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"Colin Delia with the Stealia"

"Toews with game-winner as the Islanders defeat the Blackhawks"

"Hawks give up 50 shots, lose again and still think they are a playoff team"


Here are a few fake headlines off the top of my head. I thought it would be fun to dive into more top stories from Blackhawks past (fiscal 2018), present and what the future headlines will read for this Chicago team.

First, let's do a quick recap of last night's 3-2 OT loss to NYI.

Colin Delia was the Hawks #1 star. He had 47 saves on 50 shots. The Hawks just flat out left him out there to dry or die… either one.

Of those 50 shots, 19(!) were high danger shots according to Natural Stat Trick.

They were dominated for stretches of the game in a lot of areas. It just wasn't their night; the Hawks are normally an average team on faceoffs, but were destroyed last night:

Toews – 42%
Strome – 23%

… David Kampf was strong at 64% but he was the only other player that WON A DRAW.

On the flip side, Josh "Don't Call Me George" Bailey went a remarkable 11-0.

Like I said, not the Hawks night and it's not going to get any easier.

Here's their upcoming schedule:

Jan 6th @ PIT
Jan 7th home to CAL
Jan 9th home to NASH
Jan 12th home to VGK
Jan 14th @ NJ
JAN 17th @ NYR
Jan 20th home to WAS
Jan 22nd home to NYI

That's their stretch heading into the All-Star break. Sure, they have more home games than road, where they are a little better at 8-9-4 (on the road they are a sad 7-12-3) but their opponents will give them a challenge.

Before I kick into some headlines, there are a couple of notes regarding the roster and WJHC.

First, at the World Juniors, Mitchell, Entwhistle and Boqvist are all heading home stunned after being put out in the Quarter-Finals. They all had strong tournaments.

Jakub Galvas is homeward bound as well after a solid showing as one of Czech's top defenders in the tournament. Another great experience for him and we'll see how he plays the rest of the year overseas.

The Hawks still have Phillip Kurashev, Henri Jokiharu and Evan Barratt in the tournament as the Semi-Finals pick back up again tonight. With my Canadians out, I'm rooting for these three to perform well, specifically Finland. I think winning this tournament would be a nice boast for Jokiharju as he's playing a key role on the backend for that team.

On the Blackhawks side of things here are some recent happenings:

* Drake Caggiula still can't work in the US but hoping to have his VISA issues figured out soon.

* Jason Garrison was put on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract. He's looking at overseas options.

* Patrick Kane is going to the All-Star game as the Hawks only representative. Toews could still get voted in apparently. I think it's fine for Kaner to be the only one there. Let the rest of them step away from hockey for a week.

* Brandon Davidson cleared waivers and I've heard he's sticking with the Hawks until Jokiharju returns and then will be sent to Rockford.

* No update on Corey Crawford. Until further notice, Colin Delia has to be the Blackhawks starter. I love the way this kid carries himself. He's a true student of the game and will not stop until he maximizes his full potential. Look at this:



--

Now, for some past, present and future headlines that are coming from my brain (not official headlines). From 2018 (the entire calendar year, here are my top 5 stories in a particular order:

1) Joel Quenneville fired in his 11th season with Blackhawks. Was he the right guy or the fall guy? (November 2018)
2) Blackhawks are finally terrible and miss the playoffs for the first time in 10 years (April 2018)
3) Blackhawks legend Stan Mikita passes away (August 2018)
4) Corey Crawford back in action and playing well! (October-December 2018)
5) Nick Schmaltz elects not to shoot, traded for Strome, Perlini (November 2018)


Those were painful to look back on, good thing we turned the page on 2018.

Now, what are the headlines that describe the current state of the Blackhawks?

1) Crawford's future in jeopardy after latest concussion
2) Coach Colliton's message finally resonating with Blackhawks
3) Stan quick to fix mistakes starts with Rutta and Manning. Is he done?
4) Future is bright with 7 ‘Baby Hawks' representing Chicago at WJHC
5) Reasons for optimism: Kane still Kane and do the Hawks have a future #1 goalie in the waiting with Colin Delia?

How'd I do? Miss anything?

Now, on to the future *dusts of oft-incorrect crystal ball*:

1) Bowman finally admits this isn't a playoff team and trades core member of Championship era
2) Corey Crawford takes time off from hockey to get healthy, the net now belongs to Colin Delia
3) Bowman puts salary cap space to use and signs top winger to play alongside Kane
4) More changes for Blackhawks as they restructure internally to get back to winning ways
5) Hawks enter 2019-20 season as underdogs but determined to get back into playoffs after missing last 2 years

I'll leave those future ones as teasers for all to discuss amongst yourselves on the message board. I didn't construct those with a lot of inside info, just reading between lines and also having some fun.

See ya out there,

JL

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