relatedly, their insignia is just one leaf, not a pile of leaves.
- matt_ahrens

The Leafs are a pile of something, but leaves are not it ....

Random question...Are there rules in the NHL prohibiting companies owned by team owners and executives from hiring players for endorsments? I assume there is, because if not, what would stop Rocky from signing Panarin to a $3M contract, and then making sure he gets $4M in endorsments?
- tvetter

That is a no go...

Hawks Talk-SiriusXM with Boomer Gordon-Changes-Campbell, TT, Shaw and more... http://chirb.it/MGJq06 #audio via @chirbit

Random question...Are there rules in the NHL prohibiting companies owned by team owners and executives from hiring players for endorsments? I assume there is, because if not, what would stop Rocky from signing Panarin to a $3M contract, and then making sure he gets $4M in endorsments?
- tvetter

Not sure of NHL bylaws but I bet the PA would have a gripe here.

Not sure of NHL bylaws but I bet the PA would have a gripe here.
- blackhawk24

F the bylaws and all that, having Phoenix/Arizona franchise has violated everyone and everything, yet they still exist.

I remembet Q saying he was one of/the hardest working Hawk at practice last season. Q is very much an old school coach, in that he will pull the ol' "see what happens if you work hard - Mash is not the most talented, but he is playing because he works he butt off"

I heard second hand from a former Hawks player who consults for them still that Q makes up his mind in the first couple of practices if he likes a player or not, and thus why Daley and others are not given a "shot"
- Sundevil

Honestly, how can you say Daley was not given a shot?

He played every game while he was with Chicago (I don't recall him being scratched) and had all of the training camp/preseason with the team as well. Sure, he didn't get top 4 minutes, but he didn't get sheltered time on ice like Scuderi/Timonen. About 10% of his ice-time was on the PP too, which was reasonable. If I remember correctly, Daley also commented that the Hawks played a much different system than he was used to with Dallas, so the Hawks likely wanted to ease him in. He didn't have to match up against the other teams top forwards and got a lot of offensive zone starts compared to dzone starts.

It really seems the Blackhawks set him up to provide some offense without having to work his tail off defensively and he just never really clicked or got going with Chicago. The question I ask myself looking back, did it look like Daley earned more playing time? Just my opinion, but I didn't think so. I seem to remember a lot of fans complaining about how he was playing and it seemed Daley wanted out or more minutes and the Hawks were happy to make it happen.

Just me, but it didn't seem like Daley wanted to earn his playing time and his "so-so" play in the time he did get, didn't justify giving him more ice-time. Of course there are a lot of other factors that don't leave the locker room which we likely will never know about.

Honestly, how can you say Daley was not given a shot?

He played every game while he was with Chicago (I don't recall him being scratched) and had all of the training camp/preseason with the team as well. Sure, he didn't get top 4 minutes, but he didn't get sheltered time on ice like Scuderi/Timonen. About 10% of his ice-time was on the PP too, which was reasonable. If I remember correctly, Daley also commented that the Hawks played a much different system than he was used to with Dallas, so the Hawks likely wanted to ease him in. He didn't have to match up against the other teams top forwards and got a lot of offensive zone starts compared to dzone starts.

It really seems the Blackhawks set him up to provide some offense without having to work his tail off defensively and he just never really clicked or got going with Chicago. The question I ask myself looking back, did it look like Daley earned more playing time? Just my opinion, but I didn't think so. I seem to remember a lot of fans complaining about how he was playing and it seemed Daley wanted out or more minutes and the Hawks were happy to make it happen.

Just me, but it didn't seem like Daley wanted to earn his playing time and his "so-so" play in the time he did get, didn't justify giving him more ice-time. Of course there are a lot of other factors that don't leave the locker room which we likely will never know about.
- breadbag

Na, that's not true, this board is Omniscient all things Blackhawks...............

http://www.nhltraderumors...op-fantasy-goalies-8.html

because its still august

currently the list goes:

1) Carey Price
2) Braden Holtby
3) Henrik Lundqvist
4) Cory Schneider
5) Corey Crawford
6) Antti Niemi
7) Semyon Varlamov

http://www.hockeybuzz.com...ndem-In-The-NHL/187/78914

Hockeybuzz Hot Stove topic: best goalie tandems. Tessier (Jets blogger) does select Crawford-Darling but contends that Greiss-Halak are comparable. The other blogger selects Lundqvist-Raanta.

