Typical old-timer with the "it was better in my day. . ." or ?? Definitely speaks to the question of whether forcing roles is the way to go. Wonder what he thinks about creativity in the coaching ranks or lack thereof?

http://www.thescore.com/n...lvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Bochy pulled a Hitchcock? You have to let him start the 9th, not the bullpen.
- Jason Millen

well he was over 120 pitches....yet the giants bp has been horsepoop all year...30 blown saves i heard...that can't be right

Bochy pulled a Hitchcock? You have to let him start the 9th, not the bullpen.
- Jason Millen

Any other team - with a quality closet - no - but the Giants - probably.

But - that's not the way the game is played today.

Any other team - with a quality closet - no - but the Giants - probably.

But - that's not the way the game is played today.
- StLBravesFan

He had another game this year where he threw around 140 i think. Given the prior night, given the starter had only given up 2 hits, given the score, you have to at least let him start the 9th and keep going until he gives up a walk or a hit at a minimum.

That's who I want with my first pick.
- DarthKane

I figured you'd go with Fro or Rusty.

He had another game this year where he threw around 140 i think. Given the prior night, given the starter had only given up 2 hits, given the score, you have to at least let him start the 9th and keep going until he gives up a walk or a hit at a minimum.
- Jason Millen

Thank god he didn't.

Thanks for this post........ The blackened means everything to this fan. It's up to a coach to remove doubt from a players mind and to do that you give him a role he can fullfil, coach him to it and make sure he understands it.

I know you were a scorer in jrs but I want you to stay high and seal the boards in the Ozone and cover for the pinching Dman. Your stats might suffer but we win.

I know you scored from 15-20 feet out in the AHL but you won't at this level. We need you shooting from 10 feet in.

I know you've had success as the first man in on the forecheck but we don't want two men deep. Vs Rado we are gonna play a 1-3-1 or a 1-2-2 and I want you at the blueline jumping passes. But once they adjust you'll be told to dive bomb.

Simple to understand schemes in these examples that players, especially rookies, can REASONABLY execute........... Watching Weise last year I don't think I ever saw him just play, he was tentative and you could see he was unsure and thinking instead of playing. To my eye that's coaching.

And you put a 300 lb man in center field and he can't get to balls in the gap it's the coaches fault not his.

And in this flat (earth) cap era with rookies and inexperience dotting a roster a coach needs to know more than one way to skin a cat. Hope Q shows that flexibility.
- Mr Ricochet

This is the reality of being a mature "Cup window" team in the era of stagnant cap growth. What is interesting and we touched on this in the Puckin Hostile Shoutcast a couple of weeks ago—purely anecdotal but—it seems like while the cap remains flat (ish) the prices of premier players keep going up. What this does is basically creates a "no middle class" NHL. A slowly growing upper salary tier—and a lot of fill in by ELCs and league minimum vets. Look no further than the Hawks for proof of that.

So what do you do as a team? You make the best of what you have, while continuing to look for some way to work the cap and resources to improve the roster, somehow. Hence you see the pursuits of Veseys and Hudlers, and flirtations with Yakupov (albeit asking EDM to eat salary). It's not easy and more often not, it won't work out because the Hawks are so limited in what they can do now to make deals.

And then what do you do as a coaching staff? You close your eyes, bite the bullet, and do what you can to coach these kids up. Hence Q's comments.

It remains to be seen how they will do, or if the Hawks will be criticized for spending what little money they had in the wrong way this summer, or going with the youths over veteran PTOs.

But . . .

The minute a Joel Quenneville starts adjusting his system for the undeveloped (and possibly never will be developed) parts of Nick Schmaltz or Gustav Forsling's games, is the point you give up on this franchise as a serious Cup contending team.

You don't win Stanley Cups by just showing up and throwing your sticks on the ice, or forcing the narratives of unproven players. It is a hard, tough thing to do and it requires a lot of commitment—and commitment to excellence—experience, knowledge, skill, depth and luck.

