Yes Sir, the thrill is gone and it is a sad day indeed. I saw BB King three times, once in the 70's as a teenager with my Dad when I didn't appreciate BB King or the music and wanted it to be over as soon as it began. Once in the 80's when I started to get it, and I took my Dad in the 90's when I loved the music and Mr. King as much as my Dad.
- paulr

Saw B.B. at Blues fest a few years ago here in Chicago. Great voice in addition to his famous single string vibtrato style playing. A true great. I am sad today.

youve th rown around more names and disrespect than anyone else in this blog, so get off your high (frank)in horse bro.

as ive tried to explain, i dont care about regular season stats when it comes to a prediction. 3 of the 82 games were against the ducks. every other game is against different competition on different nights with different circumstances. they dont mean anything to me. its a short playoff series where anything can happen, with 2 teams that are pretty stacked. thats all there is to it.

and stop with the minnesota stuff...i dont know a single person who picked the wild to win that series. theres a reason they got in as a wild card and had to go on a ridiculous 2nd half run to do it. smoke and mirrors.
- flyershockey

Who are the Flyers playing in the next round? ............end of story!,and just for the record, the Flyers have been my adopted 2nd favorite team back from the days of the Broad Street Bullies. We don't go after Pannaccio or Meltzer or fellow bloggers on these sights since they seem to have a lot more creditable info than "Bruno sitting way up in the 3rd deck " in any of these NHL arena's. JJis pretty respected in the Hockey world among fellow writers .

every time he writes a series prediction blog for the hawks, its this this this this this favor hawks, hawks in 6. plenty of other people in here have said hawks in 6, no issue with that. the issue is how he always arrives to his hawks in 6 picking and choosing things that favor the hawks.
- flyershockey

Please go away, no one really cares what you have to say on our blog. do your trolling somewhere else

LOL! Sorry Rick and WTC, couldn't resist.
- HawkintheD

Looch!......still would love him or 1 like him playing along side of Tazer or Kaner on a nightly basis.definitly could use his game this next series. Hopefully Bickell will keep it up but I got a funny feeling 1of those Ducks will challenge him if the occasion arises and that will be the end of story. Which is why I have always said for Bickell to be effective , he needs a heel man to help dole out those big hits so he isn't much of a target.

I know I'm the enemy coming onto these boards, but I come with upmost respect for the Hawks team. Of course I'm rooting for the Ducks, and hoping they come away with the series win, but it's not going to be easy at all. Three observations of the Ducks, for what it's worth.

One: Murray (GM) acknowledged after we lost to Tampa Bay (for the 2nd time) we were unable to keep up with the speed teams, so he addressed that at the trade deadline. Our roster went through a shake-up if you will, with a number of players traded, and others brought in. We're faster now then before. Probably not as fast as Chicago, but we've advanced above turtle speed.

Two: Silfverberg was moved up to the second line to play with Kesler and Beleskey. The second line now has improved dramatically. Silf now gets some PP time as well.

Third: Trading Lovejoy and adding Despres (what was Pitt. thinking?). We didn't know what we were getting with Despres, so we also traded for Wisniewski (who hasn't even played this postseason). Despres has been a huge surprise for us. He's been paired with Fowler, and as a result, Fowler has improved. Fowler has never looked better.

Looks like Jiri Sekac will make his playoff debut also. More speed, and looked good on our 3/4 lines earlier.

Anyway, it's going to be a tough series. Ducks are playing real well right now. Regular season stats don't mean anything. Both of our teams losing a game 7 at home to the Kings last year has put us both on a mission now. Best of luck.
- quackup

Great points. At least you support your argument. Silfverberg and Despres were great adds by Murray. I agree - I really can't fathom what the Pens were thinking on Despres for Lovejoy. Kesler, those additions you mention, and the scoring depth your showing so far make this a tossup IMO. The speed quotient is now extremely close - particularly with Kimmo and Rundblad in the lineup.

Does Sekac slot in for Jackman? That definitely improves your speed. For Etem it is a wash but Jiri is more skilled.

SHUT THE (frank) UP!
- SimpleJack

Finally something we can totally agree on.

Great points. At least you support your argument. Silfverberg and Despres were great adds by Murray. I agree - I really can't fathom what the Pens were thinking on Despres for Lovejoy. Kesler, those additions you mention, and the scoring depth your showing so far make this a tossup IMO. The speed quotient is now extremely close - particularly with Kimmo and Rundblad in the lineup.

