have Colin Fraser playing for them. You old timers might remember him. Brent Sopel now playing with the Wolves. He looks like he gained a few pounds over his listed weight of 201#. Looks more like 220 or 230.
Ty Rattie had a great game. He going to be someone to look for on the Blues once he develops.
And lastly Jake Chelios, son of Chris Chelios, is now with the wolves. Tripped over his own two feet in the first as he attempted to cross over to go after a puck, never saw that from daddy, but played just OK. Didn't see NHL talent there. We'll see if he develops.
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Hawks now 12 goals to 1 against Edmonton this year
I checked the Brovada odds today. Penguins to win the cup 13/2, Hawks remain at 7/1. Still early in the season and the Hawks have hopefully completed their "slump."
I remember when the Oilers were feared. Not so much these days. Lots of #1 draft picks and an $18M first line. But 200/1 for the Stanley cup. And tonight they showed us why. One of if, if not the, worst defenses in the league.How many #1 draft picks really make it big anyway?
Bad break for Rannta tonight. Maybe he could have gotten the shutout. Actually I am not sure there is a goalie in the league that could have stopped that Edmonton goal. As Corey prepared to catch that one in his glove it deflected in on his stick side. Let's hope that Rannta hasn't spread that flu around the team. We certainly don't need anyone else out of the line-up.
I still think Richards needs more time working with this team. He's just not connecting with Kane or Versteeg. Versteeg's goal came while playing with Toews and Hossa. Kane's goal came from Versteeg and Hjlrmarsson.
So it's one to see the Sendin twins and the rest of the Cnuckleheads who lost 4-1 to the Ducks on Friday night.
And by the way, all 8 goals scored by Kane this year have been in the third period.
#Blackhawks
I remember when the Oilers were feared. Not so much these days. Lots of #1 draft picks and an $18M first line. But 200/1 for the Stanley cup. And tonight they showed us why. One of if, if not the, worst defenses in the league.How many #1 draft picks really make it big anyway?
Bad break for Rannta tonight. Maybe he could have gotten the shutout. Actually I am not sure there is a goalie in the league that could have stopped that Edmonton goal. As Corey prepared to catch that one in his glove it deflected in on his stick side. Let's hope that Rannta hasn't spread that flu around the team. We certainly don't need anyone else out of the line-up.
I still think Richards needs more time working with this team. He's just not connecting with Kane or Versteeg. Versteeg's goal came while playing with Toews and Hossa. Kane's goal came from Versteeg and Hjlrmarsson.
So it's one to see the Sendin twins and the rest of the Cnuckleheads who lost 4-1 to the Ducks on Friday night.
And by the way, all 8 goals scored by Kane this year have been in the third period.
#Blackhawks
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Hawks dig deep and win.
I've talked about the depth of this team, in particular the defense. We saw that tonight as Q brings in the new kids, each 22 years old. One of them, Clendening, scores on his second shift and then the other one, Nordstrom, was key to setting up the second goal. On the good side, we won't need to test that depth any further as Hammer returned to the ice in the second after taking that puck to the face late in the first.
The best PK in the league did not look that way tonight giving up 2 goals on the first two PKs. Before the first penalty by Kruger the Hawks were up 10-3 on the SOGs. Finished the first period up 12-11 and then fell to 13-12 by the end of the Toews penalty. UGH This is why we try to stay out of the box. But noooo, they go on to draw 6 penalties for the night, giving up momentum, if not goals, each time.
After a lull in the action early in the second, geez that was boring, the Hawks finally turned on the speed and paid off with a goal from Seabs. But Calgary has good speed as well and answered with a goal from Monahan less than two minutes later.
Great stick movement by Kane to poke in the 4th Hawk goal. While Kane has a great game and played 17:50 minutes, Toews still led the forwards with 20:03 minutes.
For the Hawks, only 4 SOGs in that third. That will be a topic of conversation in the locker room.
But we go on to win the first game of the circus trip against a pretty hot Flames team.
So on to play the lowly Oilers on Saturday and then the Cnuckleheads on Sunday. Buckle up your seat belts, this road trip is not going to be any easier as we move forward.
#Blackhawks
The best PK in the league did not look that way tonight giving up 2 goals on the first two PKs. Before the first penalty by Kruger the Hawks were up 10-3 on the SOGs. Finished the first period up 12-11 and then fell to 13-12 by the end of the Toews penalty. UGH This is why we try to stay out of the box. But noooo, they go on to draw 6 penalties for the night, giving up momentum, if not goals, each time.
After a lull in the action early in the second, geez that was boring, the Hawks finally turned on the speed and paid off with a goal from Seabs. But Calgary has good speed as well and answered with a goal from Monahan less than two minutes later.
Great stick movement by Kane to poke in the 4th Hawk goal. While Kane has a great game and played 17:50 minutes, Toews still led the forwards with 20:03 minutes.
For the Hawks, only 4 SOGs in that third. That will be a topic of conversation in the locker room.
But we go on to win the first game of the circus trip against a pretty hot Flames team.
So on to play the lowly Oilers on Saturday and then the Cnuckleheads on Sunday. Buckle up your seat belts, this road trip is not going to be any easier as we move forward.
#Blackhawks
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Go West Young Hawks
The circus is hitting the United Center. I remember the times when it was hard to tell the difference between the Blackhawks and the circus. How things have changed. Thank you Rocky.
TVR - We now know he suffered a broken patella (aka kneecap). He will have surgery on Thursday and be out 3 or 4 months. That is a really tough break for a guy who jumped up from college to one if, if not THE, top teams in the league.The good news is that this is an injury from which he can fully recover and be back in time for the playoffs. Keep your fingers crossed.
Two young Hawks, Nordstrom and Clendening, join the team to head west to Calgary to open a 6 game road trip to complete November. Clendening is excited to be with the team but feels terrible for the TVR situation.
I attended the Hawks send-off practice today over at Johnnies Ice House West. Based on that practice it appears that Roszival might actually sit and Nordstrom will be in. Clendening pretty obviously the odd forward out. He even played some defense at practice taking a wrist shot from Hossa in a place where no man wants to get hit. No cup is perfect.
All rostered Hawks, sans Sharp and TVR, were present. There was some quick PP practice but mostly drills for timing and shooting. Richards, playing between Versteeg and Kane, still struggling with finding Kane on the passing plays. If they stay together long enough this will work itself out.
Q indicated Crow will be in the net tomorrow night. Raanta said he wasn't worried about his quick trip to Rockford. He would told that the team "had a plan."
So to start in Calgary I believe the lines to be:
20-19-81
23-91-88
29-65-13
42-16-28 (42 = Nordstrom)
and on D:
2-7
4-27
6-5 (6 = Clendening)
#Blackhawks #TrevorvanRiemsdyk
TVR - We now know he suffered a broken patella (aka kneecap). He will have surgery on Thursday and be out 3 or 4 months. That is a really tough break for a guy who jumped up from college to one if, if not THE, top teams in the league.The good news is that this is an injury from which he can fully recover and be back in time for the playoffs. Keep your fingers crossed.
Two young Hawks, Nordstrom and Clendening, join the team to head west to Calgary to open a 6 game road trip to complete November. Clendening is excited to be with the team but feels terrible for the TVR situation.
I attended the Hawks send-off practice today over at Johnnies Ice House West. Based on that practice it appears that Roszival might actually sit and Nordstrom will be in. Clendening pretty obviously the odd forward out. He even played some defense at practice taking a wrist shot from Hossa in a place where no man wants to get hit. No cup is perfect.
All rostered Hawks, sans Sharp and TVR, were present. There was some quick PP practice but mostly drills for timing and shooting. Richards, playing between Versteeg and Kane, still struggling with finding Kane on the passing plays. If they stay together long enough this will work itself out.
Q indicated Crow will be in the net tomorrow night. Raanta said he wasn't worried about his quick trip to Rockford. He would told that the team "had a plan."
So to start in Calgary I believe the lines to be:
20-19-81
23-91-88
29-65-13
42-16-28 (42 = Nordstrom)
and on D:
2-7
4-27
6-5 (6 = Clendening)
#Blackhawks #TrevorvanRiemsdyk
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Four goals for the Hawks!
One of those goals actually went into the Detroit net. The other 3 were great feeds to Detroit setting up the Wings goals. That was an ugly loss. I was wondering what Q was going to do when Kane coughed one up. He couldn't very well let that go after benching Versteeg for about 14 minutes. But it would be tough to leave Kane on the bench. So instead Kane gets the demotion. I'm not really convinced that helped the cause.
And so the Hawks fall to 9th in the conference and prepare to play the 11th place Stars. This should be a team that the Hawks can score a few goals against. We just need to be sure we don't give them any freebies. Seaguin leads the team with 12 goals and 10 assists and Spezza with 3 goals and 10 helpers.. It should be Lehtonen between the pipes with a 2.72 GAA and .912 SV%.
I think it is time that Q turn off the blender and go back to our regularly scheduled lines. That goes for offense and defense. I thought Richards played pretty well last night. Might be time for him to work with Kane. Morin was also chipping away last night. Might I say he could move up to the third line. (Wait a minute, did just say that! If Morin keeps it up I could be eating crow. That's crow with a small "c".)
#Blackhawks #JeremyMorin #PatrickKane #BradRichards
And so the Hawks fall to 9th in the conference and prepare to play the 11th place Stars. This should be a team that the Hawks can score a few goals against. We just need to be sure we don't give them any freebies. Seaguin leads the team with 12 goals and 10 assists and Spezza with 3 goals and 10 helpers.. It should be Lehtonen between the pipes with a 2.72 GAA and .912 SV%.
I think it is time that Q turn off the blender and go back to our regularly scheduled lines. That goes for offense and defense. I thought Richards played pretty well last night. Might be time for him to work with Kane. Morin was also chipping away last night. Might I say he could move up to the third line. (Wait a minute, did just say that! If Morin keeps it up I could be eating crow. That's crow with a small "c".)
#Blackhawks #JeremyMorin #PatrickKane #BradRichards
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Not another shootout!
While the Hawks are 3-0 in the shootout this year I still don't like the shootout. Even watching Patrick Kane roof another SO goal isn't enough to change my mind. But, it's what the NHL wants so I'll take the second point. Let's recap the actual game itself....
0 for 6 on the PP is completely unacceptable. Actually they were -1 for 6 as they gave up their 4th shorty of the year! Passing a problem most of the night again and nothing came out worse than Kane's pass that got picked off resulting in that shorty.
Here is a note to Quenneville, "Put the $%&*@# defense back together again." There is chemistry between Keith and Seabrook and Hjalmarsson and Oduya. van Riemsdyk and Rundblad were also getting things together. Rozsival just seems too inconsistent at this point. Let's just hope Oduya does not miss any games here.
Was anyone at that game last night? I am wondering what Morin is doing to agitate the other teams. He did it again last night and gave the Hawks another PP. Not that getting a PP matters at this point.
Couldn't be better than to play the Redwings on Friday night. Time for a game of Deetroit sucks! For you new readers here are the rules... Each time one of the announcers says "Detroit" you must respond by saying, "sucks!" (Yes, with enthusiasm please.) Failing to do so means to take a shot or a 5 second beer chug. It gets harder as the game goes on.
