I won't tag along with Edzo because the whole body of Crawford's work has to be taken into account. In regulation he wasn't much worse than Smith, actually in Game 1 I thought he outplayed Smith but....

This is a point that I pound away at, and JJ has chimed in on in the past.

When the going gets tough and the games are tightly checked where is the Hawks scoring?

When Q. had them tighten it up when Toews was hurt late in the season the defense improved but....

From Feb.1 on the Hawks only scored an avg of 2 goals per game in regulation.
In the playoffs once again 12 goals in sx games.

So either Crawford needed to be Glenn Hall like in the playoffs, or the system of play employed had to generate more scoring.

From today:
On the Blackhawks - "Optimistically Speaking" - http://bit.ly/WMAGsa on Fox Chicago

On Twitter@AlCimaglia
- Al

Man talk about reliving a bad memory. The long lockout must have fuzzied ole Edzo's memory banks. Crawford got smoked by Smith the whole series. He faced only 159 shots, 17 goals, .893 SV% and 2.54 GA. With 2 horrible OT charmin goals. The Yotes had very few quality opps and Vrbata was a no show; Phx was content with cloggin up the Hawks and waiting for a break. Smith faced over 230 shots, 13 goals, .945 Sv% and 2.16 GA. In G6 the Hawks were full throttle for the first 30 minutes and could not dent the guy. And then the roof caved in on C2 and Hawks def and it was over.

All right move on....

Oh, but Rocky just told the Sun Times yet again this week that the Hawks still aren't profitable.

http://www.suntimes.com/s...cky-is-ready-to-roll.html




- AceRatbang

Charming fellow isn't he?

[quote=AceRatbang]Oh, but Rocky just told the Sun Times yet again this week that the Hawks still aren't profitable.

http://www.suntimes.com/s...cky-is-ready-to-roll.html



Rocky
Only successful businesses make money and if you dont like the lack of profitability make changes to the organization. After all you are the one with the keys driving the organization car.
Your statement is an inditement of your leadership

[quote=AceRatbang]Oh, but Rocky just told the Sun Times yet again this week that the Hawks still aren't profitable.

http://www.suntimes.com/s...cky-is-ready-to-roll.html



Rocky
Only successful businesses make money and if you dont like the lack of profitability make changes to the organization. After all you are the one with the keys driving the organization car.
Your statement is an inditement of your leadership
- molly2522

Rocky makes money. A lot of successful businessmen have companies that lose money...and there is a real good reason behind that. There is also a good reason why the Blackhawks are losing money and it has a lot to do with Rocky's other companies and loans issued.
I wouldn't reach much into the Blackhawks losing money. Not one bit and not a concern.

Over on the Kings' blog, here was Matthew Barry's prediction for the Hawks:

5) CHICAGO – The only reason I don’t have them ranked higher is they hired Jamie Kompon who sucked worse than Lindsay Lohan in “Liz and Richard” when he was with the Kings. Their power play will vanish like Angelo Esposito’s career, but they’ll still find a way to win enough games thanks to their great coach.

Half of us here think they win in spite of their "great coach." Still, only six hours to go and we'll get to see for ourselves how this year will play out. Tick, tick, tick. Is it time yet?

Rocky makes money. A lot of successful businessmen have companies that lose money...and there is a real good reason behind that. There is also a good reason why the Blackhawks are losing money and it has a lot to do with Rocky's other companies and loans issued.
I wouldn't reach much into the Blackhawks losing money. Not one bit and not a concern.
- HawkFan27

It's accounting sleight of hand. The Hawks lose money, but Rocky makes money on the Hawks if all things were included. It puts them in a better situation to avoid revenue sharing.

Oh, but Rocky just told the Sun Times yet again this week that the Hawks still aren't profitable.

http://www.suntimes.com/s...cky-is-ready-to-roll.html




- AceRatbang

So - Rocky complains about the high amusement and parking taxes in Chicago.

He has a business in the 3rd largest TV and radio market in the country, a metro area of 8MM PEOPLE, which should allow him to get real good money from Comcast and WGN, not too mention making it easy to sell out the UC.

He can get $12 for a can of beer, $25 for parking, $27-450 for tickets - try getting that in Columbus, Phoenix, Charlotte, even San Jose....

And he has the balls to complain about taxes.

If he's not making money now, he never will.

Since many of us are still in a reading frenzy for tomorrow's opener...there's a really good read on the Committed Indian regarding the Hawk front office/coaching situation. Some of it reinforces my own beliefs and has also been said here by JJ and others. I think it's spot on--except for my differing opinion on the value of Bollig to the team.

http://thecommittedindian...-over-his-head/#more-1968
- grinder10

Agree, it is a good read.

