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Heard late yesterday the Hawks are actively shopping 2011 first round pick and now AHL veteran Mark McNeill. There have been increasing rumblings out of Rockford that McNeill himself would like a change of scenery. For what it's worth, he hasn't made a powerful case to play with the Hawks in limited NHL opportunities, but he could be part of a smaller/minor league deal in the next couple of weeks.

Also a little back story on the Hawks and Colorado.

I heard from a new source this morning that the GM of another Western Conference team basically expressed great frustration recently at not being able to speak with Joe Sakic—because he was engaged in long conversation with "f---ing Bowman." Take that, also, for what it's worth, but it is consistent with what I've heard elsewhere regarding recent dialogue between the Hawks and Avs.

I heard (and reported) yesterday, the Hawks have backed out (for now) on talks around Matt Duchene. But I also heard those talks could be rekindled if Bowman became willing to include Ryan Hartman in a multi-player package.


Edmonton Oilers (31-19-8) at Chicago Blackhawks (35-17-5)
6PM Central/5 Mountain
WGN/CBC/RSN


STARTING GOALIES:

Cam Talbot/Edmonton
Corey Crawford/Chicago


STATS:

GF/GA PER GAME:
Edmonton 2.83/2.53
Chicago 2.88/2.56

SG/SA PER GAME:
Edmonton 31.3/29.7
Chicago 29.7/31.2

POWER PLAY:
Edmonton 20.5%
Chicago 19.6%

PENALTY KILL:
Edmonton 81.4%
Chicago 76.8%


NOTES:

The Hawks come off a week's rest to face the young, talented and über-fast Oilers. The obvious question is how long will it take the Hawks to ramp up to game speed—and fast game speed at that?

Another thing to consider about tonight's and tomorrow's games, and really all leading up to the trade deadline, is they will inform the urgency (or lack thereof) of trade talks, as much or more than any to this point.

Over the last handful of games, there was a noticeable uptick in the quality and consistency of the Hawks' game—some of which was due to improvement in the games of some of the rookies on the roster or other young players like Richard Panik. But the overall body of evidence there is spotty at best—and even the recent "better" play might not be enough to make Stan Bowman stand pat at the bargaining table, in spite of the typical public rhetoric to the contrary.

I'll recap and preview Sunday night's game with the Sabres tomorrow.



JJ

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