“...and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for Stan.”

Underwhelming return for an offensive Dman. I'm not saying he is a star, but this seems more like he wasn't' gonna fit into the salary structure and they had to get something for him. The trend lately has been more of a buyers market at the deadline, so I guess it isn't too shocking. Doesn't seem like teams were willing to part with much of their future.

On the lighter side of things...


How does EK get the balls to even make up Kane to BUFF (with Keith)...which followed the previous Toews and Keith trade to LA?

I mean, people come up with batship crazy comments in the Hawks thread, but to put that on his site like he does?

I was actually one of the few staunch supporters of Gus dating back to last season. He makes his fair share of mistakes - no doubt about it - but he was still our best offensive d-man by FAR. Who do we turn to now? Keith’s one goal a year? Boqvist’s 8 points in 35 games? (Still far away from being impactful). Or do we hope that Maatta or Murphy become offensive stalwarts?

On top of losing your best offensive d-man, you trade away your best goalie as well.

Again, both guys needed to be dealt because they aren’t long-term fits for us. But simply “getting any return” doesn’t fly here. Not with some of the prices other teams were willing to pay this time of year.
- TommyHawk

You can't create or control the market for your assets...deal with it. Gus is horrible at his position which clearly outweighs his minimal offensive upside on a non-competitive team.

Despite the witty name-calling, Gus is what he is. A below average defender who had spurts of good offensive production. You cannot defend a lot of the poor choices he made and at 27yrs old he had not improved his D all that much. They got about what could be expected back and now hands are washed.

We know you liked him, but considering where this team is (and where it is going) he was just a guy in the way of the younger D coming up, and not a guy that you could truly justify playing over them.

My money is on Saad to be the biggest point of contention for the next year, with ADB a close second (unless he starts to put it together again for the last games of this year). Either way, barring a miracle, this team will be mildly competitive for the next 1-1.5 years and ideally kick things into gear after that.
- Chunk

My comment is not driven by my like or dislike of a player, but more of a commentary on the echo chamber syndrome here. Not directed at you.

While things went south with the team over the past few weeks, I have been pleased as a fan with the effort. The NHL is the worlds most competitive league, with an 82 game playoff and then a tournament at the end.

And as much as the bi polar crowd likes to beat the team down, as I have said many times over the past few years, the team is simply 1 point a month (Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb) from being right there for playoff contention. This is a razor thin margin. 2 points a month and you are up there with the contenders.

Yes I know that sneaking into the playoffs does not mean you will be a cup favorite, it is still the first step.

I just do not understand the fan psychology of wanting to lose, as a way of getting better. Some I believe feel there is some sort of wisdom in this.

Good luck to Gus and Lehner. Hopefully you are right and they will give those minutes to a young prospect.

As far as next whipping boy, I was kidding. Saad gets way too much grief here, as he is a solid contributor. I prefer to be optimistic and root for my guys.

You were talking about Lehner being Vezina quality. Support your assertion.

Go back and look at your posts from weeks ago....you are funny.
- mohel

No...you prove him wrong first

Nowhere close to what WHO were hoping for?
- Chunk

The teams that really needed goalies were obviously offering even less.

Gus isn't "much" better offensively

Hes a career .54ppg (all 214gms at 27yrs old)

Take away the one career year of the 60pts in 79gms and hes around .41ppg. (This isnt fair to him, since he did get those points...but that year may just have been an outlier)

Vataten is at .45ppg at just over 400gms, and is pretty consistent around 35 point per year - while playing defence respectably
- PatShart

And a RH D-man. Which Carolina has lost two of them.

Do you have a scouting report on Demin?
- paulr

He's Mitchell's wing man plain and simple nothing more.

You can't create or control the market for your assets...deal with it. Gus is horrible at his position which clearly outweighs his minimal offensive upside on a non-competitive team.
- DougEFresh Wilson

Minimal? I get that he made some mistakes defensively but if Gus has minimal offensive upside then the rest of the Hawks D should be on life support.

Irrelevant because Gus would not have fetched a first.
- TommyHawk

or a second

Alright I'm outta here. Thought I'd give the site a chance to support a friend on here but now I see why HockeyBuzz has the reputation of being a site for homers and the intellectually disabled. There are some good guys on here but the majority of you are a bunch of troglodytes who seem perfectly content making arguments not based on numbers, stats or even logic in general. It's no wonder so many people come here and then leave. Please for the love of god stay here forever. You'd be doing the entire Hawks fanbase a favor.