Assuming the exit interview aspect of the story is accurate, I have a different view of what the correect management decision should have been. Who cares about correct textbook organizational chains of command, McD and Bowman knew full well that there was going to be a lockout and changes to the CBA and a delay to the start of the season inevitable. Guaranteed they knew that, just like they knew a coaching staff problem existed. They should have fired Q and his 2 assistants a week after the season ended and simply stated the reason as "results failing to meet expectations".
Then they would have had a number of months to thoroughly search out the most competent coach
available. At the end of every season, there are plenty available and witout doubt Scotty would know many of them. Very few would find coaching an Original Six franchise in Chicago unattractive.

Instead, now there is a veteran coach evidently skating on thin ice and nobody coaching in Rockford with any potential to succceed him.

So Kitchen may be a complete hockey coaching idiot and a defiant, on thin ice Q basically unafraid of showing the middle finger to his G.M. who he has no respect for, but the root of this apparent 'failure waiting to happen situation' is 2 incompetent management boobs - McD and Stanbow. They should have recognized the problem and dealt with it.

So, if "failure to meet expectations" repeats itself, it will just require Rocky to exercise his own managerial skills in May and fire everybody from McD down to the water boys.

Agree, it is a good read.

Assuming the exit interview aspect of the story is accurate, I have a different view of what the correect management decision should have been. Who cares about correct textbook organizational chains of command, McD and Bowman knew full well that there was going to be a lockout and changes to the CBA and a delay to the start of the season inevitable. Guaranteed they knew that, just like they knew a coaching staff problem existed. They should have fired Q and his 2 assistants a week after the season ended and simply stated the reason as "results failing to meet expectations".
Then they would have had a number of months to thoroughly search out the most competent coach
available. At the end of every season, there are plenty available and witout doubt Scotty would know many of them. Very few would find coaching an Original Six franchise in Chicago unattractive.

Instead, now there is a veteran coach evidently skating on thin ice and nobody coaching in Rockford with any potential to succceed him.

So Kitchen may be a complete hockey coaching idiot and a defiant, on thin ice Q basically unafraid of showing the middle finger to his G.M. who he has no respect for, but the root of this apparent 'failure waiting to happen situation' is 2 incompetent management boobs - McD and Stanbow. They should have recognized the problem and dealt with it.

So, if "failure to meet expectations" repeats itself, it will just require Rocky to exercise his own managerial skills in May and fire everybody from McD down to the water boys.
- RickJ

Just not the Ice Girls.

Agree, it is a good read.

Assuming the exit interview aspect of the story is accurate, I have a different view of what the correect management decision should have been. Who cares about correct textbook organizational chains of command, McD and Bowman knew full well that there was going to be a lockout and changes to the CBA and a delay to the start of the season inevitable. Guaranteed they knew that, just like they knew a coaching staff problem existed. They should have fired Q and his 2 assistants a week after the season ended and simply stated the reason as "results failing to meet expectations".
Then they would have had a number of months to thoroughly search out the most competent coach
available. At the end of every season, there are plenty available and witout doubt Scotty would know many of them. Very few would find coaching an Original Six franchise in Chicago unattractive.

Instead, now there is a veteran coach evidently skating on thin ice and nobody coaching in Rockford with any potential to succceed him.

So Kitchen may be a complete hockey coaching idiot and a defiant, on thin ice Q basically unafraid of showing the middle finger to his G.M. who he has no respect for, but the root of this apparent 'failure waiting to happen situation' is 2 incompetent management boobs - McD and Stanbow. They should have recognized the problem and dealt with it.

So, if "failure to meet expectations" repeats itself, it will just require Rocky to exercise his own managerial skills in May and fire everybody from McD down to the water boys.
- RickJ

RJ...i could have sworn Mike Kitchen was behind the 'white' bench in the simulated game the other day. BOOOOOOOOO

The Hawks management, from McDonough on down, is toxic. The people that built the 2010 team are gone. And this current group thinks they actually had something to do with bringing Chicago the Cup. McDonough can plan and coordinate all the bobble head nights in the world for all I care, but he has no business getting involved in hockey ops. The single fact that he hired a personal hockey advisor has so many red flags waving around it it's ridiculous. For me, personally, the stink started to rise the day they fired Savard. I didn't like that they did it, I didn't like when they did it and I didn't like the way they did it. So now Q has won a Cup and you can't take that away from him. But because of one year where eveything came together I now feel "stuck" with Q and his bridge buddies for more years than his total body of work here dictates.
How does this get fixed when the people that advise Rocky, the people that he trust, are the problem? The answer......It doesn't. Not for a very long time anyway.

Don't know about y'all...but it feels a bit like Christmas morning.

TOMAHAWK powers ACTIVATE !

to a memorable season for all the right reasons.

