Should have signed Cole Hamels.
- rpeters01

I wanted Wheeler personally but it all really comes down to the young highly touted prospects Cease and Kopech. If they develop into legit starters then the rotation will be set regardless of what outsiders they bring in. Keuchel and Gonzalez will help the depth of the rotation behind Giolito until the young guys are ready.

Question for the Blackhawks fans: has Dylan Strome been playing mainly Center, or Wing, or both evenly this season?
- kingcong39

He started playing centre but has been playing wing lately.

I wanted Wheeler personally but it all really comes down to the young highly touted prospects Cease and Kopech. If they develop into legit starters then the rotation will be set regardless of what outsiders they bring in. Keuchel and Gonzalez will help the depth of the rotation behind Giolito until the young guys are ready.
- SimpleJack

Hamels is kind of like Kevin Costner in "For the Love of the Game" old school. Still love that scene in the beginning of the movie the whole pitching staff walking through the airport with him in front.

Goalie situation is already resolved, they just haven't announced it. Its just part of the master plan;

They'll sign Lehner to a longer term contract, but not until FA begins, cause they are trading him before the deadline, one to give him a shot at a cup, and two to get the haul for him.

Crow and Lake in in, for the rest of the season.

Trade Crows rights before FA begins to a team he wants to go to if he doesn't want to sign a 1 yr 3 mil deal.

Smith and Gus moved out at the trade deadline.

Mitchell signs as soon as season ends.

It all seems so logical to me

Goalie situation is already resolved, they just haven't announced it. Its just part of the master plan;

They'll sign Lehner to a longer term contract, but not until FA begins, cause they are trading him before the deadline, one to give him a shot at a cup, and two to get the haul for him.

Crow and Lake in in, for the rest of the season.

Trade Crows rights before FA begins to a team he wants to go to if he doesn't want to sign a 1 yr 3 mil deal.

Smith and Gus moved out at the trade deadline.

Mitchell signs as soon as season ends.

It all seems so logical to me
- vabeachbear

You honestly think Stan is capable of that? The more likely scenario is that Stan loses both Lehner and Crawford to free agency without anything in return. Stan then signs Talbot to a $5 million AAV deal for 5 years (with a full NMC of course) and Delia backs him up.

You honestly think Stan is capable of that? The more likely scenario is that Stan loses both Lehner and Crawford to free agency without anything in return. Stan then signs Talbot to a $5 million AAV deal for 5 years (with a full NMC of course) and Delia backs him up.
- DarthKane

Delia sucks.

The solution is simple in the offseason - Stan signs Cro, Craig Anderson and Mike Smith to 1 year deals at $2.0M each and promises all of them 25 game starts minimum. That's 3 goalies for less $ than Lehner wants.

Smith plays the games against tough clubs where the Hawks need somebody that can fight the other team's goons.

Who won with Niemi after year 1?
- rpeters01

Exactly, see San Jose, Dallas

You honestly think Stan is capable of that? The more likely scenario is that Stan loses both Lehner and Crawford to free agency without anything in return. Stan then signs Talbot to a $5 million AAV deal for 5 years (with a full NMC of course) and Delia backs him up.
- DarthKane

Honestly, a Talbot/Delia tandem or similar could be a scenario if Crawford and Lehner are both not traded this season and decide to sign with other teams this summer.

Hopefully Bowman and co. are playing their cards right and have a plan in place and not just relying on good will of 50 and 40 to do what's best for the Blackhawks.

Per Chris Kuc, Boqvist is practicing with Blackhawks today, that’s a good sign.

Goalie situation is already resolved, they just haven't announced it. Its just part of the master plan;

They'll sign Lehner to a longer term contract, but not until FA begins, cause they are trading him before the deadline, one to give him a shot at a cup, and two to get the haul for him.

Crow and Lake in in, for the rest of the season.

Trade Crows rights before FA begins to a team he wants to go to if he doesn't want to sign a 1 yr 3 mil deal.

Smith and Gus moved out at the trade deadline.

Mitchell signs as soon as season ends.

It all seems so logical to me
- vabeachbear

I hope it works out exactly like your outline.

Per Chris Kuc, Boqvist is practicing with Blackhawks today, that’s a good sign.
- Angotti

Niiiiiiiccceee 👍👍

Hamels is kind of like Kevin Costner in "For the Love of the Game" old school. Still love that scene in the beginning of the movie the whole pitching staff walking through the airport with him in front.
- rpeters01

I’ve actually never seen that movie. I’ve heard it’s good though.

You need talent, defense, and character to win, can’t win with players that only worry about their offensive stats.
- Angotti

Yes although they say game time decision for the game tomorrow.

New d-pairings in practice:

Keith-Gustafsson
Seeler/Koekkoek-Murphy
Maatta-Boqvist

Yes although they say game time decision for the game tomorrow.

New d-pairings in practice:

Keith-Gustafsson
Seeler/Koekkoek-Murphy
Maatta-Boqvist
- EbonyRaptor

Not liking Keith with Gus. Then again, don’t like Gus with anybody. Cue the beating dead horse GIF.

Couple things....regardless if we are a buyer or seller at the deadline, Stan has to take advantage of the cap space...if he doesn’t or can’t I will officially be in the dump Stan camp...

Also, any update on #27...crickets so far on his injury....
- Beaks99

Delia sucks.

The solution is simple in the offseason - Stan signs Cro, Craig Anderson and Mike Smith to 1 year deals at $2.0M each and promises all of them 25 game starts minimum. That's 3 goalies for less $ than Lehner wants.

