Today, Tanner called Rundblad, " great player"

Truly amazing. I stopped reading his click bait a while back but was bored so gave it a read today. Lo and behold another hot mess of a column.

Today, Tanner called Rundblad, " great player"

Truly amazing. I stopped reading his click bait a while back but was bored so gave it a read today. Lo and behold another hot mess of a column.
- Yikes726

Other nuggets from Tanner's blog:

1) Predators blueliners are best ever assembled in salary cap era
2) Rundblad and Jackman are both > than Nurse and Sekera
3) The Red Wings will be the worst team in the NHL
4) Hawks, Ducks, Kings, and Stars won't make the playoffs (replaced by the Oilers, Jets, Flames, and Avs)

A. You're referencing Kruger playing a small stint at 2C 5 years ago during a season in which we were bounced in round 1 as evidence that he belongs in that role for this upcoming season? Really?

B. Hinostroza replacing Hossa? Who said that? What are you talking about?

C. Yes, the Hawks were bad 5 v 5 last year.....again, who said they weren't? What does Kruger playing 2C or not playing 2C have to do with that?

D. There is NO HOLE AT 1LW. Panarin is as close to a 1LW as you'll find in the NHL. There is definitely a hole at LW in general, yet the overall issue is with the bottom 6 forward depth. Your consistent belief that our top 6 is somehow weaker than our bottom 6 is laughable. Our top 6 features the reigning Art Ross winner, reigning Calder winner, and 3 future HOFers. Our bottom 6 features who? Marcus (frank)ing Kruger? The leading goal scorer in our bottom 6 is Andrew Desjardins for christ sake. Its not even close. The Hawks need to figure out their forward depth more than they need to add yet another star player to a top 6 that is already loaded with elite talent.

E. Why AA was playing LW on a different team in a different situation is completely irrelevant to this upcoming Hawks team's current situation. Did that Blue Jackets team have 3 other top 6 wingers the caliber of Kane, Panarin, and Hossa? What was their center depth like? We have ZERO center depth as it is after losing Shaw and TT. Kruger moving up to 2C leaves us with BY FAR the worst center depth in the NHL. Remember what happened in 2014 because of our center depth? You really want to move AA to LW on a team that is already depleted down the middle?
- SimpleJack

Jack, not disagreeing with you necessarily, but the Hawks and I'm sure much of the league know that this team has a huge hole in the top 6. Q knows it, Bowman knows it, the team knows it. Regardless if we call Panarin 1LW or 2LW, we are still short a top 6 winger.

Today, Tanner called Rundblad, " great player"

Truly amazing. I stopped reading his click bait a while back but was bored so gave it a read today. Lo and behold another hot mess of a column.
- Yikes726

Incredible isn't it? SimpleJack did a nice job responding, but that Tanner guy has to be a pure parody blogger. He has taken the expressway PAST joke status.

I'd like a Maroon type guy. He can go take a beating down low. One thing that happened without Saad last year is that Toews took a lot more of a beating down low. I think it frustrated him that's why you saw so many fights from him.

His style of play means he will take a beating but last year I thought he took a lot more that usual. Opposing D and forwards didn't have to worry about the LW. Another key reason they need an adequate winger. Means Hossa and Toews get beat up a little less.

Anyone who thinks the Hawks are a LOCK to make the tournament, please remember (and I've said this before):

They rode a 12 game winning streak to the post-season last year - outside of that, they were 35 up and 35 down - a .500 team in the non-Bettman world. You can spin that lots of ways - relaxed the last two months because they knew they were in, etc. - but still....

Better roster right now? On defense, certainly - but the forwards (without Shaw, without Teravainen, no proven left wing to play with 19 and 81, no scoring improvement bottom-6 or other than PAK - they averaged 2.02 goals per 60 minutes 5x5 last year - maybe improvement this year because of the overly long offseason, better defense leading to more ES scoring - maybe.

I'm cautiously pessimistic.
- StLBravesFan

You can't just subtract 12 wins and spin it that they were a 0.500 team. Wins are wins. You just subtract 12 wins from any teams record and suddenly they don't look so hot. Plenty of teams have streaks here and there. Every team plays weak teams and strong teams. All that matters is the end result.

The forwards definitely do have less proven scoring depth, but the jury is out on what we'll get from the youth. There are a few factors that should counter-balance some of the loss of scoring 5v5.

