No new rumors here. Just clearing up a lot of stuff I've heard from my better sources over the summer, and providing some of my thoughts on it.
1. Don't believe the "Youth Movement" Clap Trap
In spite of what Joel Quenneville may have said at the Fan Convention, or what gets bandied about Twitter and message boards like the one attached to this blog, the Chicago Blackhawks are still in the business of winning Stanley Cups.
To the extent that the Hawks do feature rookies on their roster this year, say after the first ten games or so, it will be forced by necessity and the ugly realities of the salary cap. Not because they particularly want to. Or validating the seemingly Freddy Kruger-like belief (it just won't die) among some fans that Hawk prospects are just amazing, year after year.
Armchair GMs keep penciling names like Schmaltz and Motte and Hinostroza into the Hawk Top 6 like it's a really good thing. It isn't. And the Hawks know it. But they sure as heck won't come out this summer and say, "man, yeah, we have a huge hole at left wing in our top 6." It's just not smart. So instead you get posturing and rosy statements about the youth.
Do the math.
2. The Hawks like Schmaltz. As a third liner.
I heard this specifically from a VERY good source. Think about it. This 20 year old kid has not played one game of pro hockey. That the Hawks, an ostensibly Cup contending team see him as a reliable two-way forward, playing 15-16 minutes a night this year, is pretty commendable.
If he ends up with a top 6 role, as some are assuming, based on . . . nothing, then it says one of two things: he's better than the team believes today, or the Hawks have nothing else to plug in there 10/1.
3. Guys like Rozsival and Tootoo were signed to play.
How much they play remains a question. But don't kid yourself. Experience matters, especially to this coaching staff. And let's face it, neither will likely play over 10 minutes a night—so it's kind of silly to worry about it.
4. Hossa could move to the third line. Or not.
More likely, not. Or just as long as it takes for the coaching staff to see that not only do they not (today at least) have a replacement for Brandon Saad, they also don't for Hossa.
Come on.
What is the possible upside of playing Vince Hinostroza in your top 6—a guy who scored 18 whopping goals in the AHL last year—so you can move Hall of Famer Marian Hossa down to the third line? Sure, it's fun to muse about the twilight of Big Hoss' career at the Fan Fest. But until further notice, the NHL is about winning hockey games. Hossa had an off year last year. No question. But there may have been other factors in that, like the revolving door of guys playing over their heads and out of position on his opposite wing last year after Saad's departure.
The NHL 17 mentality of lineup creation, especially regarding top 6 forward spots, forgets that these kids won't be trying to beat a 5th round pick out of Finland with foot-speed deficiencies playing for Grand Rapids this year. They'll be facing the best defensemen in the NHL.
Keep it real, folks.
5. The blue line has improved.
But let's put that into perspective. Brian Campbell is a nice chip—on the power play, taking some left-side, puck-moving minute pressure off Duncan Keith. But he's not exactly a great shutdown defenseman. KHL import Michal Kempny is the X-factor. Kempny's game is more like Johnny Oduya's, two-way, mobile, solid. I will submit, as Kempny goes, so goes the overall quality of the Hawk D. Campbell was/is a nice to have. But the improvement the Hawks needed this offseason was mostly defensive, not so much on an already good power play or in 3-on-3.
6. The Hawks still need a left wing. Badly.
The Hawks had a magical line (Kane. Anisimov, Panarin) last year that drove 40-45% of its 5-on-5 scoring. But the team was pretty mediocre overall 5-on-5. And that wasn't the same line that dominated the rest of the league on the way to the 2015 Cup.
When Brandon Saad was dealt to Columbus last summer, the Hawks tried a long string of players in his role flanking Hossa and Jonathan Toews: Andrew Shaw, Marko Dano, Teuvo Teravainen, Ryan Garbutt, Shaw again, then Dano again, then Richard Panik, before dealing for Andrew Ladd. After Ladd—a true top 6 LW—got settled in, that line woke up a bit.
Hence the Hawks keen interest in Jimmy Vesey, and failing that on 8/15 or so, Jiri Hudler.
7. What about Hudler?
There have to be some reasons, or a reason, that Hudler, a fairly highly in-demand free agent, has not signed anywhere yet. I was told last week that he is watching the Chicago situation closely. Bear in mind, for Vesey or Hudler, it is an interesting calculus. How confident is either that they can come in and (finally) fill the role that Saad did, and help restore the Toews line to full production. Add that line to the defensive improvement in Chicago and the proven ability of the Kane-Anisimov-Panarin line, and the possibilities might be a little intoxicating. At least that seems to be the assumption the Hawks have. And the angle they're working in their recruiting.
Hudler can play either wing, so that gives you some flexibility (even with Hossa potentially) too.
I'll have more as I hear it.
JJ