If not for Corey Crawford the Hawks would have come up with nothing against the Rangers. And I hear many people saying that Crawford cannot get us a cup. I don't think we could get one without him. Without him we might not even make the payoffs the way things have been going. While the Hawks played well overall in this high speed game it was the defense that was lacking. Again there were too many shots on Crawford that either never should have happened or should have been blocked. The Hawks had 8 blocked shots while the Rangers had 18! There where many defensive lapses but none that hurt the team more than Roszival missing the pick-up on the OT goal. We have better players in our system than him. While he does make some good plays, he is making way too many mistakes at this point. Combine that with 4 missed power plays and you end up losing. The Hawks are now 21st in the power play rankings.
On the good side, our penalty killing was stellar and the offense was good when we weren't on the power play. We may need to start declining these penalties. Tuevo was having a great game and Talbot was tested by some of the best shooters in the league. Unfortunately Talbot stood up to all of them. At least the Hawks got one point out of the game and gave nothing up to their own division.
Looking back at the game against the Oilers, the Hawks were lethargic in that game. Luckily they tied it up late and then, thanks to the skill of Vermette and the coaching of Toews, they were able to get the OT win.
About the new guys: Vermette is looking pretty good. He is certainly trying to fit in to the Hawks system. I am not too sure about Dejardins but we need to give him some time to fit in. I am really impressed with Timonen given that he had been out for so long. I really think he will come along. I will restate my playoff defensive pairs:
Seabs-Dunc
Oduya-Hammer
Timo-TVR
But be aware that TVR has not returned to playing yet, he is still in practice mode. Raanta has had to starts with the Hogs getting a win and an OT loss. He has made 47 saves on 53 shots with a .887 SV% over those two games. He gave up 3 goals in each of the games including the OT goal at 1:27 of the OT.
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Sunday, March 8, 2015
Thursday, March 5, 2015
New kids on the rink
I made it out to Johnny's today for practice. All Rostered Hawks were there except for Oduya. Oduya was at the rink but did not skate with the team. Q later indicated that Oduya skated but was not likely to play this weekend. Also in attendance was John McDonough looking on from the side lines.
Q indicated that Crawford would start against the Oilers and that he has been happy with Terevainen's play but is not likely to play as Q wants to get a look at Dejardins.
The new guys looked OK and seemed to be talking a lot with the other players and coaches.
Practice consisted of board battles (also know as how to stay away from Hossa), some 3 on 2 work, power play/PK, 4 on 4 and some break-away work. Q worked them for about 50 minutes and most players stayed on the ice at least to the 5 extra minutes that I stuck around.
Lines were as follows:
23-19-81
10-80-20
29-91-11
42-16-65
Power plays were:
2-7-19-81-65
10-80-44-91-23
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Q indicated that Crawford would start against the Oilers and that he has been happy with Terevainen's play but is not likely to play as Q wants to get a look at Dejardins.
The new guys looked OK and seemed to be talking a lot with the other players and coaches.
Practice consisted of board battles (also know as how to stay away from Hossa), some 3 on 2 work, power play/PK, 4 on 4 and some break-away work. Q worked them for about 50 minutes and most players stayed on the ice at least to the 5 extra minutes that I stuck around.
Lines were as follows:
23-19-81
10-80-20
29-91-11
42-16-65
Power plays were:
2-7-19-81-65
10-80-44-91-23
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Monday, March 2, 2015
And we're done
The trade deadline has come and gone. Due to the injury to Patrick Kane, Bowman had some cap space to play with. And now that we have passed the trade deadline he can go as high as he wants with the players in the system. So where does this leave us?
We all know that there will be a large cap problem come game one of the next season. The three players picked up this week all have expiring contracts. So they, unless signing on for a longer tour of duty, they will not increase that existing problem.
Let's start with Dejardins. He has been a face off leader having a better than 58% record at the dot the past three seasons. This years he is at 49.8% to date. Still not to shabby. But Ben Smith, who was traded in his place, has been a consistent 50%er himself. So no gain there. Andrew is 6' 1" and 195. Ben Smith is 5' 11" 207 pounds. So really not too much there. I have heard that Dejardins brings a little more energy and feistyness to his game. But I also expect that from Smith as we get closer to the playoffs. Points-wise there is really no difference between the two this season. So put these guys about even. But herein lies the rub. Andrew's contract expires at the end of the season where Ben would carry $1.5M into next year. So Scotty just reduced his cap problem for next year. This is his first salary cap reduction trade.