Nyquist top scorer to date for the Wings with 8. Datsyuk and Abdelkader with 5 each. Zetterberg with the lead in assists (12) and total points (16). Jimmy Howard with a 2.03 GAA and .923 SV%. That save percentage a problem for the Hawks struggling to find the back of the net. Detroit will be coming in after a four day rest having lost, in none other than a shootout, to, none other than, the Lightening on Sunday.
#Blackhawks
0 for 6 on the PP is completely unacceptable. Actually they were -1 for 6 as they gave up their 4th shorty of the year! Passing a problem most of the night again and nothing came out worse than Kane's pass that got picked off resulting in that shorty.
Here is a note to Quenneville, "Put the $%&*@# defense back together again." There is chemistry between Keith and Seabrook and Hjalmarsson and Oduya. van Riemsdyk and Rundblad were also getting things together. Rozsival just seems too inconsistent at this point. Let's just hope Oduya does not miss any games here.
Was anyone at that game last night? I am wondering what Morin is doing to agitate the other teams. He did it again last night and gave the Hawks another PP. Not that getting a PP matters at this point.
Couldn't be better than to play the Redwings on Friday night. Time for a game of Deetroit sucks! For you new readers here are the rules... Each time one of the announcers says "Detroit" you must respond by saying, "sucks!" (Yes, with enthusiasm please.) Failing to do so means to take a shot or a 5 second beer chug. It gets harder as the game goes on.
Nyquist top scorer to date for the Wings with 8. Datsyuk and Abdelkader with 5 each. Zetterberg with the lead in assists (12) and total points (16). Jimmy Howard with a 2.03 GAA and .923 SV%. That save percentage a problem for the Hawks struggling to find the back of the net. Detroit will be coming in after a four day rest having lost, in none other than a shootout, to, none other than, the Lightening on Sunday.
#Blackhawks
Monday, November 10, 2014
Practice and retraction....
First let me start with a retraction. I have to say that the video reply in the NHL is out of hand. As a result of Toronto reviewing all goals well into the night after the games, TVR will now need to continue to look for his first ever NHL goal. Awarded, instead, his first NHL assist.Come one NHL!! Let's let this stuff go after the first review during the game and move on. Recalling this is stupid. BTW - Versteeg was handed the goal.
On to this mornings practice:
Missing from practice were Hossa, Richards and Carcillo. [Sharp we already know about, right?] Hossa and Richards "are fine and will play tomorrow," according to Q. I stayed late and never saw Carcillo come out to skate. He has skated for the past couple of days and may be planning something later in the day.
Raanta was the first on the ice for some early warm ups. He also stayed after the half hour official practice working with Waite. Andrew Shaw was the first skater on the the ice and the last to leave. He did a lot of shooting practice but no tip-in practice.
Q conducted a lot of practice that entailed multiple passes. After last night's second period I am not surprised. What did surprise me is that there was no board battle practice. This could be tomorrow before the game.
After the official practice Raanta and others stayed about for almost the rest of the hour. Shaw, Smith, Regin, Kruger and Morin spend a lot of time working with Kevin Dineen on picking up pucks and shooting. Rozsival and van Riemsdyk worked with Kitch on point shot practice.
Lines for today were:
23 - 19 - 88
29 - 65 - 20
28 - 16 - 32
(Rozsival in for Hossa. Likely out for tomorrow.)
11 - 65 - 12
(Shaw working REALLY hard today double shifting to fill in for Richards)
So the Quenneville blender has been turned off for the moment.
It was pretty hard to put together any defensive pairing due to the drills that were being run. Q did indicate that Seabrook and Keith "could" be together again tomorrow night. Put that through my Q secret decoder ring... They WILL be together tomorrow.
#Blackhawks #TrevorvanRiemsdyk #ChrisVersteeg #MarianHossa #BradRichards #DannyCarcillo #AnttiRaanta #AndrewShaw
On to this mornings practice:
Missing from practice were Hossa, Richards and Carcillo. [Sharp we already know about, right?] Hossa and Richards "are fine and will play tomorrow," according to Q. I stayed late and never saw Carcillo come out to skate. He has skated for the past couple of days and may be planning something later in the day.
Raanta was the first on the ice for some early warm ups. He also stayed after the half hour official practice working with Waite. Andrew Shaw was the first skater on the the ice and the last to leave. He did a lot of shooting practice but no tip-in practice.
Q conducted a lot of practice that entailed multiple passes. After last night's second period I am not surprised. What did surprise me is that there was no board battle practice. This could be tomorrow before the game.
After the official practice Raanta and others stayed about for almost the rest of the hour. Shaw, Smith, Regin, Kruger and Morin spend a lot of time working with Kevin Dineen on picking up pucks and shooting. Rozsival and van Riemsdyk worked with Kitch on point shot practice.
Lines for today were:
23 - 19 - 88
29 - 65 - 20
28 - 16 - 32
(Rozsival in for Hossa. Likely out for tomorrow.)
11 - 65 - 12
(Shaw working REALLY hard today double shifting to fill in for Richards)
So the Quenneville blender has been turned off for the moment.
It was pretty hard to put together any defensive pairing due to the drills that were being run. Q did indicate that Seabrook and Keith "could" be together again tomorrow night. Put that through my Q secret decoder ring... They WILL be together tomorrow.
#Blackhawks #TrevorvanRiemsdyk #ChrisVersteeg #MarianHossa #BradRichards #DannyCarcillo #AnttiRaanta #AndrewShaw
Sunday, November 9, 2014
A good 30 minutes
That was a good 30 minutes against the Shaaaaarks! I am not sure what happened in the locker room between the first and second period, but let's hope that does not happen again. Hawks came out forgetting how to pass, forgetting how to fight on the boards and just basically running around like keystone cops. After 20 shots in the first period they get 6 in the second? Oy. They recovered for the last ten minutes.
For the record, I think Seabrook is one of the top defensemen in the league. I actually have his jersey and overall he had a fantastic game. But did you catch the play late in the second where the Hawks offense got caught on a line change and Seabrook basically stopped in his own zone as the Sharks came charging in? Rundblad saved his butt by breaking that one up or Q might have been calling him out again.
It will be interesting to see what happens at practice tomorrow. I will be there and post a brief report tomorrow afternoon.
So let's talk about the good parts of the game. TVR with his first NHL goal. Great shot and a well deserved first star in the game. I get Pavelski getting number two but thought that Bickell deserved number 3. What a great play he made coming out from behind the net and finding a way to spin and shoot. Great work by big Bick.
And I just have to say, as a former D-man myself, it was great to see 3 goals by the defense.
Next is the Lightning. This will be a team to recon with that has started the season with an 11-3-1 record. This team has scored 4 or more goals in their last seven games. Stamkos leads the team with 10 goals and Tyler Johnson comes in with 18 points. Ben Bishop will likely be between the pipes with a 2.44 GAA and .910 SV%
#Blackhawks #BrentSeabrook #TrevorvanRiemsdyk
For the record, I think Seabrook is one of the top defensemen in the league. I actually have his jersey and overall he had a fantastic game. But did you catch the play late in the second where the Hawks offense got caught on a line change and Seabrook basically stopped in his own zone as the Sharks came charging in? Rundblad saved his butt by breaking that one up or Q might have been calling him out again.
It will be interesting to see what happens at practice tomorrow. I will be there and post a brief report tomorrow afternoon.
So let's talk about the good parts of the game. TVR with his first NHL goal. Great shot and a well deserved first star in the game. I get Pavelski getting number two but thought that Bickell deserved number 3. What a great play he made coming out from behind the net and finding a way to spin and shoot. Great work by big Bick.
And I just have to say, as a former D-man myself, it was great to see 3 goals by the defense.
Next is the Lightning. This will be a team to recon with that has started the season with an 11-3-1 record. This team has scored 4 or more goals in their last seven games. Stamkos leads the team with 10 goals and Tyler Johnson comes in with 18 points. Ben Bishop will likely be between the pipes with a 2.44 GAA and .910 SV%
#Blackhawks #BrentSeabrook #TrevorvanRiemsdyk
Saturday, November 8, 2014
A Capital offense
Well, all was going well. A first period lead, a PP goal to start the second and then late in the second the Hawks turned into zombies. Did anyone catch that play where Richards came in on a 2 on 1 with Kane and just stopped at the hash marks? What was he thinking? He is going to stay on the fourth line if he doesn't start thinking differently. He blew a great opportunity.
But what of that late 2nd period rush. The Caps have an explosive offense. And if your defense starts making stupid mistakes they will, as they did last night, "Capitalize" on the situation. Seabrook, again, really? I am not sure what is on his mind lately. Q responded by giving Rundblad and van Riemsdyk some extra ice time in the third. Both of them looking great. Rozsival is going to spend a lot of time watching from the stands in the near future.
So what did Q think?
"We played a perfect 35 minutes and then we basically shot ourselves in the foot with mental mistakes."
"A couple of plays were totally unacceptable."
"No reason to come in off the point there on that situation" (Ref: Seabrook. Up two goals late in the second.)
"We've gotten scored on too many times in the last or first minute of periods. We need to do better in those times."
"Note good enough." In reference to the 7-6-1 record.
Right now the Hawks are 4th in their division and 9th in the conference. Would miss the playoffs at this point. The good news, Brovada still has the Hawks taking is all at 7-1. So let's not give up hope yet.
So on to the Sharks on Sunday. Maybe we can gets the two Antti's in goal? Would that be a first? The ever chatty Burish will certainly be chattering at the Hawks bench all night. Hawks will likely laugh all that off. #classclown. Sharks may be tired after a game on Saturday with the Stars, but it is a short trip to Chicago from there.
#blackhawks #BrentSeabrook #BradRichards
But what of that late 2nd period rush. The Caps have an explosive offense. And if your defense starts making stupid mistakes they will, as they did last night, "Capitalize" on the situation. Seabrook, again, really? I am not sure what is on his mind lately. Q responded by giving Rundblad and van Riemsdyk some extra ice time in the third. Both of them looking great. Rozsival is going to spend a lot of time watching from the stands in the near future.
So what did Q think?
"We played a perfect 35 minutes and then we basically shot ourselves in the foot with mental mistakes."
"A couple of plays were totally unacceptable."
"No reason to come in off the point there on that situation" (Ref: Seabrook. Up two goals late in the second.)
"We've gotten scored on too many times in the last or first minute of periods. We need to do better in those times."
"Note good enough." In reference to the 7-6-1 record.
Right now the Hawks are 4th in their division and 9th in the conference. Would miss the playoffs at this point. The good news, Brovada still has the Hawks taking is all at 7-1. So let's not give up hope yet.
So on to the Sharks on Sunday. Maybe we can gets the two Antti's in goal? Would that be a first? The ever chatty Burish will certainly be chattering at the Hawks bench all night. Hawks will likely laugh all that off. #classclown. Sharks may be tired after a game on Saturday with the Stars, but it is a short trip to Chicago from there.
