#91 on our team puts out 100%, however needless to say, he does not have the talent of OV and Hossa. I don’t want to speculate on why Kane was frustrated, but he was being covered like a blanket last night, like somebody(Doh?) mentioned earlier, they did not give him any time or space, that had to be part of it. It seemed like there was two guys on him at all times. Unless other players step up, this may continue to be the strategy on defending this Hawks team.
- Angotti

Yes Lou. Back in the day, opponents would put a 'shadow' on Hull. Most of the time, Hull found ways to overcome it, but he certainly had trouble finding any kind of open ice many nights. When teams 'shadow' Kane, and Kane has no room to skate fast with the puck, he is useless. His reach is short, so he can't backcheck because he gets hooking or tripping penalties. But the 'I don't care' attitude when he does not have the puck, is truly pathetic. I have no clue why anyone thinks he is a great player. Offensively he is very good. In ALL other aspects (forecheck, backcheck, boards, and god forbid, parking himself in front of the net) of the game, grade D or F.

- Ogilthorpe2

What is #8 in white doing?

Yes Lou. Back in the day, opponents would put a 'shadow' on Hull. Most of the time, Hull found ways to overcome it, but he certainly had trouble finding any kind of open ice many nights. When teams 'shadow' Kane, and Kane has no room to skate fast with the puck, he is useless. His reach is short, so he can't backcheck because he gets hooking or tripping penalties. But the 'I don't care' attitude when he does not have the puck, is truly pathetic. I have no clue why anyone thinks he is a great player. Offensively he is very good. In ALL other aspects (forecheck, backcheck, boards, and god forbid, parking himself in front of the net) of the game, grade D or F.
- MadHatter

Hull was twice as fast, twice as strong and 10 times tougher than Kane. He played most of his career in a 6 team league. Difficult to say which era had more competition adjusting for European players an population growth in the NHL today?

Would have been nice if he at least showed up last night...or at least hung a "mailing it in" sign around his neck last night so Saad would have known not to pass to him.
- HawkintheD

I would wager that passing to him no matter what even though he is covered has something to do with and pouting, if that was what he was doing.

And who would you have as coach that is available? Please give a specific name so I can pick apart what he did wrong (in my eyes) that he should not be hired.
- LAHawk

There are dozens that have a better resume than JC. Let’s start with Mike Babcock, who has won 700 NHL games as a HC, as well as 90 playoff games, 14 playoff appearances & 1 Stanley Cup.

Now there is no way you can tell me that JC, who has never won anything, can compete with Babcock’s resume or accomplishments.

The way the team played the first two periods of last night game...I will take the point. All teams will have some clunker games. Even your super stars will have off nights. Kaner had his worst performance of the year. Tonight's game probably will be a good indicator if the Hawks are the" real deal"., or are most likely to be sellers. Go Hawks !

For LA Hawk, here is an excerpt from a Harvard Business Review article, ‘Your Approach to Hiring is All Wrong’ by Peter Cappelli.

Note the bolded section, on what is the best indicator of future performance in a new hire.

How to determine which candidates to hire—what predicts who will be a good employee—has been rigorously studied at least since World War I. The personnel psychologists who investigated this have learned much about predicting good hires that contemporary organizations have since forgotten, such as that neither college grades nor unstructured sequential interviews (hopping from office to office) are a good predictor, whereas past performance is.

JC had terrible past performance. He was an unqualified, bad hire, from day 1. There are dozens of guys with good past performance, Babcock included.

Love how the Hawks start playing better and people still find a way to b!tc#. Now wonder why fans from other teams hate us

The way the team played the first two periods of last night game...I will take the point. All teams will have some clunker games. Even your super stars will have off nights. Kaner had his worst performance of the year. Tonight's game probably will be a good indicator if the Hawks are the" real deal"., or are most likely to be sellers. Go Hawks !
- spanky

Agree Spanky, never in my wildest dreams did I think they'd steal a point up there, after the first two periods.

I'm thinking 1-4-1.
- DarthKane

-1-7-0
They'll play so badly Betteman will take an earlier win back and give it to the Yotes.

Hawks may get pounded tonight. But I would like Lehner to have a good game and I would like someone (or more than one) hammer Marchand hard. I wonder if they start Seeler and sit Gus against a very physical team like the Bruins.
- -Doh-

Seeler is a beast. I'm thinking the Hawks should be rested for tonight's game.