As for Vermette and Timonen we lose nothing short term. I'll address that in a minute.
Vermette has a 56% or better face off record for 5 seasons! The Hawks can certainly use some help in that area, especially on the PK, if Vermette plays there. Vermette also has 24 goals and 21 assists this season . Not too shabby. He could be a big help.
As for Timonen, he is a tough cookie. While he has not played this year he has been cleared and could add some depth to our struggling defense. Imagine the pairs being Timonen(L)-van Riemsdyk(R), Keith-Seabs and Oduya-Hammer. Those would be 3 damn good pairings. I would put Rundblad and Cumisky as the odd men in. Roszival needs to retire.
We did give up a few picks over the next few years. So what? Let's take a look at the system.
Start with forwards:
As for Defense:
We all know that there will be a large cap problem come game one of the next season. The three players picked up this week all have expiring contracts. So they, unless signing on for a longer tour of duty, they will not increase that existing problem.
Let's start with Dejardins. He has been a face off leader having a better than 58% record at the dot the past three seasons. This years he is at 49.8% to date. Still not to shabby. But Ben Smith, who was traded in his place, has been a consistent 50%er himself. So no gain there. Andrew is 6' 1" and 195. Ben Smith is 5' 11" 207 pounds. So really not too much there. I have heard that Dejardins brings a little more energy and feistyness to his game. But I also expect that from Smith as we get closer to the playoffs. Points-wise there is really no difference between the two this season. So put these guys about even. But herein lies the rub. Andrew's contract expires at the end of the season where Ben would carry $1.5M into next year. So Scotty just reduced his cap problem for next year. This is his first salary cap reduction trade.
As for Vermette and Timonen we lose nothing short term. I'll address that in a minute.
Vermette has a 56% or better face off record for 5 seasons! The Hawks can certainly use some help in that area, especially on the PK, if Vermette plays there. Vermette also has 24 goals and 21 assists this season . Not too shabby. He could be a big help.
As for Timonen, he is a tough cookie. While he has not played this year he has been cleared and could add some depth to our struggling defense. Imagine the pairs being Timonen(L)-van Riemsdyk(R), Keith-Seabs and Oduya-Hammer. Those would be 3 damn good pairings. I would put Rundblad and Cumisky as the odd men in. Roszival needs to retire.
We did give up a few picks over the next few years. So what? Let's take a look at the system.
Start with forwards:
Peter Regin – Probably on his way out
Dennis Rasmussen – Good potential, needs to learn to play in
the states
Ryan Hartman – We saw him, we loved him, he will develop
And then there are the rest of the forward that have
potential. Any of these players could be on the Hawks next year. Each of them has potential to develop.
Drew LeBlanc
Cody Bass
Phillip Danault
Dane Walters
Pierre-Cedric Labrie
Garret Ross
Matt Carey
Brandon Mashinter
As for Defense:
Trevor van Riemsdyk - If he recovers well, he returns this season
Kyle Cumiskey - Another guy we saw and we loved.
Stephen Johns - This is another strong defenseman
Viktor Svedberg- Viktor need to be a bit more consistent.
Ville Pokka - This is the guy we got in the Leddy trade. I've seen him play and think he has good potential. He is young and learning.
We also have two goalies that I think could take us to the cup in Crawford and Raanta. I'm not 100% convinced about Darling yet. As for any worries about Raanta, he just needs more ice time which is why he is back in Rockford. This way we will have our top 2 goalies working on a regular basis in preparation for the playoffs.
Monday, February 23, 2015
DISaster on ice – Now playing at the UC
I’m not sure if it was #JohnWiedeman or #TroyMurray who
said that the Hawks were DISconnected
in yesterday’s game. #Quenneville said the team was DISjoint. Had #TraceyMyers not taken the day off she would have
said they were DIScombobulated. We
were all in DISmay as we watched the
Hawks fall apart in the second period. What a DISappointing period. The Hawks could do nothing to DISarm the Bruins. It was with DISgust that Crawford was pulled from
the game. The Hawks were DISgraced
by the negative reviews of their fans in attendance. I am sure there was a lot
of DIScussion between periods on how
to set things right.
