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Youngsters and Grinders vs. The World |
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Duncan Keith: "I know I can be better and I have to be better. It's not good enough."
Yes, you can, Duncan.
After a -4 night on Wednesday, the Hawks #1 D sits at -11 on the year; that is good for 16th worse in the entire NHL.
The horse has been beaten and the core needs to be better if this team is to succeed this year, the year after and the year after that.
Toews, Kane, Keith and Seabrook have all had their moments for better and for worse this year.
Getting older sucks. Trust me, I know too well. Everything hurts in the morning and you get frustrated when you can't do what you are accustomed to doing. I obviously don't know what it's like at an NHL level and I have to believe those 4 guys feel older than their age at times after the amount of hockey they've played in the last 10 years.
Let's not dwell on the elders though. I want to highlight some positives from this season, which for lack of a better description has been a tire fire.
The Hawks had a lot of unknowns with their youngsters and new faces that were scheduled to be inserted into the lineup come October 2017.
So far, the best part of this team (outside of Corey Crawford) has been the youngsters and grinders.
The excitement of the potential of guys like Alex Debrincat, Gustav Forsling and John Hayden has been overshadowed by a Blackhawks team stuck in the mud through 1/3 of the season.
Also, the additions of Tommy Wingels and Lance Bouma in the offseason came with mixed reviews from fans and the media, however, they've been nothing but effective in their bottom 6 roles.
Despite the 6-2 loss to Washington this week, I thought the lines Quenneville put together were solid. It was nice to see Hayden, Bouma and Wingels all on separate lines to inject energy into a more balanced attached.
It's no surprise that the 3 players above lead this team in hits. They have a combined 213 checks to the body. Not only are they physical and adding a spark night-in and night-out, but have all contributed to the penalty kill as well, where the Hawks are 5th in NHL.
Alex Debrincat is no longer a secret throughout the league. Teams are targeting him more now that they know the 5'7 sniper is a threat offensive and you would think that would smother him as the season has progressed. Wrong. He's been gaining confidence and getting more scoring chances in recent games, building off of an incredible November that saw him score 10 goals, adding 4 assists in 13 games. Well done, kid.
On D, Forsling and Rutta have been a nice surprise. They've been used as Coach Q's "shutdown pair". It's a lot to ask of these guys, but they've been doing a decent job as they learn on the fly. Could they be better, sure, but the Hawks a potential elite pairing for the future in these guys.
I've been most impressed with Gustav Forsling who has the highest SIT Point Average* of any Hawks defenceman to date. His Point Ave. is 1.052, which means the points he cumulated thus far are more "clutch" vs. actual points. It's not a huge variance but more than any defender on offence for a team starved for production from the backend.
* SIT Analytics (http://www.sitanalytics.com/) is a great way to bridge the gap between hockey analytics and the eye test. They have an offensive formula that takes into account how valuable every single goal and assist is based on factors like current score in the game, situation (PP, PK, EV), home/away, etc.
On the defensive end, this young Swede has so much potential and believe is well on his way to becoming a Top-4 D for the Hawks for years to come.
So, let's "dwell" on some positives as we head into a 3-game stretch against the lesser Sabres, Coyotes and Panthers. Maybe some of these good vibes will help this Hawks team gain confidence and get on the better side of saving their season.
We know the core needs to be better, but until then, it's the youngsters and grinders that need to continue to push the pace and make these vets find their hunger to win again.
If you want to follow along on social, I'm at @JustinLoweHB and if you're more of a Facebook fan, I'm at https://www.facebook.com/JustinLoweHB/.
See ya out there.
JL
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Who we got tonight: Buffalo Sabres
1st matchup of the season
7-17-4 = 18 points
8th in Atlantic (see: last)
Last game: WON vs. Avalanche (4-2) on December 5th
GF: 60 / GA: 95
PP% = 11.2% (30th in NHL)
PK% = 80.5% (16th in NHL)
Sniper: Evander Kane - 13 goals
Producer: Evander Kane - 25 points
Tough Guys: – Evander Kane - 24 PIMs & Rasmus Ristolainen - 55 hits
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ICYMI:
* Tanner Kero: the 25-year old was place on waivers to make way for Vinnie Hinostroza. I mentioned this in my last blog.
"Also, I'm hearing that the Ryan Hartman at centre experiment might have been to see if his play in the middle can allow them to send Tanner Kero back to Rockford to get playing time. The risk there is that they lose Kero to the waiver wire. They may be more prepared to do that now that Hartman is an adequate fill-in at centre.
Enter Vinnie Hinostroza if that happens. Whether it's to benefit the team to win (I think his speed would really be a boost right now) or to showcase him for a trade, it's believed Stan wants him playing in the NHL. Keep an eye on there."
* Junior Hawks: Chicago has 6 players who made the prelim cuts for their respective countries. The hopefuls looking to play in the 2018 WJHC in Buffalo this year are Andrei Altybarmakyan (RUS), Artur Kayumov (RUS), Henri Jokiharju (FIN), Roope Laavainen (FIN), Tim Soderlund (SWE), and Jakub Galvas (CZE)
You'll note that there are no Blackhawks prospects in line to play for Canada or USA. It's always great to see as many prospects as possible showcased in this amazing tournament and too bad not to see any representatives for those powerhouse teams.
* Welcome to Seattle: it looks like there will be a team in Seattle by 2020. Barring any issues with the expansion application or the $650M that they'll owe, this is happening.
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Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
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