Keith & Crow to Tor for Anderssen, Gardiner, and Marner.
- powerenforcer

Why on earth would Toronto make that trade?

I think Kane, Toews, Keith stay. They probably will start preliminary talks with Crow about an extension. If the price is too high they trade him before the TDL or in the summer. Seabs they probably would like to move, but it may be hard to find a taker with eating a lot of salary or throwing in a sweetener.

Is the defensive scheme run around your zone like a chicken with your head cut off? It looks like 10 year old hockey. Everyone chase the puck. No one has their head on a swivel. No one picks up the open man. I cannot remember ever seeing so many times where both defenders (and sometimes the center or a forward) are in the same corner while opposing forwards camp out in our crease or the high slot. Last night Mannning followed the puck out to the point on the PK. You do not see that very often.

I am liking the play of Kahun and Kampf.

Everyone mocks AA, but I think he is playing pretty good. I think he will get a 3rnd round pick before the TDL.

You send Gus to the press box because of his poor defense. Then the next game you bring him back and play him on his off side. I am not sure I understand the logic there.

I hope Murphy clicks with Colliton. Either improve our D or improve his trade value.

Burrish made an interesting point in the post game about how so few Hawks (forwards and defenders) are willing to block shots. That is a sign that they do not care enough to do what it takes to win.

Colliton is going to kill Kane with the minutes he is playing. That is just plain stupid. It is not like playing him 27 minutes a night will make us a playoff team.

Roll 4 lines. The 2 top lines are gassed by the last 10 minutes of the 3rd period. They make a valiant comeback, but have nothing left in the tank.

Hayden should not be playing on the top lines or PP.
- -Doh-

I’m going to disagree on this point. Never understood why Q never played him on the power play. Although they didn’t score I loved the way he went to the front of the net and planted himself. Nobody was going to move him out of there.

Hayden finished his senior season tied for eighth among goal scorers in Division I hockey, and tied for 59th among point leaders. He was also a beast on the power play, with 12 of his 21 goals coming with the man advantage. That’s tied for fifth nationally in college hockey.

Don't forget that the Sullivan rebirth of the Pens that season was also in large part due to having guys like Rust, Guentzel, Sheary and Murray all come up with him - NHL ready, on ELCs, and Crosby and Malkin were healthy again.
- Return of the Roar

True, sigh

Lightning in a bottle

Just to inject life, I'm surprised JC had not turned the 4th line loose and tell them to hammer away. Why not?
- z1990z

someone up above, Smith to be precise, I'd like
for him to with the same lines for 5 games or so
see what really works.

No. Why? Because this team needs D...in a big way. If you want to win, you have to put better D on the ice than the above. Unless you are looking at outscoring your opponents? I can't tell you how many times the current D corps has hung Ward or Crawford out to dry. They will score, the talent is there. The defense has to, y'know, play defense. And that group above, outside of an aging Keith, Joki and possibly Murphy is either not good or not ready.
- CanOCorn

Most D on good teams are drafted players. Hence all the young D they drafted versus trying to sign big FA dmen.

They have to wait until the Joki, Forsling, Boqvist, Mitchell's all develop. Hopefully you get 2-3 studs out of the entire group the way Keith-Seabrook-Hjarll came along.

And agin, who do you want them learning from? This staff or a guy like Keith?

Don't forget that the Sullivan rebirth of the Pens that season was also in large part due to having guys like Rust, Guentzel, Sheary and Murray all come up with him - NHL ready, on ELCs, and Crosby and Malkin were healthy again.
- Return of the Roar

The gift of the dog-housed Trevor Daley for Rob Scuderi's corpse played a pretty big role as well.

San Jose already traded their first to Buffalo for Kane.
- ObeseOprah

I think he’s talking about trading with Buffalo for the first they got from San Jose.

Trade Keith for a 1st and a solid D prospect. Flip that 1st to help move Seabs. CC is a two time Cup winner. He will have value at the deadline. But do we want Stan making any more trades?

- z1990z

Yes to bold and CC, no to italics, nor letting
mcd have any input on hockey decisions

Who the F proposed the Hawks go after Kessell and can someone get that poster intervention for crack abuse?

Hawks have no business going after players like that, period. The era is over, time to pull the band-aid off quickly. Crawford and Keith should be moved as they have some value left. Seabrook is unmovable, but you try to move him, maybe retain salary. Anisimov should be moved, best he'll get is a middle round pick.

I figure Keith, Crow and AA should get the Hawks 4-6 good prospects, possibly a first round pick or two in the mix.

I also think it's serious times to consider 19 and 88. They are both in their prime, but by the time the team has a healthy stock of talent against those two will be washed up. This team is lightyears from being an upper echelon team again.