The hawks have really looked DISorganized in many of their games as of late. It may be that they
are DIStracted by the deaths that
have haunted the team this season. Whatever it is, they need to DIScover the answer quickly. They must DISpense with their poor performances.
They must look to DIScern a solution
to the problem.
Yes the fans are DISappointed.
They are DIScouraged by recent
performances. Who wouldn’t be DISpleased?
There is DIStrust in the quest for
the cup. Yes this has been a DISturbing
time. Let’s not DISpose of our allegiance. There is too much talk of DISsembling this team. But it is not
time to DISband. Don’t DIScount this team. Don’t be DIScouraged. This trend will DISappear. This team will DIScover the answer.
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Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Dee-troit Sucks
Wow, our second and final meeting this season, unless of course, we meet in the playoffs. That would be insane. I have to admit that the game was very fun to watch. The Hawks came out skating and played well all the way through as did the Wings. The game was only "not tied" for a total of 82 seconds, not counting the outcome of course.
Hossa had a fantastic game. How many Wings did he skate around and away from? How many times did he take the puck away from some one. I wish Hossa had taken the third shoot out. I think he would have had a better chance against Howard.
The only really bad play for the Hawks, and of the game for that matter, was the Roszival give-away in the OT. I really would not mind seeing him replaced with Erixon.
Hartman had another strong game tonight.I think he will stay around although I think Carcillo might have been better to get under the skin of the Wings tonight.
Both Howard and Crawford were keys to keeping their teams in the game.
I really miss this division rivalry.
In other news:
The Wolves have loaned Jake Chelios to his home town team the Kalamazoo Wings, their EHCL affilaite.
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Hossa had a fantastic game. How many Wings did he skate around and away from? How many times did he take the puck away from some one. I wish Hossa had taken the third shoot out. I think he would have had a better chance against Howard.
The only really bad play for the Hawks, and of the game for that matter, was the Roszival give-away in the OT. I really would not mind seeing him replaced with Erixon.
Hartman had another strong game tonight.I think he will stay around although I think Carcillo might have been better to get under the skin of the Wings tonight.
Both Howard and Crawford were keys to keeping their teams in the game.
I really miss this division rivalry.
In other news:
The Wolves have loaned Jake Chelios to his home town team the Kalamazoo Wings, their EHCL affilaite.
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Friday, February 13, 2015
Getting the Devil out
As #TraceyMyers has been saying the Hawks came out looking discombobulated. On top of it Crawford lets one in that should have been stopped.
On the good side we got to see Hartman and Comisky. Hartman gives a huge hit 8 seconds in to his first shift in the NHL. He continued to play a rough and tough game and could have a role in the playoffs. Comisky played some great defense and stepped in up front like a Blackhawk. Toews compared him to Nick Leddy due to his speed.
Hossa with the goal and then an assist on the Toews goal. that was great pressing by Toews on that goal. It was good to see Johnny score as it appeared that he accidentally used teflon tape on his stick instead of sticky tape. He just could bee to keep anything on his blade all night.
To continue my rant about the defensive pairing, Hammer and Oduya looked good together and were able to clear the zone and move the puck forward. They look MUCH better together than they do when they are split up.
It took almost 30 minutes but the Hawks finally turned themselves around, for the most part, and started playing some better hockey. Let's see if they can keep on playing during the Sunday matinee against the flightless birds.
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On the good side we got to see Hartman and Comisky. Hartman gives a huge hit 8 seconds in to his first shift in the NHL. He continued to play a rough and tough game and could have a role in the playoffs. Comisky played some great defense and stepped in up front like a Blackhawk. Toews compared him to Nick Leddy due to his speed.
Hossa with the goal and then an assist on the Toews goal. that was great pressing by Toews on that goal. It was good to see Johnny score as it appeared that he accidentally used teflon tape on his stick instead of sticky tape. He just could bee to keep anything on his blade all night.
To continue my rant about the defensive pairing, Hammer and Oduya looked good together and were able to clear the zone and move the puck forward. They look MUCH better together than they do when they are split up.
It took almost 30 minutes but the Hawks finally turned themselves around, for the most part, and started playing some better hockey. Let's see if they can keep on playing during the Sunday matinee against the flightless birds.