The Leafs are a pile of something, but leaves are not it ....
- Hank_Greenberg

Ouch! That's a hot pile....

Well, some of you (few) are thinking it, so I'll say it: Being an original 6 team, it would be nice to see them get back to some resemblance of a contender. Too much history there. Got a little spot there for original 6 teams....

Did you hear that?

That's the sound of Chicago brass doing nothing (or nothing succesfully) to resolve the known deficiencies of last years team.

Ugh.

Better hope Panarin or Kane do not get injured.....or else we will have that top ten draft pick in 2017 we always wanted
- Hawkster

well, they got better defensively, maybe alot better, so that's something...

Hockeybuzz Hot Stove topic: best goalie tandems. Tessier (Jets blogger) does select Crawford-Darling but contends that Greiss-Halak are comparable. The other blogger selects Lundqvist-Raanta.
- AEL_Fox

Those are fair picks.

Greiss-Halak were the best pair based on last season's numbers. Lundqvist is easily the most consistent good goalie in the league and Raanta was a solid backup for NYR. Crawford had a stellar year, but Darling had some yips do to sitting a lot - he does much much better when he plays more.

Did you hear that?

That's the sound of Chicago brass doing nothing (or nothing succesfully) to resolve the known deficiencies of last years team.

Ugh.

Better hope Panarin or Kane do not get injured.....or else we will have that top ten draft pick in 2017 we always wanted
- Hawkster

Actually having Toews, Kane, Seabs, Crawford or Hossa injured for a time would give the Hawks more cap room at the deadline. I am not wishing they get injured. But I think the team is strong enough that they could weather a short stint on the DL by one front line player.

Actually having Toews, Kane, Seabs, Crawford or Hossa injured for a time would give the Hawks more cap room at the deadline. I am not wishing they get injured. But I think the team is strong enough that they could weather a short stint on the DL by one front line player.
- -Doh-

more likely in-season trade partner might be willing to keep some salary in exchange for prospects of picks.

Those are fair picks.

Greiss-Halak were the best pair based on last season's numbers. Lundqvist is easily the most consistent good goalie in the league and Raanta was a solid backup for NYR. Crawford had a stellar year, but Darling had some yips do to sitting a lot - he does much much better when he plays more.
- L_B_R

I agree. I didn't have any evaluation really of either blogger's pick for best goalie tandem, just sharing what was posted on the hot stove. Greiss has the potential to be the next Jones or Talbot. Halak has generally been a strong goalie; not necessarily elite but solid. Lundqvist is the King for a reason. And Raanta was a good backup for the Hawks so no reason to believe he would digress backing up Lundqvist.

Of our tandem last year, Crawford was stellar but Darling was more shaky than expected. I'm an advocate of Crawford playing in a little less games so Darling can play more to stay sharp and log minutes to keep his body active in real game play.

1) It's not necessarily accurate to add Ladd into a loss column when discussing regular season issues when he wasn't on the team for a majority of the season. He factored in so very little to the overview of the season. Shaw and Teravainen's losses will have an impact, though.

2) Also, historically for the Hawks, even strength play is primary run through the defense. Improvement to the defense should actually help with possession and offense, even if the forward core isn't as strong 3) (which is actually hard to say currently). Who knew Bickell-Shaw-Stalberg would be such a solid line in 2013?
- L_B_R

1) I have considered that many times but here's the hard truth—bottom line. Without Ladd, prior to his arrival, it can be argued that Shaw was the closest thing the Hawks had to a solution on Toews' left wing. And, heck, they also tried TT there. The other solutions were Ryan Garbutt and Marko Dano.

ALL. GONE.

So no matter how you nuance it, they are down a lot of experienced wingers, and still have a big hole as far as someone to play on Toews' left side.

I know, I know, everyone wants to say Hossa and even Toews are done or not very good or belong on the 4th line playing ten minutes a night.

But it just defies logic that they can go from being 2/3 of arguably the best forward line on the planet in June 2015 to pretty mediocre by October 2015.

What happened? Anyone? Bueller?

How about the subtraction of the fast, skilled, fairly physical LW they had been playing with for the prior two seasons?

But the Hawks don't need another top 6 LW, they already have ONE of those. The real issue is, how the heck are we gonna build a 4th line!!! SMH.

2) Uhhh, yeah, but, no.

We've talked about this before, remember? I wish there was a stat for o-zone possession time. I think we all don't have to think too hard to remember 2015 when Toews' line, and Kruger's line, primarily, would maintain offensive zone possession for so long that the Hawks could often make complete changes, and they got a lot of goals off that.

