The Hawks take their talent to Berlin and the smell of the regular season is just around the corner. Or is that the smell of the stench the Hawks have been carry around with this preseason.
Their most recent game was a very forgettable one. The Washington Capitals came in and owned the Hawks for a 6-0 thumping on Wednesday night.
The Hawks really didn't have much going. I know it's preseason so I won't read too much into it, but it was disappointing to see the lack of pushback – especially in the 2nd half of the game – when the score started to creep up to touchdown territory.
Based on last game, I would vote to keep Toews and Kane on L1 and DeBrincat and Strome on L2. There's better balance and chemistry in the top 6 this way.
I also hope Alex Nylander can get it going a little more once he gets overseas. If he's going to be in the top 6, then he needs to be productive and act less like a black hole. He'll get on Kane's bad side fairly quick with turnovers and questionable fancy plays.
I would think the coaching staff is trying to get him to play a simpler game. Maybe Nylander is better suited for 3rd line action right now. He was moved down at the end of the last game so it will be interesting to see if he begins there on Sunday. Nylander, Kampf and Kubalik could work.
The Hawks are a little banged up so they are bringing an extended roster to Berlin/Prague.
No injuries appear to be too serious but keep an eye if guys like Lehner, Smith, de Haan, Murphy and possibly Dach take some extra time to work out the kinks and rest up for Game #1 on October 4th.
A few players that did not make it on the plane yesterday were Adam Boqvist, Aleksi Saarela and John Quenneville. The later was just placed on waivers for the purposes of being sent to Rockford.
I would expect all 3 players to be in the lineup on Saturday as the Rockford IceHogs take on the Boston Bruins.
That's all I have for now but will be updating on the message board during the games this weekend.
See ya out there!
TC
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