A coach has been fired and a big move to bring in a couple top 9 players has been made. Still, this team is 3-6-2 under Coach Colliton and many of us aren't surprised.
I wanted to pump out a quick blog because I since the Seabrook whispers (which I heard nothing further on other than he could be moved before December is over) however I have heard that management is not very pleased with the core guys right now.
I don't blame them. The Hawks lost 6-5 to Winnipeg on Thursday night but almost all of the production came from the bottom 6 guys (and Jan Rutta).
So, the depth stepped up and made this one closer than it should have been, but where were the core guys?
To my eye, their effort has not been very good as of late.
Patrick Kane looks like he's coasting more than usual and Duncan Keith, well I'm just not sure what's going on with him.
Put it all together with Corey Crawford playing just average hockey (not fair to put much of this on him because he's been hung out to dry) and you have a disastrous recipe.
Jeremy Colliton was mad after the last game. It's about as mad as we've seen him and everyone in the media and on the message boards here seemed to be happy about that.
I'm not sure if any of you caught it but during that 8-3 Vegas thumping that Pat Foley and Eddie Olczyk the other night, a question was posed (and I'm paraphrasing): "do you think there is going to paint peeled off the walls after this one?" Eddie asked, and Pat paused and said, "I'm going to take the under on that one." This was then followed by a long and awkward pause while the play was still going on.
These two have been quite critical during this process as they are both close with Joel Quenneville. They took the chance to throw in this little jab about Colliton during this drubbing, so I can only imagine they were elated to see him as mad as he was Thursday in his post-game presser.
It looks like the same lineup tonight with the exception that Henri Jokiharju checks in for Jan Rutta. Also, Cam Ward gets the stat tonight. That is a smart move, Crawford needs a break for the night.
Based on what I heard about some people not happy with the core's effort level, coupled with JC's comments about effort, keep an eye on the ice time tonight. Because if that bottom 6 are outplaying the key guys above them, I wouldn't be shocked to see more Andreas Martinsen and Co. then we're accustomed to.
Let's look at the matchup for tonight's game:
-- Chicago Blackhawks: 9-12-5 (23 points / 6th in Central) 2.81 GF/G = 22nd 3.29 GA/G = 24th 12.0 PP = LAST 74.3 PK% = 28th 49.4 FO% = 18th
-- Nashville Predators: 17-8-1 (35 points / 1st in Central) 3.19 GF/G = 12th 2.42 GA = 2nd 14.4 PP = 30th 80.0 PK% = 14th 52.4 FO% = 27th JL's player to watch: there are a lot of names on this Preds roster to watch but I'm most curious as to how Ryan Hartman plays. He's going to want some revenge on the team that traded him (and his friends Vinnie and Nick) away. He has 11 points (7 goals) in 26 games this year.
See ya out there,
JL