Boqvist may have been good but for his long term development I still think it’s better for him to go to London. I’d like to see Jokiharju make the team.
- DarthKane

I think they both should go down .No sense breaking their confidence up here . Rushing young defenseman is a long proven mistake ..Liked 62 27 19 12 also thought Forsberg was good ... Manning did not look good ,but may need time to find his way ..GO HAWKS !!!!!

I haven’t heard anything about interest in him from other teams. He might be done....
- EnzoD

You may be right .Think he was deciding if he wanted to continue playing . The silence may be telling .

I did not worry much after the previous game loss because we iced 3rd and 4th liners, but tonight was something else. We had our top lines playing against a poor team that did not ice all of its best players. Not good!
- 67hawks

Top lines but no NHL defenders or goalies and one of those lines is dragging around Kunitz.

No, I'm not counting Forsberg as a NHL goalie until he can manage to be at least average when in the NHL. Otherwise, he's just an AHL quality goalie with some NHL experience. Just like Manning has NHL experience but he's not NHL quality meh.

I need help this season. I can't seem to get excited about any of these guys... Kaner... then possibly Cat, Schmaltz, and Joker... But I'm not seeing nearly enough top end talent to even sniff the playoffs this year. Only about twelve guys who might be good on the 3-4th lines and third pairing...

Big whoop.

Interesting quotes from Kane in the post-game from Laz at The Athletic. Remembering that he and Schmaltz have already had a year together, he doesn't sound really confident that they are going to find that chemistry they'll need. Would love to know who he thinks, of the available options, should be his C, if not Schmaltz.
- pdx2ord

No offense, but I cannot figure out how anyone can read anything other than "I'm excited about playing with this guy and these are the reasons why plus what we need to work on to be better" from those quotes. Kane was first asked about Saad rekindling past success and then about Schmaltz and continuing to get better together. The last bit is him admitting no one will have an instant connection like with him like Panarin, which duh. Idk have you read any Kane quotes before when he's talking about other players? He often breaks down styles and such - he thinks like a coach already.

He's basically been saying all summer that Schmaltz is the guy he think he can really develop into something great with. Kane handpicked Schmaltz and Hartman as his linemates last year - it's why he got them invited to Belfry's exclusive program.

Plus Kane thinks Schmaltz has the potential to be a "top player in the league". Idk how more complimentary you can get.

I need help this season. I can't seem to get excited about any of these guys... Kaner... then possibly Cat, Schmaltz, and Joker... But I'm not seeing nearly enough top end talent to even sniff the playoffs this year. Only about twelve guys who might be good on the 3-4th lines and third pairing...

Big whoop.


- busmaster

Yep - has beens, wanna bes, and aint never gonna bes.

It was Manning's first game with a new team in a meaningless preseason contest. He was also the only NHL D-man playing for the Hawks last night. Yes, he had a rough second period, but he did play better in the third.

Everyone just relax. Manning paired with another NHL D will be fine.

It was Manning's first game with a new team in a meaningless preseason contest. He was also the only NHL D-man playing for the Hawks last night. Yes, he had a rough second period, but he did play better in the third.

Everyone just relax. Manning paired with another NHL D will be fine.
- boxcar65

I agree with you.

I also think there is no point even discussing it. There is a pretty good percentage of Hawks fans here that like to find a scapegoat to bash on for the entire season. Manning could make a hundred solid plays in a game, but the second he makes one mistake he will get relentlessly bashed on this board.

No offense, but I cannot figure out how anyone can read anything other than "I'm excited about playing with this guy and these are the reasons why plus what we need to work on to be better" from those quotes. Kane was first asked about Saad rekindling past success and then about Schmaltz and continuing to get better together. The last bit is him admitting no one will have an instant connection like with him like Panarin, which duh. Idk have you read any Kane quotes before when he's talking about other players? He often breaks down styles and such - he thinks like a coach already.

He's basically been saying all summer that Schmaltz is the guy he think he can really develop into something great with. Kane handpicked Schmaltz and Hartman as his linemates last year - it's why he got them invited to Belfry's exclusive program.

Plus Kane thinks Schmaltz has the potential to be a "top player in the league". Idk how more complimentary you can get.
- L_B_R

No offense taken, but the question was why after already playing together for a year, he is still wondering if they can develop the chemistry. He has mentioned thinking they can at least twice, It struck me as odd because he mentions relative ease of being able to get the chemistry he once had with Saad back because they played together before, but he is still questioning whether the chemistry will be there with Schmaltz, with whom he was paired all of last year. That goes well beyond "instant" which is unreasonable to expect more than 1-2x in a career, I'd imagine (he also had that with Toews in their early years).

No doubt Kane believes that Schmaltz is a really good player. What I didn't see is him confident that Schmaltz and he mesh.

I’m still super stoked about this season... watching the Hawks draft live in the top 5 this June will be quite the experience.
- DarthKane

*NEW* blog up: https://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=94872

I think they both should go down .No sense breaking their confidence up here . Rushing young defenseman is a long proven mistake ..Liked 62 27 19 12 also thought Forsberg was good ... Manning did not look good ,but may need time to find his way ..GO HAWKS !!!!!
- oldduffman

Any young players whose contracts can slide need to be sent back to juniors. As long as we are carrying our core albatross contracts we need to control the timing of 2nd contracts for new talent. Hopefully contract expirations, ltir's, free buyouts, and inflation will give us space to accommodate the next wave.

No offense taken, but the question was why after already playing together for a year, he is still wondering if they can develop the chemistry. He has mentioned thinking they can at least twice, It struck me as odd because he mentions relative ease of being able to get the chemistry he once had with Saad back because they played together before, but he is still questioning whether the chemistry will be there with Schmaltz, with whom he was paired all of last year. That goes well beyond "instant" which is unreasonable to expect more than 1-2x in a career, I'd imagine (he also had that with Toews in their early years).

No doubt Kane believes that Schmaltz is a really good player. What I didn't see is him confident that Schmaltz and he mesh.
- pdx2ord

But he wasn't wondering - he doesn't say they don't have chemistry already just that he hopes they can build something special. He doesn't say anything that implies he doesn't already work well with Schmaltz. In fact, it's the opposite really - when asked about Saad, Kane unprompted says he "can really be a good fit for the way me and Schmaltzy play."

And again, Kane literally hand picked Schmaltz to be his center last season.