#blackhawks #BrentSeabrook #BradRichards
Thursday, November 6, 2014
A Saad day for the Sharp dressed man
Last night the Hawks unveiled the jersey that they will Don for this year's winter classic. Scheduled to take the runway was every girl's favorite Patrick Sharp. But instead it was Brandon Saad, the 1st runner up, that made the appearance. [More on this in a bit.] Sharp is out for about month with a lower body (knee) injury he suffered against Montreal. We should hear today who gets called up from Rockford to fill the void. I am not sure that they Hawks are prepared to have Teuvo play in the NHL on a regular basis. If it was only a week we would probably see him. My guess is Mashinter unless Q wants to try Regin out again but he would need to be a wing man. Regin does shoot left.
So we should see more shifting of line, if that is possible, from Q. Morin now in a position to play more and make or break his destiny. As I noted before, I think he is getting his last chance with Q. In recent games he has looked pretty good. All in all, it will be interesting to watch how this plays out on Friday night when the Caps join us on the UC ice surface.
Now, back to our jersey. A 1957 "like"jersey will be used on that throwback Thursday on Jan 1. I like the letter/number look but thought the tomahawks looked kinda funky. Here is Brandon sporting the look:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/blackhawks-unveil-jersey-to-be-worn-at-winter-classic/
Compare that to an actual 1957 jersey:
http://www.hhof.com/htmlSpotlight/spot_treasurep197504.shtml
Hawks marketing department chose not to go back to that old Indian head on the front. I wish they had to complete the effect. But in any case, it will be great to see this game come the new year.
#Blackhawks #PatrickSharp #BrandonSaad #Teravainen #BrandonMashinter #PeterRegin
So we should see more shifting of line, if that is possible, from Q. Morin now in a position to play more and make or break his destiny. As I noted before, I think he is getting his last chance with Q. In recent games he has looked pretty good. All in all, it will be interesting to watch how this plays out on Friday night when the Caps join us on the UC ice surface.
Now, back to our jersey. A 1957 "like"jersey will be used on that throwback Thursday on Jan 1. I like the letter/number look but thought the tomahawks looked kinda funky. Here is Brandon sporting the look:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/blackhawks-unveil-jersey-to-be-worn-at-winter-classic/
Compare that to an actual 1957 jersey:
http://www.hhof.com/htmlSpotlight/spot_treasurep197504.shtml
Hawks marketing department chose not to go back to that old Indian head on the front. I wish they had to complete the effect. But in any case, it will be great to see this game come the new year.
#Blackhawks #PatrickSharp #BrandonSaad #Teravainen #BrandonMashinter #PeterRegin
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
The Price is wrong
Carey Price got shelled tonight. It would be really hard to blame him for any of the Hawks goals. Each of the 5 goals were beauties. But none better than the Toews to Kane goal. Toews gets his 200 goal and 250th assist.
Corey Crawford with the shut-out and well earned I might add. He certainly made a few great saves.
I'm not sure if this was Q's plan but he really shortened his defensive bench for most of the game. About 5 minutes into the 3rd Rundblad and van Riemsdyk only had about 7 minutes of ice time. They both finished with more than 12 so they got regular shifts late in the game. Overall it was a fairly easy game for the D-men as Montreal looked week in the offensive zone. That might be the reason he was able to rely mostly on this top 4.
How about the Hawks getting all three stars in Montreal. But really, did any of the Habs stand out?
Now on to the Canadians. I watched a lot of the NYR/MTL series during the playoffs last year. There was so much diving in that contest I thought I was at a swim meet. Both Mike Weaver and Brandon Prust get embellishment calls tonight. That puts coach Michel Therrien half way to getting fined for his players actions.
Subban, Subban, Subban. Over 25 minutes of play. I have read so much of his greatness. In the NYR series he was ho-hum. Tonight, much of the same. Really did not see a lot from him. But then the team he was playing with was pretty much half asleep it seemed. One day maybe I will get to see this guy, who is making $72M over the next 8 years, play like a guy who won the Norris trophy in 2013.
So it is on to a preview of the winter classic on Friday as we play against the waning Ovechkin.
#Blackhawks #JonathanToews #PatrickKane #DavidRundblad #TrevorvanRiemsdyk
Corey Crawford with the shut-out and well earned I might add. He certainly made a few great saves.
I'm not sure if this was Q's plan but he really shortened his defensive bench for most of the game. About 5 minutes into the 3rd Rundblad and van Riemsdyk only had about 7 minutes of ice time. They both finished with more than 12 so they got regular shifts late in the game. Overall it was a fairly easy game for the D-men as Montreal looked week in the offensive zone. That might be the reason he was able to rely mostly on this top 4.
How about the Hawks getting all three stars in Montreal. But really, did any of the Habs stand out?
Now on to the Canadians. I watched a lot of the NYR/MTL series during the playoffs last year. There was so much diving in that contest I thought I was at a swim meet. Both Mike Weaver and Brandon Prust get embellishment calls tonight. That puts coach Michel Therrien half way to getting fined for his players actions.
Subban, Subban, Subban. Over 25 minutes of play. I have read so much of his greatness. In the NYR series he was ho-hum. Tonight, much of the same. Really did not see a lot from him. But then the team he was playing with was pretty much half asleep it seemed. One day maybe I will get to see this guy, who is making $72M over the next 8 years, play like a guy who won the Norris trophy in 2013.
So it is on to a preview of the winter classic on Friday as we play against the waning Ovechkin.
#Blackhawks #JonathanToews #PatrickKane #DavidRundblad #TrevorvanRiemsdyk
Sunday, November 2, 2014
We can now officially call this a slump
I know its only two games but the Hawks should have gotten 3 points out of this weekend, minimum 2, but instead they got zilch.
I'm not sure what is up with Seabrook. Lot's of mistakes in the early going. He starts the game by missing a poke check letting the Jets into the zone and then a few seconds later mis-played Frolik to give the Jets the lead. I guess the game could have just ended there.
Richards at it again giving the puck away on that first power play. He really needs to stop that. That first PP was really weak. Much better on the second power play. Both shifts were all over the Jets but the closest they got was a post.
Not sure why Q started shortening the bench in the first and second. Morin had only 1:11 in the first and 1:32 in the second. Bickell and Shaw not too much more.
It was a definite roller coaster ride for this game. The Hawks continue to miss the openings. They are also failing on their primary objective of puck control. The only guy that could do it today was Kane. Everyone seemed to be trying to give the puck up too early. Results: 19 give-aways for the Hawks. This has been a problem for the past few games.
No surprise that Rozsival sits this one out. After his performance the night before.
#Blackhawks #BrentSeabrook #BradRichards #Rozsival #JeremyMorin #AndrewShaw #BrianBickell
I'm not sure what is up with Seabrook. Lot's of mistakes in the early going. He starts the game by missing a poke check letting the Jets into the zone and then a few seconds later mis-played Frolik to give the Jets the lead. I guess the game could have just ended there.
Richards at it again giving the puck away on that first power play. He really needs to stop that. That first PP was really weak. Much better on the second power play. Both shifts were all over the Jets but the closest they got was a post.
Not sure why Q started shortening the bench in the first and second. Morin had only 1:11 in the first and 1:32 in the second. Bickell and Shaw not too much more.
It was a definite roller coaster ride for this game. The Hawks continue to miss the openings. They are also failing on their primary objective of puck control. The only guy that could do it today was Kane. Everyone seemed to be trying to give the puck up too early. Results: 19 give-aways for the Hawks. This has been a problem for the past few games.
No surprise that Rozsival sits this one out. After his performance the night before.
#Blackhawks #BrentSeabrook #BradRichards #Rozsival #JeremyMorin #AndrewShaw #BrianBickell
Saturday, November 1, 2014
Hammer'd
Tough loss for the Hawks tonight. With 47 SOGs and 15 blocks by the Leafs the Hawks had 62 attempts headed to the netting. It got a little old hearing "shot wide!" and "shot high!" all night. But at least the Hawks were aiming at open areas tonight rather than shooting into Reimer's pads. 2 for 4 on the power play and a perfect 3 kills was great to see. All in all, in the offensive zone, the Hawks looked good.
Poor Hammer, first a few stitches to the face and then a shot in the un-padded thigh area. I'm not sure who takes more punishment in a night, Nik or Andrew Shaw.
Tonight's problem seemed to be a lot of mental breakdowns. Keith and Seabrook giving up a bad goal in the first. Rosival was Mr. inconsistent tonight with moments of greatness followed by bad turn overs and missed plays. Oh, and I almost forgot his shot on Corey Crawford. Rosi in his last year of his contract and 36 years old. Probably his last season. But I hope he can pick it up this year. By pick it up I really mean, "less mistakes." And there is is Oduya. All I can say is UGH. So many mistakes.
As for Toronto, give credit where credit is due. They tied the Hawks up fairly well most of the game. Reimer protected the net well and their 3rd line had the Hawks number all night. If they keep playing this way they WILL make the playoffs this year.
#Blackhawks #NiklasHjalmarsson #AndrewShaw #DuncanKeith #BreantSeabrook #MichealRosival #JohnnyOduya
Poor Hammer, first a few stitches to the face and then a shot in the un-padded thigh area. I'm not sure who takes more punishment in a night, Nik or Andrew Shaw.
Tonight's problem seemed to be a lot of mental breakdowns. Keith and Seabrook giving up a bad goal in the first. Rosival was Mr. inconsistent tonight with moments of greatness followed by bad turn overs and missed plays. Oh, and I almost forgot his shot on Corey Crawford. Rosi in his last year of his contract and 36 years old. Probably his last season. But I hope he can pick it up this year. By pick it up I really mean, "less mistakes." And there is is Oduya. All I can say is UGH. So many mistakes.
As for Toronto, give credit where credit is due. They tied the Hawks up fairly well most of the game. Reimer protected the net well and their 3rd line had the Hawks number all night. If they keep playing this way they WILL make the playoffs this year.
#Blackhawks #NiklasHjalmarsson #AndrewShaw #DuncanKeith #BreantSeabrook #MichealRosival #JohnnyOduya
Friday, October 31, 2014
A "sloppy" win.
Well, he who scored the winning goal said it. It was a "sloppy" game. As much as I hate the shootout I did love watching Sharpie roof that one.
The defense was an utter mess last night. I'm not sure there is a single D-man that didn't screw up at some point. (Although I can't remember anything in particular by Keith.)
So, let's take the 2 points and scurry away before any figures it out.
Its a good period for milestones. First 500 points for Kane, now 1000 for Hossa and Toews will soon get his 200th goal after scoring 198 and 199 last night.
So it is on to Toronto where the van Riemsdyk brothers will meet face to face. I am sure this will not be their first time on the ice together but it will be there first NHL game together. Let's hope the Hawks can pull it together for this one and get a regulation win.
Oh, and a couple of P.S.'s
Jeremy Morin, stupid penalty late in the game. It is his bone headed moves like that which I feel will lose him a permanent spot on the team.
And I never really thought Darling would be around long term. Like to go to Hogs today. I think Q just wanted to see how he does playing on a regular basis.