The better D will help, for sure. Just in offensively talent and skating upgrades adding Campbell/Kempny and seeing less Rosy.

Plus, as the Hawks did lose a couple moderately productive guys in TT and Shaw, they also ditched some real dead weight offensively in Bickell, Garbutt, Tikhonov, etc.. Those guys all got games and minutes with very little return on the scoresheet, so it isn't a stretch to get a bit more from those minutes this season. It couldn't get worse for the games those guys played.

Finally, if Kruger is healthy and 100% it helps the D and O. More Ozone time for the top 6 guys like Toews to do their thing, and also Kruger should bounce back to his 15-25 points.

This team might score less than last season, but the losses are all loses and there are some real strengths to the team. No team is a lock, I think that has been proven enough times, but the Hawks "should" still be a playoff team unless things go very wrong.

I have a huge problem with that trade. The league owned AZ team is a dump for important franchises the NHL wants to succeed. Panthers a young up and coming team got huge cap relief by dumping Bolland in the waste land. It's a complete farce. Those kind of trades should not be occurring with AZ. No other major sports league would allow or condone such things let alone actively participate in.
- bhawks2241

2241....The flawed process in place doesn't work unless there is an Az. Before them it was others like Florida etc.

It could be cleaned up with one sentence in the CBA-Don't allow teams to gol below a certain amount under the cap floor.
There was a tagging factor which didn't allow teams to be over the cap beyond a certain % for the next season...But there isn't anything preventing teams from purging to an extreme.

The best in my view is a free market way-Take the floor out all together-If franchises don't spend enough to ice a good team-Fans don't come and then they are done.

But the current way works better for Bettman as there is an out for teams looking to unload bad paper-And the league lives with fans not spending a dime to watch Az on a regular basis.

Fixed it for ya, Enzo.

Luv ya, pal, and I'll play this game.

Really zero NHL teams match up their 4C against a Ryan Getzlaf or a Jeff Carter or a Tyler Johnson. They don't. That is the job of a 3C/shutdown center, which is really what Marcus Kruger is. The Hawks have had the luxury of 2 "third lines" a couple of the previous seasons, hence the Kruger as 4C narrative.

Sami Pahlsson was a shutdown 3C. No one ever argues that. Exact same type of player Kruger is pretty much. Vernon Fiddler, Adam Burish, Nate Thompson—those are 4th line centers. Tough to play against, but not really brilliant at anything.

Funny you say Shaw is better than Kruger. I guess by your rationale, Shaw is just a 4th line winger. We know that's not really true. But that's where he played a lot of the last 2 years.

Oh, Shaw played (by default) and kind of underwjelmed as 1LW last year. Same can be said of Kruger as 2C in 2011-12, when the Hawks didn't finish in the lottery but as the third seed in the West.

As a center, Shaw is not better than Kruger. He is not his equal as a center.

A center's primary job is to win face-offs, defend the opponent's center over 200 feet of ice (both things Kruger is beer than Shaw at, and to create offensive opportunities for others. And I would argue with the same wingers, those two would be about equal at that, maybe Kruger even a bit better because his passing is underrated.

So Enzo, you're right, neither you nor I get to make personnel decisions based upon which players we like or dislike, but the Chicago Blackhawks, who have numerous former players and two Hall of Fame coaches on their payroll, do. They think Kruger is worth $3 million a season.

And here's something you need to understand: Scotty Bowman (especially) loves Kruger. So address your criticisms to him. Mmmmm-kay?



- John Jaeckel

I imagine that Scotty sees Kruger as valuable as Doug Jarvis or Doug Risebrough players that were essential to winning Cups-- but no one really talked about or seemed to realize their value--- except their teammates and coaches--

I believe that Kruger has more offensive potential if he is put in that role-- this is a player that every coach would want to have as he fills the role given to him--and will run through a wall giving you everything he has-- he is a warrior--

2241....The flawed process in place doesn't work unless there is an Az. Before them it was others like Florida etc.

It could be cleaned up with one sentence in the CBA-Don't allow teams to gol below a certain amount under the cap floor.
There was a tagging factor which didn't allow teams to be over the cap beyond a certain % for the next season...But there isn't anything preventing teams from purging to an extreme.

The best in my view is a free market way-Take the floor out all together-If franchises don't spend enough to ice a good team-Fans don't come and then they are done.

