Still don't understand that JVR trade.
- RickJ

win win for both teams = the best kind of trade.


If you watched the philly game today you would have seen Luke flat out level both Staal brothers with 2 of his 8 hits, he also blocked 6 shots and led all flyers in ice time. He's been really good.... as has JVR for Toronto.

win win for both teams = the best kind of trade.


If you watched the philly game today you would have seen Luke flat out level both Staal brothers with 2 of his 8 hits, he also blocked 6 shots and led all flyers in ice time. He's been really good.... as has JVR for Toronto.
- moylander

Game was on right at dinnertime for me....certainly enjoyed it as a whole. Corvo's a hometown boy for me, but Briere had a nice GWG in OT.

Cheers to that! A friend gave me a bottle of the 15 Year Fine Oak. Great gesture except now I don't enjoy the 12 Year as much and that was almost half the price. Damn him!
- HawkintheD

It is very cost effective NOT to develop a taste for the 25 Year.

My 18 Year only comes out on very special occasions - like the Hawks hammering the Canucks in Vancouver on a Saturday night or the Leafs stomping on the Canadiens right in Montreal.

And the price of Macallan's in Chicago is about the cheapest that you can find it anywhere.

win win for both teams = the best kind of trade.


If you watched the philly game today you would have seen Luke flat out level both Staal brothers with 2 of his 8 hits, he also blocked 6 shots and led all flyers in ice time. He's been really good.... as has JVR for Toronto.
- moylander

Didn't see the game. Flyers had to get things going on their homestand or they were in big trouble seeing they are on the road for 6. Good for Schenn, I hope Laviolette gets his career turned around because it wasn't going to happen under Ron Wilson.

Wild beat the preds in ot after a strange faceoff violation penalty on Gustad sent the wild to the pp. Never saw that call before...not sure what the refs saw.

You should be watching the Montreal-Toronto game. The Leafs pretty much beat the crap out of the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge. And I can't say that upsets me much, in fact I just poured myself another MacAllan 18 Year hoping there are a few more Habs used as punching bags.

6-0 Leafs
- RickJ

Nothing much in this game in the 1st but the refs were busy in the 2nd and 3rd..

http://sports.yahoo.com/n...l/boxscore?gid=2013020910

Wild beat the preds in ot after a strange faceoff violation penalty on Gustad sent the wild to the pp. Never saw that call before...not sure what the refs saw.
- bogiedoc

That's 4 "loss points" for Nashville - keeping them in contention.

A lot of 3 poit games in the West.

So Nashville tomorrow vs Rinne and home finally to face some tough teams: Ducks, Sharks 2x and the Nucks.

Welcome home...after a phenominal start!

Henricks from the Caps could look nice on Kruger's wing. He can also win draws sice it seems he is a center. Doesn't take many draws but wins 55+% and had 200 hits last year.

My larger point is that Shaw ang Kruger have earned more time at center with their play. If Kruger or Bolly could win at least 45% of draws it would be palitable. But also, not enough reason to move them to the wing and make a medium trade. Unless Getzlaf is the return, all others are not necessarily better than what we have and, more importantly, what they are growing into.

Jasom Chimera? Big but slow. Could he be a fit on the top line? Can he be had for picks and prospects? Ready to move Saad down? Just saying that trading x for y is not always a simple improvement. There are ripples.

Henricks from the Caps could look nice on Kruger's wing. He can also win draws sice it seems he is a center. Doesn't take many draws but wins 55+% and had 200 hits last year.

My larger point is that Shaw ang Kruger have earned more time at center with their play. If Kruger or Bolly could win at least 45% of draws it would be palitable. But also, not enough reason to move them to the wing and make a medium trade. Unless Getzlaf is the return, all others are not necessarily better than what we have and, more importantly, what they are growing into.

Jasom Chimera? Big but slow. Could he be a fit on the top line? Can he be had for picks and prospects? Ready to move Saad down? Just saying that trading x for y is not always a simple improvement. There are ripples.
- Kentxo

This is just bait for me right....

