Tyler Cameron: Blackhawks Mailbag
I promised to provide you with Blackhawks and hockey content and that's what I am here to do. I also promised you a mailbag edition so that's what you get.

Let's get into it.

In addition to the incredible talent, the Championship Hawks had players who just refused to lose - the core - Keith, Seabrook, Toews, Kane, Crawford. That’s what got the three Cups.

Among the young players with very good talent and prospects - Dach, Boqvist, Mitchell, Beaudin, etc. - are there those with that kind of competitiveness?

Thanks for the Mailbag blog TC!

I thought Nylander started to look better when they put him with Kane (shocker) and Strome and could see that being a line next year too.

He just turned 22 and you can definitely see some talent there, so I hope they have some patience with him and the lightbulb locks in the on position permanently at some point.

If so, assuming Saad stays, that could give them a pretty good top 9 with 8, 19, 20, 92, 17, 88, 12, 77 and ______. Maybe Hagel? Just one game but liked what I saw

While not all will, if some of the prospects continue to pan out, it gives the Hawks the ability to supply depth from within.

In addition to the incredible talent, the Championship Hawks had players who just refused to lose - the core - Keith, Seabrook, Toews, Kane, Crawford. That’s what got the three Cups.

Among the young players with very good talent and prospects - Dach, Boqvist, Mitchell, Beaudin, etc. - are there those with that kind of competitiveness?
- StLBravesFan

Let's hope so. That can't-lose / refuse to quit attitude is something I hope the Hawks are looking for when draft and acquiring players.

Apparently Dach has a lot of that in him and the Hawks were drawn to his personality and character.

Nice post Tyler, and some good, solid questions from others in the crew!
Very Much looking forward to the commenting!!

To put Nylander in perspective, he is tied for 9th in rookie scoring. Of the 8 players above, 4 are older than he is (including Kubalik), and 2 are the same age. Even Cale Makar is 21 years old only a year younger. He is not even an RFA until next year.
for $860K next year, how can you even think of "giving up on him".

To put Nylander in perspective, he is tied for 9th in rookie scoring. Of the 8 players above, 4 are older than he is (including Kubalik), and 2 are the same age. Even Cale Makar is 21 years old only a year younger. He is not even an RFA until next year.
for $860K next year, how can you even think of "giving up on him".
- LAHawk

There are many posters here who will give up on Dach next year if he has three scoreless games.

If they are allowed a compliance buyout, is there any chance they don't buyout Seabrook? Or, could they trade him to a different team, have that team buy him out, and resign him? I get that his contract is horrible, but I am going to be very sad the day he's no longer a Hawk.

To put Nylander in perspective, he is tied for 9th in rookie scoring. Of the 8 players above, 4 are older than he is (including Kubalik), and 2 are the same age. Even Cale Makar is 21 years old only a year younger. He is not even an RFA until next year.
for $860K next year, how can you even think of "giving up on him".
- LAHawk

Nice perspective on Nylander.

He frustrates the hell out of me but there is something there that the Hawks have to keep exploring.

I was the one who wanted to see him in the top 6 for the rest of the year and Colliton put him there shortly after. He had some good games and some "meh" games. If he can find some consistency and bring more of those good games, that would help the Hawks out big time.

To put Nylander in perspective, he is tied for 9th in rookie scoring. Of the 8 players above, 4 are older than he is (including Kubalik), and 2 are the same age. Even Cale Makar is 21 years old only a year younger. He is not even an RFA until next year.
for $860K next year, how can you even think of "giving up on him".
- LAHawk

Don’t know about you but I thought he started stringing some good games together at the end of the season and even saw him a bit more engaged along the boards.

If he can build on this season and cement himself in the top 6/9 next season, I could see him netting 20.

There are many posters here who will give up of Dach next year if he has three scoreless games.
- paulr

Games? Don’t you mean shifts?

Nice perspective on Nylander.

He frustrates the hell out of me but there is something there that the Hawks have to keep exploring.

I was the one who wanted to see him in the top 6 for the rest of the year and Colliton put him there shortly after. He had some good games and some "meh" games. If he can find some consistency and bring more of those good games, that would help the Hawks out big time.
- Tyler Cameron

Nylander may be a quiet strike out or he could prove to be a home run. Nylander has shown some serious skill and he has also made some curious bone headed moves. But put in perspective he came from a horrendous organization that is a graveyard for talent. Bowman took a chance on a high skill guy for a relatively small price. Hopefully Bowman's gamble pays off but if it doesn't he made it when he had a glut of good looking blueline talent.

Nylander may be a quiet strike out or he could prove to be a home run. Nylander has shown some serious skill and he has also made some curious bone headed moves. But put in perspective he came from a horrendous organization that is a graveyard for talent. Bowman took a chance on a high skill guy for a relatively small price. Hopefully Bowman's gamble pays off but if it doesn't he made it when he had a glut of good looking blueline talent.
- paulr

After going years without producing much, the Hawks drafted a ton of dmen and we’re starting to see some pan out like Boqvist, possibly Beaudin and Carlsson, along with others still like Mitchell, Regula, Shea, Vlasic, Krys and even Gilbert.

Not all will pan out obviously but blue line depth could be an area of strength in a another season or two.

If they are allowed a compliance buyout, is there any chance they don't buyout Seabrook? Or, could they trade him to a different team, have that team buy him out, and resign him? I get that his contract is horrible, but I am going to be very sad the day he's no longer a Hawk.
- tvetter

Do we really know how bad Seabs was injured before his operations? I will give him as much time as he needs to recover. Let's say he recovers 100%, I hope the team is not expecting high offensive numbers from him. If he can be a beast in the D zone, that is a plus for this team.