The way the team played the first two periods of last night game...I will take the point. All teams will have some clunker games. Even your super stars will have off nights. Kaner had his worst performance of the year. Tonight's game probably will be a good indicator if the Hawks are the" real deal"., or are most likely to be sellers. Go Hawks !
- spanky

This Blackhawk team plays to it's opposition, and mainly in a bad way. They can really play bad against bad teams, last night was a perfect example. Even though the Wild controlled play most of the game, they did not look very organized, it was chaotic on the ice at times.

Love how the Hawks start playing better and people still find a way to b!tc#. Now wonder why fans from other teams hate us
- Savetheembers33

Honestly that's a weird thing to care about. I have never ever thought of or cared what a fan of another team thought of me. Even White Sox fans they can all pound sand.

What is #8 in white doing?
- rpeters01

Hilarious

- Ogilthorpe2

brutal just brutal...zombie backcheck

There are dozens that have a better resume than JC. Let’s start with Mike Babcock, who has won 700 NHL games as a HC, as well as 90 playoff games, 14 playoff appearances & 1 Stanley Cup.

Now there is no way you can tell me that JC, who has never won anything, can compete with Babcock’s resume or accomplishments.
- scottak

The reason Babcock was fired. Coaches with resumes and accomplishments make questionable decisions that blog posters do not agree with either.

Babcock criticism has been bubbling all season because of questionable tactics and odd lineup decisions (example: ripping William Nylander after his contract holdout was a popular thing to do this year, but what was he supposed to do with some of the linemates Babcock gave him?) Last night was the last straw. Babcock declined to jack up the ice time for his best forwards, even with the Leafs trailing for most of the game. Matthews played less than 19 minutes. That's really low for your most talented scorer in a do-or-die-Game 7 where you never had a single penalty to kill.

There are dozens that have a better resume than JC. Let’s start with Mike Babcock, who has won 700 NHL games as a HC, as well as 90 playoff games, 14 playoff appearances & 1 Stanley Cup.

Now there is no way you can tell me that JC, who has never won anything, can compete with Babcock’s resume or accomplishments.
- scottak

#overrated

Seeler is a beast. I'm thinking the Hawks should be rested for tonight's game.
- just69sayin

I know the fans who attended last night's Bettman Bore Fest, probably slept like babies.

For LA Hawk, here is an excerpt from a Harvard Business Review article, ‘Your Approach to Hiring is All Wrong’ by Peter Cappelli.

Note the bolded section, on what is the best indicator of future performance in a new hire.

How to determine which candidates to hire—what predicts who will be a good employee—has been rigorously studied at least since World War I. The personnel psychologists who investigated this have learned much about predicting good hires that contemporary organizations have since forgotten, such as that neither college grades nor unstructured sequential interviews (hopping from office to office) are a good predictor, whereas past performance is.

JC had terrible past performance. He was an unqualified, bad hire, from day 1. There are dozens of guys with good past performance, Babcock included.
- scottak

Except that win-loss record doesn't tell all about a coaches performance...

Before last nights game the consensus on the board was that Saad was too valuable to the Hawks at $6 mil. to trade. I only got to see parts of the game, but based on the comments, he now needs to be moved immediately. WTH happened in the game?

Man ADB reminds me of a struggling slugger that can't buy a hit. He needs one of those goals to go in off his arse or something, he is getting the chances.

As much as I love Crow, he can't be the Hawks # 1 goalie without at least someone who could handle 30-40 games in case of an emergency and back to backs.

Luongo had to retire because he was getting injured more regularly (not including those nagging injuries piled up through the years). Quick and Freddy Anderson are getting injured more often. One of the reasons Vegas is in peril of missing the playoffs is Fleury has had to miss games, and Subban is below adequate as a replacement. Price $10 mil. for how many years left? He has missed quite a bit of time the last few years because of injury.

I think teams are going to have to allocate a greater percentage of salary cap dollars to goaltenders when figuring out their cap situation, which seems to be going against the thinking of the advanced stats, capoligist gurus. (AKA Dubas). A part of winning any Stanley cup is good luck and reasonably good health. But I can't see a team win, let alone vie for a playoff spot when the difference in your goaltending between your starter and your backup is so vast.
- LAHawk

He didn't score a goal. Therefore. worthless. It is all logical if you think about it.