First, Chimera is one of the fastest skaters. Second, if you get him to skate on top 6, give me Stalberg all day.

Henricks from the Caps could look nice on Kruger's wing. He can also win draws sice it seems he is a center. Doesn't take many draws but wins 55+% and had 200 hits last year.

My larger point is that Shaw ang Kruger have earned more time at center with their play. If Kruger or Bolly could win at least 45% of draws it would be palitable. But also, not enough reason to move them to the wing and make a medium trade. Unless Getzlaf is the return, all others are not necessarily better than what we have and, more importantly, what they are growing into.

Jasom Chimera? Big but slow. Could he be a fit on the top line? Can he be had for picks and prospects? Ready to move Saad down? Just saying that trading x for y is not always a simple improvement. There are ripples.
- Kentxo

OK can we have a board ban on the idea that the Anaheim Ducks would ever trade the Chicago Blackhawks Ryan Getzlaf......for those believing this would ever happen please repeat the following before clicking on the submit button.....IT.WILL.NEVER.HAPPEN......the Ducks are in the Western Conference and um....wow....that happens to be the same conference the Hawks play in and 2nd.....The Ducks.....currently are 2nd in the Western Conference. So please stop.....

Secondly the jury is still out on Kruger winning even 45% of his face offs.....but Kruger isn't going anywhere....

OK can we have a board ban on the idea that the Anaheim Ducks would ever trade the Chicago Blackhawks Ryan Getzlaf......for those believing this would ever happen please repeat the following before clicking on the submit button.....IT.WILL.NEVER.HAPPEN......the Ducks are in the Western Conference and um....wow....that happens to be the same conference the Hawks play in and 2nd.....The Ducks.....currently are 2nd in the Western Conference. So please stop.....

Secondly the jury is still out on Kruger winning even 45% of his face offs.....but Kruger isn't going anywhere....
- UnnamedSource

yep. ducks are not sellers

OK can we have a board ban on the idea that the Anaheim Ducks would ever trade the Chicago Blackhawks Ryan Getzlaf......for those believing this would ever happen please repeat the following before clicking on the submit button.....IT.WILL.NEVER.HAPPEN......the Ducks are in the Western Conference and um....wow....that happens to be the same conference the Hawks play in and 2nd.....The Ducks.....currently are 2nd in the Western Conference. So please stop.....

Secondly the jury is still out on Kruger winning even 45% of his face offs.....but Kruger isn't going anywhere....
- UnnamedSource

One of the positives to me of the proposed realignment plan was that conference wouldn't mean as much. That would make for more potential trade partners. Does anyone know what happened with that? Are they waiting for the Yotes to move?

As always, the hyperbole of trade targets begins with a practical comment and quickly spirals into insanity. Great to know so many fans out there are staying 3 steps ahead of the game. Have not heard about Getzlaff or Ryan in a day or so. Iginla...jeez debating merits and salary. It would be more relevant to debate who is tougher, superman or spiderman.
- TrueGrit

If you don't like what people write on an open discussion hockey board, why don't you:

a) Stop reading the posts of people who annoy you with topics you don't like.

b) Start your own hockey board blog site where you can dictate who can say what you want them to say, when you want them to say it and how you want them to say it.

c) Put on your big girl panties and get over it already!

So at worst case scenerio the Hawks will be 9-1-2 after 10 of the fist 12 on the road. Thats kind of amazing. If 10 of the first 12 were at home I wouldnt think their record would be that good.

So at worst case scenerio the Hawks will be 9-1-2 after 10 of the fist 12 on the road. Thats kind of amazing. If 10 of the first 12 were at home I wouldnt think their record would be that good.
- mrpaulish

I'm a little afraid of the Hawks going into tonights game thinking the road trip is already going to be considered a success no matter what they do in Nashville.

