http://www.sportsnet.ca/h...on-draft-regret-rankings/

Wow Tallon really (frank)ed that up.
- EnzoD

He was probably out sick that day😁

Pipe dream this team makes the playoffs, I'd say a slight slight slight slight chance of CC was healthy, Forsberg or Glass, hell no.

Just going to try to enjoy watching the young guys develop, hopefully they do.

It's come to this, I hope tonight's game is at least competitive

- EnzoD

Exhibit 1, 1a, 1b, 2....

Jordan Oesterle last to the end-of-skate huddle, yells NO! as he starts his lap.
- walleyeb1

Isn't that how Q decides who is scratched for the next game?

They could make the playoffs if the D plays at least adequate and Forsberg plays .920 which he is probably capable of. We are 5 points out with 33 games. I feel like our forward lines are pretty solid and capable and I like the d parings more then most of the year as well.

They could make the playoffs if the D plays at least adequate and Forsberg plays .920 which he is probably capable of. We are 5 points out with 33 games. I feel like our forward lines are pretty solid and capable and I like the d parings more then most of the year as well.
- kmw4631

the biggest issue we have is consistency - we are consistently INCONSISTENT

da (frank)?
- BlazinMike

My sentiments exactly!!! WTF!!!

This "Q system" argument is such nonsense. There is no great transition needed at the NHL in playing this system or that system. By this point the players are good enough to where they easily go from 1 system to another. See how easy it is for some guys to get traded and not miss a beat. What is Q's system? Wingers get low, move puck fast on breakouts? Big deal. Who the hell doesn't want to do that? What kind of forecheck system they do in the O-zone or N-Zone? Whether it's a 2-1-2, 1-2-2 or even something more similar to the trap, it's NOT hard to do it, it's not hard to know your job as F1, F2 or F3, etc. especially when you've played as much hockey as these guys have.

The difficulty isn't this nebulous system thing, but rather the speed of the game and chemistry on the ice. That's where young and/or new players may have more difficulty in assimilating and this is where I'd hope to see a better 2nd half of the season as Q gets the lines sorted out and younger/newer players find their niche on this team.
- kwolf68

Someone with a better memory than mine can chime in but wasn't it the Athletic (Powers) that reported a couple yrs back after talking to players that Q's system is not easily learned in the context of TDL moves.

IIRC they went down the list and few Hawk TDL moves were helpful pointing out only Vermette was able to make a difference.

I'm with you in that nobody is reinventing the wheel but I do believe some systems are more complicated than others and Q's it's written and said is one of those.

Pipe dream this team makes the playoffs, I'd say a slight slight slight slight chance of CC was healthy, Forsberg or Glass, hell no.

Just going to try to enjoy watching the young guys develop, hopefully they do.
- BetweenTheDots

Indeed, win or lose watching Duclair, Oesterle, Forsling, Hino, Dcat, Schmaltz, Kampf and even Murphy, and how Q slots them, is a lot of fun.

This is spot on, Samuelsson’s defensive system relies on forwards getting back on D quickly. He wants short quick outlet passes, with Dmen joining the rush. It also requires forwards to be aware of their positioning when attacking in the offensive zone. Far too often we end up with all three forwards in deep, resulting in the odd man rushes.
- walleyeb1

It's always been said that under Q the Hawk offense is triggered by the defense. The more I think about their off the charts entry stats, triggered by the D, with so many new and young Dmen is damn near amazing.

Wonder what that stat has been the last few yrs but Samuelsson is in charge of that group this yr, again young and new guys, and has to be given a lot of credit.

Justin any rumblings on trade rumors involving the blackhawks or its wait and see the next 6 games

Justin any rumblings on trade rumors involving the blackhawks or its wait and see the next 6 games
- Scott1977

we will know by the duck game on 2/15 if this team is a seller...

they have 6 of the next 8 on the road vs 6 playoff teams: they need go at least 6-2...a split or less and they will be sellers...

we will know by the duck game on 2/15 if this team is a seller...

they have 6 of the next 8 on the road vs 6 playoff teams: they need go at least 6-2...a split or less and they will be sellers...
- bogiedoc

6-1-1, back in the playoffs, and trade for Ryan McDonagh

The D-Men have been paired together wrongly so I really don’t care what wrong reasons have been relied upon in so doing.