Are they fleecing the fan base? No. Have they attempted to with this roster? Yes.

Calvin De Haan is a great add three shoulder surgeries ago. He was damaged goods and has been since junior. THe Alex Nylander trade....you can put that together with ease. Adding Smith for no apparent reason. Can you imagine if the middle of the ice was 19-77-17-Arty? THat is the deepest this organization has ever been down the middle. I like the carpenter add and obviously Kubalik has been good, but moving Kahun for Maata was a stretch and we now have a 4 million dollar third pairing d-man.

Please explain how this is "regaining competitiveness"? THey are in the same spot as they were last year, not sure whether to buy or sell.
- nickmo2699

That's right. I'll say it again for the umpteenth time...winning buys you it (time).

Rightly or wrongly they believed the window open perhaps a year or two too long. In the midst of missing the playoffs a couple times and the subsequent retool on the fly, you have a couple of high draft picks mixed in with other acquisitions playing on the current team.

How are they regaining competitiveness this year vs last year in virtually the same spot? Through 5 on 5 play. Last year their surge as has been documented in the local press was largely thru the PP but not sustainable.

Someone asked a similar question earlier and I think as a result of improved 5 on 5 play they are in a better place than last year.

Does that mean competing for a Cup this year? Not likely but I think they have the ship at least pointed in the right direction now. Don't you or no?

You haven't made a compelling case at all as far as how they were trying to fleece the fanbase with the roster. I think most people agreed on paper this was a team that could at least compete for a WC spot while the team was "re-tooling".

Guys like de Haan and Shaw were high risk/potential high reward players and when each went out with an injury, that was the question mark that could hurt the team but them getting injured wasn't a guarantee which you seem to imply.

Even without Anisimov, this is the deepest down the middle they've been in quite some time...even if Strome ends up on a wing.

I liked AA but he was a square peg in a round hole and like some of the other guys you've brought up, he was oft injured.

Would I like to have a few of the trades back (Kahun and Joker)? Yes...but Kubalik for a 5th and Carpenter helping in a big way on the PK have turned into really good moves.

Kane has always had a handful of games a season where he looks like he would rather be anywhere but playing hockey. Last night was the first one since early in the season where he had no jump at all to his game. It happens. Every player in the league has nights like that. Also, it is okay to give the other team some credit. They obviously had a plan against Kane and they went out and executed the plan.


Kane had a poopty game. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Except that win-loss record doesn't tell all about a coaches performance...
- ToewsdNKanefusd

But, it does. Would you hire an employee that continually headed up failed projects?
I don’t. I hire people with a demonstrated history of success.

I would wager that passing to him no matter what even though he is covered has something to do with and pouting, if that was what he was doing.
- 6628

Was kidding about the Saad thing. One had nothing to do with the other. Just thought Kane looked bad and uninterested most of the night, though I think Doh's point was interesting and may have had a part in it.

Been out a few days....

Great win against Arizona and it was fun to watch. Especially after a long break and Saad looked like 2015 playoff Saad....If that's the saad this team gets 90% of the games then he justifies his large cap hit.

Tough loss last night. They were on their heals way too much until the 3rd. Not sure what the hell Saad was doing with a wide open 6x4 in the 2nd but getting cute to appease kane wasn't the right play no matter what the score or situation in the game.

Speaking of 88, lazy back check on Dumba in OT...coasted and easily could have made an effort to tie up his stick or lift his stick...only engaged once the puck was floating around CC. Things happen, but this team needs its veterans, let alone every other player, 100% engaged on every shift if they want to stay around the playoff bubble. Not a lot margin for error and simple plays like that HAVE to happen.

Great battle to get a point, tough break on Toews crossbar on the 2 on 1 with Keith even with the D sliding over I was happy Toews shot and not forcing a pass to a D man who aren't likely to have the skill set to convert those chances. Only your top elite offensive defensemen do on a consistent basis.

Rollercoaster continues, but need to take advantage of games in hand and start putting together a large streak at home.

We can all argue this or that but what is truly hamstringing this team is their horrid home record. This team has any hopes of playing in mid April they need to start taking 2 points at home regardless of the opponent. Otherwise, it's highly unlikely they are catching WC2