On the NHL Radio Network with Boomer Gordon. Blackhawks summer of changes...
https://soundcloud.com/si...boomer-talking-blackhawks
- Al

Listened on the way home, Great Job Al.

I like accountability. There is no puck control. I suspect some veteran desire to play physical brand originates if they do not have enough teamattes who will do the same.

I totally buy into the notion that Stan wants accountability. I will be watching about his own accountabilty as well.

I am very curious to also hear exactly what imjuries Toews played through. No way did the captain loose desire or ability but it had to be affected by injury. Thing is, is he prone to less than 100% efficiency due to chronic injuries. Will anyone tell us the full story? Not until Toews is agsin bad for an entire season? If his injuries occured or were compounded by World Cup or whatever it was called last fall, then the high priced assets for each team team is at risk for NHL games. So when next Olympics or each spring with European World Cup who is next star to get banged up with an injury which carries through to the NHL season?
- jhawk59

unless there is surgery involved...you will never get the full story of an injury...

NHL said nada to the 2018 olympics and the NHLPA and players not happy...

I have not had to be here because of you. You say it all...
- TrueGrit

indeed...old times...

On the NHL Radio Network with Boomer Gordon. Blackhawks summer of changes...
https://soundcloud.com/si...boomer-talking-blackhawks
- Al

Nice work, Al.

The fight has begun:

Quenneville has made changes to his staff in the past. He fired assistant and Bowman ally Mike Haviland following the 2012 season after a power struggle with Bowman following a nine-game losing streak in January and February. During that struggle, Bowman assigned director of player development Barry Smith to join the Hawks during practices, against Quenneville’s wishes.
- walleyeb1

Q fired Haviland because he was a pipeline to McIssac/McDonut tp everything that went on in the room.

Yawney's an asst. Coach with the Ducks...

Oates would be a great choice to run the power play and move Dineen to the defense. I think Dineen gets the Sabres job - Norm MacIver is up for the GM gig as well...but shouldn't MacIver be fired as long as we're getting rid of assistants.
I mean someone had to help Stan make all those boneheaded moves the last three offseasons and TDLs.

No doubt this was a Stan power move to show McD he's boss...whatever. The PK had become stale...I'm sure Q is not happy about it. Who knows maybe they'll have Barry Smith down there again which should really piss Q off.
- DK002

DK...Stan didn't fire Kitch McDonut did...John sent Stan out there for the press conference on Saturday with a tight script and then had him fire him today. Oz is behind the curtain calling the shots.

I have not had to be here because of you. You say it all...
- TrueGrit

Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.
- George Carlin

I see the self proclaimed genius has graced us with his presence once again after a playoff exit. Shocking.

Go Sox!! Beating a team tonight maybe worse. Lol. Kinda nice to root for a team with ZERO expectations.

So, are we still a dynasty?

What do we do with the Kane and Toews statues if we trade them?

So, the cap crunch is Kitchens fault?

Reality is ruining our summer convention. Winning is hard. Other teams want to win too. You can't just wish it.

Go Sox!! Beating a team tonight maybe worse. Lol. Kinda nice to root for a team with ZERO expectations.
- kwolf68

Was at the game yesterday. Half-filled stadium on a beautiful day, but the Sox are much more fun to watch than they were under Ventura. I like the concept of what they're doing -- let's see if they can pull it off ....

Q fired Haviland because he was a pipeline to McIssac/McDonut tp everything that went on in the room.
- ElkgroveMcD

I was bummed when they let Haviland go. He did a good job when Q was off with health issues.

Was at the game yesterday. Half-filled stadium on a beautiful day, but the Sox are much more fun to watch than they were under Ventura. I like the concept of what they're doing -- let's see if they can pull it off ....
- Hank_Greenberg

Yea Hank. They needed to do this. Many of the current players won't be there long term, but they are building for the future. The trades of Sale and Eaton brought in a bounty and with Robertson pitching the way he has, along with Quintana I suspect more bright young talent is on the way. And just think if Derek Holland and James Shields keep pitching well or Todd Frazier remembers how to actually hit a baseball. I can't wait till we see the kids like Moncado and Kopech in the bigs. I am also very high on the "third piece" in the Eaton trade, Dunning, he's a nice looking prospect.

That all said I DO LIKE it when the Sox are winning so watching them versus KC tonight has been fun. It just feels wrong to want your team to lose, even though I know that's mostly what they'll do this year.

I was bummed when they let Haviland go. He did a good job when Q was off with health issues.
- 6628

Strong hockey guy, with a stronger personality than he projected in public.
Sometimes a head coach likes to surround himself with strong opinions other times no.

Sweet...got me some Bears and White Sox talk in today...

I am just viewing the Blackhawks talk right now. Nothing really to add, very upset they are out, but if I get too in the dumps I can go back and look at the 2010 video. I thought 2013 was the best team, but 2010 was SO MUCH FUN...


What if the Blackhawks could be bullied

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ok_pqAmaqM

Sweet...got me some Bears and White Sox talk in today...

I am just viewing the Blackhawks talk right now. Nothing really to add, very upset they are out, but if I get too in the dumps I can go back and look at the 2010 video. I thought 2013 was the best team, but 2010 was SO MUCH FUN...


What if the Blackhawks could be bullied

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ok_pqAmaqM
- kwolf68

Hey Kwolf...

I'd still go with the 2010 team...they were young, hungry and could play any way you wanted - heavy or skill...personally I'd like to see the team more resemble that - a ton of skill but a little more heaviness/edge to their game. It should be an interesting summer...

So, are we still a dynasty?

What do we do with the Kane and Toews statues if we trade them?