#Blackhawks #MarionHossa #PatrickSharp #JonathanToews #TrevorvanRiemsdyk #JeremyMorin #ScottDarling
The defense was an utter mess last night. I'm not sure there is a single D-man that didn't screw up at some point. (Although I can't remember anything in particular by Keith.)
So, let's take the 2 points and scurry away before any figures it out.
Its a good period for milestones. First 500 points for Kane, now 1000 for Hossa and Toews will soon get his 200th goal after scoring 198 and 199 last night.
So it is on to Toronto where the van Riemsdyk brothers will meet face to face. I am sure this will not be their first time on the ice together but it will be there first NHL game together. Let's hope the Hawks can pull it together for this one and get a regulation win.
Oh, and a couple of P.S.'s
Jeremy Morin, stupid penalty late in the game. It is his bone headed moves like that which I feel will lose him a permanent spot on the team.
And I never really thought Darling would be around long term. Like to go to Hogs today. I think Q just wanted to see how he does playing on a regular basis.
#Blackhawks #MarionHossa #PatrickSharp #JonathanToews #TrevorvanRiemsdyk #JeremyMorin #ScottDarling
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Duck!
So Darling gets another start. And why not, he would have had a shutout last game if not for the 3-1 break. And again Richards gets caught up on the PP, Seabrook blows a tire and poor Scott sees his first NHL break-away. A lousy way for this kid to lose his first game. No support from one of the strongest offenses in the league.Regardless, Darling is making a name for himself. So if you were concerned about our back-up goalie, not to worry, we have two.
I gotta say, they first two periods nearly lulled me to sleep. Consider that there were only 20 shots by each team and more importantly only 1 give-away each. That's called conservative play. The third wasn't much better.
Highlights for the night:
Jeremy Morin. Stepping up to the plate. Maybe he is finally going to make it now. I still have my doubts but I won't be upset about being wrong on this one. The Hawks and Hogs have invested a lot in this guy. His play was great in this one and it showed when he drew two penalties. Too bad the Hawks didn't decline the second one. We could have gone to a shootout. Whoopie!
TVR, He still amazes me. I know what I like about him. He is a stay at home, position player. That was my style. Although I admit I did that because I was not the best skater around. But Trevor always seems to be in position.
Remember that Bowman has been going out pulling in these diamonds in the rough, like Darling and van Riemsdyk. Quietly signing these guys while the big names are out there keeping the fans interested. There are quite a few more in the system that have the potential of showing up and surprising us.
So I plan to be at practice tomorrow. Maybe some power play practice? We'll see if Q works them for more that an hour.
#Blackhawks #ScottDarling #TrevorvanRiemsdyk #BradRichards #JeremyMorin #StanBowman
I gotta say, they first two periods nearly lulled me to sleep. Consider that there were only 20 shots by each team and more importantly only 1 give-away each. That's called conservative play. The third wasn't much better.
Highlights for the night:
Jeremy Morin. Stepping up to the plate. Maybe he is finally going to make it now. I still have my doubts but I won't be upset about being wrong on this one. The Hawks and Hogs have invested a lot in this guy. His play was great in this one and it showed when he drew two penalties. Too bad the Hawks didn't decline the second one. We could have gone to a shootout. Whoopie!
TVR, He still amazes me. I know what I like about him. He is a stay at home, position player. That was my style. Although I admit I did that because I was not the best skater around. But Trevor always seems to be in position.
Remember that Bowman has been going out pulling in these diamonds in the rough, like Darling and van Riemsdyk. Quietly signing these guys while the big names are out there keeping the fans interested. There are quite a few more in the system that have the potential of showing up and surprising us.
So I plan to be at practice tomorrow. Maybe some power play practice? We'll see if Q works them for more that an hour.
#Blackhawks #ScottDarling #TrevorvanRiemsdyk #BradRichards #JeremyMorin #StanBowman
Monday, October 27, 2014
A Darling of a game.
Let me catch up on the weekend.
I missed the live feed Saturday night but watched the highlights which I DVD'd. Jackman, what an idiot! His penalty while short handed had to be one of the dumbest moves I have ever seen in hockey. I am not sure how Shaw restrained himself from retaliating. But since the ref was standing right there watching I guess Andrew knew that this would lead to a good opportunity for the Hawks, and it did. The rest of the game was pretty ho-hum for the Hawks as the outcome reflected. The Blues are a very skilled team but the Hawks seemed to lose control of the game and were playing follow the leader most of the night. A nice goal from Richards to Sharp to Versteeg was the Hawks highlight of the night. I never saw a video replay of that second goal that clearly showed the puck crossing the line but I heard there was one out there. It was an unfortunate night all around for the Hawks.
Now on to last night's game. That was a Darling of a game. Two Chicago natives in net (might have been the first time in history for the NHL but I have not confirmed that) and Scott Darling gets the win. With Richards falling asleep at the Senators blue line the Sens come back with a short handed 3 on one. Imagine had that not happened...it would have been a shutout for the new kid. While all 18 skaters had at least one shot on goal they were only able to penetrate twice. We are going to have to improve on this going forward. Shaw was agitating in front of the net but still they were not able to get a greasy goal.
Now back to Richards. I am really getting disappointed. I really expect more from him. I thought he was good point man on the power play but he really let his team down last night. I am surprised Q let him stay on the ice. And he is not a good pivot man on the PP. Too much skating around and not enough passing. I really liked this guy last year in the playoffs. I hope he comes around with the Hawks soon.
With Carcillo out for a month Morin will finally get some regular ice time. I think this is his last shot on this team. He looked pretty good last night but he will need to be consistent to stick around long term. Now is his make or break time. Having watched him in Rockford over the years I have my doubts.But I won't mind being wrong if he can start to contribute.
Kane with 500 points and Hossa 2 points from 1000. Big numbers.
#Blackhawks #ScottDarling #BradRichards # DannyCarcillo #JeremyMorin #MarianHossa #BarretJackman #AndrewShaw
I missed the live feed Saturday night but watched the highlights which I DVD'd. Jackman, what an idiot! His penalty while short handed had to be one of the dumbest moves I have ever seen in hockey. I am not sure how Shaw restrained himself from retaliating. But since the ref was standing right there watching I guess Andrew knew that this would lead to a good opportunity for the Hawks, and it did. The rest of the game was pretty ho-hum for the Hawks as the outcome reflected. The Blues are a very skilled team but the Hawks seemed to lose control of the game and were playing follow the leader most of the night. A nice goal from Richards to Sharp to Versteeg was the Hawks highlight of the night. I never saw a video replay of that second goal that clearly showed the puck crossing the line but I heard there was one out there. It was an unfortunate night all around for the Hawks.
Now on to last night's game. That was a Darling of a game. Two Chicago natives in net (might have been the first time in history for the NHL but I have not confirmed that) and Scott Darling gets the win. With Richards falling asleep at the Senators blue line the Sens come back with a short handed 3 on one. Imagine had that not happened...it would have been a shutout for the new kid. While all 18 skaters had at least one shot on goal they were only able to penetrate twice. We are going to have to improve on this going forward. Shaw was agitating in front of the net but still they were not able to get a greasy goal.
Now back to Richards. I am really getting disappointed. I really expect more from him. I thought he was good point man on the power play but he really let his team down last night. I am surprised Q let him stay on the ice. And he is not a good pivot man on the PP. Too much skating around and not enough passing. I really liked this guy last year in the playoffs. I hope he comes around with the Hawks soon.
With Carcillo out for a month Morin will finally get some regular ice time. I think this is his last shot on this team. He looked pretty good last night but he will need to be consistent to stick around long term. Now is his make or break time. Having watched him in Rockford over the years I have my doubts.But I won't mind being wrong if he can start to contribute.
Kane with 500 points and Hossa 2 points from 1000. Big numbers.
#Blackhawks #ScottDarling #BradRichards # DannyCarcillo #JeremyMorin #MarianHossa #BarretJackman #AndrewShaw
Friday, October 24, 2014
Smashville
The Hawks take their first loss of the season. I only saw the last half of the 3rd period. From what I am reading I may not have missed too much from a Hawks perspective.
Nashville is a new team. Trotz has been trotted away and a more offensive coach, Laviolette, is now in place along with a couple of strong forwards acquired over the summer. Problem 1 for the Hawks in this game, SOGs. Only 15 in the first 40 minutes. While they got 17 in the third, Rinne's confidence was high by that time and he was making the saves. 32 shots against Rinne may not be enough to win any more now that the Preds have more offensive power. Neal with 27 goals last year now has 4 with three of those coming last night. The Preds are a different team this year and may be a bit underrated in the press. Their start certainly indicates that they are a team to recon with.
So let's look to the weekend and Darlings first start behind the Indian head. This has to be a 3 point weekend for the Hawks if not 4. My summary on Monday.
#ChicagoBlackhawks
Nashville is a new team. Trotz has been trotted away and a more offensive coach, Laviolette, is now in place along with a couple of strong forwards acquired over the summer. Problem 1 for the Hawks in this game, SOGs. Only 15 in the first 40 minutes. While they got 17 in the third, Rinne's confidence was high by that time and he was making the saves. 32 shots against Rinne may not be enough to win any more now that the Preds have more offensive power. Neal with 27 goals last year now has 4 with three of those coming last night. The Preds are a different team this year and may be a bit underrated in the press. Their start certainly indicates that they are a team to recon with.
So let's look to the weekend and Darlings first start behind the Indian head. This has to be a 3 point weekend for the Hawks if not 4. My summary on Monday.
#ChicagoBlackhawks
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Raanta-0
Doesn't have the same ring as Tony-0 but consider that the kid has 2 shutouts in 26 games with the Hawks. Alright, alright, I am jumping the gun a little but but he looked pretty good for someone that game in as a bucket of nerves. Certainly a good back up goalies and perhaps future Stanley Cup leader. And he gave us the "Finnish" dance at the end. LOL
I couldn't agree more with Q that this was their best game of the season. Nicely played by all. Bring in Versteeg (love him or hate him) created a balance on the 4 lines and they ALL played well. The powerplay looked energized with a lot of traffic in front of the net rather than passing around the perimeter. And they were rewarded.
Let me focus on two players that were not the center of attention:
Danny Carcillo must have been been doing a little agitating during the game drawing two penalties on the Flyers. Unlike the Danny of the past, he skated away rather than getting involved and getting called himself. Acting a bit more mature now that he is a family man. A great 4th liner. I would only see him moving up in an enforcement role if needed.
TVR. I love that nick name. Trevor just played a really solid game all the way around. Him and Rosy are a good pair giving us 3 strong back-end lines.
Downside: Patrick Kane pointed it out. The slow times were the last 5 minutes of the 1st and 2nd periods. Perhaps the Hawks were being lulled into a drowsy time by their own dominating play. Although I must say that the entire 2nd period seemed to find the Hawks sitting on their lead. That as fine for this game but they may need to pick up their pace in the second for future games.
#Blackhawks #DannyCarcillo #TrevorVanRiemsdky
I couldn't agree more with Q that this was their best game of the season. Nicely played by all. Bring in Versteeg (love him or hate him) created a balance on the 4 lines and they ALL played well. The powerplay looked energized with a lot of traffic in front of the net rather than passing around the perimeter. And they were rewarded.
