My view from the top row of the Enterprise Center.
The Blackhawks are most certainly NOT overmatched against St Louis.
Joki is a keeper.
Toews has it going.
The Kane line had a few shifts spent entirely in the offensive zone.
Two Blues power plays spent the entire two minutes in the Blackhawks' zone. Yikes!

He's a keeper.

He looks great so far, as Q said... "in all aspects of his game".
- Justin Lowe

For Q, that really high praise after two games.

D looks pretty good for the Hawks in 2 -3 years. I know I'm not in the majority, but I like Mitchell's game better than all that I have seen play.

Beaudin actually impressed me more than Bovquist in games I saw, but I hear Bovquist is looking good in London.

They'll need to move some of the depth, in two years, what were top prospects will be fighting for time in Indy.

Great piece Justin , spot on analysis of the game against Ottowa. Watched the game last night and the hawks need a more consistent game their breakouts are horrible , not sustainable offensive zone play,

Johk and gustafsson look good out their, however Keith , Seabrook look slow and unsure.

This team is lacking upfront , Kunitz anisomov both look slow and useless, which is hurting kampf play.


Kudos to ward for his solid play. Toews hopefully will keep up the solid work.


Saad I think is expendable and if a trade is to be had he and anisomov both should be moved .

I think murphy might be the odd man out when he comes back.

Great piece Justin , spot on analysis of the game against Ottowa. Watched the game last night and the hawks need a more consistent game their breakouts are horrible , not sustainable offensive zone play,

Johk and gustafsson look good out their, however Keith , Seabrook look slow and unsure.

This team is lacking upfront , Kunitz anisomov both look slow and useless, which is hurting kampf play.


Kudos to ward for his solid play. Toews hopefully will keep up the solid work.


Saad I think is expendable and if a trade is to be had he and anisomov both should be moved .

I think murphy might be the odd man out when he comes back.
- Taylorst1

I like the play of Gus and AA so far and do not agree with posters who say otherwise.
With Seabrook, I am just as concerned with his puck decisions as I am with his slowness.
If and when this team starts to lose, Kunitz needs to go (until then give him a chance to find his niche with this team). Then guys like Hayden will have a chance to gain experience and confidence going forward.
With all the smallish skilled defence prospects that we have, there is a place on the team for the Murphy types (although it might be better to have cheaper versions of Murphy when these prospects need to get paid).

A very sloppy 2-0-0 to start the year but 2 scrappy wins at the start pf the year nonetheless.

Tonight will be another nice test.

If anything, this team is resilient.

Tonight I would expect to see Davidson and/or Hayden.

Great piece Justin , spot on analysis of the game against Ottowa. Watched the game last night and the hawks need a more consistent game their breakouts are horrible , not sustainable offensive zone play,

Johk and gustafsson look good out their, however Keith , Seabrook look slow and unsure.

This team is lacking upfront , Kunitz anisomov both look slow and useless, which is hurting kampf play.


Kudos to ward for his solid play. Toews hopefully will keep up the solid work.


Saad I think is expendable and if a trade is to be had he and anisomov both should be moved .

I think murphy might be the odd man out when he comes back.
- Taylorst1

Disagree on Keith looking slow. He still has a very quick short burst. Keith is not a probelm on this team, especially if he gets replaced by Joki on the PP.

I really hope forsling is able to replace Rutta in the lineup. He's brutal.

I really hope forsling is able to replace Rutta in the lineup. He's brutal.
- SoftServe

He really is, and looks much worse than last year. That doesn't happen by accident. Either he's hurt, or Stan's gift contract to him, has made him complacent. He almost looks like he's playing not get hurt.

AA is fine. Johnson looks overmatched. Took some bad penalties. Hayden Highmore send Johnson down. Martinsen to the pine.
- bhawks2241

Only if highmore plays center thats where he looks comfortable and most productive. Not fan of him but cannot be any worse than AA at least highmore can skate faster and willing to the dirty work. Also very impressed by Joki so far

Great piece Justin , spot on analysis of the game against Ottowa. Watched the game last night and the hawks need a more consistent game their breakouts are horrible , not sustainable offensive zone play,

Johk and gustafsson look good out their, however Keith , Seabrook look slow and unsure.

This team is lacking upfront , Kunitz anisomov both look slow and useless, which is hurting kampf play.


Kudos to ward for his solid play. Toews hopefully will keep up the solid work.


Saad I think is expendable and if a trade is to be had he and anisomov both should be moved .

I think murphy might be the odd man out when he comes back.
- Taylorst1

You might be right about Murhphy, but I don’t think he’ll be the odd man out. When Murphy and Forsling return I expect Davidson and Rutta to be waived or traded.

