Does anyone know if Hawks prospects are playing in a September prospects tournament like we have in past years? There's one coming up featuring prospects from the Leafs, Canadiens, Penguins, and another team. I could be wrong, but we used to play in this tournament.
Does anyone know if Hawks prospects are playing in a September prospects tournament like we have in past years? There's one coming up featuring prospects from the Leafs, Canadiens, Penguins, and another team. I could be wrong, but we used to play in this tournament. - AEL_Fox
It appears that the Hawks will participate in the Traverse City Prospects Tournament this year.
Cool, thanks! I thought it was Traverse City, too, so good to know that my mind wasn't making things up like I do with pie-in-the-sky forward line projections.
Cool, thanks! I thought it was Traverse City, too, so good to know that my mind wasn't making things up like I do with pie-in-the-sky forward line projections. - AEL_Fox
You were on point with the idea of the Tourney that the Hawks have participated in during the recent years. The Traverse City thing is new this year.
You can't afford to pay offensively limited face off/defense specialists $3mil on this roster. I have never said a bad word about Marcus Kriger before he was overpaid by StanBo earlier this year. Excellent bottom 6 PK/defense first Center, but overpaid given the top-heavy cap structure of the club. That is all I'm trying to say. Where does Panarin's extension money come from? Or is he going to walk/be traded for a lesser player(s)? How many 1LWs can you lose?
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?
- John Jaeckel
Classic? Wtf.... What have i not owned up to before? Please enlighten me.
I never once said they werent bad 5v5 last season. Never. You're confusing me with someone else. Or making things up in your head.
The point i made about the center depth is obvious....not strawman. It's directly related to the idea of Kruger at 2C and AA at LW...
You were on point with the idea of the Tourney that the Hawks have participated in during the recent years. The Traverse City thing is new this year. - EKB13
Thanks for clarifying! I'm sure a roster will be posted on the Blackhawks website in a few weeks.
matt_ahrens Season Ticket Holder Chicago Blackhawks
Location: San Carlos, CA Joined: 06.30.2014
Aug 27 @ 8:44 PM ET
Good stuff JJ. The four names I keep "getting told" without me offering any thoughts are Schmaltz, Motte, Hartman, Hinostroza.
When defense comes up in conversation, its - our D corps is stellar - AND "we really like Pokka".
McNeill will get a shot and the organization feels he deserves a fair shot to make the team. However, It sounds like he will have to have a tremendous camp to make it.
I've been told that they are not sure he is a Q guy. That sounds ambiguous but it means Q does not think he can play in the top 6 and he does have the snarl to play 8 to 10 minutes a night.
The people I talk to, never push or volunteer his name.
If you go to the Hawks website and pull up the current what they have under contract roster and start with those combined total players ,positions aside...........THAT constitutes a "top 7 Draft pick" next spring, that's how bad that roster looks depth wise today. I understand there will be some adds and " surprises" but aside from that, " Stan ya got either A) some work to do, or B) like some here,gonna drink a lot of Kool Aid and " wanna believe or only ifs " for this year. & also taking into consideration some of the big guns age these days. Gonna be interesting
matt_ahrens Season Ticket Holder Chicago Blackhawks
Location: San Carlos, CA Joined: 06.30.2014
Aug 27 @ 10:04 PM ET
Matt A.
McNeill will get a shot and the organization feels he deserves a fair shot to make the team. However, It sounds like he will have to have a tremendous camp to make it.
I've been told that they are not sure he is a Q guy. That sounds ambiguous but it means Q does not think he can play in the top 6 and he does have the snarl to play 8 to 10 minutes a night.
The people I talk to, never push or volunteer his name. - Omahawk
Thanks! Yeah, I was wondering since JJ said recently he'd get a chance and they did resign him for a year. I like the situation, make it or break it. He's been around a couple of years now, give him a chance and see what he can do in camp. Nothing to lose.
Is best suited as a 3LW. Not a top 6 guy unless absolutely necessary or they move him up when things get upped physically in the playoffs. Alex Tanguay is definitely not the answer either.
Thanks! Yeah, I was wondering since JJ said recently he'd get a chance and they did resign him for a year. I like the situation, make it or break it. He's been around a couple of years now, give him a chance and see what he can do in camp. Nothing to lose. - matt_ahrens
Rooting for him. Hopefully he plays like a bat out of hell (responsibly of course) and shows that he belongs.
matt_ahrens Season Ticket Holder Chicago Blackhawks
Location: San Carlos, CA Joined: 06.30.2014
Aug 27 @ 10:32 PM ET
Rooting for him. Hopefully he plays like a bat out of hell (responsibly of course) and shows that he belongs. - 93Joe
No, Rick. Marcus "f---ing" Kruger sucks. He wouldn't make Team Liechtenstein. - John Jaeckel
While I don't believe Kruger will ever be an offensive force I believe he can produce more than he has. It's easy to call out Kruger for his poor numbers, but Q gives him the toughest defensive assignment night in and night out.
If Q can allocate some of Kruger's defensive duties to somebody else (maybe Rasmussen) then he could easily put up more points. I think 35 points could be quite reasonable and that puts him in the same zone as Shaw's output.
Random post. I was watching the NHL Network and one of those Top Shelf episodes was on featuring top 30 weirdest plays. One of the features was when Jim Schoenfeld's son was the emergency backup goalie for the Coyotes. One of the Coyotes goalies on the roster got sick or something hours before game time, so Schoenfeld was called at his home to get to the arena pronto to backup that night's Coyotes starting goalie. I know there is that NHL rule where every team needs to submit a list of emergency goalies. Does anyone know who the Blackhawks emergency goalie is? Is it a kid from Robert Morris College's hockey team? Some random person with goalie experience? Jimmy Waite? One of you guys?