Let me focus on two players that were not the center of attention:
Danny Carcillo must have been been doing a little agitating during the game drawing two penalties on the Flyers. Unlike the Danny of the past, he skated away rather than getting involved and getting called himself. Acting a bit more mature now that he is a family man. A great 4th liner. I would only see him moving up in an enforcement role if needed.
TVR. I love that nick name. Trevor just played a really solid game all the way around. Him and Rosy are a good pair giving us 3 strong back-end lines.
Downside: Patrick Kane pointed it out. The slow times were the last 5 minutes of the 1st and 2nd periods. Perhaps the Hawks were being lulled into a drowsy time by their own dominating play. Although I must say that the entire 2nd period seemed to find the Hawks sitting on their lead. That as fine for this game but they may need to pick up their pace in the second for future games.
#Blackhawks #DannyCarcillo #TrevorVanRiemsdky
Monday, October 20, 2014
Over powered?
While the Hawks did beat the Preds they should have made their life a little easier. Puck possession seems to be working fine but they continue to shoot at the middle of the net too often. Hutton did not need to come up with too many big saves to keep the game at 1-0 through regulation. The Hawks went almost 62 minutes without a score. during that time they got 35 shots on Hutton and had 17 others blocked on their way to the net. Again I look for the Hawks to start picking corners to score.
Now for the power play. looking pretty limp at 3 for 20 on the season or 15%. Just a 1 for 5 against Nashville would have won the game in regulation. I realize the first PP was cut short, but still. With all the offensive power this team has you would think they could do better. Q even went to the 3rd and 4th lines to try an spark a power play. I was at their practice on Friday and they seemed to have a good strategy for the PP. But that did not play out in a real game. Perhaps there is too much power on this team and they lose focus on shooting and going to goal on the PP rather than merely controlling the puck.
Player notes:
I thought Richards was playing pretty well. I think he is starting to get confortable with the team.
Oduya had a great game. Beyond the 1 goal he also was a maniac in the defensive zone.
I was a little disappointed with Van Riemsdyk. Watch him deep in their own end. He was beat at least twice when he chose to turn from back to front to keep up with the forward. Each time he turned away from the player and then lost his position. He is going to need to start pushing back and get in the way of those forwards.
As good as Corey has been I think we will see Raanta this week. I an thinking against the Panthers on Thursday.
Oh yea, let me not forget the captain. His two-way play kept the Hawks in this one during regulation. His second effort on the OT shorty was indicative of his will to win.
#Blackhawks #JonathanToews #Oduya #TrevorVanRiemsdyk #BradRichards #AnttiRaanta
Now for the power play. looking pretty limp at 3 for 20 on the season or 15%. Just a 1 for 5 against Nashville would have won the game in regulation. I realize the first PP was cut short, but still. With all the offensive power this team has you would think they could do better. Q even went to the 3rd and 4th lines to try an spark a power play. I was at their practice on Friday and they seemed to have a good strategy for the PP. But that did not play out in a real game. Perhaps there is too much power on this team and they lose focus on shooting and going to goal on the PP rather than merely controlling the puck.
Player notes:
I thought Richards was playing pretty well. I think he is starting to get confortable with the team.
Oduya had a great game. Beyond the 1 goal he also was a maniac in the defensive zone.
I was a little disappointed with Van Riemsdyk. Watch him deep in their own end. He was beat at least twice when he chose to turn from back to front to keep up with the forward. Each time he turned away from the player and then lost his position. He is going to need to start pushing back and get in the way of those forwards.
As good as Corey has been I think we will see Raanta this week. I an thinking against the Panthers on Thursday.
Oh yea, let me not forget the captain. His two-way play kept the Hawks in this one during regulation. His second effort on the OT shorty was indicative of his will to win.
#Blackhawks #JonathanToews #Oduya #TrevorVanRiemsdyk #BradRichards #AnttiRaanta
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Week start...
Yes its been a week. And yes the Hawks look weak. Yeah, yeah, I know they are 2-0-1 but they certainly are not playing up to their potential. So I admit I have only been able the watch two of the 6 (not counting OT/Shootout) periods. Those two periods were the third periods of the first and third games. But that does not mean I am not following along with the beats at the game. My thoughts so far...
The good news is that the Hawks do not slump in the third period. Good thing or the Hawks would be 0-3-0. Think about that!
Game one, for two periods the Hawks looked like the Oilers. They finally saved a tie in the third and the win on sick goal by Patrick Kane. Wait for the movie to come out, "The highlight reel of Patrick Kane." They will probably need two intermissions during this film. But can you say, "Call the cops." Q certainly recognized the outstanding play of Corey Crawford. Come on everyone, quit doubting.
Game two. I missed this one because I was in the City of Brotherly Love. CSN chose to show the Flyers game. The nerve. So I followed along via twitter and the BHs app. First the early lead and then they give it away. Hawks take a rest in the second period. Finally the team is sparked again by none other than number 88. A PPG and SHG followed by the ever entertaining Danny Carcillo. I wonder if he wears a diaper just in case he scores a goal. I swear he wets his pants each time. I love watching him celebrate. Again a strong third period by the Hawks and a fun win against Kane's home town.
Now, game 3. Shots on goal listed as 50-18. But I don't this they ever reversed the 2 shots from Morin that they awarded to Calgary. So this should have been 52-16. Hillar is definitely going to need a new jersey after that game after the Hawks pelted the flaming C on his jersey. Time for some shooting practice. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5-hole. BTW Calgary also had 30 blocked shots. So that makes 82 attempts by the Hawks. Let's not even talk about the missed shots.
One final note on the first three... PP = 20%. 3-15. Even with all those shots in game three they had two power plays with zero shots on goal. Hossa talked about the guys getting too fancy. Indeed.
So, My highlights for the first 3:
Danny Carcillo: Always fun to watch. Even more fun to watch him score.
Trevor Van Riemsdyk: The Jersey boy and brother of James. WOW This guy will certainly fill a gap next season when the Hawks D will likely get revamped due to cap issues. Not to say he won't get his far share of time this season.
Patrick Kane: Ever entertaining. A little timing needed on that line will go a long way.
Dissapointments:
Brad Richards: I still have a lot of hope in Brad. He looked great in NY but starting much slower than I would have thought. Give him time.
Jonathan Toews: I admit I have only seen a couple of periods so I am not sure how well his two way game is going. I have to expect that is well, but I am disappointed with his scoring opportunities. SOGs to date 3: by game: 1-0-2
#blackhawks #PatrickKane #DannyCarcillo #TrevorVanRiemsdyk #JonathanToews #BradRichards
The good news is that the Hawks do not slump in the third period. Good thing or the Hawks would be 0-3-0. Think about that!
Game one, for two periods the Hawks looked like the Oilers. They finally saved a tie in the third and the win on sick goal by Patrick Kane. Wait for the movie to come out, "The highlight reel of Patrick Kane." They will probably need two intermissions during this film. But can you say, "Call the cops." Q certainly recognized the outstanding play of Corey Crawford. Come on everyone, quit doubting.
Game two. I missed this one because I was in the City of Brotherly Love. CSN chose to show the Flyers game. The nerve. So I followed along via twitter and the BHs app. First the early lead and then they give it away. Hawks take a rest in the second period. Finally the team is sparked again by none other than number 88. A PPG and SHG followed by the ever entertaining Danny Carcillo. I wonder if he wears a diaper just in case he scores a goal. I swear he wets his pants each time. I love watching him celebrate. Again a strong third period by the Hawks and a fun win against Kane's home town.
Now, game 3. Shots on goal listed as 50-18. But I don't this they ever reversed the 2 shots from Morin that they awarded to Calgary. So this should have been 52-16. Hillar is definitely going to need a new jersey after that game after the Hawks pelted the flaming C on his jersey. Time for some shooting practice. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5-hole. BTW Calgary also had 30 blocked shots. So that makes 82 attempts by the Hawks. Let's not even talk about the missed shots.
One final note on the first three... PP = 20%. 3-15. Even with all those shots in game three they had two power plays with zero shots on goal. Hossa talked about the guys getting too fancy. Indeed.
So, My highlights for the first 3:
Danny Carcillo: Always fun to watch. Even more fun to watch him score.
Trevor Van Riemsdyk: The Jersey boy and brother of James. WOW This guy will certainly fill a gap next season when the Hawks D will likely get revamped due to cap issues. Not to say he won't get his far share of time this season.
Patrick Kane: Ever entertaining. A little timing needed on that line will go a long way.
Dissapointments:
Brad Richards: I still have a lot of hope in Brad. He looked great in NY but starting much slower than I would have thought. Give him time.
Jonathan Toews: I admit I have only seen a couple of periods so I am not sure how well his two way game is going. I have to expect that is well, but I am disappointed with his scoring opportunities. SOGs to date 3: by game: 1-0-2
#blackhawks #PatrickKane #DannyCarcillo #TrevorVanRiemsdyk #JonathanToews #BradRichards
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Car bombs and other Hawk news
Danny Carcillo, one of the most colorful players in recent years is Baaaa-aaack! I could actual see him on a line with Tuevo later this year to protect the youngster from the big bad NHL. I much enjoyed Danny when he was with the Hawks and I am sure he will bring a little something for them this year. But Danny also adds $550,000 to our salary. (more on that later)
Speaking of Tuevo, he is now assigned to the AHL. No surprise. I definitely plan to go see him play. More on Tuevo in future blogs.
Leighton and Regin put on waivers. I guess Regin has lost his luster with Q. I won't be surprised if both of them get picked up before they make it to Rockford.
And I have been waiting to post all of that until the news finally broke: D-man Nick Leddy and Goalie Kent Simpson are traded to the Islanders, who can use all the help they can get. As many of you may know, I always liked Leddy. Don't blame him for a bad bounce to end the Hawks season least year. But the signing of Carcillo also made it clear that the Hawks needed to to trade the higher salaried player. Also, I wonder how good Hammer is without Johnny. So there you have it.
In return we get goalie Anders Nilsson, who will remain in Kazakhstan for the time being, D-man T.J. Brennan, who has played 30 NHL games over the past 3 years with many more in the AHL, and Ville Pokka, D-man from Europe. Brennan and Pokka will report to Rockford.
In other news:
I was disappointed that Subban did not play against the Hawks this week. I have heard so much hype and saw his performance against NYR in the playoffs last year where I would have called him mediocre. My east cost contact tells be that Subban was not up to his usual skill level in that series.
Speaking of NYR, I was also surprised that Richards did not make the trip to MSG. I wonder if they would have cheered or booed him?
#Blackhawks
Speaking of Tuevo, he is now assigned to the AHL. No surprise. I definitely plan to go see him play. More on Tuevo in future blogs.
Leighton and Regin put on waivers. I guess Regin has lost his luster with Q. I won't be surprised if both of them get picked up before they make it to Rockford.
And I have been waiting to post all of that until the news finally broke: D-man Nick Leddy and Goalie Kent Simpson are traded to the Islanders, who can use all the help they can get. As many of you may know, I always liked Leddy. Don't blame him for a bad bounce to end the Hawks season least year. But the signing of Carcillo also made it clear that the Hawks needed to to trade the higher salaried player. Also, I wonder how good Hammer is without Johnny. So there you have it.