But the current way works better for Bettman as there is an out for teams looking to unload bad paper-And the league lives with fans not spending a dime to watch Az on a regular basis.
- Al

We agree that this CBA system and the flawed and the premise / strategy that parity builds the NHL into a better league resulting in more lucrative TV contracts is all a hazy pipe dream--

I'm gonna say it-- the NHL will continue to suffer until reform takes place when Bettman is removed-- until then get ready for a lock out as the NHLPA will be tired of bailing out the Cap with the give back from the players-- while the owners grab the 500 million non HRR --- that the payers see none of-- yet their play and talent are the face of the league-- its a joke that has to be reformed--

We agree that this CBA system and the flawed and the premise / strategy that parity builds the NHL into a better league resulting in more lucrative TV contracts is all a hazy pipe dream--

I'm gonna say it-- the NHL will continue to suffer until reform takes place when Bettman is removed-- until then get ready for a lock out as the NHLPA will be tired of bailing out the Cap with the give back from the players-- while the owners grab the 500 million non HRR --- that the payers see none of-- yet their play and talent are the face of the league-- its a joke that has to be reformed--
- jb3333

Bettman seems to have the unwavering support of the owners, so something would have to change drastically for him to ever be "removed". It will likely have to wait until he chooses to retire, and even then, if the owners are still happy, they'll likely just replace him with someone of a similar ilk.

2241....The flawed process in place doesn't work unless there is an Az. Before them it was others like Florida etc.

It could be cleaned up with one sentence in the CBA-Don't allow teams to gol below a certain amount under the cap floor.
There was a tagging factor which didn't allow teams to be over the cap beyond a certain % for the next season...But there isn't anything preventing teams from purging to an extreme.

The best in my view is a free market way-Take the floor out all together-If franchises don't spend enough to ice a good team-Fans don't come and then they are done.

But the current way works better for Bettman as there is an out for teams looking to unload bad paper-And the league lives with fans not spending a dime to watch Az on a regular basis.
- Al

Maybe it's my conspiracy theory side but it's also teams that league needs to be good. They need the Florida team to be good otherwise there attendance is bad they got out of that Bolland contract which is beyond terrible. They need Detroit to be competitive so Dats contract moved. They need Philly a big market team to be successful suddenly prongers contract disappears. But at the same time for some reason they felt the need to punish the front loaded long term contracts the last CBA though. It makes little sense and shows no foresight or larger plan by the League. It's really sad. You don't see any other league run like that. They pick and chose what long term contracts will be detrimental to certain teams.

While I'm venting might as well touch on officiating too. MLB, NFL, and NBA officials before each season focus on certain things they want to clean up in their respective games. Directives from league management. You don't see that in the NHL. (Except head shots apparently except you still see guys getting run and terrible rulings and calls) There is no real directive to improve the game and how it's played. Reaks of complete mismanagement and lack of directive. I've never turned an NHL game on the last couple of years and heard anything about how officials are targeting certain infractions or trying to do such and such to improve play. It's not rocket science. Idk why it's so hard to run a league properly.

Not the narrative, rather I think an opinion of a few. Folks always want to look at points when it comes to these things.

Saying Danault is as good as Kruger because he scored as many points as Kruger last year is certainly the epitome of "damning with faint praise".

I believe Kruger will prove people wrong. Problem is with guys like Kruger, you really have to watch closely to see his value, not look at a stat sheet.

He's the type of player who you have to have to win cups.

Also everyone wants to look at salary. Kruger is a bit overpaid, mostly because he took a one year cheap deal to help out the team. Obviously we'll never know, but I'll always believe that they came up with a number and term they both agreed on, and worked it the way the system allowed.

They agreed on a deal that was roughly 11.4 over 4 years. Which is certainly in line with the 3C and #1 PK guy on a cup winning team.

Kudos to the front office for sticking to the commitment when it would have been easy to renege on it. That's why the rep is good and most would like to play here.
- vabeachbear

I could easily believe there was a handshake agreement with Kruger that if he take the $1.5m one year contract for last season that they'd make up for the amount he could have gotten on the open market in the next contract. So if you add his one year contract to this current 3 year contract, the term is 4 years and the annual salary is $2,687,500. That seems about right for Kruger in today's market. So, I don't see Kruger as being over paid.

2241....The flawed process in place doesn't work unless there is an Az. Before them it was others like Florida etc.

It could be cleaned up with one sentence in the CBA-Don't allow teams to gol below a certain amount under the cap floor.
There was a tagging factor which didn't allow teams to be over the cap beyond a certain % for the next season...But there isn't anything preventing teams from purging to an extreme.