Even if nobody responds to this post, at least entertain yourself with another featured play on this top 30 list: a "classic" fight by Alexander Semin where he slaps Marc Staal silly.
No, Rick. Marcus "f---ing" Kruger sucks. He wouldn't make Team Liechtenstein. - John Jaeckel
He's no 2C and doesn't belong in the top 6. That's all i said.
Nobody said he sucks. You're making things up. Again.
Have you got any legit argument that he's anything more than an elite bottom 6/shutdown center besides "he played 2C for a stretch of games 5 years ago"
They aren't losing Panarin. If he has anything even close to last year, he will be going nowhere, will be resigned and will enter the "changing core".
Others will go first. - vabeachbear
Hey Beach, I certainly hope that's the case...but I also thought we'd be smart enough to find a way to hang onto Saad because he should/was part of the changing core moving forward. And they've yet to replace him. But the botched Sharp trade and the non buyout of Bickell prevented that.
Then there's this little nugget from Tanner's latest click bait attraction where Tanner referred to Rundblad as a great defenseman...
Jack responded...It's absolutely undeniably impossible for a normally functioning human brain to observe David Rundblad playing hockey and determine him to be great, or even above average for that matter. It can't happen/would never happen. So, therefor, admit you're lying and lets move on....
Completely agree Jack I mean who would be dumb enough to sign a guy like that while someone like Oduya was still out there hoping to play here... only to buy out Runny a year later...oh wait a minute...
- Hudler was offered 1 yr. @ $1.25 million
- Vesey chose New York primarily because he felt there would be less pressure vs. Chicago where he would have been plugged in as 1LW and might have struggled, also he and Hudler had big concerns about any subsequent Hawk contracts—AND he did take to heart negative info. from his buddy, Captain Stairwell
- The "youth movement" stuff is mostly PR for now—Hawks were counting on getting either Vesey or Hudler, know they are in a pickle
- TVR is primary trade chip, Hawks are "scrambling" while sending out "we're not worried" PR vibes
- Expect the Hawks to place a bit more emphasis on "finding" some answer via veteran PTO
I heard a name elsewhere last night (as a suggested possibility), was intriguing, I have asked about it, will report what I hear back. - John Jaeckel
JJ anything on this yet? Know it hasn't been all that long since you posted it but bored by the lack of any hockey news and like many on here think that more will (need to) be done by Stan & co. Meanwhile, I'm watching the replay of 2010 SCF game 6.
EDIT: 6 years later it's really interesting to watch what's getting called in this game. They were actually calling cross checks.
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
JJ, when you say "figure something out to improve the top 6", are referring to a trade? Like the possible TVR thing?
Also, what do you think the possibilities are of Schmaltz and Motte spending a good amount of time, the 1st of the season say, in Rockford getting acclimated and learning the system, and then one (or both) of them bolstering the team in the 2nd half?
I imagine they'd learn and progress better away from the pressure to perform in the NHL. Even if one of them is the one who, as you described, "steps up" in camp, would their development (and thus the team's chances of getting the most out of them) be best served in the A regardless of if they're the most impressive rookie pre-season?
If they can pull off some sort of deal (TVR or otherwise) to find someone better than Panik for top 6 LW, I'm intrigued with the notion of giving McNeill and Hartmann their shot in the 1st half while seeing how Motte and Schmaltz develop at the Rock. If they do develop well, perhaps the Hawks can get their 2nd half "trade deadline" acquisition in house for a change.
Anything new on Vadim Shipachev? There were rumors that he would be able to leave the KHL in December.
EDIT: December availability in the "Unconfirmed" section of the article at the link below - to a Habs blog. Also saw some things on Twitter around the time Vadim Shipachev reported to SKA camp from Kalnins (who our Russian hockey fan and Panarin friend doesn't think is a particularly reliable KHL source - but Kalnins is the only English language KHL source that I've found on Twitter) http://www.habseyesonthep...tract-submission-deadline
Location: Ft Courage - out in the middle of Indian Country, NC Joined: 10.17.2011
Aug 28 @ 9:53 AM ET
Hey Beach, I certainly hope that's the case...but I also thought we'd be smart enough to find a way to hang onto Saad because he should/was part of the changing core moving forward. And they've yet to replace him. But the botched Sharp trade and the non buyout of Bickell prevented that.
Then there's this little nugget from Tanner's latest click bait attraction where Tanner referred to Rundblad as a great defenseman...
Jack responded...It's absolutely undeniably impossible for a normally functioning human brain to observe David Rundblad playing hockey and determine him to be great, or even above average for that matter. It can't happen/would never happen. So, therefor, admit you're lying and lets move on....
Completely agree Jack I mean who would be dumb enough to sign a guy like that while someone like Oduya was still out there hoping to play here... only to buy out Runny a year later...oh wait a minute... - DK002
A couple points to that;
1. It will be two full seasons past that time, current core older.
2. Bickell and Sharp money is gone as well. Think if he knew he could move Bickell, they would've resigned Sadd.
3. I think Sadd was also the player who would return the most. We always debate that on here. I don't think he would've of traded Sadd if he didn't think he was getting a good deal for him. They needed a 2C forever, and thought they were getting a top level top 6 player in Dano. If that trade wouldn't have been available, I think he would've taken his chances he'd be able to move Bickell.