In return we get goalie Anders Nilsson, who will remain in Kazakhstan for the time being, D-man T.J. Brennan, who has played 30 NHL games over the past 3 years with many more in the AHL, and Ville Pokka, D-man from Europe. Brennan and Pokka will report to Rockford.
In other news:
I was disappointed that Subban did not play against the Hawks this week. I have heard so much hype and saw his performance against NYR in the playoffs last year where I would have called him mediocre. My east cost contact tells be that Subban was not up to his usual skill level in that series.
Speaking of NYR, I was also surprised that Richards did not make the trip to MSG. I wonder if they would have cheered or booed him?
#Blackhawks
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Thinning the Herd
As we approach the last two games of the preseason against two original 6 teams Q's job just keeps getting tougher. First let's talk about the goalies. No doubt Crawford and Raanta will be our top two to start the year. In an interview this morning Q highlighted 3 players including his "darling", Scott Darling of Lemont. But Darling was sent down to Rockford while Leighton stays on for the main team. Q obviously wants Darling to develop in Rockford as they opened camp on Sunday. He will get more play time down there.
Also highlighted by Q today were defenseman Trevor Van Riemsdyk and centerman Dennis Rasmussen. Trevor is already in Rockford while Rasmussen remains with the team. Who he didn't mention was Mashinter who is vying for the "tough guy" position. Also on the bubble are forwards Teravainen, Hartman and Morin as well as D-men Cumiskey and Rundbland. Bass and Lebrie just cleared waivers this morning and have been assigned to Rockford. Morin has been looking good but I still don't believe that will ever stick. I predict he gets traded later this year.
There are still tough decisions to be made regarding the cap and getting to a final roster. Everyone returned 100% this years except for maybe Oduya who did not get his full summer preparations. But he has looked quite good so far. The current trade rumors continue to be Johnny, Leddy and Sharp. I don't believe Sharp for a minute unless Bowman gets into a real jam. I thought maybe Versteeg but I think he leaves us just a few dollars short of getting under the cap primarily because Tallon is still paying half his salary. Also note the very positive notes that Q has made about Chris over recent days.
We will know more in 9 days.
A couple of other notes:
Khabibulin has not been picked up by anyone. No report on his current health.
Brent Sopel returns from Sweden and will try out with the Hogs.
#Blackhawks
Also highlighted by Q today were defenseman Trevor Van Riemsdyk and centerman Dennis Rasmussen. Trevor is already in Rockford while Rasmussen remains with the team. Who he didn't mention was Mashinter who is vying for the "tough guy" position. Also on the bubble are forwards Teravainen, Hartman and Morin as well as D-men Cumiskey and Rundbland. Bass and Lebrie just cleared waivers this morning and have been assigned to Rockford. Morin has been looking good but I still don't believe that will ever stick. I predict he gets traded later this year.
There are still tough decisions to be made regarding the cap and getting to a final roster. Everyone returned 100% this years except for maybe Oduya who did not get his full summer preparations. But he has looked quite good so far. The current trade rumors continue to be Johnny, Leddy and Sharp. I don't believe Sharp for a minute unless Bowman gets into a real jam. I thought maybe Versteeg but I think he leaves us just a few dollars short of getting under the cap primarily because Tallon is still paying half his salary. Also note the very positive notes that Q has made about Chris over recent days.
We will know more in 9 days.
A couple of other notes:
Khabibulin has not been picked up by anyone. No report on his current health.
Brent Sopel returns from Sweden and will try out with the Hogs.
#Blackhawks
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Training Camp Festival
This just broke as I was typing: Cut from Hawks roster are Carruth, Simpson, Schnell, Gotovets, Holl and Miuskovic. I believe they will all head to Rockford.
Unbelievable crowd for the festival. It was a great time but a boring game. I think there there were 2 or 3 checks all night. The national anthem was a little weak by UC standards but still impiring.
As much as I don't think Morin will ever be a regular Blackhawk, he had a great game (at least 75% of his play) last night. He opened up the scoring with a feed from Smith early on and in the third took a pass from Smith again and fed Kruger for a goal and then made a really nifty pass from the corner to Kruger again to complete his 3 point night. BTW Kruger looked great last night.
Only three penalties for the night, two to Bickell for hooking and then tripping. The third was a 4 minute to Matt Carey for a high stick that send Sharp to the locker room for a bit. Kane also took a high hit that sent him out for a shift. The funny part was that Kane, wearing red, crawled into the white bench to leave the ice. Hey, it was the closest exit!
Biggest disappointment for the night, no Teuvo. Upper body after Saturday's scrimmage. Rumor has it due to a hit from Cam Barker. I never cared much for Barker. Also MIA were Keith, on his own bobblehead night, and Hammer. But Keith did come out to greet the crowd before the game.
My second biggest disappointment for the night was the Richards, Saad and Kane line. First, being paired up against Toews, Hossa and Sharp made it hard for anyone to get any room on the ice. Incredible skill set with those 6 on the ice. When the Richards line did get some room they were just a bit out of synch with one another and with themselves. Might have been trying too hard. Richards shanked on at least two shots, made one two many passes when he should have shot and the line seemed to be just missing one another. But I am confident that this will be, as Q would say, "a dangerous line" once they find their groove.
Sharp had an "almost" night again just missing a few and then hitting a post on an open net.
After the game they did a mock shootout. (Oh, my favorite.) Toews, Sharp, Kane and Smith each scored. Kane's goal was sick. The others all made very nice deaks. Hossa hit the side of the net on his attempt. Even Leddy got a chance. I think he hit the Indian head. LOL
Another disappointment were the new ice crew uniforms. Long sleeve jackets? What happened to the halter tops? Well, things are changing around the league. In Philly they went to an all male ice crew. They were booed by the city of brotherly love last night.
So we prepare for two rounds of playing "Detroit sucks" tonight and Thursday. Each time the announcer says "Detroit" you must respond with "sucks." If you fail to do so you gotta take a drink. My views on tonights game in the morning.
#Blackhawkstrainingcamp #Blackhawks
Unbelievable crowd for the festival. It was a great time but a boring game. I think there there were 2 or 3 checks all night. The national anthem was a little weak by UC standards but still impiring.
As much as I don't think Morin will ever be a regular Blackhawk, he had a great game (at least 75% of his play) last night. He opened up the scoring with a feed from Smith early on and in the third took a pass from Smith again and fed Kruger for a goal and then made a really nifty pass from the corner to Kruger again to complete his 3 point night. BTW Kruger looked great last night.
Only three penalties for the night, two to Bickell for hooking and then tripping. The third was a 4 minute to Matt Carey for a high stick that send Sharp to the locker room for a bit. Kane also took a high hit that sent him out for a shift. The funny part was that Kane, wearing red, crawled into the white bench to leave the ice. Hey, it was the closest exit!
Biggest disappointment for the night, no Teuvo. Upper body after Saturday's scrimmage. Rumor has it due to a hit from Cam Barker. I never cared much for Barker. Also MIA were Keith, on his own bobblehead night, and Hammer. But Keith did come out to greet the crowd before the game.
My second biggest disappointment for the night was the Richards, Saad and Kane line. First, being paired up against Toews, Hossa and Sharp made it hard for anyone to get any room on the ice. Incredible skill set with those 6 on the ice. When the Richards line did get some room they were just a bit out of synch with one another and with themselves. Might have been trying too hard. Richards shanked on at least two shots, made one two many passes when he should have shot and the line seemed to be just missing one another. But I am confident that this will be, as Q would say, "a dangerous line" once they find their groove.
Sharp had an "almost" night again just missing a few and then hitting a post on an open net.
After the game they did a mock shootout. (Oh, my favorite.) Toews, Sharp, Kane and Smith each scored. Kane's goal was sick. The others all made very nice deaks. Hossa hit the side of the net on his attempt. Even Leddy got a chance. I think he hit the Indian head. LOL
Another disappointment were the new ice crew uniforms. Long sleeve jackets? What happened to the halter tops? Well, things are changing around the league. In Philly they went to an all male ice crew. They were booed by the city of brotherly love last night.
So we prepare for two rounds of playing "Detroit sucks" tonight and Thursday. Each time the announcer says "Detroit" you must respond with "sucks." If you fail to do so you gotta take a drink. My views on tonights game in the morning.
#Blackhawkstrainingcamp #Blackhawks
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Some notes on training camp
First let me begin by making note that this is the first training camp since the passing of Tim Sassone. So missed. In my opinion, the greatest Chicago Blackhawks beat writer of all time. Sorry #ChrisKuc, #TraceMyers and #MarkLazerus. Now pause for a moment of silence in his memory.
Welcome back...
So much to say about Versteeg, so let me start there. He was married over the summer and is "on a short leash." He comes to camp healthy and ready to improve from last year. So today he takes one puck to the face and a Keith slapper to the ankle. But after writing in pain for a bit on the bench, he returned to the ice.
Speaking of starting camp healthy, Hossa was tearing up the rink and Johnny "on the bubble" Oduya looks at ready as ever to be traded away. I will miss him.
I am having a hard time visually free agent Cam Barker in a Hawks uniform. At today's practice he made a big open ice hit on Tuevo. I love the tweet from #TraceyMyers, "I'll take 'How do I buy my ticket out of Chicago again' for $200, Alex."
You can read about the Richards, Saad, Kane line in the papers. I can't wait to see them in a real game.
Stephen Johns passed one off to Toews for a goal. Johns, a former ND player, got he bigger applaud.
Two names to remember for future reference (aka 2015-2016 season after cap adjustments are made) are Mark McNiell and Phillip Danault. I will give you my 2 cents after Monday evening.
That's the quick update.
#Blackhawks
Welcome back...
So much to say about Versteeg, so let me start there. He was married over the summer and is "on a short leash." He comes to camp healthy and ready to improve from last year. So today he takes one puck to the face and a Keith slapper to the ankle. But after writing in pain for a bit on the bench, he returned to the ice.
Speaking of starting camp healthy, Hossa was tearing up the rink and Johnny "on the bubble" Oduya looks at ready as ever to be traded away. I will miss him.
I am having a hard time visually free agent Cam Barker in a Hawks uniform. At today's practice he made a big open ice hit on Tuevo. I love the tweet from #TraceyMyers, "I'll take 'How do I buy my ticket out of Chicago again' for $200, Alex."
You can read about the Richards, Saad, Kane line in the papers. I can't wait to see them in a real game.
Stephen Johns passed one off to Toews for a goal. Johns, a former ND player, got he bigger applaud.
Two names to remember for future reference (aka 2015-2016 season after cap adjustments are made) are Mark McNiell and Phillip Danault. I will give you my 2 cents after Monday evening.
That's the quick update.
#Blackhawks
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Here come the Hawks!
We are less than a week away from training camp. That will
start on the 19th and open to the public at Notre Dame on the 20.
The Hawks return to the UC on the 22nd for their training camp festival
and will open pre-season at the Joe on the 23rd.
With the return of some cooler weather I donned my Duncan
Keith jersey yesterday. Looking forward to picking up his bobblehead at training
camp.