I DO agree, from an X's and O's standpoint, offense starts in your own end with clean breakouts and speed getting the puck up the ice. BUT, it ends with finish in the offensive zone and just as you can say the D is critical to initiating offense—THE ABSOLUTE BEST DEFENSE 5-ON-5 is keeping the opponent pinned in their end, 150 to 200 feet from your net, chasing the puck and getting worn out defending. There IS no argument against that.

And in that regard—extended o-zone possession—the Hawks appeared to have really fell off the cliff last year and have not done much to address it—in fact, minus Shaw, Ladd and even TT, they are probably worse.

The big losses were Oduya, Saad and Sharp. You can argue Panarin replaced one of them. And maybe a combination of Campbell at 37 and Kempny as a rookie, fills the void on D. But they have not replaced a top 6 LW nor the positive domino effect on all the lines, by allowing Q to slot guys there they should be. Like Shaw as a lower line RW.

3) No it is actually really easy to say, barring the unlikely emergence of 20-21 year olds with zero to minimal pro experience playing way over their heads, the Hawk forward depth chart is clearly worse today than it was a few months ago. You cannot just write off Ladd as though he wasn't on the roster. He was. And he was helping the team, too, filling a role that had been empty all season.

They have not replaced Ladd (who they traded Dano for). They have not replaced Shaw. TT had value as a utility/depth guy and maybe one of the youngsters CAN do that this year. I don't see a guy among all the Rockford Would-Bes who comes in and does what Ladd could and Shaw did this year. But . . . maybe Bowman pulls a rabbit out of his hat at some point.

This team is obviously incomplete without a 1 LW. No doubt about that. I have no idea how the Hawks can fill that need with what little cap room they have. It's pretty much impossible and I don't think TVR + gets you that player right now.

I think the only way we get to WCF is if we play incredible hockey as a team through out the playoffs and the injury bug stays away. My .02

This team is obviously incomplete without a 1 LW. No doubt about that. I have no idea how the Hawks can fill that need with what little cap room they have. It's pretty much impossible and I don't think TVR + gets you that player right now.

I think the only way we get to WCF is if we play incredible hockey as a team through out the playoffs and the injury bug stays away. My .02
- Lido_Shuffle

One change I hope I see is a more potent PP. That would really lessen the pressure on the 5 on 5 play.

Actually having Toews, Kane, Seabs, Crawford or Hossa injured for a time would give the Hawks more cap room at the deadline. I am not wishing they get injured. But I think the team is strong enough that they could weather a short stint on the DL by one front line player.
- -Doh-

This idea of acquiring players at this years TDL only is useful IF the Hawks have resources in the minors, which I don't believe they have...

This team is obviously incomplete without a 1 LW. No doubt about that. I have no idea how the Hawks can fill that need with what little cap room they have. It's pretty much impossible and I don't think TVR + gets you that player right now.

I think the only way we get to WCF is if we play incredible hockey as a team through out the playoffs and the injury bug stays away. My .02
- Lido_Shuffle

This team has had it´s holes almost every year. Remember the eternal #2 center debate? In 2010 nobody believed that they could win with Huet&Niemi. Last year defense was thin and so on and so on.

I see there is more than holes this time. Time will tell how things pan out but for now offense looks like it´s the worst in several years. Defense and goalies should be ok. If Q thought he couldn´t roll with all four lines..good luck this coming season because it sure doesn´t look any better.

But no matter what your roster looks like you need incredible hockey to make WCF´s. The perfect roster on paper doesn´t make it if they don´t play well as a team.

Since not much else is really going on, I figured I would ask a question that I'm sure to get crucified for...

Why is Toronto called the Maple Leafs and not the Maple Leaves?

I will now go back to drinking during the day....
- Chunk

It is called "The Toronto Maple Leafs", not Leaves, because in the war, there was an elite group of Canadian soldiers called the "Leafs" not leaves, for some odd reason. Thus, the team name is based on the elite soldiers, not the leaves themselves.

This idea of acquiring players at this years TDL only is useful IF the Hawks have resources in the minors, which I don't believe they have...
- kwolf68

Has the ship sailed on adding a KHL guy after his contract is up in December or is that still a possibility with this cap space?