So, the cap crunch is Kitchens fault?

Reality is ruining our summer convention. Winning is hard. Other teams want to win too. You can't just wish it.
- hocktock

the first sacrificial lamb...granted the PK had become stale and needed a switch...but basically Stan did it without even talking to Q - let the war begin...

I'm wondering which one of Stan's assistants gets fired in regard to his track record during the last few offseasons and TDLs...there's a lot of f-ck up there too.

Just McD moving around the chess pieces and trying to create more tension...? More pressure? (pay no attention to the man behind the curtain - The great Oz has spoken...)

Hey Kwolf...

I'd still go with the 2010 team...they were young, hungry and could play any way you wanted - heavy or skill...personally I'd like to see the team more resemble that - a ton of skill but a little more heaviness/edge to their game. It should be an interesting summer...
- DK002

Oh I loved the 2010 team. It was a combination of speed, skill and nasty. And they were so young. The underrated player of that playoffs was David Bolland, he totally locked down whatever line he was paired up with. Buff was a folk hero though, LOVED how he drove Greasy Lou and the Canucks crazy...less than a month later he was on the move.

Don't know - all I can do (and others too) is read the tea-leaves for what they are.
This is nothing against the Preds, they played a fine series as I expected and Lavy coached the living daylights out of those guys, they were all ready.

I can only infer from my own real-life experiences.
We have 8 world-class players on our team.
We were NOT playing some international all-star team that had 16 all-world players and only had 8.

Again, it wasn't 1 game. It was 4.
Results and what we saw spoke volumes.
They quit on Q and each other. There is no other way to sugarcoat it.
This wasn't a question of having a team of all AHL'ers and going further than thought possible.

There is more than Q's coaching philosophy wrong.
Which is why I commented they quit on each other.
- savvyone-1

When a team is young and hungry, they push themselves beyond their limits to win a game, a series, a Cup. They haven't felt the cost of doing such things and assume it'll be worth it, and it probably is. Then they do it again. And again. And then the cost of pushing themselves so hard starts catching up to them. Maybe they don't have it in them to go beyond their limits or maybe their limits have receded some with age and the wear and tear of long seasons. It isn't just physical, it's mental. It's attitude. That's why they need to shake up the roster and bring in some new key pieces who haven't been all the way three times recently, let that energy feed into the remaining core and let them find their extra gear again, which will be easier when they know they aren't going to have to carry the entire load themselves.

Savvy, collapsing is not a good thing especially when they don't clear the crease. They got away with it for a long time.
- 6628

66, can you recall the last time you saw any Hawk clear an opponent from in front?
I can't.

Is always like watching the 1st baseman and the baserunner chatting one another up. No pushing, no shoving.
No struggles.
Instead of moving a guy out/away, even if they will return a second or 2 later -- that time can give the G a clean look at the shooter. I will never understand the "no touch" policy in the way it has been enacted on this club.

I have not had to be here because of you. You say it all...
- TrueGrit

Ha ha!
TG my friend, nice to see you back.
Let me know if you get up this way, you can come skate with our club.
We badly need an infusion of new blood.
Kind of like the Hawks.

Yzerman has done a great job but he still has some issues to deal with - Tyler Johnson, Palat and Drouin plus a broken down, washed up Ryan Callahan. And unlike Stanbo, he's missed the playoffs twice.
- RickJ

The big thing that hasn't been recognized is Yzerman and his players are making decisions knowing that the hard cap is effectively frozen, something that neither Bowman nor Kane/Toews knew at the time of their deals. Remember back then there was a new Canadian TV dealing and oil money was propping up the Canadian dollar. The thinking was (mine anyway) that those salaries wouldn't loom so large in a fairly short time. Then the bottom fell out of Canadian oil and the Canadian dollar went off the cliff and still isn't back to where it was.

Strong hockey guy, with a stronger personality than he projected in public.
Sometimes a head coach likes to surround himself with strong opinions other times no.
- Al

I hope that some different voices in the coaches room that will challenge Q and some players will be a good thing. Nothing against Kitch who by all accounts I've heard is a great guy.

The big thing that hasn't been recognized is Yzerman and his players are making decisions knowing that the hard cap is effectively frozen, something that neither Bowman nor Kane/Toews knew at the time of their deals. Remember back then there was a new Canadian TV dealing and oil money was propping up the Canadian dollar. The thinking was (mine anyway) that those salaries wouldn't loom so large in a fairly short time. Then the bottom fell out of Canadian oil and the Canadian dollar went off the cliff and still isn't back to where it was.
- Marlowe

This morning:

$1.00 Canadian = $0.7361 U.S.

Not pretty.

I think you need to free up some cash by buying out some of the Ridiculous contracts. 6 more seasons of Brent Seabrook at almost 7 million a season is crazy, especially when you think he will almost be 40 by the time its done. Paying Hossa 4 more years until he is almost 42 at 5.275 million is also crazy. Cut the cord, free up some cash, get a better bottom 6 and maybe see the second round again.

But firing Mike Kitchen might work just as well
- VopatsRash

You should run one of the better-known buyout calculators for Seabs. Then read up on cap recapture penalty regarding Hossa.

66, can you recall the last time you saw any Hawk clear an opponent from in front?
I can't.

Is always like watching the 1st baseman and the baserunner chatting one another up. No pushing, no shoving.
No struggles.
Instead of moving a guy out/away, even if they will return a second or 2 later -- that time can give the G a clean look at the shooter. I will never understand the "no touch" policy in the way it has been enacted on this club.
- savvyone-1

If I remember correctly last time I saw that was when Svedberg was up.