John Jaeckel: Kevin Dineen & the fly on the wall

Thanks for all you do John!

Spot on again JJ.
Sharp/Shaw should not be considered.
I still think EKane is an option, being the last year of his deal.
Would like to see AA/Krugs to VGK for Karlsson (or Lindberg) and Nate Schmidt.

+1 for including the names "Paul Ysebaert and Jeff Shantz" in the blog.

Spot on again JJ.
Sharp/Shaw should not be considered.
I still think EKane is an option, being the last year of his deal.
Would like to see AA/Krugs to VGK for Karlsson (or Lindberg) and Nate Schmidt.

I'd be down with this return for sure.

Hated to see Shaw go but there was a reason for that his salary was too high for the role he had. I can't see the Hawks bringing him back at a salary they couldn't afford last year. Saad was a better fit for them so it made sense to bring him back. To me it seems it's going to be hard for the Hawks to go forward if they keep looking back to the past. Who is coming back next Dave Bolland?

+1 for including the names "Paul Ysebaert and Jeff Shantz" in the blog.
- Rota's Rooter

Agreed, I always liked Shantz.

Thanks John, great blog as usual. I would think Krugs will go to Vegas for Schmidt. Hawks have a relatively inexperienced 3rd pairing unless tjey want to experiment with rozy as #6

Agreed, I always liked Shantz.

- Quicky72

Great lower line center, but that coast to coast against SJ, yowsah!

https://youtu.be/GmXoMNaAUR4

Its a great day when I get to read a new JJ blog entry. Thanks for all that you do!

I am glad FA starts on Saturday and not a weekday - Bought the wife a massage to get her out of the house, 2 laptops with 2 screens each ready to go to track all the fun. One of the greatest non-ice days of the year!

Spot on again JJ.
Sharp/Shaw should not be considered.
I still think EKane is an option, being the last year of his deal.
Would like to see AA/Krugs to VGK for Karlsson (or Lindberg) and Nate Schmidt.
- jt19

Hockey 24|7 @iamhockey1
4m

Many teams have called the Thornton camp. From contenders to pretenders... seems as though he will get what he wants. 3yrs at 5 million.

Evander Kane is a gamble, more off the ice than on the ice. He has missed a lot of games due to injury over the years so even if he's a boy scout off the ice - no guarantee - he's no good to the team if he's out due to injury.

Plus, giving up a center (Anisimov) for a wing (E.Kane) when the Hawks aren't exactly stacked down the middle is cause for concern. Anisimov leaves a little to be desired at the dot but he's big, plays defense and is reliable.

All that said, the Hawks have to unload salary and Kruger and Anisimov appear to be the most likely candidates. Kane's cap hit of $5.25M is more then Anisimov's $4.55M so a one for one trade won't meet the Hawks objective of reducing Cap. Since Anisimov has 4 more years on his deal and Kane has only 1 year before he's UFA, maybe Buffalo is willing to retain 50% and make the salary cap exchange $4.45M - $2.625M for a $1.825M cap savings. Buffalo has the cap space and can justify retaining 50% of Kane's salary because they get an additional 3 years at a lower cap hit with Anisimov versus only 1 year of Kane before he hits UFA.

That cap reduction along with trading Kruger may get the Hawks just in under the wire.

If the Hawks are looking to get faster then I bet they go after Yakupov who will be a free agent as the Blues will not qualify him with $2.5million. Also, the Hawks want a great lw with decent speed and good skill and you want to take a flyer that could pan out I would sign Agostino. That kid is NHL ready. He is not as solid in his own end, but he usually pushes the play in the advance stats which works with the eye test. Being he played for the Wolves for most of last year and did a great job filling in for injuries on the Blues I would find it difficult to believe the Hawks would be unaware. It might not be sexy but it is one of those gems in the rough or at the very least AHL depth. The kid deserves a shot. He showed mostly solid to plus play with a game or two of struggle. But he is a good one.

I still believe speed is relative. I am a UGE lover of speed and fast players. But, having a guy who knows what to do with the puck or having a guy who is not fast but controls the boards helps the fast guys out.

Yakupov was screwed by Hitchcock, started looking good under Yeo but got hurt. The biggest problem with his game is not. on the defensive side of the puck as was commonly repeated, but his routes on a forecheck made no sense. He has some great play making hockey iq, but wthout thenpuck his hockey iq is dismal. He seemed to not understand thenlikely route of defenders so it often nullified his speed on the forecheck. But he played often with slow players were is ability to use his speed on the back check nullified super slow players who could not keep up with the oace against the ten or twelve teams in the league witd team speed.


Side note: I think the cap will be great next season. If it gets near $78 then things will change but if it grows by $4 million plus then greater player movement could happen.

Galchenyuk or Kane on 88's line really rounds out the top 6. And One thing that stands out if that takes place, as JJ said, is speed.

JJ, you're killing it the past week or two. Keep up the good, objective writing.

I think we all would love Nate Schmidt here on the Hawks to fill a key top 5 role on defense, but that's just not happening, especially for Kruger. The Hawks are going to need a pure salary dump on Kruger as they are still 1.45 million over the cap, and that is still with Hossa's messy situation which they may not be able to trade away.

Plus McPhee said he has zero interest in trading Schmidt, and rightfully so. Why would he want to trade away a young defenseman who is cost controlled that can grow with that team?