The Hawks lost to Nashville primarily because Rinne was much better than Crawford. As I said as soon as Rinne cracked and stopped approaching perfection, which he did in the Cup Final, Nashville was done. The Penguins were easily beatable. The Hawks could never get momentum in the Series. There were opportunities to grab momentum but they couldn’t be grasped because of the difference in goaltending. The Predators didn’t intimidate the Hawks - that argument is weak and has always been used even in years the Hawks won the Cup.

Didn’t help that Q let the team coast at year’s end.

Dirty Ulf isn’t changing anything and certainly not league-wide. Forsling, Rutta and Oesterle were/are abominable. Quick outlet passes aren’t new and neither are give-away passes to opposing players. Most importantly you don’t even get to a discussion of outlet passes until you get the puck back and it is impossible to get the puck back when a D-Men won’t physically engage at all. Think of this Forsling went from hero to AHLer overnight - how? He was Dirty Ulf’s boy.

Keith has always relied upon speed but with aggression. D-Men can’t just stand around hoping the puck will magically come to them.

Keith requires protection so he can play at his best - if the coaches don’t want to do that then don’t be surprised if Keith can’t excel. Murphy is not a young player, he is seasoned. Just because Q has allowed Dirty Ulf to treat Murphy like garbage doesn’t change this. Murphy has been Team USA Captain, for heaven’s sake.

Play Keith with Murphy. Let Seabrook continue to babysit but don’t criticize when he can’t cover both sides of the ice all the time.

Guarantee you this. If Hawks make the play-offs Hawks will have played and will be playing common-sense Defence.

The Hawks’ Forwards are coming back. Any failures on Defence relate to the D-Men not the Forwards. The Forwards can come back deep all they want - if the D-Men do not win the puck it doesn’t matter.

Do I believe the Hawks can make the play-offs? Absolutely, with the Caveats that the Coaches coach smart and the Players play smart.
- Z3Hawk

Seriously z3Hawk you make some good points but you also appear to have read some of my comments and it is like the expression "in one ear, out the other."

But hey this is a discussion. Not pointing fingers or proving I or you are right/wrong. We can disagree, there is never hard feelings, and I most likely will not keep debating in continuous response/reply fashion.

So Let's not go there on why Q decides what D plays with another D. We actually agree the pairings have not been sensible to us. We differ in that you are not a Samuelson backer. I say he is teaching the same or similarly as done around league....so there is something to what he teaches.

Our problem is that the young defensemen he teaches are not applying or playing up to par. In fact Rutta and Forsling have been bad. Their performance is compounded not only by their ineffiency but by the fact neither works well next to each other. The coaching here as it is with Oesterle and Gustafsson is to put up with their bad points/issues because you want so bad to see them execute offensively how Samuelson teaches.

Well each of them has issues defensively. Forsling is only what- 21 yr old - so understandably he may be better off in the AHL. But tell you this: the coaches and Bowman are not stupid. They see flashes of elite ability. They want him to play here; he really honestly is the best fast speed reaction than anyone else. It is just, overall, his performance has gone from good and bad to pretty much all bad. It doesn't hurt playing in the AHL for a while to gain confidance and work on things. It also opens a spot for Gus.

We know Gus and Kempny will not play regularly for much longer. Both are showcase for trade. And as for Murphy, he is not a bad skater but not really an ideal fit for a skating game. I like his toughness long term for third pair, to play with a very good offensive rookie in the next few years. Be that AHL players Snuggerud or Dahlstrom, or others later who are in the pipeline.

Keith does need support. Oesterle's skating is supposed to help cover for Keith leaving his location to go pressure. Actually Oesterle's weakness is his defensive game, so he is not the ideal mate for Keith right now.

Now about that Nasville series last playoff. Your goaltending critique is correct, ok. But I feel there is a lot of folks on this board who feel the biggest reasons we lost to them is the lack of effort we put forth. We were almost completly listless. They hit, they skated amok. We had a bunch of issues why we were not willing to stand up to the physical beat down. If you want to say a lot had to do with coasting into the series, sure that is true. But we as a team never flipped the "on" switch.

I wish i shared your enthusiasm and belief that we will make the playoffs. It seems like odds much against us. I suggest more on this board agree with me on this.

But I will read your posts since you have always had good observations, yet just not this time do I agree with each of your assertations.

6-1-1, back in the playoffs, and trade for Ryan McDonagh


- EnzoD

That's because black hawks is racist. But blackhawks is not racist. Because to describe a hawk as black u s racist. At least it might offend certain hawks. Just like indians is racist if the logo looks silly. Who could have pride in that? Now, if they put the dhali lama on their hat... that's not racist and we can be proud of that. Or if we rename them the pelicans then no one is offended. Well except for fish. Pelicans eat fish so, that would be racist against fish. Maybe plankton. Plankton never hurt nobody and we could be proud to be plankton. Ya know, cause sports is about making everybody happy and equal. Non confrontational sports is best.

