Anh won that trade without question.

When a bona-fide complete 2c gives you a 50-50 shot at acquiring him, and the cost now is KNOWN to be cheap, and you lose? A joke.

Anaheim kept best prospect AND their top 10 pick.

Way to go Stanley.....keep proving your worth. Fing clown.
- SteveRain

Hard to argue

Canucks return on Kesler suspect...can't believe Hawks couldn't beat that.
- kwolf68

I don't know...have you watched this kid Nick Bonino at all?

He is really an up and comer. He has a really strong stride and gears for an almost 200 pounder, and had 22 goals and 59 points.

The Ducks plan was to acquire Kesler so Bonino could slide to the third centre position and make them stronger...that didn't work out, anyway.

I'm sincerely cracking up at the mass majority of this boards comments.

You all act as if you are surprised. Look at Anaheim's offer - ANY combination involving Leddy, TT, a first etc. would have blown away that offer. Newsflash: The reason why it didn't was because the Hawks never offered enough to beat Anaheim's offer.

Why are you all surprised?

Hate to say it but now Anaheim is deeper up the middle than Chicago
- golfbard

Not hard to do!

Anh won that trade without question.

When a bona-fide complete 2c gives you a 50-50 shot at acquiring him, and the cost now is KNOWN to be cheap, and you lose? A joke.

Anaheim kept best prospect AND their top 10 pick.

Way to go Stanley.....keep proving your worth. Fing clown.
- SteveRain

Exactly

Glad to see there's no overreacting going on in here.

Hate to say it but now Anaheim is deeper up the middle than Chicago
- golfbard

Hate to say it, but my Sunday night rec league is deeper up the middle than the Hawks at this point in time

well anymore wonderful wet dream fantasy trades out there...the kesler cluster was so much fun

Hate to say it but now Anaheim is deeper up the middle than Chicago
- golfbard

And guess what? They don't need to be finished if they don't want to be. Have you seen the cap room they got? What else do they need? They can go get it...Ducks favorite to win Cup next year unless Budreau really effs it up. They are going to have a staunch team.

I don't know...have you watched this kid Nick Bonino at all?

He is really an up and comer. He has a really strong stride and gears for an almost 200 pounder, and had 22 goals and 59 points.

The Ducks plan was to acquire Kesler so Bonino could slide to the third centre position and make them stronger...that didn't work out, anyway.
- wiz1901

I like Bonino. He's a good young player.

>Just a ridiculous hurdle to put teams through
>What kind of a league can't have its cap figure days before their draft?
>Hawks and their following are doing the entire NHL a favor in playing the Winter Classic to ensure top TV ratings for advertisers
>Teams that spend to the cap are getting hosed by this late cap figure
>Time for McD and Rocky to push-back on Bettman
>Time for the teams that actually produce the $ for the league to draw a line in sand and say "that's enough" -- if small market teams can't hack it -- too f'ng bad
- SnapitUpstairs

Yes to every bit of this.

Again - "if"

Hang on guys Stan's big announcement is coming - Sheldon Brookbank resigned for one year...

Maybe after free agency...when Mike Santorelli is introduced as the new 2C.
- DarthKane

Oh god

If they put out a projection like that, they are telling teams it's ok to spend to that, because that's where the cap is likely to be.

Otherwise - why would they put out a projection?

They didn't give a range - say, $68-$72 - they have put a flat number.

But - again - it's still an "if".
- StLBravesFan

If I'm running a business I don't base a decision on a projection, I project my decision until I know for sure what the number is. If SB made a decision without knowing the cap he shouldn't have a job.

No, because apparently no one in the league finance group took the possibity that would happen into account. Those things usually aren't surprises: do some research and see how much pressure your currency is under.
- StLBravesFan

In a multi-billion dollar industry, whats a few million?

Anh won that trade without question.

When a bona-fide complete 2c gives you a 50-50 shot at acquiring him, and the cost now is KNOWN to be cheap, and you lose? A joke.

Anaheim kept best prospect AND their top 10 pick.

Way to go Stanley.....keep proving your worth. Fing clown.
- SteveRain

I don't know...have you watched this kid Nick Bonino at all?

He is really an up and comer. He has a really strong stride and gears for an almost 200 pounder, and had 22 goals and 59 points.

The Ducks plan was to acquire Kesler so Bonino could slide to the third centre position and make them stronger...that didn't work out, anyway.
- wiz1901

Wiz....I DO like Bonino, but the other two? Meh...had that other pick been #10 instead of #24 then tough to argue. But Sbisa and a 24? It just doesn't look like a deal we could not have beaten some how...then again I guess it's true, TT is not on the block. Seems like a move teams NOT in a Cup window do.

Last week? We've been on this topic for a few years now, ever since a supposed trade with Montreal fell apart because the Hawks took too long to get back to them.
- NewToHockey

Ok so regardless of when the McD interfering stuff began, are people really going to start calling for him to "make something happen now that Kesler didnt get dealt to the Hawks"?

Anh won that trade without question.

When a bona-fide complete 2c gives you a 50-50 shot at acquiring him, and the cost now is KNOWN to be cheap, and you lose? A joke.

Anaheim kept best prospect AND their top 10 pick.

Way to go Stanley.....keep proving your worth. Fing clown.
- SteveRain

>Not defending Bowman, but wondering if the Hawks "process" continues to F things up -- unless we are in the room, we will never know
>Regarding Sharp, I don't know what he recently did, but if it is true, there will be boos next year when he makes mistakes -- count on it
>Hawks are delusional if they think this year's team wins next year

I'm sincerely cracking up at the mass majority of this boards comments.

You all act as if you should be surprised. Look at Anaheim's offer - ANY combination involving Leddy, TT, a first etc. would have blown away that offer. Newsflash: The reason why it didn't was because the Hawks never offered enough to beat Anaheim's offer.

Why are you all surprised?
- CaptainBlackhawk

My take is from the return VAN accepted, the only guy who is comparable to Bonino is Saad and we must have said no

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

Acquiring Ryan Kesler would have put a MASSIVE burden on this team for many years to come. StanBo simply didn't offer enough because he simply didn't want to destroy the cap for years to come. That's why. End of story.

I'm sincerely cracking up at the mass majority of this boards comments.

You all act as if you are surprised. Look at Anaheim's offer - ANY combination involving Leddy, TT, a first etc. would have blown away that offer. Newsflash: The reason why it didn't was because the Hawks never offered enough to beat Anaheim's offer.

Why are you all surprised?
- CaptainBlackhawk

THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hang on guys Stan's big announcement is coming - Sheldon Brookbank resigned for one year...
- DK002

You forgot the second part...transitioning to center

Hate to say it but now Anaheim is deeper up the middle than Chicago
- golfbard

At this point, the Wolves are deeper up the middle than the Blackhawks.

Hang on guys Stan's big announcement is coming - Sheldon Brookbank resigned for one year...
- DK002

We can't negotiate Versteeg's extension til next summer, right?