I am not a betting man. But if I were, I would not be laying my money down on the Hawks winning the Cup this year, unless Bowman can pull off something in-season to upgrade from outside the organization. 4-5 rookies in the lineup—a couple of them 20-21 years old is not a recipe for success in the NHL (and I will repeat, Pittsburgh's 3-4 rookies last year were all 23-24 years old. Big difference). Also remember, Pittsburgh had a huge (no pun intended) offseason acquisition in Kessel and getting Daley for Scuderi inseason did not hurt.

I am not a betting man. But if I were, I would not be laying my money down on the Hawks winning the Cup this year, unless Bowman can pull off something in-season to upgrade from outside the organization. 4-5 rookies in the lineup—a couple of them 20-21 years old is not a recipe for success in the NHL (and I will repeat, Pittsburgh's 3-4 rookies last year were all 23-24 years old. Big difference). Also remember, Pittsburgh had a huge (no pun intended) offseason acquisition in Kessel and getting Daley for Scuderi inseason did not hurt.
- John Jaeckel

As stated many times here on this board, the 5 x 5 scoring and whether or not the Hawks can score like they have in the past, will tell the story this season. We are still short a Saad and I'm not betting that we find his replacement mid season either.

I still think the Hawks will make the playoffs but with the huge hole still at 1LW, the team will have a very big stanley cup mountain to climb.

I figured you'd go with Fro or Rusty.
- HawkintheD

For some stupid reason Rusty wasn't available in the Yahoo draft. I drafted 12th (out of 20) and got Tavares, so I can't complain.

couldn't they have gotten away with ED only retaining $500k instead of 1.25? They have Des as the 24 man making 900K and he would replace someone like either schmaltz or Hartman more then likely so that is another 900K and you could always only go with 7 D and 13 F? Which if you send down Roz or Forsling that is another $600-$900K. I think that would a blunder on Stans part. you are going to pay that same 3rd and pokka for a rental that is no better then YAk is and you are not going to have the asset at the end of year.

This is the reality of being a mature "Cup window" team in the era of stagnant cap growth. What is interesting and we touched on this in the Puckin Hostile Shoutcast a couple of weeks ago—purely anecdotal but—it seems like while the cap remains flat (ish) the prices of premier players keep going up. What this does is basically creates a "no middle class" NHL. A slowly growing upper salary tier—and a lot of fill in by ELCs and league minimum vets. Look no further than the Hawks for proof of that.

So what do you do as a team? You make the best of what you have, while continuing to look for some way to work the cap and resources to improve the roster, somehow. Hence you see the pursuits of Veseys and Hudlers, and flirtations with Yakupov (albeit asking EDM to eat salary). It's not easy and more often not, it won't work out because the Hawks are so limited in what they can do now to make deals.

And then what do you do as a coaching staff? You close your eyes, bite the bullet, and do what you can to coach these kids up. Hence Q's comments.

It remains to be seen how they will do, or if the Hawks will be criticized for spending what little money they had in the wrong way this summer, or going with the youths over veteran PTOs.

But . . .

The minute a Joel Quenneville starts adjusting his system for the undeveloped (and possibly never will be developed) parts of Nick Schmaltz or Gustav Forsling's games, is the point you give up on this franchise as a serious Cup contending team.

You don't win Stanley Cups by just showing up and throwing your sticks on the ice, or forcing the narratives of unproven players. It is a hard, tough thing to do and it requires a lot of commitment—and commitment to excellence—experience, knowledge, skill, depth and luck.

I am not a betting man. But if I were, I would not be laying my money down on the Hawks winning the Cup this year, unless Bowman can pull off something in-season to upgrade from outside the organization. 4-5 rookies in the lineup—a couple of them 20-21 years old is not a recipe for success in the NHL (and I will repeat, Pittsburgh's 3-4 rookies last year were all 23-24 years old. Big difference). Also remember, Pittsburgh had a huge (no pun intended) offseason acquisition in Kessel and getting Daley for Scuderi inseason did not hurt.
- John Jaeckel

JJ, you must have been glued to the Cubs game last night and missed the TSN NHL season projections. Their consensus has the Hawks beating the Sharks in the WCF and then losing to the Lightning in the SCF.

