Seabrook contract is bad news for one more season then it is a likely compliance buyout under a new collective bargaing agreement. Chicago is hard pressed to make the playoffs next season. They do NOT need to feel pressured to give away a prized possession.

Sikura is sounding like the best skill prospect we drafted ever who also we are worried to loose. Going to Pittsburgh is not all so great. If he does well how does Pittsburgh afford him. You think Crosby, Malkin, Letang take a paycut. Those guys are traded? Stan needs to tell the kid that the Penguins are not ideal. In fact the Penguins may need to trade him after one season. They have other young players who will need a pay increase. The salary cap comes into play

No. Sikura can be convinced to stay here. Be part of a revitalization. Whispering Toews and Keith won't be here forever. Their replacements will be with you and other new core pieces. (Believe it!). Besides, Chicago is a great city to live in. Pittsburgh nowhere close. Btw when some Blackhawks sing take me out to the ballgame, you can be one of the singers! How cool is that. Afterwards Kane and DeBrincat will take you to a great favorite restaurant.

Kane could tell you where to meet some young ladies. Sullivan can't match that.
- jhawk59

Unless the cap is expected to (or mandated to) in the next CBA, like in the current one negotiated in 2013, a compliance buyout is unlikely.

hmmm...the other kane disagrees

@MarkPotash
Follow Follow @MarkPotash
More
Patrick Kane confident disappointing Blackhawks' season is just a blip after scoring tie-breaking goal in 3-1 victory over the Bruins. 'I don't know if we're that far away, to be honest with you.'

of course the missing part: not that far away from what??
- bogiedoc

He's putting lipstick on a pig, somebody needs to remind Mr. Kane of that statistic of 22 regulation wins in the last 77 games.

This team isn't good enough to make the playoffs in the next 2 seasons or until they acquire about 5 new defenceman that can actually play.

He's putting lipstick on a pig, somebody needs to remind Mr. Kane of that statistic of 22 regulation wins in the last 77 games.

This team isn't good enough to make the playoffs in the next 2 seasons or until they acquire about 5 new defenceman that can actually play.
- RickJ

The kid is a hockey savant and probably studies the game and other teams and players more than anyone else in the league, including some coaches and GMs. I wish the media would have asked him what he thought they were missing, what changes could and should be made over the summer to turn the tide. I'd be very curious to know what he thinks.

Unless the cap is expected to (or mandated to) in the next CBA, like in the current one negotiated in 2013, a compliance buyout is unlikely.
- StLBravesFan

Could it be true that many teams would want compliance buyouts? If so, how to negotiate this....
Would enough teams concur....what is the best way to minimize Seabrook salary... ...might it be he becomes bad enough to be released or sent to AHL before his lengthy contract is up? I would think he tries valiantly to collect as long as possible but pride in performance comes into play.

Matt the ship has sailed regarding this season being Q’s fault, as Q has himself admitted this season is his fault. He has admitted that although “consistency” is his favourite word it was his constant personnel moves that prevented the Hawks from having any. So let’s stop the if only the great Q had different players to work with arguments.

It is interesting that Sullivan in Pittsburgh couldn’t care less who his players are. Lose Letang - doesn’t matter. Have a patchwork poor D - doesn’t matter. Injuries and problems with goalies - doesn’t matter. Underperforming forwards - doesn’t matter. Kessl fighting with Malkin - doesn’t matter. Sullivan just wins 2 Cups in a row anyway, one when he took over the team during the season.

However, as poster chunk argues Q’s poor Hawks are not the same team as last year. We lost Hossa. I was a fan of Hoss too but I was always objective concerning his contributions. He worked hard, played D and chipped in offensively. However, at the end of the day he was not an All-Star scoring 40+ goals, 80+ points and his Cap hit killed the team.

TVR was mentioned. Are you kidding me? TVR was a pilon who never had any idea what to do in the D-zone. He was no contact as well. He was Oesterle before Oesterle was Orsterle.

Panarin - please enough already. He was not a 40, 50 goal scorer. Stop re-writing history as if he was a 2nd Kane - he wasn’t and isn’t. In this trade we got Saad who kills penalties and is a great offensive asset not used properly by Q. Also we got our present #1 goalie. Saad started the year on fire offensively. Q must take responsibility that he ground Saad and the whole team into the ice with his chaotic coaching. However, Saad showed us how good he could be.

“An effective Panik” - priceless. So even if the player is still on the team Q gets a pass if the player if not “effective”. Perfect.

Hartman - ??????. Well he was with the team almost the entire season so this must actually be another “effective Hartman” argument - please.

