Foley could leave tomorrow and I wouldn't bat an eye. I feel he hinders Eddie Os ability to be a smart fan's analyst that we see far too often on the national games.

Instead on CSN or WGN he's talking about ice cream or other BS. I grew up with Foley and Tallon and will always cherish those days, but that foley never returned.....instead we got a morphed Harry Caray version which is damn near unlistenable.
- SteveRain

Agree. The love fest between Foley and Eddie O is sickening. The constant desire to brag and preen over each other abilities gets old. I prefer to turn on the radio and listen to Wiedeman and Murray

No biggie on not bidding for Butcher.

Hawks have drafted 17 defensemen since 2013(Dahlstrom, Novell,Press, Snuggerud, Soderberg, Tuollola, Gilbert, Shea, Carlsson, Hillman, Krys, Ryczyk, Jokiharju, Roope L. Galvas, Ess, Mitchell )

Wow. If they bat just 25% of guys making it to the NHL that's 4 players.

Add Raddysh, Ruuta and Kempny as guys signed in the last 2 years that many teams wanted that's a whopping 20.

Passing on a guy that scouts have watched dozens of times. So be it.n

No biggie on not bidding for Butcher.

Hawks have drafted 17 defensemen since 2013(Dahlstrom, Novell,Press, Snuggerud, Soderberg, Tuollola, Gilbert, Shea, Carlsson, Hillman, Krys, Ryczyk, Jokiharju, Roope L. Galvas, Ess, Mitchell )

Wow. If they bat just 25% of guys making it to the NHL that's 4 players.

Add Raddysh, Ruuta and Kempny as guys signed in the last 2 years that many teams wanted that's a whopping 20.

Passing on a guy that scouts have watched dozens of times. So be it.n
- Omahawk

If I had to guess which 4 of those 17 drafted blueliners make it on the Hawks roster in the future as regulars (assuming they're properly developed before making the jump), I'd go with Snuggerud, Krys, Jokiharju, and Mitchell.

Avalanche lose Butcher but gained Toninato (former captain of University of Minnesota Duluth). Signed to a 2-year ELC.

The biggest issue is it cost huge money to rebuild...We all poke fun at WWW but he allowed Tallon to tank and was losing about $20 mill per year until Toews was drafted. That's a lot of coin...

As far as hockey programs...You are correct-TB is doing a big job there and a few others but the NHL doesn't steer the ship the way they should.

For example besides ice programs-Which as you know can be costly there is no reason why every franchise isn't mandated to do a roller hockey-street hockey program...That's what they are doing in TB.

It's not uncommnon for players coming up now to say they played a ton of street hockey or roller hockey before turning to the ice and getting serious.

But the NHL is loosley run in many ways....And you are correct, the sport doesn't have the fan base as a whole to solve problems only by increasing ticket prices.
- Al

Great, great point.

No biggie on not bidding for Butcher.

Hawks have drafted 17 defensemen since 2013(Dahlstrom, Novell,Press, Snuggerud, Soderberg, Tuollola, Gilbert, Shea, Carlsson, Hillman, Krys, Ryczyk, Jokiharju, Roope L. Galvas, Ess, Mitchell )

Wow. If they bat just 25% of guys making it to the NHL that's 4 players.

Add Raddysh, Ruuta and Kempny as guys signed in the last 2 years that many teams wanted that's a whopping 20.

Passing on a guy that scouts have watched dozens of times. So be it.n
- Omahawk

Butcher would have been on the Hawk roster for less than 10 games, if even that. He would have gone in the pipeline with guys like Jokiharju. And quite honestly, the Hawks' greater need organizationally is NHL-ready depth.

I can't see where they are right now, but does it matter that much? The Sabres, Coyotes, and Wings have been in Pronman's top 5 for like 3 years now and nothing much has come of for them yet. Leafs were #1 last year, Flyers #1 this year so they those look about right but we won't really know atm. It's kind of hit or miss in predictive to how a team will do once those prospects start to come up.

The Penguins were 30th two years ago right before their kids came up and contributed to two cups in a row.
- L_B_R

THIS. ^^^^^

Ranking organizations prospects and pipelines is about as foolish as ranking prospects within them.

Hearken back to 2000-2005, when the Hawks were SURE to build a dynasty with the "highly ranked" prospect pipeline including: Mikhail Yakubov, Pavel (Prehistoric SpongeBob Vorobiev, Igor Radulov, Matt Ellison, Matt Keith, etc.

I want to comment on that idea of the Blackhawks organization sponsoring a roller or league hockey / club:
This has always stuck in my mind and never had an answer.
Don't ask me what year in the mid 1960's and I had to go and pay for my playoff tickets or a down payment on the next season pass it was probably before 1965 because someone dropped me off near gate 3 1/2 and had to circle or wait. (I only lived eight blocks away on Wolcott but we profoundly respected the badness of the black neighborhood partially due to our racism and their poverty and I was probably only 14 or 15 and single bodies alone could easily be targets in the Ukrainian or Puerto rican neighborhood just like a kid from two blocks from my block might meet trouble on my street and remember there were still houses where so many of the parking lots are now.
Get to the point,lol.
Well by gate 3 1/2, that employees parking lot at here was a make shift hockey roller rink set up not as sophisticated as he one you see at north ave beach and suited in regular old time roller skates where two fully uniformed home and away hawk jerseys where neighbor black kids engaged in a game. There were few adults no press. I don't think they went to the local sporting goods store and purchased the equipment they and don't believe the use of the property was some spontaneity us pick up game.
So the old man ButterWirtz must have a something to do with it....surprising since so many of the Wirta realty rental properties had "Jews need not apply" signs in the 1950s...I always wondered about this and was jealous in the typical white privleged way that "them people" had that and our white inner city youts "only" had the union league boys club number two