1) I have considered that many times but here's the hard truth—bottom line. Without Ladd, prior to his arrival, it can be argued that Shaw was the closest thing the Hawks had to a solution on Toews' left wing. And, heck, they also tried TT there. The other solutions were Ryan Garbutt and Marko Dano.

ALL. GONE.

So no matter how you nuance it, they are down a lot of experienced wingers, and still have a big hole as far as someone to play on Toews' left side.

I know, I know, everyone wants to say Hossa and even Toews are done or not very good or belong on the 4th line playing ten minutes a night.

But it just defies logic that they can go from being 2/3 of arguably the best forward line on the planet in June 2015 to pretty mediocre by October 2015.

What happened? Anyone? Bueller?

How about the subtraction of the fast, skilled, fairly physical LW they had been playing with for the prior two seasons?

But the Hawks don't need another top 6 LW, they already have ONE of those. The real issue is, how the heck are we gonna build a 4th line!!! SMH.

2) Uhhh, yeah, but, no.

We've talked about this before, remember? I wish there was a stat for o-zone possession time. I think we all don't have to think too hard to remember 2015 when Toews' line, and Kruger's line, primarily, would maintain offensive zone possession for so long that the Hawks could often make complete changes, and they got a lot of goals off that.

I DO agree, from an X's and O's standpoint, offense starts in your own end with clean breakouts and speed getting the puck up the ice. BUT, it ends with finish in the offensive zone and just as you can say the D is critical to initiating offense—THE ABSOLUTE BEST DEFENSE 5-ON-5 is keeping the opponent pinned in their end, 150 to 200 feet from your net, chasing the puck and getting worn out defending. There IS no argument against that.

And in that regard—extended o-zone possession—the Hawks appeared to have really fell off the cliff last year and have not done much to address it—in fact, minus Shaw, Ladd and even TT, they are probably worse.

The big losses were Oduya, Saad and Sharp. You can argue Panarin replaced one of them. And maybe a combination of Campbell at 37 and Kempny as a rookie, fills the void on D. But they have not replaced a top 6 LW nor the positive domino effect on all the lines, by allowing Q to slot guys there they should be. Like Shaw as a lower line RW.

3) No it is actually really easy to say, barring the unlikely emergence of 20-21 year olds with zero to minimal pro experience playing way over their heads, the Hawk forward depth chart is clearly worse today than it was a few months ago. You cannot just write off Ladd as though he wasn't on the roster. He was. And he was helping the team, too, filling a role that had been empty all season.

They have not replaced Ladd (who they traded Dano for). They have not replaced Shaw. TT had value as a utility/depth guy and maybe one of the youngsters CAN do that this year. I don't see a guy among all the Rockford Would-Bes who comes in and does what Ladd could and Shaw did this year. But . . . maybe Bowman pulls a rabbit out of his hat at some point.
- John Jaeckel

You bring up great points JJ.
Really haven't seen that great cycle play like we've seen in years past.

I do see some hope though, I look to the east and see a Red Wings team that has made the playoffs year after year with some talent but a great system which is the same system we run in the west

I believe as important the forwards are for running the cycle are the defenseman and Campbell has great anticipation of where the puck is going to be along the blue line.

I also believe the PAK line did so well, both AA and Panarin even Kane who was injured the year before and missed 20 something games haven't had to endure the demanding schedule over the course of 3 years like Toews and Hossa.

Coupled with Kruger getting hurt last year, Toews and Hossa had to defend against the top lines all year.

I love Ladd but was never a big fan of his hands, in a way Panik reminds me a lot of Ladd, big guy pretty good skater hands a little better, I just think he needs to grow up and dedicate himself to hockey and his career.

Since Kane tends to produce well, another idea I have is bring AA up to LW and try out, McNeill, Moose, Lundberg for 2nd line center.

Marcus, Desi plus one, need to be the shut down line again

One change I hope I see is a more potent PP. That would really lessen the pressure on the 5 on 5 play.
- powerenforcer

Chicago was 2nd on the power play last year. I don't think moving to first will do much.

Clearly the team needs to improve 5-on-5, but just as important is the PK, Chicago was 22nd last season after being 10th the year before. If the team can be top 10 in 5-on-50 and PK then I'm not worried about the PP.

Has the ship sailed on adding a KHL guy after his contract is up in December or is that still a possibility with this cap space?
- Assman22

Who knows, but that is STILL not comparable to a TDL, unless that KHL player was proven goods on NA ice. I know many think the KHL/Russia is the way to go because the last guy we got from there was awesome, but I still remember the previous 20 who sucked.