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Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Canucked
That first period looked pretty poor. Errant passes were wild and shooting was scarce. I was pretty scared going in to the second period as that has not been the best period for the Hawks this season.
Kane opened up the scoring in the second on a nice centering pass that got tipped in by the Canucks. Had it made it through Richards had an easy open netter. But my fear of the second period came to pass and Vancouver puts in 3 unanswered goals. I STILL believe that the defensive parings need to be corrected. (See my blog from a few games ago here) The Hawks are not getting out of their zone and through center very cleanly.
The Hawks finally start playing in the third period but the Sedins do them in by first pairing for the 4th goal and then again for the OT win.
But what about Hossa? Six goals in three games. Insane. Two power play goals are good but the Hawks will need to play 60 minutes to win. they played about 15 today.
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Kane opened up the scoring in the second on a nice centering pass that got tipped in by the Canucks. Had it made it through Richards had an easy open netter. But my fear of the second period came to pass and Vancouver puts in 3 unanswered goals. I STILL believe that the defensive parings need to be corrected. (See my blog from a few games ago here) The Hawks are not getting out of their zone and through center very cleanly.
The Hawks finally start playing in the third period but the Sedins do them in by first pairing for the 4th goal and then again for the OT win.
But what about Hossa? Six goals in three games. Insane. Two power play goals are good but the Hawks will need to play 60 minutes to win. they played about 15 today.
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Sunday, February 8, 2015
I guess that's why they call them the Blues.
The Hawks inch closer to the Blues today with the victory. Good to get that win in the last game on the road, especially against a strong division team. It was good to see Kruger finally score. He as been playing well as you can tell by all the shots he has been taking from the opposing teams. I was also glad to see Carcillo making the feed to set him up on the play.
Toews made Oshie look foolish as he stepped around him on one play. Tarasenko returned the favor by making Crawford look like he dropped his drawers. Unfortunately Tarasenko scored and Toews did not.
It was good to see the power play work. Hossa indicated that he scored on a set play pass from Saad. Said Hoss, "That was a pretty set play and I'm glad it worked." It was a dandy.
I little scrimmage with Carcillo and Ott was hardly worth the penalty time.
So the Blackhawks now return home for an important 8 game stretch. We start with Coyotes who we embarrassed earlier on this road trip.
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Toews made Oshie look foolish as he stepped around him on one play. Tarasenko returned the favor by making Crawford look like he dropped his drawers. Unfortunately Tarasenko scored and Toews did not.
It was good to see the power play work. Hossa indicated that he scored on a set play pass from Saad. Said Hoss, "That was a pretty set play and I'm glad it worked." It was a dandy.
I little scrimmage with Carcillo and Ott was hardly worth the penalty time.
So the Blackhawks now return home for an important 8 game stretch. We start with Coyotes who we embarrassed earlier on this road trip.
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Friday, February 6, 2015
Winning-peg
Back in Johnny's home town where the Hawks have not lost since 1996.
It only took 1:07 for Carcillo to get the challenge from Thorburn. I give the decision to Thorburn although he did land a lot of his shots on the pads and helmet. Carcillo gets the points for the take down.
Rundblad looses a 2 on 1 on the boards then can't get in position when Scheifele receives a pass right on the tape from referee Steve Kozari. For his effort, Rundblad gets to join Raanta on the bench for the rest of the period. Give him 1:38 of play time in the first and then he only gets another 2:12 in the second to finigh the game with 3:50. The real problem was that Keith was expecting the puck to come out to the middle before Kozari kicked it away which is what left the front of the net open. We'll probably see Erixon on Sunday but I do not agree with this call from Q.
Power play. What power play? Still not fixed.
While getting out hit 16-6 in the first they were also losing face offs 11-5 at the end of the first. They finally came back to even by the end of the third and fell short by one.
SOG were few and fair between but Kane with a great feed to Saad who scores on the 3rd shot of the OT.
This was a fun, yet a little stressful, game to watch. These teams would put on a great playoff series.
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It only took 1:07 for Carcillo to get the challenge from Thorburn. I give the decision to Thorburn although he did land a lot of his shots on the pads and helmet. Carcillo gets the points for the take down.