The Hawks management, from McDonough on down, is toxic. The people that built the 2010 team are gone. And this current group thinks they actually had something to do with bringing Chicago the Cup. McDonough can plan and coordinate all the bobble head nights in the world for all I care, but he has no business getting involved in hockey ops. The single fact that he hired a personal hockey advisor has so many red flags waving around it it's ridiculous. For me, personally, the stink started to rise the day they fired Savard. I didn't like that they did it, I didn't like when they did it and I didn't like the way they did it. So now Q has won a Cup and you can't take that away from him. But because of one year where eveything came together I now feel "stuck" with Q and his bridge buddies for more years than his total body of work here dictates.
How does this get fixed when the people that advise Rocky, the people that he trust, are the problem? The answer......It doesn't. Not for a very long time anyway.
- Hal9000y2k

The problem for me is that the Hawks should be able to be in the Cup picture and have been knocked out in the first round the last two seasons. The championship window for them closes a little each year and I fear that they are destined to be just like the 85' Bears a team that should have one more titles but didn't because the egos got in the way.

RJ...i could have sworn Mike Kitchen was behind the 'white' bench in the simulated game the other day. BOOOOOOOOO

- philco28

Well if he was, I'd wager the Whites likely lost, since his NHL recored as a Head Coach is 28W-63L.

So he can't Head Coach, lets make him an Assistant - he can't screw that up, can he? Or can he?

And as a player, he played for the Kansas City Scouts and then NJ when they moved there. So how many NHL games in his entire career of playing and coaching would he have won - probably about the same percentage wise as the batting average of a light hitting shortstop.

Kitch comes out of the Toronto area school of hockey losers with guys like Keith Acton, Gord Stellick etc. Will leave it at that.

Man talk about reliving a bad memory. The long lockout must have fuzzied ole Edzo's memory banks. Crawford got smoked by Smith the whole series. He faced only 159 shots, 17 goals, .893 SV% and 2.54 GA. With 2 horrible OT charmin goals. The Yotes had very few quality opps and Vrbata was a no show; Phx was content with cloggin up the Hawks and waiting for a break. Smith faced over 230 shots, 13 goals, .945 Sv% and 2.16 GA. In G6 the Hawks were full throttle for the first 30 minutes and could not dent the guy. And then the roof caved in on C2 and Hawks def and it was over.

All right move on....
- bogiedoc

If you look at the trur scoring opportunities as Edzo does the difference was not as glaring as the shot difference. Shot totals is one of the most leading stats in the NHL.

The bigger issue was the more talented team, certainly ofensive wise, could not find a way to score more than 2 goals per game.

Like I said Crawford isn't Glenn Hall and this core was built to win 2-1 games all the time.

Agree, it is a good read.

Assuming the exit interview aspect of the story is accurate, I have a different view of what the correect management decision should have been. Who cares about correct textbook organizational chains of command, McD and Bowman knew full well that there was going to be a lockout and changes to the CBA and a delay to the start of the season inevitable. Guaranteed they knew that, just like they knew a coaching staff problem existed. They should have fired Q and his 2 assistants a week after the season ended and simply stated the reason as "results failing to meet expectations".
Then they would have had a number of months to thoroughly search out the most competent coach
available. At the end of every season, there are plenty available and witout doubt Scotty would know many of them. Very few would find coaching an Original Six franchise in Chicago unattractive.

Instead, now there is a veteran coach evidently skating on thin ice and nobody coaching in Rockford with any potential to succceed him.

So Kitchen may be a complete hockey coaching idiot and a defiant, on thin ice Q basically unafraid of showing the middle finger to his G.M. who he has no respect for, but the root of this apparent 'failure waiting to happen situation' is 2 incompetent management boobs - McD and Stanbow. They should have recognized the problem and dealt with it.

So, if "failure to meet expectations" repeats itself, it will just require Rocky to exercise his own managerial skills in May and fire everybody from McD down to the water boys.
- RickJ

I won't comment on exit interviews but I know for certain if the players were voting Haviland would still be here.

Agree, it is a good read.

Assuming the exit interview aspect of the story is accurate, I have a different view of what the correect management decision should have been. Who cares about correct textbook organizational chains of command, McD and Bowman knew full well that there was going to be a lockout and changes to the CBA and a delay to the start of the season inevitable. Guaranteed they knew that, just like they knew a coaching staff problem existed. They should have fired Q and his 2 assistants a week after the season ended and simply stated the reason as "results failing to meet expectations".
Then they would have had a number of months to thoroughly search out the most competent coach
available. At the end of every season, there are plenty available and witout doubt Scotty would know many of them. Very few would find coaching an Original Six franchise in Chicago unattractive.

Instead, now there is a veteran coach evidently skating on thin ice and nobody coaching in Rockford with any potential to succceed him.