Do we really know how bad Seabs was injured before his operations? I will give him as much time as he needs to recover. Let's say he recovers 100%, I hope the team is not expecting high offensive numbers from him. If he can be a beast in the D zone, that is a plus for this team.
- powerenforcer

That's actually what I was wondering too. If these 3 surgeries actually fix him, maybe his skating improves to the point where he can be a decent 2nd pair dman. He has the intelligence, so if he gets a half step back after the hip surgeries, maybe he can contribute more than just leadership.

In addition to the incredible talent, the Championship Hawks had players who just refused to lose - the core - Keith, Seabrook, Toews, Kane, Crawford. That’s what got the three Cups.

Among the young players with very good talent and prospects - Dach, Boqvist, Mitchell, Beaudin, etc. - are there those with that kind of competitiveness?
- StLBravesFan

Pretty much everything that I've read thus far says that Mitchell has exactly the fire you are looking for. He wanted to go back and lead Denver to a championship. Denver keeps a scoring chance statistic: If you are part of a scoring chance for in 5v5 play you get a positive check, if you part of the reason for a scoring chance against you get a negative check. His personal goal was to have the positives to outnumber the negatives by at least 3:1.

He's made strides in pretty much all areas. I think this kid is the goods.

To put Nylander in perspective, he is tied for 9th in rookie scoring. Of the 8 players above, 4 are older than he is (including Kubalik), and 2 are the same age. Even Cale Makar is 21 years old only a year younger. He is not even an RFA until next year.
for $860K next year, how can you even think of "giving up on him".
- LAHawk

For further context, there are 29 rookies that have played 50 or more games.
12 are defensemen.

Nylander ranks 4th of 17 rookie forwards in scoring, of guys with 50+ games.

Pretty much everything that I've read thus far says that Mitchell has exactly the fire you are looking for. He wanted to go back and lead Denver to a championship. Denver keeps a scoring chance statistic: If you are part of a scoring chance for in 5v5 play you get a positive check, if you part of the reason for a scoring chance against you get a negative check. His personal goal was to have the positives to outnumber the negatives by at least 3:1.

He's made strides in pretty much all areas. I think this kid is the goods.
- Chunk

Plus Elbows likes him, so there's that...

Plus Elbows likes him, so there's that...
- HawkintheD

“Let’s get Elbows - he hates everyone.”

“He likes him! Hey Elbows....”

For further context, there are 29 rookies that have played 50 or more games.
12 are defensemen.

Nylander ranks 4th of 17 rookie forwards in scoring, of guys with 50+ games.
- scottak

Many critics of the Hawks or Bowman or Colliton seem to forget how many rookies are in the line up this season and more importantly how many more rookies will be added over the next two seasons. This rebuild will not be a quick fix but hopefully it will prove to put the team on the track to be contenders again.

Nice perspective on Nylander.

He frustrates the hell out of me but there is something there that the Hawks have to keep exploring.

I was the one who wanted to see him in the top 6 for the rest of the year and Colliton put him there shortly after. He had some good games and some "meh" games. If he can find some consistency and bring more of those good games, that would help the Hawks out big time.
- Tyler Cameron

Yep (especially at his cap hit).

The Chunk Question#2 posed an interesting question (paraphrasing) how would you feel about Boqvist if he were basically the same player in year #3? (implies Nylander hasn't made much improvement by (this) his 3rd year).

It's an interesting way to look at the question of how long do you give a player before moving on. It takes the analysis out of the vacuum of one by providing a comparative. It's still supposition but it's another data point to have.

In Nylanders case I don't know when the "pull the plug" date is but I'm pretty sure we haven't gotten there yet. Also, regarding the comparison with Boqvist in year #3 - I think Boqvist has already made improvements through his first half season to the point where I would be disappointed if he didn't get even better - but - I think he is already consistently good enough to hold down a top-4 job in the NHL whereas I do not think Nylander, in year #3, is consistently good enough to hold down a top-6 NHL job.

I wonder how much of Nylander's issues are related to confidence? I feel like a decent amount of the time he is playing not to make a mistake...usually that results in a player making mistakes they normally wouldn't

There are issues with his willingness to engage physically but you can have a top 6 forward or two like that if they bring the high end skill.

re: those discussing Barratt.... I just don't see him as any kind of difference maker or being NHL read for a year or two. Seems like a bottom 6 guy to me. Probably a 3rd line guy that can chip in 30-40pts if he pans out.

Pretty much everything that I've read thus far says that Mitchell has exactly the fire you are looking for. He wanted to go back and lead Denver to a championship. Denver keeps a scoring chance statistic: If you are part of a scoring chance for in 5v5 play you get a positive check, if you part of the reason for a scoring chance against you get a negative check. His personal goal was to have the positives to outnumber the negatives by at least 3:1.

He's made strides in pretty much all areas. I think this kid is the goods.
- Chunk

How's Mitchell's skating and foot speed? I haven't seen any of his college games.

Well to me Nylander is in year 1, because as was mentioned earlier, Buffalo has not shown itself to be very good at developing their draft choices (Middlestadt). It also looks like when they did bring him up for a cup of coffee, they did not put him in a position to succeed. That is one thing I have to say Colliton did very well with the kids. He put them in a position to succeed. I know a lot on here were complaining that Kubalik should play with Toews, Dach should be a center, Bovquist should run the first power play. Well they were starting to and they will, but JC (and the Hawks brass) eased them into those positions to take the pressure off of them, Even when Beaudin played his 'off side", that was to play with Keith, they could of kept him on his good side, and play with Murphy.

“Let’s get Elbows - he hates everyone.”

“He likes him! Hey Elbows....”
- StLBravesFan