The best in my view is a free market way-Take the floor out all together-If franchises don't spend enough to ice a good team-Fans don't come and then they are done.

But the current way works better for Bettman as there is an out for teams looking to unload bad paper-And the league lives with fans not spending a dime to watch Az on a regular basis.
- Al

Taking away the salary floor wouldn't go over too well with the players association because it potentially means less salary being paid overall. I think they'd go along with it if in addition to that the hard cap was replaced by a luxury tax so teams could go over the cap. The risk there is it might drive less parity because good teams could keep more assets. It certainly would have helped the Blackhawks if they could have signed Saad or kept Sharp without the threat of the cap. It might also result in fewer of these salary dump trades too.

Jack, not disagreeing with you necessarily, but the Hawks and I'm sure much of the league know that this team has a huge hole in the top 6. Q knows it, Bowman knows it, the team knows it. Regardless if we call Panarin 1LW or 2LW, we are still short a top 6 winger.
- 93Joe

I think they are short on forward depth in general, and that certainly includes a LW, but not necessarily a top 6LW depending on how the lines are constructed.

And that seems to be the misunderstanding.

Just an idea, but what about Motte on the top line. Hes a grinder/physical guy who can go to the wall and get the puck. Sounds like he has the frame to handle that job. It would be a simple job for him and take some of the grind off of 19.

And Im not saying Motte doesnt have hands..

You can't just subtract 12 wins and spin it that they were a 0.500 team. Wins are wins. You just subtract 12 wins from any teams record and suddenly they don't look so hot. Plenty of teams have streaks here and there. Every team plays weak teams and strong teams. All that matters is the end result.

The forwards definitely do have less proven scoring depth, but the jury is out on what we'll get from the youth. There are a few factors that should counter-balance some of the loss of scoring 5v5.

The better D will help, for sure. Just in offensively talent and skating upgrades adding Campbell/Kempny and seeing less Rosy.

Plus, as the Hawks did lose a couple moderately productive guys in TT and Shaw, they also ditched some real dead weight offensively in Bickell, Garbutt, Tikhonov, etc.. Those guys all got games and minutes with very little return on the scoresheet, so it isn't a stretch to get a bit more from those minutes this season. It couldn't get worse for the games those guys played.

Finally, if Kruger is healthy and 100% it helps the D and O. More Ozone time for the top 6 guys like Toews to do their thing, and also Kruger should bounce back to his 15-25 points.

This team might score less than last season, but the losses are all loses and there are some real strengths to the team. No team is a lock, I think that has been proven enough times, but the Hawks "should" still be a playoff team unless things go very wrong.
- breadbag

I tried telling him that all last season. Obviously I didn't do a very good job, so I'm passing the torch to you.

I bet if you look up his plus minue it will be minus also...but that doesn't demean is critaical value in all the areas you said...the tale of the tape doesn't cover my eyeballs..he is rally good.
- wiz1901

Wiz, you really know how to turn a phrase!

Just an idea, but what about Motte on the top line. Hes a grinder/physical guy who can go to the wall and get the puck. Sounds like he has the frame to handle that job. It would be a simple job for him and take some of the grind off of 19.

And Im not saying Motte doesnt have hands..
- z1990z

Routing for Motte.

If he relishes in that role as a competent Top 6 LW it would A) be an amazing solution and surprise for Stan and Q and B) be a great big burn for the Vesey camp that that was a spot he could he succeeded.

A. You're referencing Kruger playing a small stint at 2C 5 years ago during a season in which we were bounced in round 1 as evidence that he belongs in that role for this upcoming season? Really?

B. Hinostroza replacing Hossa? Who said that? What are you talking about?

C. Yes, the Hawks were bad 5 v 5 last year.....again, who said they weren't? What does Kruger playing 2C or not playing 2C have to do with that?

D. There is NO HOLE AT 1LW. Panarin is as close to a 1LW as you'll find in the NHL. There is definitely a hole at LW in general, yet the overall issue is with the bottom 6 forward depth. Your consistent belief that our top 6 is somehow weaker than our bottom 6 is laughable. Our top 6 features the reigning Art Ross winner, reigning Calder winner, and 3 future HOFers. Our bottom 6 features who? Marcus (frank)ing Kruger? The leading goal scorer in our bottom 6 is Andrew Desjardins for christ sake. Its not even close. The Hawks need to figure out their forward depth more than they need to add yet another star player to a top 6 that is already loaded with elite talent.