Like you, I wouldn't be laying down too much cash on the Hawks this year but stranger things have happened in pro sports. And there is no way to predict what acquisitions Bowman could make to augment this opening day lineup later in the season.

The Penguins from last year were maybe overlooked a little and probably got a little lucky. As much as Kessel, Daley and their AHL call ups playing well, you are going to win plenty when you can ice Crosby, Malkin and Letang every night and get great support play from Bonino and a rookie goaltender playing out of his mind.

This is the reality of being a mature "Cup window" team in the era of stagnant cap growth. What is interesting and we touched on this in the Puckin Hostile Shoutcast a couple of weeks ago—purely anecdotal but—it seems like while the cap remains flat (ish) the prices of premier players keep going up. What this does is basically creates a "no middle class" NHL. A slowly growing upper salary tier—and a lot of fill in by ELCs and league minimum vets. Look no further than the Hawks for proof of that.

So what do you do as a team? You make the best of what you have, while continuing to look for some way to work the cap and resources to improve the roster, somehow. Hence you see the pursuits of Veseys and Hudlers, and flirtations with Yakupov (albeit asking EDM to eat salary). It's not easy and more often not, it won't work out because the Hawks are so limited in what they can do now to make deals.

And then what do you do as a coaching staff? You close your eyes, bite the bullet, and do what you can to coach these kids up. Hence Q's comments.

It remains to be seen how they will do, or if the Hawks will be criticized for spending what little money they had in the wrong way this summer, or going with the youths over veteran PTOs.

But . . .

The minute a Joel Quenneville starts adjusting his system for the undeveloped (and possibly never will be developed) parts of Nick Schmaltz or Gustav Forsling's games, is the point you give up on this franchise as a serious Cup contending team.

You don't win Stanley Cups by just showing up and throwing your sticks on the ice, or forcing the narratives of unproven players. It is a hard, tough thing to do and it requires a lot of commitment—and commitment to excellence—experience, knowledge, skill, depth and luck.

I am not a betting man. But if I were, I would not be laying my money down on the Hawks winning the Cup this year, unless Bowman can pull off something in-season to upgrade from outside the organization. 4-5 rookies in the lineup—a couple of them 20-21 years old is not a recipe for success in the NHL (and I will repeat, Pittsburgh's 3-4 rookies last year were all 23-24 years old. Big difference). Also remember, Pittsburgh had a huge (no pun intended) offseason acquisition in Kessel and getting Daley for Scuderi inseason did not hurt.
- John Jaeckel

Partly agree. I think as a coach, you need to evaluate your personal, especially with a hard cap, and put guys in the best position to succeed which may include making some accommodations (or at least tolerating mistakes). But not necessarily changing the grand scheme of things. There is a fine line there.

For the most part Q and the guys seem to do a pretty good job managing that. Insisting on playing TVR on his off side with Seabrook was awful on paper and awful to the eyes and should not have gone on as long as it did.

However, the reason they lost last year had more to do with having adequate NHL talent vs any type of coaching or adjustment problem.

It seems like the Hawks play a relatively simple system and the most intricate part is the defensive coverage and how that impacts breakouts. For whatever reason some guys don't seem to get it and others take up to a full season to 'figure' it out. Very few players have been able to step in and have a good grasp immediately, even veterans, so unless its a blockbuster, I don't see a lot of help coming mid season.

They need to hope that around the all star break enough of the boys figure out how to play well enough to tilt the ice and that they stay relatively injury free. Either way, by mid season acquisition or sticking with the kids, a lot of things are going to need to fall just right for them to go deep. Still a good team but about as flawed as any others though I do think better off than last year even if just marginally.

Cant ask for a better home opener. The dander will be up tonight..

New blog up.

You can always use Vipbox.tv
- SimpleJack

Thanks.