Hjalmarsson - well it is not as if we received nothing for Hammer. We received the Captain of the USA World Championships’ team in return. That Q treated him like garbage is on Q.

Then there is “An effective Keith and Seabrook” argument. Again please. It was Q and Ulf who ruined Keith this year. Keith has always been a “Rover” his entire career. He requires a stable partner who knows how to play defence. Instead he played almost all of the season with unstable D-Men who were constantly caught out of position. Keith became a babysitter which is exactly the role Seabrook has been forced to play for years now. It is not easy and Seabrook has done it for years. However, again all this chaos is on Q.

Crawford and Darling - see Sullivan. Instead of playing an even tighter defensive game to help out the inexperienced goalies the Hawks continued to play Ulf’s/Q’s reckless offensive pressure System leaving the goalies constantly facing break-always and 2 and 3 on ones, even 2 and 3 on zeros. This is completely 100% on Q.

Then someone else added Campbell, Oduya and Kruger. Well Soupy would admit himself that he didn’t have a great season last season. I wanted him to come back because I thought he’d be better but he believed he was done. Oduya - ?????? He was a total negative. Kruger - ?????? - do a “where is he now” and realize he was already there last year.

So let’s pretend for a moment that Sullivan is the Hawks’ coach this year not Q. Do the Hawks make the play-offs even with the player changes? Yes the Hawks do easily. What about under Gallant? Obviously yes. Q simply does not measure up.

Also remember what I actually posted. I previously said that the Hawks had more than enough talent this year to make the play-offs easily. There were some changes - so what? Every team has them. The Hawks have been coached terribly this year - that is why they are not in the play-offs. Even in successful years I always begged for Q to get out of the way of the players and just let them play. This year he completely refused and along with Ulf the team became a clown show. An embarrassing clown show.
- Z3Hawk

Really? Q said that? I guess I missed that one. If true, if he's falling on his sword as you seem to be suggesting, maybe he does return.

I'm not arguing that Q is the right coach for this team moving forward, just that Stan's plan did not work, and not even your main man Mike Sullivan would have done much better with this bunch this year.

He's putting lipstick on a pig, somebody needs to remind Mr. Kane of that statistic of 22 regulation wins in the last 77 games.

This team isn't good enough to make the playoffs in the next 2 seasons or until they acquire about 5 new defenceman that can actually play.
- RickJ

Kane has only 64 points in 69 gp but with our defense (get ready to either laugh or sigh) he sure could light up the scoreboard in practice scrimmages. Tavarez is #20 league scoring with 67 pts.

The kid is a hockey savant and probably studies the game and other teams and players more than anyone else in the league, including some coaches and GMs. I wish the media would have asked him what he thought they were missing, what changes could and should be made over the summer to turn the tide. I'd be very curious to know what he thinks.
- pdx2ord

That would be interesting i'm sure. Doubtful that he would be "able" to share his real thoughts. Maybe to a close trusted friend or family member, but i highly doubt we'll ever hear that publicly before he retires.

If he remains a Hawk 'til then, perhaps we'll speak of him in the same breath as Payton and Jordan. He seems to have a similar drive to what they had. Guy just wants to win……period.

The kid is a hockey savant and probably studies the game and other teams and players more than anyone else in the league, including some coaches and GMs. I wish the media would have asked him what he thought they were missing, what changes could and should be made over the summer to turn the tide. I'd be very curious to know what he thinks.
- pdx2ord

He wouldn't tell them.

He wouldn't tell them.
- 6628

Yeah, I know. The culture of hockey and sports and all that. Just would be interesting to hear. Hoping he'd be willing to share with Rocky if asked.

Updated NHL stat's

POINTS GOALS

Kucherov. 88. Laine. 40
Malkin. 85. Ovechkin. 40
McDavid. 84. Malkin. 38
MacKinnon. 81. Staal. 37
Giroux. 81. Giroux. 36

WHO WINS SCORING TITLE
WHO WINS GOAL SCORING

Updated NHL stat's

POINTS GOALS

Kucherov. 88. Laine. 40
Malkin. 85. Ovechkin. 40
McDavid. 84. Malkin. 38
MacKinnon. 81. Staal. 37
Giroux. 81. Giroux. 36

WHO WINS SCORING TITLE
WHO WINS GOAL SCORING
- jhawk59

I drafted McKinnon in the last round of my fantasy league. The day, literally one day, after I dropped him he began his scoring terror. Someone else scooped him up and I’ve been salty since.