Does Sekac slot in for Jackman? That definitely improves your speed. For Etem it is a wash but Jiri is more skilled.
- tredbrta

Looks like it.

He's not going anywhere. Trust me.
- John Jaeckel

Great points. At least you support your argument. Silfverberg and Despres were great adds by Murray. I agree - I really can't fathom what the Pens were thinking on Despres for Lovejoy. Kesler, those additions you mention, and the scoring depth your showing so far make this a tossup IMO. The speed quotient is now extremely close - particularly with Kimmo and Rundblad in the lineup.

Does Sekac slot in for Jackman? That definitely improves your speed. For Etem it is a wash but Jiri is more skilled.
- tredbrta

Ducks are very much improved from,last year as far as scoring. Their problem is their defense. The Ducks have proven they can beat young inexperienced teams. Now comes the real playoffs. The Hawks have far too much depth and their great players are world class and displaying it. I think the Hawks take the series in 6 like most here but it could be shorter if Anaheim continues the trend of getting behind.

Ducks are very much improved from,last year as far as scoring. Their problem is their defense. The Ducks have proven they can beat young inexperienced teams. Now comes the real playoffs. The Hawks have far too much depth and their great players are world class and displaying it. I think the Hawks take the series in 6 like most here but it could be shorter if Anaheim continues the trend of getting behind.
- arh777

I'm with you in that I don't see the Hawks giving away those third period leads like the Jets did. I can't be with the popular crowd so I'll take the Hawks in 5.

I'm with you in that I don't see the Hawks giving away those third period leads like the Jets did. I can't be with the popular crowd so I'll take the Hawks in 5.
- stljam

Hipster

every time he writes a series prediction blog for the hawks, its this this this this this favor hawks, hawks in 6. plenty of other people in here have said hawks in 6, no issue with that. the issue is how he always arrives to his hawks in 6 picking and choosing things that favor the hawks.
- flyershockey

So... yo're not bitter he's picking the Hawks, but that he's using facts and stats to support it?

okay...

every time he writes a series prediction blog for the hawks, its this this this this this favor hawks, hawks in 6. plenty of other people in here have said hawks in 6, no issue with that. the issue is how he always arrives to his hawks in 6 picking and choosing things that favor the hawks.
- flyershockey

Mr Flyershockey, if you were astute enough and considered the Hawk's record during JJ.s time on this board, you would note that they have won their fair share of playoff rounds. Therefore, if JJ was predicting Hawk wins he was proven right.

Hipster
- BlazinMike

I know I'm the enemy coming onto these boards, but I come with upmost respect for the Hawks team. Of course I'm rooting for the Ducks, and hoping they come away with the series win, but it's not going to be easy at all. Three observations of the Ducks, for what it's worth.

One: Murray (GM) acknowledged after we lost to Tampa Bay (for the 2nd time) we were unable to keep up with the speed teams, so he addressed that at the trade deadline. Our roster went through a shake-up if you will, with a number of players traded, and others brought in. We're faster now then before. Probably not as fast as Chicago, but we've advanced above turtle speed.

Two: Silfverberg was moved up to the second line to play with Kesler and Beleskey. The second line now has improved dramatically. Silf now gets some PP time as well.

Third: Trading Lovejoy and adding Despres (what was Pitt. thinking?). We didn't know what we were getting with Despres, so we also traded for Wisniewski (who hasn't even played this postseason). Despres has been a huge surprise for us. He's been paired with Fowler, and as a result, Fowler has improved. Fowler has never looked better.

Looks like Jiri Sekac will make his playoff debut also. More speed, and looked good on our 3/4 lines earlier.

Anyway, it's going to be a tough series. Ducks are playing real well right now. 4th: Regular season stats don't mean anything. Both of our teams losing a game 7 at home to the Kings last year has put us both on a mission now. Best of luck.
- quackup

1) Agreed. I would not call it an overhaul. A slight to moderate improvement.

2) Nice player. Seems like a good fit.

3) Despres is a nice upgrade and it's made a difference.

4) Yes, regular season stats matter. In spite of your build up, the Ducks are still 90% (at least) the same team. Seems to me that those who keep saying forget the regular season are just in denial about how bad the regular season and especially head to head stats make this series look. Maybe?

The other side of this is Chicago got better at the deadline too. Two "weaknesses" were center and lower line toughness, enter Vermette and Desjardins. A team that was good on face-offs just got marginally better. desjardins' made a good fourth line even better.