Rundblad looses a 2 on 1 on the boards then can't get in position when Scheifele receives a pass right on the tape from referee Steve Kozari. For his effort, Rundblad gets to join Raanta on the bench for the rest of the period. Give him 1:38 of play time in the first and then he only gets another 2:12 in the second to finigh the game with 3:50. The real problem was that Keith was expecting the puck to come out to the middle before Kozari kicked it away which is what left the front of the net open. We'll probably see Erixon on Sunday but I do not agree with this call from Q.
Power play. What power play? Still not fixed.
While getting out hit 16-6 in the first they were also losing face offs 11-5 at the end of the first. They finally came back to even by the end of the third and fell short by one.
SOG were few and fair between but Kane with a great feed to Saad who scores on the 3rd shot of the OT.
This was a fun, yet a little stressful, game to watch. These teams would put on a great playoff series.
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Thursday, February 5, 2015
Notes from the morning practice
#DuncanKeith was off for a maintenance day. #Versteeg skated with the team wearing the white flag jersey. (Don't hit me I'm hurt.) He will travel with the team to practice but the earliest he will play is when they return home. van Riemsdyk (and I always hate starting a sentence with lower case) was not on the ice today. No surprise. He may have skated earlier or plans to later. Dennis Rasmussen was sent back to the Hogs late yesterday. #Crawford scheduled to start tomorrow in Winnipeg.
As I expected this was the most intense practice I have witnessed today. It was 48 minutes of drills. I have never seen the ice so torn up after a practice. Let's start with passing seeing as that was not the Hawks strong suit the last two games. (Although I am not sure what their strong suit was.) Q started the team practicing passing with what looked like a shuffleboard puck. (See picture below.) A little harder to get moving and a little harder to receive. I have never seen this one before. It was interesting. When they switched to a regular puck the passes were much faster and pretty crisp.
The practice lines were the same as what they have played the last two games. So it looks like #Carcillo will be the odd man out tomorrow.
As for defensive pairings, a little hard to tell without Keith in place but I never saw #Hjalmarsson play with #Oduya. Not once. I must assume nothing will change. Seems like the Hawks have gone insane. You know the definition.
There was some powerplay practice. The powerplay looked pathetic. But they are playing against some of the best PK in the league. I think they really need to get away from the perimeter passing and drop a guy in the middle to start passing in and out.
They finished up with some 5 on 5 hockey and then after the official practice ended most players stayed to practice shooting (Hossa spending a lot of time nailing the upper right corner) or playing give and go with Dineen on the other side giving #Raanta some shots to handle.
Toews looked a little weak today. Left right at the end of the official practice. I am not sure if he is under the weather a bit.
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As I expected this was the most intense practice I have witnessed today. It was 48 minutes of drills. I have never seen the ice so torn up after a practice. Let's start with passing seeing as that was not the Hawks strong suit the last two games. (Although I am not sure what their strong suit was.) Q started the team practicing passing with what looked like a shuffleboard puck. (See picture below.) A little harder to get moving and a little harder to receive. I have never seen this one before. It was interesting. When they switched to a regular puck the passes were much faster and pretty crisp.
As for defensive pairings, a little hard to tell without Keith in place but I never saw #Hjalmarsson play with #Oduya. Not once. I must assume nothing will change. Seems like the Hawks have gone insane. You know the definition.
There was some powerplay practice. The powerplay looked pathetic. But they are playing against some of the best PK in the league. I think they really need to get away from the perimeter passing and drop a guy in the middle to start passing in and out.
They finished up with some 5 on 5 hockey and then after the official practice ended most players stayed to practice shooting (Hossa spending a lot of time nailing the upper right corner) or playing give and go with Dineen on the other side giving #Raanta some shots to handle.
Toews looked a little weak today. Left right at the end of the official practice. I am not sure if he is under the weather a bit.
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Tuesday, February 3, 2015
It was a Wild game
If you watched last night's game I really don't need to say anything. If you were having a colonoscopy, you were doing better than those of us watching the game.
It seems the Hawks may have lost the sticky tape for their sticks or they were still hungover from their trip to Vegas. I still think the defensive pairing is a large part of the problem. HEY #QUENNEVILLE, ARE YOU LISTENING? Keith/Seabrook and Hammer/Oduya play so well together and spark a lot of offense coming out of their own end while still covering up for one another. Consider that both pairs can play 22+ minutes each, that would leave only 8 minutes for the 3rd defensive pair. Personally I pick Rundblad, did you see his moves in the first period!, and Erixon.