That all said I don't want ANY of the above done if GM Howdy Doody is making the decisions.
- kwolf68

I think the Hawks can get back to contender status quicker than "lightyears". Certainly they would need some things to go right or fall into place, but I don't think it will take more time than Toews and Kane have left of high level play. Possibly as early as 2020/21 when T&K are 32.

But, I think that in order to be a contender again by 2020/21, moves need to be made now to strengthen that future lineup and that would include trading Keith and Crawford ASAP while they still have some value. Another thing that would need to go right is a new CBA with a buyout option so the Hawks could get rid of Seabrook's cap hit.

The Hawks would need to be bad enough this season and next to get top-10 draft picks or even a top-5 pick or two. Getting a Hughes/Kakko/Dach in the 2019 draft and then a Lafreniere/Coe/Holtz in the 2020 draft would vault the Hawks to the top of the league with young talent considering the d-prospects that have or will have come online over the next couple seasons.

The sooner the d-prospects start getting NHL game experience under their belts, the sooner they can be used as trade chips to shore up areas of need - much the same as Carolina trading Hanafin from their stable of good young d-men to get a forward for an area of need.

So a lot of things kinda have to break the Hawks way but they would anyway even if they traded Toews and/or Kane.

Hawks are terrible in terms of talent, structure, effort, chemistry, and basically any other possible metric for assessing a sports team. 25 wins (what last place Buffalo had) is looking unlikely....

One thing I'd like to point out to everyone:
Things change in the NHL very quickly, often from one season to the next.

Colorado went from historically bad to the playoffs in one season, with the same coach and mostly the same roster.

Buffalo went from another last place finish to looking like a playoff contender this season.

Ottawa went from one goal away from the Cup Finals to an absolute dumpster fire. And this was AFTER they added a good player in Duchene.

Tampa, Toronto, and Winnipeg have all missed the playoffs in the last 3 years. These three are in most people's top 5 teams in the league.

A #1 or #2 pick in a good draft can turn things around quickly. Matthews, Laine, Hischier, Dahlin...

A year from now we could be looking back on this period as the best thing that could happen to the team. A terrible start to a season that forces us to realize our need to rebuild.

I think he’s talking about trading with Buffalo for the first they got from San Jose.
- walleyeb1

Should've clarified, EVANDER Kane.

Exactly. Yeah, this decline happened extremely fast. I don’t get how a core grew of champions just throw up their hands and basically say I give up.

They(Kings) look disinterested every night they play. Not sure how exactly the hawks look but I can’t imagine anything different.
The only player that looks competitive every night would be doughty. His interviews, he even mentions this team is pretty much giving up.

I just hope they sell as many players off as possible come the draft. It’s sad to say but it needs to happen
- KINGS67

Is Voynov coming back? Hawks won't touch him but it opens
up other possibilities if so.

Is Voynov coming back? Hawks won't touch him but it opens
up other possibilities if so.
- gazza53

League still needs to approve him coming back.

I really don’t know if he is.

Most D on good teams are drafted players. Hence all the young D they drafted versus trying to sign big FA dmen.

They have to wait until the Joki, Forsling, Boqvist, Mitchell's all develop. Hopefully you get 2-3 studs out of the entire group the way Keith-Seabrook-Hjarll came along.

And agin, who do you want them learning from? This staff or a guy like Keith?
- PatShart

Yes to all of this.

If the staff handles the prospects the RIGHT way and not rush them to the show (2-3 years of development work), they might get three NHL ready D men from that group in due time.

I think this hasty penciling in of guys like Boqvist and Mitchell into next year's roster is a big mistake.

The challenge with keeping 2 and 7 is that it seems pretty clear they do not want to be teachers in a development phase of the team and lose 90% of their game.

Easy to say launch them if that is the case, but at the end of the day, the teams that have things the Hawks want are the teams none of our gilded NMC guys would EVER waive to go to. No to mention they are all likely fat, happy and content to play out their contracts with the Hawks.

Another danger is that it also seems clear that Kane is getting even more frustrated with it all. He may be the ONE guy who would waive to leave, but the challenge will be the return and the available cap space a "close to winning" team would have to offer.

Manning and Rutta and ??? being shopped

Mark Lazerus
@MarkLazerus

Backing up Scott here, I heard the Blackhawks sent out a league-wide email in the past day or so, looking to undo a couple of recent mistakes. Scott has the details in here:

https://theathletic.com/7...fensemen-to-create-space/

One thing I'd like to point out to everyone:
Things change in the NHL very quickly, often from one season to the next.

Colorado went from historically bad to the playoffs in one season, with the same coach and mostly the same roster.

Buffalo went from another last place finish to looking like a playoff contender this season.

Ottawa went from one goal away from the Cup Finals to an absolute dumpster fire. And this was AFTER they added a good player in Duchene.

