|
Thankful for Hockey Things |
|
|
|
|
|
While I'm not an American citizen and I already had my share of turkey in October for Canadian Thanksgiving, I think it's fitting to stop to give thanks.
It doesn't matter what time of the year it is or what country you live in, it's always great to stop and be thankful for what you have.
Our common theme here is the Blackhawks and while we all love hockey (well, at least when the Blackhawks are winning), the reality is, it's a sport and is just a small part of this planet.
We've found out the depths of the negativity of the hockey world with the Babcock and Peters news this last week and it shows the regardless of your profession, your social followers or how much you get pair, we're all human beings… there's no room for shitty behavior.
I won't be commenting much on the storylines above as I feel like there is more to come on and will be officially revealed when all parties have been heard.
So, back to hockey and the Blackhawks; there's a lot to be thankful for and I will go through a few topics now:
* The Dreaded Thanksgiving Deadline – many hockey pundits point to this exact date as the deadline as to when you can tell which NHL teams are real and the ones that are… ummm… not good.
As per Scott Powers (The Athletic), "Over the last six seasons, 76 percent of the teams in a playoff spot at Thanksgiving ended up making the playoffs at the end of the season."
The Hawks are currently out of the playoffs, but the good news it's close; they are only 3 points back on the 2nd wild card spot.
The problem is the parody in the Western Conference. Sure, the Hawks are "close" to the playoffs but they are also only 3 points out of dead last in the conference.
The good news though is their record in the last 10 games is 6-2-2. This is important to note as we all know that there was a tweak to the way the Hawks were playing. So this adjustment has been paying off.
* Speaking of playoffs - thanks to John Shannon's tweet here, we have a visualization of who would be playing who if the post-season started today:
* Goaltending – we're all thankful for Robin Lehner and Corey Crawford. The end.
* Bring on Colorado – the Avs are 6-4-0 in their last 10 games. They sit in the 1st wild card position as of Thursday. They also sit first in goal differential with a +15.
The Hawks should consider themselves thankful for their health to date. They do have Caggiula and Strome dealing with concussion issues, however, CHI has done a good job escaping the injury bug, which is the opposite of Colorado.
While Rantanen could return Friday or Saturday, the Avs are still without their Captain, Landeskog, Matt Calvert, Colin Wilson, and Erik Johnson.
* Home cookin' - it's crazy that this is the 1st time in 40(!) YEARS that the Blackhawks have been home for Thanksgiving. Normally, they are out of town with the circus taking over the UC. I'm sure the veterans who have been with the Hawks for a while will enjoy that!
* Rockford Support - as mentioned above, Drake Caggiula and Dylan Strome are currently sidelined as they remain in concussion protocol.
This has forced the Hawks to dip into the Rockford support bag and they pulled out a Matthew Highmore and Anton Wedin.
I've always been a fan of Highmore and would like to see more of him. His speed is a welcomed addition and realistically could replace Zack Smith's spot in the lineup. Nothing against Smith, but it's very noticeable when the Hawks add an element of speed into this current lineup up – that at times – has looked on the slower side.
Anton Wedin got the call yesterday to pack his stuff for Chicago. Whether he sees time or not, he's been playing well in Rockford to date. He's an all-situations type guy; someone – like Highmore – that coaches like to have in the mix for their reliability and versatility.
* Dylan Sikura – this guy has got to be thinking, "what do I need to do to get the call?"
Well, I have heard that the Hawks aren't near as high on Dylan as they were a year ago. I'm not sure if that's coming from Jeremy Colliton who has coached him in the NHL and AHL or if it's coming from higher up?
I do know that the way things are going, Dylan might want to keep up his strong play and production in the AHL because it might be his ticket out of the organization to get a chance to play regular minutes for another team.
* My Thanks – lastly, I just wanted to say thank you to all of you.
I try my best to get you consistent and entertaining blogs and sometimes I fall short on both, however, you guys and gals just keep coming back.
Together, we have created an amazing community of Blackhawks fans; a great channel for all of us to come, be treated with respects (for the most part), share our opinions and have some laughs.
Let's keep this going and hope it rubs off on the Blackhawks – I could use a good winning streak (it's much easier to write when they're winning, ha).
See ya out there!
TC
---
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»