Go plankton
- hocktock

I might be going out on a limb here, but I’d venture a guess that the Black Hawk or Blackhawk tribe got their name from some association the tribe made to a bird in the area. Pretty sure that when the tribe picked up this name a long, long time ago, there weren’t any Negroes around to confuse the issue.

FWIW, defense to me wasn't the biggest problem vs the Preds in last year's playoffs, it was the inability to generate or sustain any kind of play inside the dots in front of Rinne, hmmm and looking at this year's roster we have the same problem with a weaker defense.

Maybe not and maybe he never was a Top 5 player in the league - offensively. He helps win hockey games thru all round play, that's his game.

All I ever read on here is that he now sucks, which is ridiculous. Supposedly he was outclassed and outplayed by Auston Mathews last week, which is just as silly. But I don't hear anybody on here even casually mention anything about how he fed Duclair a beauty of a pass on a 2 on 1 or sent Saad in by himself many times or set Panik up and none of those guys can ever finish.

Age and miles wear every player down, its inevitable. And I'd wager that Toews would admit some of it and mention what he's missing most is Marian Hossa.
- RickJ

Only problem I see with this, is that we're now in a salary cap era. That means that a player must be judged in relation to his contract. If there was no salary cap, it would be a no brainer to have Toews on your team. Even if his salary was cut in half, you take that every day of the week. But what other player in the league who has a cap hit over 8 or 9 million would you consider just a good (not great) offensive player? For 10.5 million, you better be a top 3 player on that ice night in and night out offensively, which has been what...maybe 5 games at most this season? And even that might be generous.

I love Toews as a player and everything he has done for this franchise. I absolutely resent Bowman for giving him that contract that he will never be able to live up to. And if he stays with the Hawks till he retires, that contract may even tarnish his legacy because so many people will remember him not living up to that contract. Obviously not forever, as over time people will remember the cups over the down years. But I still hate that because of Bowman's awful contract, I will never be satisfied with what he brings each night going forward.

Only problem I see with this, is that we're now in a salary cap era. That means that a player must be judged in relation to his contract. If there was no salary cap, it would be a no brainer to have Toews on your team. Even if his salary was cut in half, you take that every day of the week. But what other player in the league who has a cap hit over 8 or 9 million would you consider just a good (not great) offensive player? For 10.5 million, you better be a top 3 player on that ice night in and night out offensively, which has been what...maybe 5 games at most this season? And even that might be generous.

I love Toews as a player and everything he has done for this franchise. I absolutely resent Bowman for giving him that contract that he will never be able to live up to. And if he stays with the Hawks till he retires, that contract may even tarnish his legacy because so many people will remember him not living up to that contract. Obviously not forever, as over time people will remember the cups over the down years. But I still hate that because of Bowman's awful contract, I will never be satisfied with what he brings each night going forward.
- Toew Drags 4 Daze

KAMPF IS A KEEPER! SNIPEEEEEEE

Hawks look engaged and committed to shutting down the Nashville rush. Hope they can maintain it all night.

Hey hey we got a lead

Only problem I see with this, is that we're now in a salary cap era. That means that a player must be judged in relation to his contract. If there was no salary cap, it would be a no brainer to have Toews on your team. Even if his salary was cut in half, you take that every day of the week. But what other player in the league who has a cap hit over 8 or 9 million would you consider just a good (not great) offensive player? For 10.5 million, you better be a top 3 player on that ice night in and night out offensively, which has been what...maybe 5 games at most this season? And even that might be generous.

I love Toews as a player and everything he has done for this franchise. I absolutely resent Bowman for giving him that contract that he will never be able to live up to. And if he stays with the Hawks till he retires, that contract may even tarnish his legacy because so many people will remember him not living up to that contract. Obviously not forever, as over time people will remember the cups over the down years. But I still hate that because of Bowman's awful contract, I will never be satisfied with what he brings each night going forward.
- Toew Drags 4 Daze

I get where you're coming from but I wonder how upset everyone in Chicago would be if Hawk management played hard ball with them and they Kane and Toews decided to play elsewhere. Majority of fans would of been furious, but you know it seems so many know better.

So all the holding and interference because Nashville cant skate with the Hawks tonight is going to get let go.

Good to know