Smith plays the games against tough clubs where the Hawks need somebody that can fight the other team's goons.
- RickJ

If you think I don't like Lehner, this will be child's play compared to my rants if they signed that giant POS Mike Smith

Yes although they say game time decision for the game tomorrow.

New d-pairings in practice:

Keith-Gustafsson
Seeler/Koekkoek-Murphy
Maatta-Boqvist
- EbonyRaptor

Poor Murphy.

Not liking Keith with Gus. Then again, don’t like Gus with anybody. Cue the beating dead horse GIF.
- Angotti

The pairings suggest one or two thoughts on Colliton behalf; I doubt that Bowman has asked to get Seeler in line up for a look see. But you never know/maybe Maata or someone else like Gus is traded and the desire is to see how fluid or complimentary these pairings look or how promising they appear - so actually this is a third idea)

The other thoughts are:

1). Seeler replaces Special K. When we play a heavy physical team Seeler and Special K could be on seperate pairs. Or someone has expressed interest in Special k, so how does defense look with Seeler instead of Special K

2). Desire to see how well Boqvist looks/works with Maata. Desire also for Gus to play with the best dman - Keith (cough). Maybe Gus then gets on a scoring roll and another team goes ahead with the asking price Bowman attached to Gus.

You have to admit that Bowman must be channeling countless pair combinations for Colliton to try whether one or two dmen are moved. A bit thin deoth wise in defense if say Gus and Maate is moved; you do have Gilbert, Carlsson and Mitchell soon enough. And Seabrook next year although probably needs an AHL assignment for conditioning. The conditioning as much as in game getting comfortable playing at speed with a body repair which may result in performing at a pace with more capability for a level a tad more quick in reaction and skating than where he regressed to.

Trade proposal: Pageau for Nylander.

Pageau is UFA after the season so possibly Ottawa would want to get something for him. Nylander is RFA after next season so Ottawa would have him for $865K which is important for a cheap budget team like Ottawa.

Pageau is a pretty good skater and scorer and a very good faceoff guy. Maybe he wouldn't want to resign with the Hawks or his salary demand would be more than the Hawks could afford - so maybe he would only be a rental and then the question is losing Nylander worth him as a rental. My thought is yes because I've kind of written off Nylander at this point so at the very least it would be an upgrade for the stretch run this season.

Thoughts?

The pairings suggest one or two thoughts on Colliton behalf; I doubt that Bowman has asked to get Seeler in line up for a look see. But you never know/maybe Maata or someone else like Gus is traded and the desire is to see how fluid or complimentary these pairings look or how promising they appear - so actually this is a third idea)

The other thoughts are:

1). Seeler replaces Special K. When we play a heavy physical team Seeler and Special K could be on seperate pairs. Or someone has expressed interest in Special k, so how does defense look with Seeler instead of Special K

2). Desire to see how well Boqvist looks/works with Maata. Desire also for Gus to play with the best dman - Keith (cough). Maybe Gus then gets on a scoring roll and another team goes ahead with the asking price Bowman attached to Gus.

You have to admit that Bowman must be channeling countless pair combinations for Colliton to try whether one or two dmen are moved. A bit thin deoth wise in defense if say Gus and Maate is moved; you do have Gilbert, Carlsson and Mitchell soon enough. And Seabrook next year although probably needs an AHL assignment for conditioning. The conditioning as much as in game getting comfortable playing at speed with a body repair which may result in performing at a pace with more capability for a level a tad more quick in reaction and skating than where he regressed to.
- jhawk59

They also have DeHaan next year, hopefully he’s healthy. What you mentioned about currently being thin on defense is probably why Maatta does not get moved until offseason, just too many injuries back there and we can’t have just Keith and Murphy, and four inexperienced defensemen.

Who won with Niemi after year 1?
- rpeters01

Exactly my point. The Hawks would have won in 2010 with just about any goalie, because the rest of the team was stacked. If you play your cards right, there’s no need to ever pay top dollar for a goalie.

Trade proposal: Pageau for Nylander.

Pageau is UFA after the season so possibly Ottawa would want to get something for him. Nylander is RFA after next season so Ottawa would have him for $865K which is important for a cheap budget team like Ottawa.

Pageau is a pretty good skater and scorer and a very good faceoff guy. Maybe he wouldn't want to resign with the Hawks or his salary demand would be more than the Hawks could afford - so maybe he would only be a rental and then the question is losing Nylander worth him as a rental. My thought is yes because I've kind of written off Nylander at this point so at the very least it would be an upgrade for the stretch run this season.

Thoughts?
- EbonyRaptor

Don't like the idea of trading Joki for nothing and Nylander is too young to write off. Was a trib article about his strong points the other day. Writing him off is like Philly writing Patrick Sharp off he's only 21-22.

Exactly my point. The Hawks would have won in 2010 with just about any goalie, because the rest of the team was stacked. If you play your cards right, there’s no need to ever pay top dollar for a goalie.
- Ogilthorpe2

Don't need a pilot to fly the plane, except when you do and it's impossible to keep a stacked team together.

Weren’t they supposed to buy the Hogs?
- StLBravesFan

That was the rumor. I’d have thought the Ice Hogs would have been less expensive. I believe they have the lowest attendance in the league.

Interesting thing I thought I heard, teams owned by their NHL team tend to have much lower average attendance than teams owned independently. I guess people work harder to put fannies in the seats if they have some skin In the game.

Exactly my point. The Hawks would have won in 2010 with just about any goalie, because the rest of the team was stacked. If you play your cards right, there’s no need to ever pay top dollar for a goalie.
- Ogilthorpe2

In a year when the league average was just over 30 SOG per game, the Hawks allowed only just over 24 per game to get to Niemi - who saved 91.2% of them.

Not sure that says everything, but it says a lot.