E. Why AA was playing LW on a different team in a different situation is completely irrelevant to this upcoming Hawks team's current situation. Did that Blue Jackets team have 3 other top 6 wingers the caliber of Kane, Panarin, and Hossa? What was their center depth like? We have ZERO center depth as it is after losing Shaw and TT. Kruger moving up to 2C leaves us with BY FAR the worst center depth in the NHL. Remember what happened in 2014 because of our center depth? You really want to move AA to LW on a team that is already depleted down the middle?
- SimpleJack

You said they weren't bad 5-on-5 last year. You made a big point of it, until it was proven factually otherwise. Then, of course, you never owned up. Still haven't. Classic.

Until "slotted" as such, Panarin is 2LW. There is no 1LW. Oh, fine, say Panarin's the 1LW. Then there's no 2LW. Not the great Richard Panik. Not Hinostroza. Not Motte, unless by default.

You know it, you just play semantics—because otherwise that means having an actual dialogue and not playing gotcha. That, you won't do.

How is a bona fide NHL coach playing AA it wing in the past not irrelevant. You said it was a horrible idea. The Hawks have better center depth today than they have since 2010. Another straw man argument. So, no, what's YOUR point?

But you have it all figured out. I mean, why even try to argue?

I tried telling him that all last season. Obviously I didn't do a very good job, so I'm passing the torch to you.
- HawkintheD

You guys use your metrics - I'll use mine.

Different way of looking at things.

Other nuggets from Tanner's blog:

1) Predators blueliners are best ever assembled in salary cap era
2) Rundblad and Jackman are both > than Nurse and Sekera
3) The Red Wings will be the worst team in the NHL
4) Hawks, Ducks, Kings, and Stars won't make the playoffs (replaced by the Oilers, Jets, Flames, and Avs)
- AEL_Fox

1) They ARE good.
2) Uhhhh, no words.
3 & 4) James, James, James . . .

Jack, not disagreeing with you necessarily, but the Hawks and I'm sure much of the league know that this team has a huge hole in the top 6. Q knows it, Bowman knows it, the team knows it. Regardless if we call Panarin 1LW or 2LW, we are still short a top 6 winger.
- 93Joe

But, but, but . . . PANIK!!!!!!

When choosing their national squad, Team Sweden puts all of the names of their professional hockey players in a hat and King Carl of Sweden pulls out 23 names at random. Those guys are the team for the next tournament, no substitutions or exceptions.

Remarkably Marcus Kruger's name keeps being drawn out of that hat - every single year. Just dumb luck I guess and Tre Kronor gets stuck with an overpaid 4th liner with no offensive skillset.
- RickJ

No, Rick. Marcus "f---ing" Kruger sucks. He wouldn't make Team Liechtenstein.

Anyone who thinks the Hawks are a LOCK to make the tournament, please remember (and I've said this before):

They rode a 12 game winning streak to the post-season last year - outside of that, they were 35 up and 35 down - a .500 team in the non-Bettman world. You can spin that lots of ways - relaxed the last two months because they knew they were in, etc. - but still....

Better roster right now? On defense, certainly - but the forwards (without Shaw, without Teravainen, no proven left wing to play with 19 and 81, no scoring improvement bottom-6 or other than PAK - they averaged 2.02 goals per 60 minutes 5x5 last year - maybe improvement this year because of the overly long offseason, better defense leading to more ES scoring - maybe.

I'm cautiously pessimistic.
- StLBravesFan

I'm optimistic—but only because I think they're gonna figure something out to improve the top 6. Something not named Panik or Hinostroza.

I don't think the improvement on the blue line is enough to elevate the team overall versus last year, in part because of the weakening of the forward depth. All depends on how they dil the holes and right now, on paper, there isn't a lot to get excited about. We'll see, maybe someone steps up.

I'm optimistic—but only because I think they're gonna figure something out to improve the top 6. Something not named Panik or Hinostroza.

I don't think the improvement on the blue line is enough to elevate the team overall versus last year, in part because of the weakening of the forward depth. All depends on how they dil the holes and right now, on paper, there isn't a lot to get excited about. We'll see, maybe someone steps up.
- John Jaeckel

I think Motte might surprise everyone and make the roster out of camp. I like hime better than Hinostroza. Motte is built like a tank and I love his aggressive style.