Updated NHL stat's

POINTS GOALS

Kucherov. 88. Laine. 40
Malkin. 85. Ovechkin. 40
McDavid. 84. Malkin. 38
MacKinnon. 81. Staal. 37
Giroux. 81. Giroux. 36

WHO WINS SCORING TITLE
WHO WINS GOAL SCORING
- jhawk59

kucherov and ovie

but the pens and caps end the season vs mostly non playoff teams

He's putting lipstick on a pig, somebody needs to remind Mr. Kane of that statistic of 22 regulation wins in the last 77 games.

This team isn't good enough to make the playoffs in the next 2 seasons or until they acquire about 5 new defenceman that can actually play.
- RickJ

7 -4 loss to the Bruins the young D was playing well. 2 and 7 were on the ice for the first 4 Bruins goals, if memory serves.

Maybe a draft year has been the plan all along. Why keep 7 D? Why send Hayden down? The vets look like crap. Have they really fallen this far this fast?

Look how Boston rebuilt on the fly. They traded lucic and had 3 first rounders. They seem pretty deep now. And they're not to far removed from a cup. Not bad years to slump either. Many teams are deep and stocked. Wait til the cap affects nash and tampa.

This front office isn't as stupid as many of you think they are.

https://twitter.com/goice...status/972664814895026176

impressive

*NEW* blog up: http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=91611

7 -4 loss to the Bruins the young D was playing well. 2 and 7 were on the ice for the first 4 Bruins goals, if memory serves.

Maybe a draft year has been the plan all along. Why keep 7 D? Why send Hayden down? The vets look like crap. Have they really fallen this far this fast?

Look how Boston rebuilt on the fly. They traded lucic and had 3 first rounders. They seem pretty deep now. And they're not to far removed from a cup. Not bad years to slump either. Many teams are deep and stocked. Wait til the cap affects nash and tampa.

This front office isn't as stupid as many of you think they are.
- hocktock

Just touched on this on the new blog.

I am attempting to obtain a better understanding, a more clear picture of exactly the consequenc(s) of Seabrook's long term contract at considerable dollars.

I know Justin hears/talks to sources. I appreciate St Louis Braves fan response (below). I had assumed that a compliance buyout would automaticly be included in a new collective bargaining agreement. Therefore i disagree with at least one post who feels Seabrook may get off the books only by including a nice prospect like Sikura in a trade. My view is that one more year of Seabrook then do the CBA. We likely miss playoffs, so no way do we sacrifice a top prospect.

HOW LIKELY IS A CBA WITHIN THE NEXT COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT? Many teams would choose to get out from bad contracts and bad GM signs.

St Louis Braves fan: Unless the cap is expected to (or mandated to) in the next CBA, like in the current one negotiated in 2013, a compliance buyout is unlikely.

I am asking Justin also for his evauation of R Norell, whom appears to be developing nicely and could project as a descent defensive dman third pair similar to Hjalmarsson. I believe he can play either side. His skating looked ok, but I have not concentrated watching him. His shot is actually a dangerous good one; I want to know about his physicality and ability to play within. Samuelson's style.

BELOW IS RESPONSE TO Z3HAWK SAMUELSON DISCOURSE

In fact, if J Carlson from Caps signed here, is there first round compensstion and how does he fit into Ssmuelson's style. IT SHOULD BE UNDERSTOOD THAT NOT EVERYONE IS AGAINST SAMUELSON'S STYLE. YOU NEED PLAYERS WHO FIT/CAN PLAY HIS WAY. HIS WAY IS BEING TAUGHT AROUND THE LEAGUE AND YOU SEE MOST TEAMS IN MAJOR JUNIOR HAVE AT LEAST ONE DMAN PLAYING THE WUICK REACTION AT SPEED ANDUDIES JUNIOR HOCKEY TAPE AND BREAKS IT DWN CARRY PUCK INTO OFFENSIVE ZONE/STRESS PUCK MOVEMENT. THIS WAS EXPOUNDED UPON BY SOMEONE WHO STUDIES/BREAKS DOWN MAJOR JUNIOR TAPE IN HIS SCOUTING EVALUATION, NAMELY, WIZ.

So you can cry foul over lack of experience and not enough physicality, and too many third pair/depth level dmen on Chicago, but to attack Samuelson system is to overlook the entire situation. Z3Hawk writes as if it is a foregone conclusion that Samuelson's system is a failure. No, it is a failure on Bowman's behalf to supply the correct players.

Those players, btw, may be valuable third pair and depth once our defense is better. To be like Arizona's defense - which is going to lead to their better record - some of our third pair calibre guys gain experience next year. Wait on Joiharju and Forsling to excel, need to add physical dman in top four. Murphy might suffice as third pair muscle. I firser Kyys and Snuggerud as thirdvpair type btw down the road