Also, I will also be on twitter this year! Find me
@jimsbhb
That’s Jim’s Blackhawks Blog. I will be tweeting out
information as it becomes available. Much from our beloved beat writers (which
I will retweet). Following me you will not be getting multiple tweets on the
same topic. I will consolidate these for you. During games I will be also
following the beats from the other teams to provide that perspective. So keep
up with the Hawks live by following me now.
While we wait for Bowman to make a decision on how the Hawks
will duck the cap, let’s look at some rule changes that were currently
announced. Shorter and more frequent posts will start next weekend. #NHLwithdrawal
Rule 1.8 – Rink -
Goalkeeper's Restricted Area
The trapezoid will be expanded by two feet from the goal
post on both sides of the net.
-
I personally this the whole restrictive zone is
stupid to start with, but at least the net minders will now have a little more
room to play the puck.
Rule 23 – Game
Misconduct Penalties
Clipping, charging, elbowing, interference, kneeing,
head-butting and butt-ending move from the general category into the same
category as boarding and checking from behind ("Physical Fouls"),
whereby a player who incurs two such game misconducts in this category would
now be automatically suspended for one game.
-
What? Interference? These interference penalty rules
are just out of hand! As a form D-man I really hate the way they are calling
these. It reduces the defenses mobility trying to get to the player with the
puck. In essence, it makes it easier for the offense to set a pick, of sorts,
by skating into a zone to prevent the defense from moving around. Stupid.
Rule 24 – Penalty
Shot
The 'Spin-O-Rama' move will no longer be permitted either in
Penalty Shot situations or in the Shootout.
-
Hmmm, I think I only remember Toews trying this
once. Kane has never used the technique.
Rule 38 – Video Goal
Judge
Rule 38.4 (viii) has been modified to allow broader
discretion to Hockey Operations to assist
the referees in determining the legitimacy of all potential goals …
In reviewing "Kicked in Goals," Hockey Operations
will require more demonstrable video evidence of a "distinct kicking
motion" in order to overrule a "goal" call on the ice, or to
uphold a "no goal" call on the ice.
-
I am on the fence with this change. I will have
to see how this plays out during the season. I would prefer less league intervention
on the play which makes the “kicking” review favorable but I am concerned about
how much they may influence the referees’ calls on the ice.
Rule 57 – Tripping
The rule relating to "Tripping" will be revised to
specifically provide that a two minute minor penalty will be assessed when a
defending player "dives" and trips an attacking player with his body/arm/shoulder,
regardless of whether the defending player is able to make initial contact with
the puck.
But, in situations where a penalty shot might otherwise be
appropriate, if the defending player "dives" and touches the puck
first (before the trip), no penalty shot will be awarded. (In such cases, the
resulting penalty will be limited to a two-minute minor penalty for tripping.)
-
That’s a lot to think about. So if dive to get
the puck and miss, there could be a penalty show. But if you DO get to the puck
first, only 2 minutes. Will this change the way D-men attack the puck on the
break-away? Time will tell.
Rule 64 – Diving /
Embellishment
The supplementary discipline penalties associated with Rule
64.3 (Diving/Embellishment) will be revised to bring attention to and more
seriously penalize players (and teams)…
-
Anyone who watched Eastern Conference playoff
games last year will know why we have these new rules. Now we need the refs to
start making these calls more appropriately. With the new rule both players and
coaches can be fined. Love it.
Rule 76 – Face-offs
To curb delay tactics on face-offs after icing infractions,
in situations where the defending team is guilty of a face-off violation,
following an icing, the defending player who is initially lined up for the
face-off will be given a warning, but will be required to remain in the circle
to take the face-off. A second face-off violation by the defending team in such
situation will result in a two minute minor bench penalty.
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This will be interesting. So much subjectivity
in these calls. I think linesmen call infractions way too often. This will make
it more difficult to win a face off in your own zone after an icing call. I
know what they are trying to accomplish but I am not sure this is the answer.
Rule 84 – Overtime
Teams will switch ends prior to the start of overtime in the
regular season.
The entire ice surface will undergo a "dry scrape"
prior to the start of overtime in the regular season.
The procedure requiring the head coach to submit a list of
the first three shooters in the shoot-out has been eliminated.
-
Ho Hum…
Rule 85 – Puck Out of
Bounds
There have been further rule changes made relating to
face-off location to avoid penalizing teams for plays intended to create bona
fide scoring opportunities.
-
In essence this rule will keep the face-off in
the offensive zone in cases where the offense unintentionally causes the puck
to go out of play. The league FINALLY gets this one right.
Rule 1.9 – Rink –
Face-off Spots and Circles – Ice Markings/Hash Marks
The hash marks at the end zone circles will be moved from
three feet apart to five feet, seven inches apart (international markings).
-
This rule is pending a vote by the NHLPA and won’t
become effective until next season. So teams, now need to worry about melting
the ice and re-painting, LOL. I kinda like watching the jousting before a face
off. This will make that a bit more difficult.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
There's a kind of hush.
All has been quiet with the tribe since the convention. That seems like months ago but it has only been a couple of weeks. Bowman stated that he may not do anything about the cap issue until training camp starts. My speculation has to do with that boot that Oduya was wearing at the convention. Hard to trade a guy healing from a broken foot. Get him on his skates during training camp and show the other teams what they will be getting. So I anticipate a team without Oduya to start the season.
Training camp kicks off at Notre Dame on Sept 19. I have not heard anything about those tickets yet. But I do have my tickets to the training camp festival on September 22. Pre-season starts on the 23rd at home against the Wings and then we travel to the Joe two days later for a rematch. Then there are only two games against the Wings when it counts. The regular season kicks off on October 9th against the Stars and we open up the UC two days later against Kaner's home town.
For the full schedule:
http://blackhawks.nhl.com/club/schedule.htm
The biggest changes, so far, this season are with the coaching staff. I couldn't be happier with the changes especially in light of the exiting assistant.
(See my previous blog http://blackhawksinsights.blogspot.com/2014/07/bye-bye-jamie.html)
I think we now have a premier coaching staff with Q, Kitch, Waite and Dineen. Dinnen is going to be great for the organization. He has a great relationship with Q going back to their Hartford days together. He was a head coach for Florida and he is famous for this goal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HgTjZlOyvs
Notice how he gets himself open in front of the net. Dineen was a mediocre player which means he had to work for everything he did. That work will help him to understand how to help others. Mediocre payers make good coaches.
Dineen also scored against the Soviets in an NHL vs. Soviets series in 1987.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV_6AZglQXs
See, again, Dineen getting himself in the open. He knew how to work and will be a great coach in that area.
The core remains in place, no drama about contracts for the dynamic duo, and add Richards. Its going to be a great year.
Training camp kicks off at Notre Dame on Sept 19. I have not heard anything about those tickets yet. But I do have my tickets to the training camp festival on September 22. Pre-season starts on the 23rd at home against the Wings and then we travel to the Joe two days later for a rematch. Then there are only two games against the Wings when it counts. The regular season kicks off on October 9th against the Stars and we open up the UC two days later against Kaner's home town.
For the full schedule:
http://blackhawks.nhl.com/club/schedule.htm
The biggest changes, so far, this season are with the coaching staff. I couldn't be happier with the changes especially in light of the exiting assistant.
(See my previous blog http://blackhawksinsights.blogspot.com/2014/07/bye-bye-jamie.html)
I think we now have a premier coaching staff with Q, Kitch, Waite and Dineen. Dinnen is going to be great for the organization. He has a great relationship with Q going back to their Hartford days together. He was a head coach for Florida and he is famous for this goal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HgTjZlOyvs
Notice how he gets himself open in front of the net. Dineen was a mediocre player which means he had to work for everything he did. That work will help him to understand how to help others. Mediocre payers make good coaches.
Dineen also scored against the Soviets in an NHL vs. Soviets series in 1987.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV_6AZglQXs
See, again, Dineen getting himself in the open. He knew how to work and will be a great coach in that area.
The core remains in place, no drama about contracts for the dynamic duo, and add Richards. Its going to be a great year.
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Time for camp!
Draft complete - Check
Free agency dust settling - Check
Toews and Kane locked in - Double check
While we wait see how Bowman solves his financial woes we prepare for prospect camp.
The Blackhawks will hold prospect camp from July 13 to July 18 at Johnny's Icehouse. I am thinking security might be a little tighter this year but do know that this is open to the public. If you missed Tuevo flashing through a couple of games last year, this could be your opportunity see him showing off a little. He bedazzled a bit last year at camp. This will also be an opportunity to see Schmaltz before they send him to where ever they will send him. Back to Ohio state?
Here are the official lists of prospects invited to camp this year. I'll be packaging up some of the information I get from the beats next week.
Free agency dust settling - Check
Toews and Kane locked in - Double check
While we wait see how Bowman solves his financial woes we prepare for prospect camp.
The Blackhawks will hold prospect camp from July 13 to July 18 at Johnny's Icehouse. I am thinking security might be a little tighter this year but do know that this is open to the public. If you missed Tuevo flashing through a couple of games last year, this could be your opportunity see him showing off a little. He bedazzled a bit last year at camp. This will also be an opportunity to see Schmaltz before they send him to where ever they will send him. Back to Ohio state?
Here are the official lists of prospects invited to camp this year. I'll be packaging up some of the information I get from the beats next week.
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Bye bye Jamie
I have been working on my analysis on the Hawks defensive depth and then again, like yesterday's news on Jimmy Waite, more interesting news breaks. Originally reported in a blog I now have it from reliable sources that Jamie Kompon will be leaving the Blackhawks. At 2:00 tomorrow the Portland Winterhawks if the WHL will be announcing their new head coach. That new head coach, barring any major complications, will be Jamie Kompon. Now I am seeing this pitched as promotion for Jamie and yes it is a move from assistant coach to head coach. But really now, going from assistant coach of an elite NHL team to the the head coach of a team in the Western Hockey League (WHL). While the Winterhawks are an elite team in the WHL and a strong feeder team to the NHL, its not the NHL, baby. And their logo while similar to that of the Blackhawks lacks the vibrant color contrasts of the Chicago Blackhawks. (OK, I just had to take a cheap shot at their logo.) So Jamie moves from asst coach in LA, winning a Stanley cup, to the Chicago Blackhawks, winning a Stanley Cup and now to the WHL.Jamie probably was not going up any further in the NHL and this was the only way for him to get a job at the top.
Many of those who know me also know that I was never a fan of Kompon. Let's go back to the 2011-12 season. The LA Kings won the Stanley cup with one of the strongest power plays in the league. The Hawk between 2010 and 2012 had one of the worst power plays. Enter Jamie Kompon. The savior of the Hawks power play? Under Jamie, the power play went from ugh, oh my god, to OK, to ugh and around and around. Never really showing much improvement and nowhere near the Kings power play. I was also frustrated when Jamie would be charting up a play late in the game only to have the Hawks fail in the waning minutes of a game. In fact I would dread Jamie grabbing a white board and and erasable marker. I have put Jamie in the same category as Khabibulin: "Waste of money." Now he is gone and will soon be forgotten.