Question about trades

I've been a fan of hockey for many years now, but I don't know the game as well as many of you. I have seen talk of trades here and one of the prime identified needs is size, whether a top 6 power forward or bottom 6 grinder. The Hawks are a puck-possession team that emphasizes speed and flow to win games. Do we risk hurting that aspect of our team if we trade for size? If the guy is slow, doesn't he in the end disrupt whatever line he's on? I know big and fast would be great, but can we hope to get that without trading a big piece and going into cap hell?

I'm wondering whether a slow guy that fits a team that plays a style like Nash, Blues, Yotes, etc., would fit into our style. Perhaps I am scarred from watching Burnette try to keep up last year (I get he was past his shelf life by the time we got him)!

I'm a little afraid of the Hawks going into tonights game thinking the road trip is already going to be considered a success no matter what they do in Nashville.
- Hal9000y2k

I am with you on that. I've thought that a few times this year, even during games that didn't start well (i.e., SJ), but they seem to have an attitude (this year) that looks for challenges like that. To me, this attitude difference is a huge difference from the teams of the past two years - they seem to think they have something to prove.

That said, I'm guessing they will lose at least one game this year anyway!!

So at worst case scenerio the Hawks will be 9-1-2 after 10 of the fist 12 on the road. Thats kind of amazing. If 10 of the first 12 were at home I wouldnt think their record would be that good.
- mrpaulish

Usually the long road trips are a good indicator of how well the Hawks season will go and hopefully this year will be no exception. Even more encouraging now is that most of the games will be at home.

Seems to be more "Corey by Elimination" than anything.
- StLBravesFan

Price, Fleury, Lu, Schneider, maybe even a 41 year old Martin Brodeur ALL at least need to be in that conversation before anointing Crawford or Mike Smith.

Although I will say there is some evidence the balance of power in the goaltending world has shifted away from Canada.

Question about trades

I've been a fan of hockey for many years now, but I don't know the game as well as many of you. I have seen talk of trades here and one of the prime identified needs is size, whether a top 6 power forward or bottom 6 grinder. The Hawks are a puck-possession team that emphasizes speed and flow to win games. Do we risk hurting that aspect of our team if we trade for size? If the guy is slow, doesn't he in the end disrupt whatever line he's on? I know big and fast would be great, but can we hope to get that without trading a big piece and going into cap hell?

I'm wondering whether a slow guy that fits a team that plays a style like Nash, Blues, Yotes, etc., would fit into our style. Perhaps I am scarred from watching Burnette try to keep up last year (I get he was past his shelf life by the time we got him)!
- mohel

It's a valid question and I think one the Hawks ask themselves. But you can't rely on the premise that big or physical guys are always slow. You also can't have a team entirely comprised of smaller, faster, skilled players. I know some would like to see that. But that is a team that generally does well in the regular season and gets checked out of the building in the playoffs. In fact, you go down the rosters of Stanley Cup winning teams and you will find lots of "grinders" names on there.

Burnside and ESPN can't even spell hockey. He's got Corey Crawford, Montreal and Carey Price mixed up. Crawford would only get a call if Price, Luongo, MA Fleury, Cam Ward all decided they didn't want to go.
- RickJ

Exactly, forgot about Ward.

Price, Fleury, Lu, Schneider, maybe even a 41 year old Martin Brodeur ALL at least need to be in that conversation before anointing Crawford or Mike Smith.

Although I will say there is some evidence the balance of power in the goaltending world has shifted away from Canada.
- John Jaeckel

As a very avid supporter of Team USA Hockey I would love Crawford to be the goalie of Team Canada. Just saying

Price, Fleury, Lu, Schneider, maybe even a 41 year old Martin Brodeur ALL at least need to be in that conversation before anointing Crawford or Mike Smith.

Although I will say there is some evidence the balance of power in the goaltending world has shifted away from Canada.
- John Jaeckel

Isn't Schneider from Boston, and thus, ineligible to play for Team Canada?

As a very avid supporter of Team USA Hockey I would love Crawford to be the goalie of Team Canada. Just saying
- mrpaulish

The day Crawford gets a shutout is the day he gets considered,not happening