Bottom line, Chicago plays possession styler hockey as well as anyone, the Ducks are not there yet even if Murray has tried to improve that aspect of their game, and Chicago will (probably) not make the same mistakes defensively that the Ducks capitalized on in the first two rounds. regular season, playoffs, doesn't matter, the Blackhawks prevent pucks in their own net better than Winnipeg or Calgary. Some would argue a fair amount better.

Thanks for a fact-based argument nonetheless.

Anyone know how Johns looked last night since all the major brass was in attendance to evaluate?

Today's Interview-
Hawks-Ducks Playoffs on NHL Radio Network with Boomer Gordon http://chirb.it/sDBpbL

Hipster
- BlazinMike

I prefer contrarian

Anyone know how Johns looked last night since all the major brass was in attendance to evaluate?
- FourFeathers773

Paging Eli .........

I prefer contrarian
- stljam

We already have one .....

Hawks evaluating D pairings yesterday.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/blogpost.htm?id=39779

Duncan Keith was paired with Niklas Hjalmarsson instead of 23-year-old David Rundblad, and Brent Seabrook shifted with Johnny Oduya rather than 40-year-old Kimmo Timonen.

Rundblad, Timonen and Kyle Cumiskey alternated shifts together as a makeshift third pairing.

Bottom line, Chicago plays possession styler hockey as well as anyone, the Ducks are not there yet even if Murray has tried to improve that aspect of their game, and Chicago will (probably) not make the same mistakes defensively that the Ducks capitalized on in the first two rounds. regular season, playoffs, doesn't matter, the Blackhawks prevent pucks in their own net better than Winnipeg or Calgary. Some would argue a fair amount better.
- John Jaeckel

Over the last couple of years, I seems from watching the Blues Hawks games that one of the big differences is that while the Hawks can play a puck possession style, much like the Blues can, the Hawks are immensely better at the opportunistic, counter attack style as well (stretch passes behind the D being a very simple example). The real differences seem to be on the finishing end and on the counter-attacking end. jmho which isn't worth a cup of coffee.

My only point being they can play other styles too when they need to do so.

1) Agreed. I would not call it an overhaul. A slight to moderate improvement.

2) Nice player. Seems like a good fit.

3) Despres is a nice upgrade and it's made a difference.

4) Yes, regular season stats matter. In spite of your build up, the Ducks are still 90% (at least) the same team. Seems to me that those who keep saying forget the regular season are just in denial about how bad the regular season and especially head to head stats make this series look. Maybe?

The other side of this is Chicago got better at the deadline too. Two "weaknesses" were center and lower line toughness, enter Vermette and Desjardins. A team that was good on face-offs just got marginally better. desjardins' made a good fourth line even better.

Bottom line, Chicago plays possession styler hockey as well as anyone, the Ducks are not there yet even if Murray has tried to improve that aspect of their game, and Chicago will (probably) not make the same mistakes defensively that the Ducks capitalized on in the first two rounds. regular season, playoffs, doesn't matter, the Blackhawks prevent pucks in their own net better than Winnipeg or Calgary. Some would argue a fair amount better.

Thanks for a fact-based argument nonetheless.
- John Jaeckel

With all due respect, with turnover, I don't see it.

Game 1 in Chicago (Ducks 1-0), 2 F, 1 D not playing in postseason. Gibson goalie
Game 2 in Anaheim (Chicago 4-1), 2 F, 3 D not playing in postseason
Game 3 in Anaheim (Chicago 4-1), 1 F, 1 D not playing in postseason (2nd of b2b)

I also acknowledge Chicago has changed their roster since we last met. I just don't put as much emphasis on regular season stats, since the players that met in the regular season change come the playoffs. Especially game 2 above, where 1/3 forwards are now different, and half the D. Anyway, should be fun. We can agree to disagree.

Today's Interview-
Hawks-Ducks Playoffs on NHL Radio Network with Boomer Gordon http://chirb.it/sDBpbL
- Al

Thanks Al I always enjoy your interviews with Boomer.

Looch!......still would love him or 1 like him playing along side of Tazer or Kaner on a nightly basis.definitly could use his game this next series. Hopefully Bickell will keep it up but I got a funny feeling 1of those Ducks will challenge him if the occasion arises and that will be the end of story. Which is why I have always said for Bickell to be effective , he needs a heel man to help dole out those big hits so he isn't much of a target.
- wonthecup10

His game? Taking selfish penalties? Losing his composure when someone isn't afraid of him? No thanks.