JT: 17 Goals, 26 Assists for 43 points in 66 Games.

TT: 19 Goals, 33 Assists for 52 points in 66 Games.


Is Toews done? Like, the guy has these short bursts of being productive, but it seems like he's super frustrated that he's not able to do it consistently and can't dig himself out of it.

He's a -11 since February 1st.
- BINGO!

Ive been saying he's been done since the 2015-2016 season. I hate/love the Facebook memory thing they have going on. I see all my female doging about Toews from back then (Especially the past 2 playoff series) how he looks slow, looks a step off, falls a lot, Im not a scout or trained observer and never played past Midgets but damn has he fallen off.
It really seems he was bad when Hossa was at the end of his career and now it seems like without Hossa that Toews is a train wreck. Thats scary. The Hawks have 5 more full seasons of Toews at 10m per. Holy poop !
Toews has to be a buy out candidate, right ?

That's a GM who is thinkin'!!

The lineup I'd like to see next season:

Saad - Toews - Kane
Anisimov - *new center* - Debrincat
Schmaltz - "new center* - Hino / Duclair
Highmore - Kampf - Hayden

Keith - Murphy
Seabrook - *Top Pick*
Forsling - Gustafsson / Rutta

Crow (even concussed he is better than our alternatives)
Forsberg

Maybe Duchene finally signs?
- TexasHawk

And here is what we will get
20 19 12
13 15 88
91 8 48
36 64 40
2 5
7 82
a big pile of T/O's

Glass
Forsberg

They were involved from the start. The issue was the order in which the trades occurred. Brassard had to be traded to the Knights before they could absorb his salary. The way they initially had it set up had all three teams trading simultaneously, with only Brassard's cap hit and Reaves going to Vegas. That couldn't happen. They had to each make individual trades instead of it being a true three-way deal. That was the VERY WIDELY REPORTED sticking point
- BINGO!

Beleive what you want.....the league doesn't even know what offsides is, they are going to understand the order of a trade?

That's a GM who is thinkin'!!

The lineup I'd like to see next season:

Saad - Toews - Kane
Anisimov - *new center* - Debrincat
Schmaltz - "new center* - Hino / Duclair
Highmore - Kampf - Hayden

Keith - Murphy
Seabrook - *Top Pick*
Forsling - Gustafsson / Rutta

Crow (even concussed he is better than our alternatives)
Forsberg

Maybe Duchene finally signs?
- TexasHawk

Duchene is under contract for next year.

Top 10 UFA centers by their offensive production this year:

Tavares
Stastny
Sedin
Thornton
Bozak
Riley Nash
Filppula
Derek Ryan
Desharnais
Plekanec

Jack "High Ankle Sprain" Eichel at $10mil isn't looking so great right about now for the Sabres.
- EnzoD

It sounds like he may be back mid-March. Our Tank Watch needs him.

Not trolling, but is there any reason to not sell off Kane and rebuild at this point? Hawks had an amazing run, but Toews, Keith, and Seabrook are all out of their primes and you could still get a huge value for Kane. Hossa is done and who knows what is up with Crawford. Not sure what the prospect pool looks like, but it can't be too good considering the lack of high picks.
- cuethenoise

Kane would be the only "Keeper" in my opinion.

Crawford could probably have been moved last summer but after this years mystery illness and missteps from Hawks PR and front office quotes about Crawford no way would a team take him at 6m. Plus Id like the Hawks to keep him. Crawford is more than a top 5 goalie when healthy.

I doubt anyone would take any of the big contracts besides Keith. No one is buying Seabrook or Toews at their current price.

Beleive what you want.....the league doesn't even know what offsides is, they are going to understand the order of a trade?
- powerenforcer

- BINGO!

Dont engage Captain Tinfoil.

You're hilarious Vince !

Nobody is taking Toews without the hawks retaining a whole bunch of Salary.


He's a nice player no doubt, but you can't spend ~$200k per point.
- BINGO!

yup

Ive been saying he's been done since the 2015-2016 season. I hate/love the Facebook memory thing they have going on. I see all my female doging about Toews from back then (Especially the past 2 playoff series) how he looks slow, looks a step off, falls a lot, Im not a scout or trained observer and never played past Midgets but damn has he fallen off.
It really seems he was bad when Hossa was at the end of his career and now it seems like without Hossa that Toews is a train wreck. Thats scary. The Hawks have 5 more full seasons of Toews at 10m per. Holy poop !
Toews has to be a buy out candidate, right ?
- mrpaulish

Toews only has around ~$18 million in actual salary remaining, so a buy-out could be feasible.

They'd only have to actually pay him $1.17 Million in real dollars per year, but they'd really only save around $2 million in cap space per year.

here's the real details:

Kane would be the only "Keeper" in my opinion.

Crawford could probably have been moved last summer but after this years mystery illness and missteps from Hawks PR and front office quotes about Crawford no way would a team take him at 6m. Plus Id like the Hawks to keep him. Crawford is more than a top 5 goalie when healthy.

I doubt anyone would take any of the big contracts besides Keith. No one is buying Seabrook or Toews at their current price.
- mrpaulish

I think Kane is the only one with Value though. You'd have to be hard pressed to find a GM to take Keith, Toews, or Seabrook. All decent players (right now), but all overpaid, out of their primes with too much term.