✌️
- Toew Drags 4 Daze

Please no! Stay here forever and complain about things that you have no idea about or aren't that important

Minimal? I get that he made some mistakes defensively but if Gus has minimal offensive upside then the rest of the Hawks D should be on life support.
- breadbag

I meant "minimal" when netted against his defensive issues.

Vezina Calibre LOLZ.
- Ogilthorpe2

You can't argue with him worse than your mother in law.

He's Mitchell's wing man plain and simple nothing more.
- rpeters01

Just for giggles, I went back and looked at DraftSite.com for 2018.

Demin was drafted 99th (4th round).

The last mock draft (and I am not positive whose mock draft this is?) had him going #48 (mid 2nd round): [url] https://www.draftsite.com/nhl/player/stanislav-demin/29281/

The scouting report stated:

"A solid defensive defenseman who's offensive side is starting to blossom. Strong skater with a wide base and good pivots that allows him to take an aggressive line of defense. He closes the gap to contact. Very instinctive, smart in his reads and understanding of his position. Has an active stick always disrupting the passing lanes. Positions himself so he always seems to have leverage on the competition to take them off the biscuit. Transitions out of his end well, and also passes the puck out well. He can carry out in transition and enter the attack zone due to his wide skating base. A work in progress, but lots of good things there including one of the better skating strides backwards. Committed to Denver University.

--Bill Placzek--"

Alright I'm outta here. Thought I'd give the site a chance to support a friend on here but now I see why HockeyBuzz has the reputation of being a site for homers and the intellectually disabled. There are some good guys on here but the majority of you are a bunch of troglodytes who seem perfectly content making arguments not based on numbers, stats or even logic in general. It's no wonder so many people come here and then leave. Please for the love of god stay here forever. You'd be doing the entire Hawks fanbase a favor.

✌️
- Toew Drags 4 Daze

But you brought lots of value and facts...please dont go!

Just need to look at the last few starts when it mattered most....shat the bed.

Chief?


YF
- Ogilthorpe2

It started last game before the break against Q that was a big game.

Just for giggles, I went back and looked at DraftSite.com for 2018.

Demin was drafted 99th (4th round).

The last mock draft (and I am not positive whose mock draft this is?) had him going #48 (mid 2nd round):
- Snakebit12[url] https://www.draftsite.com/nhl/player/stanislav-demin/29281/

The scouting report stated:

"A solid defensive defenseman who's offensive side is starting to blossom. Strong skater with a wide base and good pivots that allows him to take an aggressive line of defense. He closes the gap to contact. Very instinctive, smart in his reads and understanding of his position. Has an active stick always disrupting the passing lanes. Positions himself so he always seems to have leverage on the competition to take them off the biscuit. Transitions out of his end well, and also passes the puck out well. He can carry out in transition and enter the attack zone due to his wide skating base. A work in progress, but lots of good things there including one of the better skating strides backwards. Committed to Denver University.

--Bill Placzek--"

Anything more than getting Mitchell signed is a bonus and helps if they ever send Mitchell to Rocktown.

The Kotex mafia finally gets their Gus trade. So after 1000 plus consecutive days of female doging about that, what is the over under of days we have to hear testimony on the value received?

Traffic on the board should be cut by 70%.

Can't wait to learn who the new whipping boy will be? Who is next to get the wrath of hysterical obsession?
- TrueGrit

At the height of TDL mania, it turns out Gus was worth a 3rd.

My comment is not driven by my like or dislike of a player, but more of a commentary on the echo chamber syndrome here. Not directed at you.

While things went south with the team over the past few weeks, I have been pleased as a fan with the effort. The NHL is the worlds most competitive league, with an 82 game playoff and then a tournament at the end.

And as much as the bi polar crowd likes to beat the team down, as I have said many times over the past few years, the team is simply 1 point a month (Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb) from being right there for playoff contention. This is a razor thin margin. 2 points a month and you are up there with the contenders.

Yes I know that sneaking into the playoffs does not mean you will be a cup favorite, it is still the first step.

I just do not understand the fan psychology of wanting to lose, as a way of getting better. Some I believe feel there is some sort of wisdom in this.

Good luck to Gus and Lehner. Hopefully you are right and they will give those minutes to a young prospect.

As far as next whipping boy, I was kidding. Saad gets way too much grief here, as he is a solid contributor. I prefer to be optimistic and root for my guys.
- TrueGrit

1) I agree with your point about the competition being fairly close (specifically around the fringes of the PO race), but I think the 1 point per month concept is a bit misleading. You have to look at the whole picture. The Hawks were 6 pts out of a playoff berth last year and we all know how far they were from actually being competitive.

