I really like Kampf's motor and think he is in the NHL to stay.
- 35Tony0

He looks really good in that bottom 6 C role. The Hawks may have found a decent player in Kampf.

He's signed at 925k into next year and would be cheap to retain after that.

I think it is bottom 5 , still doable with Coach Q up
- oldduffman

Doable with slugs on the ice and under performing 'stars'.

Of course Q is the problem...forget the fact the team is a shell of its former self. Q no longer knows how to coach and he should take a team full of AHL D-men, washed up players and generally overrated "stars" and do what he did when he had a great team.

Q is a failing in a lot of ways, but the product on the ice sadly is right in line with him.

question: did hjalmarsson play the right side much when he was with you guys?

question: did hjalmarsson play the right side much when he was with you guys?
- Tumbleweed

Pretty much all the time with Keith

question: did hjalmarsson play the right side much when he was with you guys?
- Tumbleweed

More often than not he was on the right. Going back to his days being paired with Oduya. Guy was a warrior for a long time. He's been trending down the past couple years though.

Doable with slugs on the ice and under performing 'stars'.

Of course Q is the problem...forget the fact the team is a shell of its former self. Q no longer knows how to coach and he should take a team full of AHL D-men, washed up players and generally overrated "stars" and do what he did when he had a great team.

Q is a failing in a lot of ways, but the product on the ice sadly is right in line with him.
- kwolf68

I don't buy the whole core fell off a cliff at the same time . Q lost this team more then a year ago . His ego is the problem .After he got his big contract he became single minded . When he stormed out of the Draft after hearing of the Jhammer trade ,he should have been showed the door . Take about trying to show up the organization . Coach Q up

I don't buy the whole core fell off a cliff at the same time . Q lost this team more then a year ago . His ego is the problem .After he got his big contract he became single minded . When he stormed out of the Draft after hearing of the Jhammer trade ,he should have been showed the door . Take about trying to show up the organization . Coach Q up
- oldduffman

This is blatant speculation with nothing to back it up. Players don't look disinterested, especially young guys. The core looks tired. The cap has caught them and they aren't as deep. If Q had lost the room, it would be much more evident and the kids wouldn't be playing their asses off.

This is blatant speculation with nothing to back it up. Players don't look disinterested, especially young guys. The core looks tired. The cap has caught them and they aren't as deep. If Q had lost the room, it would be much more evident and the kids wouldn't be playing their asses off.
- JRoenick97

well they are just starting their careers with whole of future contract $$$ waiting...the coach dynamics are nor should they be for the under 23 circuit...

now hartman in a contract year as RFA...is not impressing and probably cost himself several million with his up and down play

thanks for the info guys

I don't buy the whole core fell off a cliff at the same time . Q lost this team more then a year ago . His ego is the problem .After he got his big contract he became single minded . When he stormed out of the Draft after hearing of the Jhammer trade ,he should have been showed the door . Take about trying to show up the organization . Coach Q up
- oldduffman

Oh please stop it...Q's a hall of fame coach. I find it interesting after reading through the whole blog some of the comments. Some noted that the Pens got good again when they fired their coach much like the Kings - however in both cases the GM was fired as well.

Interesting that most of the players are doing well and scoring the goals are the youngsters. But Q hates rookies.

Certainly there's the possibility that Q's message has been lost after 10 seasons, but when you have so many new young players coming in I find that interesting as well. You no longer have the horses on this roster. And who controls the roster.

You look at the Saad and Murphy deals - both were done for of cap reasons (read cost control) Not for the betterment of the current team. The continuous parade of smurf forwards who will get drilled in the playoffs.

Again its the GM...who's bad contracts have killed this team's cap space - what GM in their right mind would trade for that dreadful Seabrook contract? Or Toews...that's right no one. Not to mention the core can veto pretty much any move. And what about his horrid trade record over the last few seasons...good God. But the icing on the cake is his draft record which Jeff Osborn has been examining over at The-Rink.com and let's just say its not pretty. Why does the caretaker continue to get a free pass? Because McD has a man crush on daddy.

More often than not he was on the right. Going back to his days being paired with Oduya. Guy was a warrior for a long time. He's been trending down the past couple years though.
- BlazinMike

Sadly you are correct (sad about the facts, not about you being right). We've witnessed the decline of Keith and Seabrook this season. Had Stan not traded #4 we would have added Hjalmarsson to the list of declining d-men.

Hammer will always be one of my favourite all time Hawks, I love his game and his attitude. He just goes out there and gets the job done. That being said, I do like the trade and I like the what Murphy can bring to the team....if Q would only play him.

Debrincat particularly has really impressed lately, when McDavid said that kid can play he was absolutely right. At same time, he's a 19 yr old rookie and makes mistakes which shouldn't be a surprise. The NHL eventually exposes kids for their inexperience - growing pains.