I would give my left nut to get Kane on the Canes.

What do you want? Lindholm? Faulk? Fleury?

If it's not named Aho or Necas it's yours.
- BINGO!

Slavin, Lindholm, 1st

Slavin, Lindholm, 1st
- ObeseOprah

Oof.

Maybe.

Change Slavin to Faulk and you have a deal.

I would give my left nut to get Kane on the Canes.

What do you want? Lindholm? Faulk? Fleury?

If it's not named Aho or Necas it's yours.
- BINGO!

Want to go that far, Dennis Leary already paid that price...

I think Kane is the only one with Value though. You'd have to be hard pressed to find a GM to take Keith, Toews, or Seabrook. All decent players (right now), but all overpaid, out of their primes with too much term.
- cuethenoise

Kane is who you keep.

I think the best chance to move Keith or Seabrook is for a team going on a playoff run and might need a veteran or there's some injuries on the blueline and are desperate.

Dont engage Captain Tinfoil.

You're hilarious Vince !
- mrpaulish

Sometimes you all have to look outside the box.....

It isn't.

When he was coaching in Charlotte what he was preaching was a system similar to to what Peters was doing in Raleigh. High pressure from the D with the wings responsible for covering for their respective D man when they pinch.

Center stays high on everything in the O zone and parks himself near his own net in the D zone to provide a real quick outlet for D engaged in board battles. Use the middle of the ice as much as possible.
- BINGO!

What I see is mass confusion, it’s like nobody knows what they’re supposed to do. I don’t know if it’s conflicting messages from coaching staff or if maybe the locker room conflict is the coaches not the players.

What I see is mass confusion, it’s like nobody knows what they’re supposed to do. I don’t know if it’s conflicting messages from coaching staff or if maybe the locker room conflict is the coaches not the players.
- walleyeb1

Is there any info on this apparent locker room conflict that Burish alluded to?

What the hell are you talking about?

Why would Bettman force Vegas to eat salary?

Also the value of the league has increased almost tenfold in the last 20 years, so I doubt it's in danger of dying, especially considering all of that growth has occurred under Bettman.
- BINGO!

Relax. PE is kind of our own little Alex Jones here at HB when he's not out looking for Bigfoot.

Duchene is under contract for next year.

Top 10 UFA centers by their offensive production this year:

Tavares
Stastny
Sedin
Thornton
Bozak
Riley Nash
Filppula
Derek Ryan
Desharnais
Plekanec
- BINGO!

That is a tough list: predominately 30+, likely too expensive, short, or weak faceoff numbers. If those are the options, I see the Hawks going for 3rd line center in FA. They might be able to offer term to keep the AAV down.

Bozak is interesting, but he is the third-line guy on a team that is down its best center. He might not want to resign in Toronto. I doubt he will get much playing time going forward.

There are a couple of other things this team isn't:

Experienced - On the D side you have 2 & 7 that are experienced. 5 has a few years in the league too. Aside from Franson, none of the other guys shuttled in and out of the D pairings this year have much experience. Among the forwards: 10, 15, 19, 20, 88. Among the goaltenders: the guy on IR.

Savvy - maybe that isn't the right word, but it correlates to them not being experienced. DeBrincat shows some savvy with his puck handling. Schmaltz does some good things. Some of the guys on the roster and in the system might turn into something.

But the problem with so many inexperienced, middling players on the team is that it limits who they can learn from. It puts more pressure on the coaching staff to develop players, and that's the forte of Q & company.

I think Kane is the only one with Value though. You'd have to be hard pressed to find a GM to take Keith, Toews, or Seabrook. All decent players (right now), but all overpaid, out of their primes with too much term.
- cuethenoise

Still at 10m though. Yes he's worth every penny. I think Keith at 5.5m has a TON of value.
But Bowmans NMCs make all these pointe mute anyways.

I think Kane is the only one with Value though. You'd have to be hard pressed to find a GM to take Keith, Toews, or Seabrook. All decent players (right now), but all overpaid, out of their primes with too much term.
- cuethenoise

There are 30 teams that'd love to take Duncan Keith, especially at his cap hit. He has the consensus best non-ELC deal of anyone in the league once Tavares signs his new deal. Calling Duncan Keith overpaid is just wrong.


Please take a lap.

That is a tough list: predominately 30+, likely too expensive, short, or weak faceoff numbers. If those are the options, I see the Hawks going for 3rd line center in FA. They might be able to offer term to keep the AAV down.

Bozak is interesting, but he is the third-line guy on a team that is down its best center. He might not want to resign in Toronto. I doubt he will get much playing time going forward.
- TexasHawk

It's an ugly list but there are a few reclamation projects that may be worth exploring...

Matthew Peca, for example, is only 24, with 7 points in 20 NHL games, and is only in his 3rd year as a pro.

There are 30 teams that'd love to take Duncan Keith, especially at his cap hit. He has the consensus best non-ELC deal of anyone in the league once Tavares signs his new deal. Calling Duncan Keith overpaid is just wrong.


Please take a lap.
- ObeseOprah

$5.5 million per for five more years for a 35 year old defenseman having his worst offensive year in a decade?

Hard pass. And I like Keith. A lot.