I am guessing that the Hawks did not have too much notice abut this change and therefore it will take some time for them to find a suitable replacement. But I am sure they will be looking for someone that can run a decent power play. And I am confident that whoever that will be will do a better job for the team. From my perspective, this is good for the Blackhawks.
Many of those who know me also know that I was never a fan of Kompon. Let's go back to the 2011-12 season. The LA Kings won the Stanley cup with one of the strongest power plays in the league. The Hawk between 2010 and 2012 had one of the worst power plays. Enter Jamie Kompon. The savior of the Hawks power play? Under Jamie, the power play went from ugh, oh my god, to OK, to ugh and around and around. Never really showing much improvement and nowhere near the Kings power play. I was also frustrated when Jamie would be charting up a play late in the game only to have the Hawks fail in the waning minutes of a game. In fact I would dread Jamie grabbing a white board and and erasable marker. I have put Jamie in the same category as Khabibulin: "Waste of money." Now he is gone and will soon be forgotten.
I am guessing that the Hawks did not have too much notice abut this change and therefore it will take some time for them to find a suitable replacement. But I am sure they will be looking for someone that can run a decent power play. And I am confident that whoever that will be will do a better job for the team. From my perspective, this is good for the Blackhawks.
Monday, July 7, 2014
Weeks end (and other goaltending notes)
As I was researching the Hawks system for goalies, news broke that Jimmy Waite has been hired as the Blackhawks goal tending coach. So much for Steve Weeks who leaves after a one year tour with the Hawks. If the name Waites is familiar, that would be for two reasons. For you younger folk, Jimmy is the brother of former Hawks goalie coach Stephane Waite. Stephan was with the organization from 2003 through 2013. He helped both Niemi and Corey Crawford to Stanley Cup championships. He now is with the Montreal Canadians. For the older folks out there we will remember Jimmy as our very own goal tender. Jimmy was in and out of our net from 1988 until 1997. He played 16 games with the 'Yotes the next season and worked his way down through the AHL, the IHL and out to Germany from '99-'09.
Sharing DNA with Stephane might make Jimmy a pretty good coach on the back end. I always say that the great players make bad coaches. They are so natural that they cannot even tell you how they do the things they do. It is the mediocre players that make great coaches. Take Q for instance. Mediocre players are constantly learning and striving to improve. That learning process translates well into the instruction process. So maybe Jimmy's mediocrity will be good for the Hawks. We'll know by the end of next season.
Now on to the goalie situation. We all know Crawford and Raanta. They are the top two in that order. As I mentioned in an earlier blog Jason Labarbera is now a Duck. But there are 5 other goalies in the Hawks system. Let me start from the bottom up. At least this is my opinion of the bottom up.
So let's start with Matt Tomkins. Drafted this year in the 7th round, number 199 overall. He is 20 years old and has played mostly in Alberta but played last season in the big 10 at Ohio state. There he played 17 games had a 2.78 GA and .911 SP. Hawks may just leave him in Ohio to see if he develops.
Also drafted this year was Ivan Nalimov. Drafted 6th round at 179. He is a 19 year old Russian who went pro last year playing in St. Petersburg, Russia. He played for Russia in the Subway Series in Canada and was 3-1 in four games with a 2.25 GA and .945 SP.
In the middle of this pack is Scott Darling from Lemont, IL. He is a 25 year old that was originally drafted by Phoenix (now Arizona) in 2007 at #153 in the 6th round. Bowman signed him right out of the free agent box on July 1. Scott played 26 games for the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL last season and is 2.00 and .933.
Making a decision on the last two is tough but here it goes:
I am going to put Kent Simpson as the #2 goalie in Rockford. Kent is 22 and was drafted in 2010 in the 2nd round at number 58. He played for the Walleyes in Toledo in 2012-13. He played 31 games for the Hogs last year and is 3.64 and .801. If his name sounds familiar he played 20 minutes for the Hawks last year giving up 2 goals in 20 minutes. Remember when Corey was out and Raanta was getting pulverized? I think I saw Kent once last season and was not very impressed.
The best current G-man prospect is Mac Carruth. Mac was drafted 191st in the 7th round in 2010. He is a 22year old from Minnesota that played mostly for Portland in the WHL before being called back to the Icehogs when Raanta moved up. Last year he played 25 games in Toledo where he was 3.36 and .898. He then played 7 games for the Hogs behind Simpson and was 3.36 and .880. His stats are better than Simpson and the one time I saw him play he was bombarded when the Hogs defense seemed to be playing for the Wolves. It was an ugly game.
My bottom line on all this, we better hope Crawford and Raanta stay healthy this year. With the current cap problems there is no way we see another goalie come along. Let's see if Bowman can prove me wrong.
Sharing DNA with Stephane might make Jimmy a pretty good coach on the back end. I always say that the great players make bad coaches. They are so natural that they cannot even tell you how they do the things they do. It is the mediocre players that make great coaches. Take Q for instance. Mediocre players are constantly learning and striving to improve. That learning process translates well into the instruction process. So maybe Jimmy's mediocrity will be good for the Hawks. We'll know by the end of next season.
Now on to the goalie situation. We all know Crawford and Raanta. They are the top two in that order. As I mentioned in an earlier blog Jason Labarbera is now a Duck. But there are 5 other goalies in the Hawks system. Let me start from the bottom up. At least this is my opinion of the bottom up.
So let's start with Matt Tomkins. Drafted this year in the 7th round, number 199 overall. He is 20 years old and has played mostly in Alberta but played last season in the big 10 at Ohio state. There he played 17 games had a 2.78 GA and .911 SP. Hawks may just leave him in Ohio to see if he develops.
Also drafted this year was Ivan Nalimov. Drafted 6th round at 179. He is a 19 year old Russian who went pro last year playing in St. Petersburg, Russia. He played for Russia in the Subway Series in Canada and was 3-1 in four games with a 2.25 GA and .945 SP.
In the middle of this pack is Scott Darling from Lemont, IL. He is a 25 year old that was originally drafted by Phoenix (now Arizona) in 2007 at #153 in the 6th round. Bowman signed him right out of the free agent box on July 1. Scott played 26 games for the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL last season and is 2.00 and .933.
Making a decision on the last two is tough but here it goes:
I am going to put Kent Simpson as the #2 goalie in Rockford. Kent is 22 and was drafted in 2010 in the 2nd round at number 58. He played for the Walleyes in Toledo in 2012-13. He played 31 games for the Hogs last year and is 3.64 and .801. If his name sounds familiar he played 20 minutes for the Hawks last year giving up 2 goals in 20 minutes. Remember when Corey was out and Raanta was getting pulverized? I think I saw Kent once last season and was not very impressed.
The best current G-man prospect is Mac Carruth. Mac was drafted 191st in the 7th round in 2010. He is a 22year old from Minnesota that played mostly for Portland in the WHL before being called back to the Icehogs when Raanta moved up. Last year he played 25 games in Toledo where he was 3.36 and .898. He then played 7 games for the Hogs behind Simpson and was 3.36 and .880. His stats are better than Simpson and the one time I saw him play he was bombarded when the Hogs defense seemed to be playing for the Wolves. It was an ugly game.
My bottom line on all this, we better hope Crawford and Raanta stay healthy this year. With the current cap problems there is no way we see another goalie come along. Let's see if Bowman can prove me wrong.
All is quiet
It was a quiet 4th of July weekend from a Blackhawks media perspective. Bowman out enjoying the holiday? Maybe a bit but you can bet he has been busy. I suspect we will see some movement this week now that the dust is settling on the free agency front, at least from that initial thrust.
Tomorrow I will review the goalie situation beyond Crawford and Raanta.
Tomorrow I will review the goalie situation beyond Crawford and Raanta.
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Who is going?
According to capgeek the Hawks are about $2.2M over the cap limit. But I think they are more like $3M over based on other figures that I have seen. Before signing Richards they were $500k over. So add Brad's $2M and we're at 2.5 right there. Then there is Kyle Comisky that was signed on Wednesday but I'm not seeing his salary. I am guessing in the $100-$200k range, so no big deal.
Speaking of deal, what is Bowman going to do to get under the cap? I already miss Bollig and the playoffs haven't started yet. Rumors abound. First Sharp, now Oduya, I have even heard Hammer's name brought up. I am surprised I have not heard Leddy's name. We all know how Q felt about him toward the end last year. When the deal is finally cut it will be a sad moment for many Hawks fans. I can't think of anyone with a current contract that I would want to lose. One option might be Versteeg ($2.2M) and Rundbland ($785k). Those two add up quite nicely to about the right number. But who is interested? I'm not sure Versteeg has that much value.
We also need to consider that Handzus and Brookbank are both RFAs. I'm assuming that Brookbank is waiting for Bowman to do something for him once things are sorted out. Other teams have to be courting him. I expect Handzus will land somewhere but not with any of the big contenders.
By the way, if you have not heard, the Ducks picked up Labarbera. Raanta now sitting fat at #2. Not that there was really any doubt.
Speaking of deal, what is Bowman going to do to get under the cap? I already miss Bollig and the playoffs haven't started yet. Rumors abound. First Sharp, now Oduya, I have even heard Hammer's name brought up. I am surprised I have not heard Leddy's name. We all know how Q felt about him toward the end last year. When the deal is finally cut it will be a sad moment for many Hawks fans. I can't think of anyone with a current contract that I would want to lose. One option might be Versteeg ($2.2M) and Rundbland ($785k). Those two add up quite nicely to about the right number. But who is interested? I'm not sure Versteeg has that much value.
We also need to consider that Handzus and Brookbank are both RFAs. I'm assuming that Brookbank is waiting for Bowman to do something for him once things are sorted out. Other teams have to be courting him. I expect Handzus will land somewhere but not with any of the big contenders.
By the way, if you have not heard, the Ducks picked up Labarbera. Raanta now sitting fat at #2. Not that there was really any doubt.
Welcome to Blackhawks Insights
I have created this blog to share my insights and create enthusiasm around the
Chicago Blackhawks. Not that the Hawks have not generated enough of their own
over the past few years. I have been a fan since...well, let's just say that I
have been alive for 3 Blackhawks Stanley cup championships. Most of what I will
be writing will be based on my personal opinion (duh, its a blog) which may or
may not have some factual backing.
My mission for the blog is to provide insights to the Blackhawks on a daily basis, at least during the regular and post-seasons, or when there is breaking news. I hope to bring thoughts, notes and insights that are not readily available through your daily newspaper articles.
During the 2014 off season I plan to take a look within the Hawks "system" to provide insights on names you may be hearing in the future.
I look forward to any feedback whether you agree or disagree with me does not matter. What matters is that we care and enjoy the great team that Rocky has resurrected for our benefit.
My mission for the blog is to provide insights to the Blackhawks on a daily basis, at least during the regular and post-seasons, or when there is breaking news. I hope to bring thoughts, notes and insights that are not readily available through your daily newspaper articles.
During the 2014 off season I plan to take a look within the Hawks "system" to provide insights on names you may be hearing in the future.
I look forward to any feedback whether you agree or disagree with me does not matter. What matters is that we care and enjoy the great team that Rocky has resurrected for our benefit.
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