So Kitchen may be a complete hockey coaching idiot and a defiant, on thin ice Q basically unafraid of showing the middle finger to his G.M. who he has no respect for, but the root of this apparent 'failure waiting to happen situation' is 2 incompetent management boobs - McD and Stanbow. They should have recognized the problem and dealt with it.

So, if "failure to meet expectations" repeats itself, it will just require Rocky to exercise his own managerial skills in May and fire everybody from McD down to the water boys.
- RickJ

Agreed. Q (and his Assts) and Crawford likely have the warmest seats. Stan may be able to buy a little more time, but Q now owns it--good or bad. He'll very likely be the first to pay for any lack of success.

Quite frankly, I'm perplexed as to why McD is still in the Hawks front office--not just there, but involved in hockey decisions. Not sure if he even knows how to put on skates. The interest in the Hawks is burgeoning again--mission accomplished; his job is done.

Well if he was, I'd wager the Whites likely lost, since his NHL recored as a Head Coach is 28W-63L.

So he can't Head Coach, lets make him an Assistant - he can't screw that up, can he? Or can he?

And as a player, he played for the Kansas City Scouts and then NJ when they moved there. So how many NHL games in his entire career of playing and coaching would he have won - probably about the same percentage wise as the batting average of a light hitting shortstop.

Kitch comes out of the Toronto area school of hockey losers with guys like Keith Acton, Gord Stellick etc. Will leave it at that.
- RickJ

Guess that why Kitch's Secret Service code name is "Career Loser"

Don't know about y'all...but it feels a bit like Christmas morning.

TOMAHAWK powers ACTIVATE !

to a memorable season for all the right reasons.
- philco28

OH HELL YES !!! Hockey is here........ Its like waiting all day for Thanksgiving dinner to be done..,.... I can taste it !

Agreed. Q (and his Assts) and Crawford likely have the warmest seats. Stan may be able to buy a little more time, but Q now owns it--good or bad. He'll very likely be the first to pay for any lack of success.

Quite frankly, I'm perplexed as to why McD is still in the Hawks front office--not just there, but involved in hockey decisions. Not sure if he even knows how to put on skates. The interest in the Hawks is burgeoning again--mission accomplished; his job is done.
- grinder10

I certainly have no inside info that he is directly involved in all significant hockey decisions. It seems a stretch to me, but maybe he is.

He's still in the Front Office because Rocky made him the boss of running the Blackhawks. The top guy at US Steel doesn't need to know how to make steel, he oversees the operations of a large company and directs the staff that work for him. Simply put, his job is to make Rocky money off of the hockey team he owns. There are plenty of good things he has done as it relates to the enjoyment and experience of going to a game or following the team. But I can't believe he micromanages to the extent of sitting with Stan discussing names of players on the waiver wire or planning what hotels the team will stay at.

Can we stop all the female dogging for a couple of hours? It's gameday B!TCHE$!!!!! T-minus 3 hours 50 minutes!!

GO HAWKS!

Can we stop all the female dogging for a couple of hours? It's gameday B!TCHE$!!!!! T-minus 3 hours 50 minutes!!

GO HAWKS!


- nathanjf

YEEEAAAAAA BOOOYYYYYYYYYYYY !!!!!

I hope the Hawks get a fast start while the Kings are enjoying their new merchandise.

I certainly have no inside info that he is directly involved in all significant hockey decisions. It seems a stretch to me, but maybe he is.

He's still in the Front Office because Rocky made him the boss of running the Blackhawks. The top guy at US Steel doesn't need to know how to make steel, he oversees the operations of a large company and directs the staff that work for him. Simply put, his job is to make Rocky money off of the hockey team he owns. There are plenty of good things he has done as it relates to the enjoyment and experience of going to a game or following the team. But I can't believe he micromanages to the extent of sitting with Stan discussing names of players on the waiver wire or planning what hotels the team will stay at.
- RickJ

If McD is all about marketing all the time, why would he not be very interested in the players and how they fit into the image they want to project?

YEEEAAAAAA BOOOYYYYYYYYYYYY !!!!!

I hope the Hawks get a fast start while the Kings are enjoying their new merchandise.
- mrpaulish

It will be interesting. Both the Kings and Hawks return most of their teams intact, which I think will be a huge advantage early in the season. How many of the Kings have been playing either overseas or in the AHL this fall? How healthy is Quick? How well will Toews play with the flu?

It will be interesting. Both the Kings and Hawks return most of their teams intact, which I think will be a huge advantage early in the season. How many of the Kings have been playing either overseas or in the AHL this fall? How healthy is Quick? How well will Toews play with the flu?
- NewToHockey

Really. First taste of bad luck this season; I don't think there is anyway you can play near 100% with the flu. Hopefully guys won't be as eager to check him at least!