2) I'm not taking this as directed at me, but I don't see any real benefit from losing regardless of where you are in the season. Having the worst record in the league leaves you with a less than 20% chance of landing the first pick. The more you can get guys on the same page and playing the way they should the better off the team will be.

Alright I'm outta here.

✌️
- Toew Drags 4 Daze

Where is there to go? Committed Indian is a PoS that shut down their board years ago and r/hawks is Homer's paradise.

Anything more than getting Mitchell signed is a bonus and helps if they ever send Mitchell to Rocktown.
- rpeters01

Probably but you never know.

Sorry about the formatting of the URL...haven't figured out how to do that yet.

Some Bowman quotes (take them for what you will):

Ben Pope‏Verified account @BenPopeCST · 29m29 minutes ago

Bowman: "It's certainly an interesting situation when you have a goalie."

Said looking around league, said "a lot, a lot" of the buyers weren't looking for goalies.

Said teams can always use another defenseman, for example, but not so much another goalie.

Bowman said the backup role behind Crawford is something that's "going to play itself out over the next few months" b/w Subban vs. Delia vs. Lankinen.

Said they do have some "decisions to make" heading into the summer in that area.

Bowman on possibility of signing Lehner again this summer: "He's not our player now, so I can't say whether we'll be interested in that or not."

Then thanks him for "everything he did during his time in Chicago."

Bowman said they looked through the recent years' trade deadlines for examples of goalies of Lehner's caliber being traded — in order to determine his approximate value — and found there were very few examples of it.

Bowman: "I don't know if financial obligation was the primary [reason]" for today's trades.

Main goal was "to bring in assets for players who, after today, their value to you goes down significantly."

Just for giggles, I went back and looked at DraftSite.com for 2018.

Demin was drafted 99th (4th round).

The last mock draft (and I am not positive whose mock draft this is?) had him going #48 (mid 2nd round):
- Snakebit12[url] https://www.draftsite.com/nhl/player/stanislav-demin/29281/

The scouting report stated:

"A solid defensive defenseman who's offensive side is starting to blossom. Strong skater with a wide base and good pivots that allows him to take an aggressive line of defense. He closes the gap to contact. Very instinctive, smart in his reads and understanding of his position. Has an active stick always disrupting the passing lanes. Positions himself so he always seems to have leverage on the competition to take them off the biscuit. Transitions out of his end well, and also passes the puck out well. He can carry out in transition and enter the attack zone due to his wide skating base. A work in progress, but lots of good things there including one of the better skating strides backwards. Committed to Denver University.

--Bill Placzek--"

He shows up when I have watched Mitchell. He is still only 19. He also came out of the BCHL so the level of competition he played against might have dragged him down in the draft. He played on that level to retain his eligibility for college.

My comment is not driven by my like or dislike of a player, but more of a commentary on the echo chamber syndrome here. Not directed at you.

While things went south with the team over the past few weeks, I have been pleased as a fan with the effort. The NHL is the worlds most competitive league, with an 82 game playoff and then a tournament at the end.

And as much as the bi polar crowd likes to beat the team down, as I have said many times over the past few years, the team is simply 1 point a month (Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb) from being right there for playoff contention. This is a razor thin margin. 2 points a month and you are up there with the contenders.

Yes I know that sneaking into the playoffs does not mean you will be a cup favorite, it is still the first step.

I just do not understand the fan psychology of wanting to lose, as a way of getting better. Some I believe feel there is some sort of wisdom in this.

Good luck to Gus and Lehner. Hopefully you are right and they will give those minutes to a young prospect.

As far as next whipping boy, I was kidding. Saad gets way too much grief here, as he is a solid contributor. I prefer to be optimistic and root for my guys.
- TrueGrit

Good perspective. The margin between winning and losing is small. Year over year the offense of the team couldn't be sustained. Poor powerplay and some of the young guys couldn't sustain the numbers they had last year (Strome/Debrincat). The Hawks really need to find a way to get more control of the play IMO. Seems like they really just need to figure out that backend. Dennis Gilbert doesn't look ready. Seabrook is broken down and who knows what shape he will be in when he comes back. Keith is a #3 at best. Murphy is pretty much our best Dman as a #2/3 guy. DeHaan struggled. Maatta is like an okay #4. Boqvist isn't ready yet. Koekkoek is a #7 guy. If we had a legit top pair guy to add to the team, the Hawks are probably in contention to make the playoffs. It would help the offensive guys if the team could turn the tables and get out of their end more often.