Hockey 24|7 @iamhockey1
4m

Many teams have called the Thornton camp. From contenders to pretenders... seems as though he will get what he wants. 3yrs at 5 million.
- jt19

RING
Jumbo: Hello
Stan: Hi Joe, how would you like to sign with us and center Kane?
Jumbo: Interesting ...
Stan: we can offer you a 1-year contract @ $1M.
CLICK

If the Hawks are looking to get faster then I bet they go after Yakupov who will be a free agent as the Blues will not qualify him with $2.5million. Also, the Hawks want a great lw with decent speed and good skill and you want to take a flyer that could pan out I would sign Agostino. That kid is NHL ready. He is not as solid in his own end, but he usually pushes the play in the advance stats which works with the eye test. Being he played for the Wolves for most of last year and did a great job filling in for injuries on the Blues I would find it difficult to believe the Hawks would be unaware. It might not be sexy but it is one of those gems in the rough or at the very least AHL depth. The kid deserves a shot. He showed mostly solid to plus play with a game or two of struggle. But he is a good one.

I still believe speed is relative. I am a UGE lover of speed and fast players. But, having a guy who knows what to do with the puck or having a guy who is not fast but controls the boards helps the fast guys out.

Yakupov was screwed by Hitchcock, started looking good under Yeo but got hurt. The biggest problem with his game is not. on the defensive side of the puck as was commonly repeated, but his routes on a forecheck made no sense. He has some great play making hockey iq, but wthout thenpuck his hockey iq is dismal. He seemed to not understand thenlikely route of defenders so it often nullified his speed on the forecheck. But he played often with slow players were is ability to use his speed on the back check nullified super slow players who could not keep up with the oace against the ten or twelve teams in the league witd team speed.


Side note: I think the cap will be great next season. If it gets near $78 then things will change but if it grows by $4 million plus then greater player movement could happen.
- BluemanGuruu

Interesting analysis, and the Hawks WERE interested in Yakupov late last summer.

All that said, whileI would not rule it out, Nail's inconsistency would be a huge gamble for a team that will really be hoping for a lot of young, and somewhat unproven talent to come up big in a hurry this season.

I think Yak might make Q's head explode.

Sort of like Sharp—but for different reasons—not a guy you want to absolutely be counting on at this point.

If the Hawks are looking to get faster then I bet they go after Yakupov who will be a free agent as the Blues will not qualify him with $2.5million. Also, the Hawks want a great lw with decent speed and good skill and you want to take a flyer that could pan out I would sign Agostino. That kid is NHL ready. He is not as solid in his own end, but he usually pushes the play in the advance stats which works with the eye test. Being he played for the Wolves for most of last year and did a great job filling in for injuries on the Blues I would find it difficult to believe the Hawks would be unaware. It might not be sexy but it is one of those gems in the rough or at the very least AHL depth. The kid deserves a shot. He showed mostly solid to plus play with a game or two of struggle. But he is a good one.

I still believe speed is relative. I am a UGE lover of speed and fast players. But, having a guy who knows what to do with the puck or having a guy who is not fast but controls the boards helps the fast guys out.

Yakupov was screwed by Hitchcock, started looking good under Yeo but got hurt. The biggest problem with his game is not. on the defensive side of the puck as was commonly repeated, but his routes on a forecheck made no sense. He has some great play making hockey iq, but wthout thenpuck his hockey iq is dismal. He seemed to not understand thenlikely route of defenders so it often nullified his speed on the forecheck. But he played often with slow players were is ability to use his speed on the back check nullified super slow players who could not keep up with the oace against the ten or twelve teams in the league witd team speed.


Side note: I think the cap will be great next season. If it gets near $78 then things will change but if it grows by $4 million plus then greater player movement could happen.
- BluemanGuruu

Add Yak with Saad and Toews, drop Panik to 3rd line with Kero and Hartman. Not bad depth.

RING
Jumbo: Hello
Stan: Hi Joe, how would you like to sign with us and center Kane?
Jumbo: Interesting ...
Stan: we can offer you a 1-year contract @ $1M.
CLICK
- EbonyRaptor

Ya, pretty much this

Hockey 24|7 @iamhockey1
4m

Many teams have called the Thornton camp. From contenders to pretenders... seems as though he will get what he wants. 3yrs at 5 million.
- jt19

I'd be all for this if the Hawks can somehow fit him in and can move Anismov for a winger.


Shaw - less than 0% chance he comes back to the Hawks, whoever is drumming that up is flat out creating myths.

Hawks still need a defenseman in my mind, I wouldn't want to roll with Forsling/Rutta/Kempny full time rounding out your top 6, way too young and inexperienced still.

The guy I would target if they could work a fair deal out would be Karl Alzner, who basically does exactly what Hammer used to, but was much cheaper at 2.8 million.

Love me a Paul Ysebaert reference. Classic. Well done.

Yakupov. may as well just run kids.

They still have 5m to play with (Hossa $) but not sure they want to spend that on Jumbo.

Would love to see Jumbo centering Kane plus the addition of Saadfather to 19's line.

Love the Murphy add.

We'll see

I read elsewhere (and maybe here) that the Kruger deal hasn't happened yet because they want to pay him his $2m bonus on 7/1 first just as a thank you. Not sure the validity of that. Otherwise, I'm pretty excited to see what other levers the wizard of Bowman may pull in the next few days.