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Vesey Post-Mortem

August 20, 2016, 9:15 AM ET [337 Comments]
John Jaeckel
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT



I will admit there was a point yesterday when I stopped add asked myself: "is Jimmy Vesey really worth all this?"

Answer: I don't know.

The answer certainly doesn't lie in the disappointment of coming in second in the "Sweeps." As the day wore on yesterday, you saw a bit more of the "we don't need Vesey—Motte, Schmaltz, Hinostroza et al are better" sentiment on Twitter and various message boards.

Hey, they may well turn out to be.

But I'm not going to pretend, as some pretty much do, that I watch hours and hours of NCAA, World Junior and summer league games on tape. I've seen a little bit of Schmaltz and Vesey, none of Motte, and enough of Hinostroza to say he might end up a halfway decent lower line player. Might.

College hockey is a lot slower and a lot less physical than NHL hockey. Some kids put up huge numbers in junior (remember Kyle Beach?) or the NCAA (Drew LeBlanc) and go pfffffft in the big arenas.

But if you buy that counter argument, that the Hawks are fine without Vesey (or some additive top 6 LW) then you better 'fess up that you have zero faith in team management—guys like Scotty Bowman, Joel Quenneville, Stan Bowman, and the Hawk scouting staff, who went out and saw this kid in person, and DID watch the tape, make the phone calls, etc

Because those guys think the kid is legit—evidenced by their fairly dogged pursuit of him—and probably better than the aforementioned trio.

So he chose to be closer to home in a larger media market than Chicago. What I heard and reported was his primary concern was his second contract. So New York makes some sense. You'd have thought the opportunity to play with four future hall of famers on a team that could make a Cup run this year (with him) would lure him. But maybe the notion of being expected to deliver as the final piece of the puzzle in a top 6 role—surrounded by Kane and Toews and Hossa and their ilk was a bit intimidating.

Maybe, conversely, he was swayed by the advice of a Boston "Bro" who as recently as a couple of years ago thought defecating in a stairwell was a good idea.

Hey, we all have to live with our choices.

But my information from a paid employee of an NHL organization involved in "hunt" for Vesey was the kid was as "prepared for the NHL as any prospect ever coming out of college."

So to the Rangers—te' salut, Don Corleone. You won out and got a nice player.

As for the Hawks, I heard yesterday (as first reported here on 7/2, and again since), they were turning back to Jiri Hudler.

Keep an eye on that. The pursuit of Vesey—and the fact that the Hawks have had interest in Hudler for at least several wee— suggest they are still in the market for a top 6 winger. They are not satisfied. Yet.

As for the widely "surmised" youth movement in Chicago. My information and my feeling has been that is a Plan C—a default.

Hey, I don't buy the "Q hates kids" mantra, but the truth is, he doesn't have a ton of patience with young players either. Brandon Saad was an exception. And Marcus Kruger. But the Hawks had Kruger penciled in as a lower line player from the start—properly slotted. And there are likely no Saads coming up this year.

When you hear the propaganda machine turned to 11 on the "youth movement," then you know the Hawks are out of other options.

For now, the focus of the Hawks and likely a few other teams, like the Penguins, turns to Hudler.

More as I hear it,



JJ
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