Everything is amazing in Blackhawks land; the Hawks won both games over the weekend extending their winning streak to 4 games! And, hey, look at that, the IceHogs have won 4 in a row as well.
The Blackhawks are just 5 points out the playoffs and it now looks like the postseason is in reach. As Bowman and McDonough said, all we have to do is get in and anything can happen.
Well, I think you know where I'm going with this but the above paragraph is a sarcastic and cynical one.
Sure, the Hawks could go on a crazy winning streak from now until the end of the year, but the still have 6 teams to leapfrog to get into the playoffs. Heck, they are only 6 points away ("the bad way") from being the worst team in the league.
As most of you know by know, I'm a realist, not a pessimist.
I like a lot of things the Hawks are doing (well, other than that man-to-man defence) and think there's a reason to be more optimistic for the 2019-20 season, but as it stands right now, Chicago is merely putting up a fight that they all know they're ultimately going to lose.
Their upcoming schedule looks like this:
Tuesday, Feb 5th - @ Edmonton
Thursday, Feb 7th – home to Vancouver
Sunday, Feb 10th – home to Detriot
Next on the trending topics in the Blackhawks world, as per Elliotte Friedman, the Blackhawks approached Brent Seabrook to waive his NTC and he denied. He loves Chicago and wants to stay.
Well, then. You can't really blame the guy and it's his right to deny that request. Stan Bowman gave that to him in his deal (along with everyone else on the team I believe) and Bowman is still the GM here in Chicago so there isn't much of an argument here.
What I can take out of this is the following:
1) The Hawks are looking at all options heading into the deadline. This is good.
2) My guess is that this was leaked to the media from Seabrook's agent as Bowman can still shop him around and set up a deal in principle, then go back to #7 to ask again. However, with this information coming out, what team will return Bowman's call RE: Seabrook.
3) Let's be honest, it would have to be a very creative deal to get Seabs off the books (ie. Pairing his contract with a pick/prospect/valuable asset or taking back a bad contract in return like Milan Lucic-style)
4) This PR surrounding the Hawks ‘pondering" trading Seabrook could be just the first step to this saga. Next Jeremy Colliton starts to sit him more (maybe leading up to the deadline to get Seabrook to think twice about staying in Chicago <- malicious, I know, but business be business). Next, he becomes a permanent 6/7 defenceman or even gets sent to the minors where $5.8M of his salary is still counted against the cap; but if you have a kid like Boqvist at 925k in his place, it balances out, no?
5) I will end by saying, I love Seabrook; He's a warrior and has been the defacto Captain of this time for a long, long time. I hope this ends well for him and his family, but I just don't see a scenario where the Hawks continue to pretend he's a top 4 defender in the NHL anymore. For me, if he can stay in shape, he can still play a bottom pairing, depth role, but that's about it.
With this news about Seabrook and the recent Duncan Keith interview this past weekend, there's a lot to think about.
There's a possibility where Keith gets traded as the Hawks just showed their cards that they're serious about moving in a different direction which includes parting ways with the most iconic Blackhawks on the roster.
Would you trade Duncan Keith?
For me, I would hate to see it happen but would be open to it if the return was really solid. I have a feeling that he might be worth more to the Hawks though in his current state and with that contract. Also, he would need to be open to a trade and if his buddy Seabs is staying, I wouldn't be shocked for him to turn Stan's offer down as well.
It will be interesting times ahead as we are just 3 weeks away from the deadline.
Anyway, moving on, I mentioned Rockford at the beginning of the blog and I want to go back there to end this puppy off.
The Hawks have been monitoring the situation closely and I heard they were not 100% sold on Derek King running the ship. I mean, that was one of the reasons that Jeremy Colliton was brought in to run the show in May of 2017.
There is some renewed optimism with this recent run of wins, but I'm not convinced King is the guy long term.
Rockford has moved up to 5th in their division though and finally have reason to be optimistic.
From the net out, both Forsberg and Lankinen have been solid. Forsberg has allowed 2 or fewer goals in 4 of his last 5 starts. During these games, he has a 2.01 GAA and .934 SV%. King has said he's been a true professional during his time with the IceHogs.
On D, Darren Raddysh has continued his strong season; he posted his 3rd(!) OT goal of the year, helping the ‘Hogs defeat the Admirals 3-2 in the extra frame on Saturday. He could very well get a look with the Hawks by the end of the year.
Another guy that could see some time in Chicago very soon – or whenever the Hawks free up some spots on D or an injury occurs – is Lucas Carlsson. He's tied with Raddysh with the most points from the backend on the farm with 24 points. He's played the left side opposite Henri Jokiharju the last couple of games and this pairing will help King's team substantially if they stay in the AHL.
Jokiharju scored in his first ever career AHL game. He didn't register a goal in 27 games with Chicago and you could tell that goal felt good:
(start at 0:18)
Up front, Dylan Sikura continues to lead the way. It's nice to see him get a lot of minutes in Rockford. I would anticipate he (as well as Jokiharju) will be back up in Feb/March.
Additionally at forward, Fortin and Ejdsell are playing better and contributing. The ‘Hogs could really use Matthew Highmore as well to help with their offense which is the worst in the AHL with 113 goals. Highmore could return in late February or early March. Will it be too late?
Other injuries include Tyler Sikura who looks like he could be out for a while. Luc Snuggerud remains out and Davidson is banged up.
To give you an idea, here are what the IceHogs lines have looked like lately:
Sikura-Johnson-Martinsen
Louis-Nilsson-Schroeder
Fortin-Broadhurst-Pelletier
Ejdsell-Knott-Moutrey
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