Hey Darth,you're more of an optimistic person than me when it comes to the mix of defense prospects the BLACKHAWKS have, I think what they're doing with that group is wishing in one hand, crapping in the other, and seeing which one fills up first. None of those guys were drafted they were all signed as free agents, I feel that if any of them were any good they would've been drafted by other teams ahead of the BLACKHAWKS given the BLACKHAWKS record the last few years I don't expect anything out of guys like Gustavsson, Svedberg and a few of those other guys, I am rooting for Kempny,and if I have to be honest, I am kind of pissed that they're not going after will butcher, or at least trying to make a valiant attempt at signing him!
- wonthecup10

That's not really true. They just drafted a lot of D-men, including the one in the first round. Forsling was drafted by VAN, Pokka by NYI, Gustafsson by EDM, Snuggerud (14), Norell (13), Dahlstrom (13), Ryan Shea (15), Jakub Galvas (17), Jani Tuulola (15), Jokiharju (17), Roope Laavainen (17), Dennis Gilbert (15), Joshua Ess (17), Ian Mitchell (17), Jake Ryczek (16), Andreas Soderberg (14), Lucas Carlsson (16), Chad Krys (16), and Blake Hillman (16) are all draft picks of the Hawks. There are a ton of upcoming prospects on D. I get if you mean this year, but only Kempny, Ruuta, and Oesterle (if he's in the mix) were not drafted.

The Hawks have become a stupid organization again ... First in the west last year and they blow up the team because they got beat in the first round by not taking a hungry Nashville team seriously . Thats Stupid Love the blogs JJ ... Thank You
- HurriKane

Stupid? The team was not balanced and had to be re-worked. The team now has a very balance/skilled top 6. Skill to go speed and size to go get the puck. Im not worried about this team. Its Q that worries me.

The Hawks have become a stupid organization again ... First in the west last year and they blow up the team because they got beat in the first round by not taking a hungry Nashville team seriously . Thats Stupid Love the blogs JJ ... Thank You
- HurriKane

That's not why they got beat. They got outworked, out hustled, and flat outplayed. They had no answers. The weaknesses in the regular season came right to the frontline: perimeter play, not driving the net, no speed, outdated D system. Also, since when is trading 2 players "blowing up the team"? Panarin was only here 2 years and we got Saad back. We had a net loss of one guy.

Wiz,

I was wondering if you saw this over at SCH: https://www.secondcityhoc...5-under-25-alex-debrincat

What are your thoughts?

THIS. ^^^^^

Ranking organizations prospects and pipelines is about as foolish as ranking prospects within them.

Hearken back to 2000-2005, when the Hawks were SURE to build a dynasty with the "highly ranked" prospect pipeline including: Mikhail Yakubov, Pavel (Prehistoric SpongeBob Vorobiev, Igor Radulov, Matt Ellison, Matt Keith, etc.
- John Jaeckel

This one had me cracking up at my desk at work....best description ever!

Stupid? The team was not balanced and had to be re-worked. The team now has a very balance/skilled top 6. Skill to go speed and size to go get the puck. Im not worried about this team. Its Q that worries me.
- z1990z

Agree that they Hawks were not stupid. The good thing about this off season is that the Hawks were thinking more than 1 year out. They were the least physical team in the NHL and they addressed that to a degree and also got younger in the process. The biggest blow to the team is still one that they had no real control over...the loss of Hossa. He was only like 75% of the usual Hossa we knew, but he was still a real x-factor.

No biggie on not bidding for Butcher.

Hawks have drafted 17 defensemen since 2013(Dahlstrom, Novell,Press, Snuggerud, Soderberg, Tuollola, Gilbert, Shea, Carlsson, Hillman, Krys, Ryczyk, Jokiharju, Roope L. Galvas, Ess, Mitchell )

Wow. If they bat just 25% of guys making it to the NHL that's 4 players.

Add Raddysh, Ruuta and Kempny as guys signed in the last 2 years that many teams wanted that's a whopping 20.

Passing on a guy that scouts have watched dozens of times. So be it.n
- Omahawk

I think Dahlstrom could be one to watch for in the next year or two. He isn't flashy, but he could be the next stay at home guy the Hawks need.

That's not why they got beat. They got outworked, out hustled, and flat outplayed. They had no answers. The weaknesses in the regular season came right to the frontline: perimeter play, not driving the net, no speed, outdated D system. Also, since when is trading 2 players "blowing up the team"? Panarin was only here 2 years and we got Saad back. We had a net loss of one guy.
- JRoenick97

You are right and I hate to say this but its the TRUTH Nashville was just Toying with us. The Preds wanted to win and the Hawks just threw their sticks onto the ice hoping to win based on history. I just wonder what games this guy was watching because we got our A$$ KICKED or he might have been too drunk to remember trying comfort the pain of watching that train wreck of a series....

Agree that they Hawks were not stupid. The good thing about this off season is that the Hawks were thinking more than 1 year out. They were the least physical team in the NHL and they addressed that to a degree and also got younger in the process. The biggest blow to the team is still one that they had no real control over...the loss of Hossa. He was only like 75% of the usual Hossa we knew, but he was still a real x-factor.
- breadbag

I fall more into the camp that it was the composition of the roster over the effort of the roster.

That said, the moves this summer were in response to both, don't kid yourself.

Whether they were right or not, I think the Hawks decided they needed to get younger, bigger, faster and add some guys who will push back. They accomplished all that to some degree, and Bowman did short circuit the 2019 Cap-a-geddon that was coming, proactively.

I will cover a lot of this in my next blog, after the one I'm about to post.