The D group - quantity but not much quality. Hard to compete with 5 or 6 new guys who are constantly being switched around. Might get away with it during the season if the forwards could outscore the defensive mistakes but they can't. I'd move any of them except Keith for the right return.

AA for a 1st - not likely to happen unless there is all kinds of movement at the trade deadline and another deal establishes that return as fair value.
- RickJ

This is only in my own opinion. DeBrincat is good, but he still doesn't look like the complete package out there on the ice. I mean, he finds those soft areas and has a great shot if they can set him up (something Toews and Duclair did a lot last game). He has shown some playmaking skill, and has battled hard most of the time. Still looks like he needs to work on his skating and strength. Don't get me wrong, he is having a nice rookie season, but like you mentioned there are growing pains and he needs to develop that experience.

I still think it would have been nice to let him develop a year down in the AHL, but the Hawks needed scoring wingers and he has that shot.

I'd to see him play with Kane.

i.e.

AD - Toews - Kane
AD - Schmaltz - Kane
AD - AA - Kane

any of those 3 would be fine in my books.

I think we have a good pipeline of talent to fill roles on the team whether now or soon (i.e. Kampf, Highmore, Hayden, Forsling, Sikura) or down the line in a few years (i.e. Jokiharju, Carlsson, Soderlund, Mitchell, Krys). The issue is filling the right holes where there is currently desperate needs: center depth and top-4 blueline spots.

While Sikura can play center, my guess is he'll get the Schmaltz development plan by playing wing first and see if he can eventually move to center. Outside of him, there is no other top-6 talent who can play center. Bottom-6 center depth is better in comparison with Kampf, Highmore, Johnson, and even Kero.

As for defense, none of the D prospects scream top pair. Maybe some of them will grow to be candidates to play 2nd pair with talent to play special teams.
- AEL_Fox

I definitely agree that the team has some good prospects. Many of the prospects you mentioned have futures in the league. Some of them may be gamers for sure. (Jokiharju may be that defensemen)

My post was more along the lines of what is bolded. The pipeline really doesn't have that high-end prospect that this team needs now. The Hawks reasonably need another top center and a top-pairing defenseman. The best way they will get those pieces, with our current salary cap constraints, is through the draft.

I think some of the players you mentioned above may be fodder used to pry picks away from other teams. I might even include Hartman, Jurco, Hino, Gustafsson, Kempny, and Rutta in that category. Not because they are bad, but because they are good enough to yield a solid return.

Oh please stop it...Q's a hall of fame coach. I find it interesting after reading through the whole blog some of the comments. Some noted that the Pens got good again when they fired their coach much like the Kings - however in both cases the GM was fired as well.

Interesting that most of the players are doing well and scoring the goals are the youngsters. But Q hates rookies.

Certainly there's the possibility that Q's message has been lost after 10 seasons, but when you have so many new young players coming in I find that interesting as well. You no longer have the horses on this roster. And who controls the roster.

You look at the Saad and Murphy deals - both were done for of cap reasons (read cost control) Not for the betterment of the current team. The continuous parade of smurf forwards who will get drilled in the playoffs.

Again its the GM...who's bad contracts have killed this team's cap space - what GM in their right mind would trade for that dreadful Seabrook contract? Or Toews...that's right no one. Not to mention the core can veto pretty much any move. And what about his horrid trade record over the last few seasons...good God. But the icing on the cake is his draft record which Jeff Osborn has been examining over at The-Rink.com and let's just say its not pretty. Why does the caretaker continue to get a free pass? Because McD has a man crush on daddy.
- DK002

The Canes would happily trade for Toews if you ate like $1 million in salary.

Sadly you are correct (sad about the facts, not about you being right). We've witnessed the decline of Keith and Seabrook this season. Had Stan not traded #4 we would have added Hjalmarsson to the list of declining d-men.

Hammer will always be one of my favourite all time Hawks, I love his game and his attitude. He just goes out there and gets the job done. That being said, I do like the trade and I like the what Murphy can bring to the team....if Q would only play him.
- DarthKane

He paid the price for his D partners many times. I remember seeing it game after game when he played with Campbell especially. Puck dumped into the corner. Hjalmarsson would be the one to engage and take punishment to win the puck, while Campbell would stop short and wait for #4 to chip the puck to him to take it back up ice. So many times, #4 was hit and he always just seemed to bounce back up.

From JJ on twitter:

Hearing rumblings of pre-deadline activity at 1901 W, Madison . . . should be an interesting next 3 weeks. Stay tuned.
- jt19

Oh... to be a fly on the wall inside 1901.

There are some very unhappy campers on the executive team. Now it's all about which PR spin they want to implement and when exactly they will pull the trigger to release it to the public.