Tampa, Toronto, and Winnipeg have all missed the playoffs in the last 3 years. These three are in most people's top 5 teams in the league.

A #1 or #2 pick in a good draft can turn things around quickly. Matthews, Laine, Hischier, Dahlin...

A year from now we could be looking back on this period as the best thing that could happen to the team. A terrible start to a season that forces us to realize our need to rebuild.
- ObeseOprah

Build around Toews (who I thought was a beast last night), Kane, Saad, Joki, Strome, Debrincat, Boquist, Mitchell, Kampf.

Add: Hughes/Kappo/Cozens/Podkolzin/Dach/Broberg who will likely make the team out of camp

Add: Panarin + Tyler Myers


Addition by Subtraction: Kruger, Kunitz, Rutta, Gustafson, Seabrook, Ward

Development/Improvement From: Perlini, Murphy, Forsling, Kahun, Sikura,

Manning and Rutta and ??? being shopped

Mark Lazerus
@MarkLazerus

Backing up Scott here, I heard the Blackhawks sent out a league-wide email in the past day or so, looking to undo a couple of recent mistakes. Scott has the details in here:

https://theathletic.com/7...fensemen-to-create-space/
- pdx2ord

Yep.

Stan trying to clean up his mess piece by piece.

Good luck finding anything more than a late pick or AHLer for these 2.

One thing I'd like to point out to everyone:
Things change in the NHL very quickly, often from one season to the next.

Colorado went from historically bad to the playoffs in one season, with the same coach and mostly the same roster.

Buffalo went from another last place finish to looking like a playoff contender this season.

Ottawa went from one goal away from the Cup Finals to an absolute dumpster fire. And this was AFTER they added a good player in Duchene.

Tampa, Toronto, and Winnipeg have all missed the playoffs in the last 3 years. These three are in most people's top 5 teams in the league.

A #1 or #2 pick in a good draft can turn things around quickly. Matthews, Laine, Hischier, Dahlin...

A year from now we could be looking back on this period as the best thing that could happen to the team. A terrible start to a season that forces us to realize our need to rebuild.
- ObeseOprah

IMO the bolded texts are directly related. This is why I'd rather see some team other then the Hawks take a chance on Duchene.

Manning and Rutta and ??? being shopped

Mark Lazerus
@MarkLazerus

Backing up Scott here, I heard the Blackhawks sent out a league-wide email in the past day or so, looking to undo a couple of recent mistakes. Scott has the details in here:

https://theathletic.com/7...fensemen-to-create-space/
- pdx2ord

Well ok then!

“The source believed the Blackhawks would be willing to accept anything for either of the defensemen to clear the roster and cap space.”

IMO the bolded texts are directly related. This is why I'd rather see some team other then the Hawks take a chance on Duchene.
- Rota's Rooter

Without evidence of picking up some of the dog poop in the team's backyard, no coach, no GM or no player worth their salt will come here.

Well ok then!

“The source believed the Blackhawks would be willing to accept anything for either of the defensemen to clear the roster and cap space.”
- walleyeb1

Now all they need is for the two defensemen in question to agree to go to whatever team would be stupid enough (have enough cap room, be a more competitive team to play for) to take them.

Without evidence of picking up some of the dog poop in the team's backyard, no coach, no GM or no player worth their salt will come here.
- Return of the Roar

I'm not sure if I should thank you or be insulted. I don't know what you're driving at?

One thing I'd like to point out to everyone:
Things change in the NHL very quickly, often from one season to the next.

Colorado went from historically bad to the playoffs in one season, with the same coach and mostly the same roster.

Buffalo went from another last place finish to looking like a playoff contender this season.

Ottawa went from one goal away from the Cup Finals to an absolute dumpster fire. And this was AFTER they added a good player in Duchene.

Tampa, Toronto, and Winnipeg have all missed the playoffs in the last 3 years. These three are in most people's top 5 teams in the league.

A #1 or #2 pick in a good draft can turn things around quickly. Matthews, Laine, Hischier, Dahlin...

A year from now we could be looking back on this period as the best thing that could happen to the team. A terrible start to a season that forces us to realize our need to rebuild.
- ObeseOprah

Good post

Keith you definitely should want to keep. And hes right - this isnt a developmental league - which everyone wants to whine and cry saying "well Keith doesn't want to help the young players" wwahhhhhh

Hes right. Gus is 27. Ruuta 27. Murphy like 25 but in the league awhile now. At some point they have to quit making the same mistakes over and over and over and over...and claim "they're developing, it's ok to suck and lose".

I'd rather have a guy like Keith that hates to lose and demand being more competitive versus a mouth breather like Gus just taking his 3rd shift and being patted on the back saying, nice hustle.

I'd rather Joki play with/watch Keith versus the developmental projects.