Hey crew – just a quick one here leading up to the Hawks vs. Jets tonight.
Looks like your lines are:
Saad-Toews-Cat Schmaltz-AA-Kane Sharp-Hinostroza-Hartman Bouma-Wingels-Hayden
A strong message is being sent to Panik who would be perfect to insert against this quick, physical Jets team. That should be his game. Lately, it has not been.
Jan Rutta did not travel to Winnipeg. It didn’t make sense for him to go with Franson being placed on the IR and Ville Pokka being called up as the 8th D.
Rutta took a big hit and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s out for a couple weeks until he’s feeling better. The 27-year old Czech could be sliding into a longer-term role with this Blackhawks team, so no sense in rushing him back.
D parings (TBC) but looks like it’s #KempnyTime:
Keith-Oesterle Forsling-Seabrook Kempny-Murphy
With Oesterle and Kempny both in the lineup, I will keeping an eye on them to see how they handle this tough Jets forecheck.
We are all really smart people who know their hockey on here, so we don’t have need to go into how the Winnipeg Jets finally look like a deadly team; they’re big, they’re fast and this is going to be a challenge.
On the rumour front, JJ had a solid report today:
@Jaeckel: “Heard this AM, just now, Hawks and Ottawa may be talking about a trade involving Michal Kempny and a Rockford defenseman for one Ottawa roster player. Not sure how serious, but as we've reported, lots of scouting presence from other teams in Rockford recently.…
On the Chicago front, Kempny has been the guy out for a while and tonight will be a nice “showcase… for him. Unfortunately, it’s not an easy opponent after that much time off.
I have put in a couple feelers out to my sources in Ottawa and I’m looking into anything they are hearing from their side.
If it is a Kempny + Pokka/Gustafsson type deal, the Hawks would be looking at a Nate Thomspon, Ryan Dzingel, Gabriel Dumont type return (not exactly, but salary-wise, those make the most sense).
Should be a great test to see where the Hawks really are tonight vs. Chevy’s Jets.
See ya out there.
JL - @JustinLoweHB
-- Who we got tonight: Winnipeg Jets Season Matchup: 1st of the season
18-8-5 = 41 points 3rd in Central Division Last game: WIN vs. Canucks (5-1) Dcember 11th GF: 106 / GA: 87 PP% = 25.9% (4th in NHL) PK% = 79.5% (22nd in NHL) Sniper: Patrick Laine – 15 goals Producer: Blake Wheeler – 38 points Tough Guys: – Dustin Byfuglien - 49 PIMs (he’s out week-to-week) & Brandon Tanev - 91 hits
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