Either Stan will get out with some statements soon or it will be signaled by a trade (showing they are "sellers").

Oh please stop it...Q's a hall of fame coach. I find it interesting after reading through the whole blog some of the comments. Some noted that the Pens got good again when they fired their coach much like the Kings - however in both cases the GM was fired as well.

Interesting that most of the players are doing well and scoring the goals are the youngsters. But Q hates rookies.

Certainly there's the possibility that Q's message has been lost after 10 seasons, but when you have so many new young players coming in I find that interesting as well. You no longer have the horses on this roster. And who controls the roster.

You look at the Saad and Murphy deals - both were done for of cap reasons (read cost control) Not for the betterment of the current team. The continuous parade of smurf forwards who will get drilled in the playoffs.

Again its the GM...who's bad contracts have killed this team's cap space - what GM in their right mind would trade for that dreadful Seabrook contract? Or Toews...that's right no one. Not to mention the core can veto pretty much any move. And what about his horrid trade record over the last few seasons...good God. But the icing on the cake is his draft record which Jeff Osborn has been examining over at The-Rink.com and let's just say its not pretty. Why does the caretaker continue to get a free pass? Because McD has a man crush on daddy.
- DK002

You know the old saying: "Show me a great coach and I will show you a great goaltender" (or Sidney Crosby or Tom Brady)

The Canes would happily trade for Toews if you ate like $1 million in salary.
- PepinoPamplemousse

JVR for kruger, mckeown and a conditional 2nd (becomes a 1st if he re-signs)

JVR for kruger, mckeown and a conditional 2nd (becomes a 1st if he re-signs)
- Tumbleweed

Done.

Oh... to be a fly on the wall inside 1901.

There are some very unhappy campers on the executive team. Now it's all about which PR spin they want to implement and when exactly they will pull the trigger to release it to the public.

Either Stan will get out with some statements soon or it will be signaled by a trade (showing they are "sellers").
- Justin Lowe

Couple of years ago I went to a Leafs game vs Philly when Randy Carlyle was the coach. It was early March and the Flyers beat the brutal Leafs 7-0. The fans started chanting "Let's Go Blue Jays" for an entire period. Walter Gretzky and a friend of his were sitting right in front of me and they got up and left midway in the 2nd period.

Fans can be brutal when they are unhappy - McD and this Exec Team should be expecting the worst.

The Canes would happily trade for Toews if you ate like $1 million in salary.
- PepinoPamplemousse

Toews ($1 million retained) for Rask, Aho and a 2nd. DONE!!!!

Done.
- PepinoPamplemousse

nice doing business with ya.

Oh please stop it...Q's a hall of fame coach. I find it interesting after reading through the whole blog some of the comments. Some noted that the Pens got good again when they fired their coach much like the Kings - however in both cases the GM was fired as well.

Interesting that most of the players are doing well and scoring the goals are the youngsters. But Q hates rookies.

Certainly there's the possibility that Q's message has been lost after 10 seasons, but when you have so many new young players coming in I find that interesting as well. You no longer have the horses on this roster. And who controls the roster.

You look at the Saad and Murphy deals - both were done for of cap reasons (read cost control) Not for the betterment of the current team. The continuous parade of smurf forwards who will get drilled in the playoffs.

Again its the GM...who's bad contracts have killed this team's cap space - what GM in their right mind would trade for that dreadful Seabrook contract? Or Toews...that's right no one. Not to mention the core can veto pretty much any move. And what about his horrid trade record over the last few seasons...good God. But the icing on the cake is his draft record which Jeff Osborn has been examining over at The-Rink.com and let's just say its not pretty. Why does the caretaker continue to get a free pass? Because McD has a man crush on daddy.
- DK002

The crack in that rationale is the idea that a new GM comes in and completely retools the team, even when brought in mid-season, and that's why they start winning. Pens bounced back quickly after Sullivan came mid-season. As apparently, did the Bruins with Julien's ouster:

The Boston Bruins fired Claude Julien a year ago yesterday. They are 51-19-9 since. Thats a solid 111 points in 79 games.

This season is a wash, though I would like to see how the team would respond to a change behind the bench.

I don't think there is a person on this board who is ungrateful to Q for everything he brought to the city and team. No one is taking away from Q's accomplishments to suggest his effectiveness as a coach HERE may be waning or gone. His alleged battles with his GM probably don't help the situation.

Oh... to be a fly on the wall inside 1901.

There are some very unhappy campers on the executive team. Now it's all about which PR spin they want to implement and when exactly they will pull the trigger to release it to the public.

Either Stan will get out with some statements soon or it will be signaled by a trade (showing they are "sellers").
- Justin Lowe

"we use to like our team...but that was 2 weeks ago"

Toews ($1 million retained) for Rask, Aho and a 2nd. DONE!!!!
- DarthKane