So the Hawks lose two in a row, have been shut out twice, and have not scored a goal in 126:35.
I plan to attend practice on Thursday. I'll be interested to see what Q decides to work on seeing as so many things are currently broke.
While I am pretty confident in this team going into the playoffs, I would like to see them move up in the standings. As it stands now they are 4th in the conference and therefore would likely only get home ice advantage for the first round. Need more home ice starts.
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It seems the Hawks may have lost the sticky tape for their sticks or they were still hungover from their trip to Vegas. I still think the defensive pairing is a large part of the problem. HEY #QUENNEVILLE, ARE YOU LISTENING? Keith/Seabrook and Hammer/Oduya play so well together and spark a lot of offense coming out of their own end while still covering up for one another. Consider that both pairs can play 22+ minutes each, that would leave only 8 minutes for the 3rd defensive pair. Personally I pick Rundblad, did you see his moves in the first period!, and Erixon.
So the Hawks lose two in a row, have been shut out twice, and have not scored a goal in 126:35.
I plan to attend practice on Thursday. I'll be interested to see what Q decides to work on seeing as so many things are currently broke.
While I am pretty confident in this team going into the playoffs, I would like to see them move up in the standings. As it stands now they are 4th in the conference and therefore would likely only get home ice advantage for the first round. Need more home ice starts.
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Some notes for tonight's game.
On the Wild front:
Cooke out tonight. Maybe for the rest of the season. Missed 22 games earlier this year with a hip flexor but has a LB injury which is different. Played 27 games so far this season with 4 goals and 4 assts.
Assume Backstrom to start.
On the Hawks front:
Carcillo is now eligible as his suspension expires. Probably not playing today. Did not practice on top 4 lines this morning.
Crawford to start in goal.
Starting lines based on practice:
20-19-81
10-91-88
29-65-86
42-16-28
Versteeg still skating in Chicago. van Riemsdyk joined him for a light skate today.
Looking ahead to the Sunday matinee:
Shatenkirk scheduled for abdominal surgery within 9 days. Will likely be out a few weeks if not the season. He has 40 points in 49 games with the Blues this year.
Cooke out tonight. Maybe for the rest of the season. Missed 22 games earlier this year with a hip flexor but has a LB injury which is different. Played 27 games so far this season with 4 goals and 4 assts.
Assume Backstrom to start.
On the Hawks front:
Carcillo is now eligible as his suspension expires. Probably not playing today. Did not practice on top 4 lines this morning.
Crawford to start in goal.
Starting lines based on practice:
20-19-81
10-91-88
29-65-86
42-16-28
Versteeg still skating in Chicago. van Riemsdyk joined him for a light skate today.
Looking ahead to the Sunday matinee:
Shatenkirk scheduled for abdominal surgery within 9 days. Will likely be out a few weeks if not the season. He has 40 points in 49 games with the Blues this year.
Saturday, January 31, 2015
That was ducky
What a fun game to watch yesterday. Even better is the fact that the Hawks won with "relative" ease. I don't want to downplay the skill and play of the Ducks last night but the Hawks really took it to them for most of the game. Great game from Sharp and Kane. Kruger and Saad also had REALLY strong games, but unfortunately got nothing to show for their effort. It will come.
The Hawks will need to solve the Ducks penalty kill at some point. What the Ducks did differently to defend the Hawks was to come out of the box to block passing lanes around the perimeter. The Hawks kept trying to push the puck around the edge, had it picked off and cleared. The solution lies in moving an extra man to the middle when on of the Ducks move out of the box. A deek and a pass to the middle would have caught them off guard. Unfortunately the Hawks made no adjustments on the perimeter play last night.
I am still not happy with the defensive pairings, I was hoping that would change. Don't look for Forsling (you should have heard about the trade for Clendening) to bring any relief to the defense. He is an 18 year old and not likely to see the US until next year and maybe 2017 to see the NHL ice surface. My defensive pairing would be Seabrook/Keith, Hammer/Oduya and Rundblad/Erixon. As I noted, I'm not a big fan of Rozsival.