I like the play of Gus and AA so far and do not agree with posters who say otherwise.
With Seabrook, I am just as concerned with his puck decisions as I am with his slowness.
If and when this team starts to lose, Kunitz needs to go (until then give him a chance to find his niche with this team). Then guys like Hayden will have a chance to gain experience and confidence going forward.
With all the smallish skilled defence prospects that we have, there is a place on the team for the Murphy types (although it might be better to have cheaper versions of Murphy when these prospects need to get paid).
- 67hawks

to be fair to seabs hes playing with manning who is a very bad hockey player

A very sloppy 2-0-0 to start the year but 2 scrappy wins at the start pf the year nonetheless.

Tonight will be another nice test.

If anything, this team is resilient.

Tonight I would expect to see Davidson and/or Hayden.
- Justin Lowe

mix in some competent goaltending and they can at least have a chance to ruin someones spring in the first round.

He really is, and looks much worse than last year. That doesn't happen by accident. Either he's hurt, or Stan's gift contract to him, has made him complacent. He almost looks like he's playing not get hurt.
- vabeachbear

or hes not a good player...

A very sloppy 2-0-0 to start the year but 2 scrappy wins at the start pf the year nonetheless.

Tonight will be another nice test.

If anything, this team is resilient.

Tonight I would expect to see Davidson and/or Hayden.
- Justin Lowe

With all of the angst about the own-zone play and difficult breakouts and clears, they have allowed on 41 SOG (5x5) thru two games - it grows to 55 SOG all situations because of 9 (I think) PK situations.

But still - not awful, I don’t think.

A very sloppy 2-0-0 to start the year but 2 scrappy wins at the start pf the year nonetheless.

Tonight will be another nice test.

If anything, this team is resilient.

Tonight I would expect to see Davidson and/or Hayden.
- Justin Lowe

I wouldn't count on those changes. Quenville stays with a lineup that wins usually. Not saying changes should t be made though.

to be fair to seabs hes playing with manning who is a very bad hockey player
- fattybeef

Seabrook's contract suggests that he should be carrying Manning not the other way around. Although Manning is somewhat overpaid as well to this point in his career with us.

I really hope forsling is able to replace Rutta in the lineup. He's brutal.
- SoftServe

I think that Davidson could replace Rutta right now. Rutta just brings nothing to the table now -defensively or offensively. We could probably waive him and no one would claim that contract.

or hes not a good player...
- fattybeef

Not arguing that, but his level of bad seems worse than last year to me.

I think that Davidson could replace Rutta right now. Rutta just brings nothing to the table now -defensively or offensively. We could probably waive him and no one would claim that contract.
- 67hawks

There's no doubt no one would take that contract on, but, a team might want to pick him up, almost guarantees them a cup............

While it would be great for the Hawks to work on protecting leads and generally playing tighter on defense, it's super to see them able to fight back through two see-saw games to win in OT both times.

Others have referenced this before but the Toews we are seeing so far reminds me of the Toews from the 2015 Playoffs particularly the Ducks series.

As y'all know already, the Hogs lost 5-2 against the Monsters again. Tyler Sikura scored on the PP with a feed from Dylan. Carlsson scored the other from Schroeder.

Although the Hogs PP gets more shots on net and is able to sustain pressure the entire time, their PP is the same as the Hawks in one major way: players pass the puck around but don't move themselves at all besides maybe a stride or two within a confined circle. If anything, players on the PK should confine themselves within a certain zone while players on the PP need to be as dynamic as possible to disrupt the thinking and flow of the other team. As Eddie O says: "Move the puck, move yourself."

The forward that stood out most was Dylan Sikura. Sikura holds on to the puck, even under pressure, and looks for options. He had some great chances shooting and passing. His linemate Highmore has been solid in both games, too.

Carlsson was the standout defender. Although he was on the ice for a few goals against, he at least engages the puck handler with his body as much as his stick to create separation. He doesn't give up on plays either.

One snufu that was reminiscent of the parent team was a drop pass (by Snuggerud, in his own zone no less) that led to a turnover and goal against.

Noel was fairly unnoticeable in game two.

He really is, and looks much worse than last year. That doesn't happen by accident. Either he's hurt, or Stan's gift contract to him, has made him complacent. He almost looks like he's playing not get hurt.
- vabeachbear

Someone said he had a groin injury during the preseason? If true explains his slowness

Seabrook's contract suggests that he should be carrying Manning not the other way around. Although Manning is somewhat overpaid as well to this point in his career with us.
- 67hawks

lol what? manning is beyond help. doughty couldnt carry him. atrocious signing and would make any other player on that side look bad

Someone said he had a groin injury during the preseason? If true explains his slowness
- BetweenTheDots

If Rutta is not 100% then he should be shelved until he's fully healed. Call up Dahlstrom to replace him. This way Davidson gets in to games on the Hawks and Hillman and Gilbert can start playing regularly in Rockford. Neither of them dressed again for the Hogs for their 2nd game.

So Toews looking like the 70 point player he used to be, this changes everything for this team.

Joki doesn't look like a rookie out there, hopefully Q will have him QBing the PP soon.

Crawford coming back, this is going to be an interesting year.