Do you know the way to San Jose?
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The Hawks will need to solve the Ducks penalty kill at some point. What the Ducks did differently to defend the Hawks was to come out of the box to block passing lanes around the perimeter. The Hawks kept trying to push the puck around the edge, had it picked off and cleared. The solution lies in moving an extra man to the middle when on of the Ducks move out of the box. A deek and a pass to the middle would have caught them off guard. Unfortunately the Hawks made no adjustments on the perimeter play last night.
I am still not happy with the defensive pairings, I was hoping that would change. Don't look for Forsling (you should have heard about the trade for Clendening) to bring any relief to the defense. He is an 18 year old and not likely to see the US until next year and maybe 2017 to see the NHL ice surface. My defensive pairing would be Seabrook/Keith, Hammer/Oduya and Rundblad/Erixon. As I noted, I'm not a big fan of Rozsival.
Do you know the way to San Jose?
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Thursday, January 29, 2015
D-day for the Hawks and a quick Jeremy update
What I forgot to write last night, since I was tired and frustrated.
It is about time we figure out the defense situation. While TVR will eventually fix this problem, we need a better solution than splitting up the pairs that work well together. In other words, we need a third pairing that we can trust to put on the ice and give the top two pairs a bit of rest during the games. I am not a big fan of Rozsival and I really don't think we will see him back next season with his contract expiring. Rundblad seems to be doing well and there are a lot of defensemen in the Hawks systems that we could pull up while waiting for Vans Riemsdyk. I really think Q needs to get his top two D squads together again to help this team. Maybe he is planning that as Keith and Seabrook have taken the day off from practice.
On the Jeremy Morin front, He was taken to the hospital my ambulance during the second period of their game on Tuesday due to an elevated heart rate that would not go down. He is not the first, and probably not the last, to have this happen and is being released today. He should be right back into the line up. Note that Jeremy has 17 games in Columbus with 1 goal and 2 assists. He has been playing about 10 minute per game on average.
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It is about time we figure out the defense situation. While TVR will eventually fix this problem, we need a better solution than splitting up the pairs that work well together. In other words, we need a third pairing that we can trust to put on the ice and give the top two pairs a bit of rest during the games. I am not a big fan of Rozsival and I really don't think we will see him back next season with his contract expiring. Rundblad seems to be doing well and there are a lot of defensemen in the Hawks systems that we could pull up while waiting for Vans Riemsdyk. I really think Q needs to get his top two D squads together again to help this team. Maybe he is planning that as Keith and Seabrook have taken the day off from practice.
On the Jeremy Morin front, He was taken to the hospital my ambulance during the second period of their game on Tuesday due to an elevated heart rate that would not go down. He is not the first, and probably not the last, to have this happen and is being released today. He should be right back into the line up. Note that Jeremy has 17 games in Columbus with 1 goal and 2 assists. He has been playing about 10 minute per game on average.
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Wednesday, January 28, 2015
They're back
Well, we were about 1 hour short of having 7 days between Blackhawks games. The allstar game was more like Disney on ice than a hockey game. I couldn't watch the entire spectacle with all the stars floating around the ice while the goalies did little more than stand in position.
So, on to the Kings game.
Rundblad gets the assist on that first goal. So he now has 3 points in the three games since he returned to his natural right defense position.
Teravainen demonstrated some of that skill I mentioned in my last blog on the third period goal by Shaw. A neat little pass while being harassed by two Kings.
Unfortunately a mediocre second period and a couple bad plays in the third cost the Hawks the game.
Also reported what that Versteeg is skating again. Still not expected to join the team on the road.
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So, on to the Kings game.
Rundblad gets the assist on that first goal. So he now has 3 points in the three games since he returned to his natural right defense position.
Teravainen demonstrated some of that skill I mentioned in my last blog on the third period goal by Shaw. A neat little pass while being harassed by two Kings.
Unfortunately a mediocre second period and a couple bad plays in the third cost the Hawks the game.
Also reported what that Versteeg is skating again. Still not expected to join the team on the road.
Find Blackhawks Insights on facebook at: Blackhawks Insights
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Follow me on twitter @JimsBHB
Email me at:
JimsBHB@gmail.com
#Blackhawks #Teravainen
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