“Ok guys, listen up… I know we’re terrible defensively – especially you Gus – but let’s just try to stick to the plan… score more goals than the other team.” Jeremy Colliton probably.
I’m joking obviously, but seriously that has to be this team’s mentality on most nights.
Sure, there were times during the Joel Quenneville era that the Hawks played a little “run-and-gun” type wild hockey but you know deep down that those teams had it in the them to dial it up DEFENSIVELY.
Nope, not this year; these guys aren’t even close to finding their groove at that end of the ice, nor do them seem to care too much.
Thanks to Yahoo!, here is the team comparison from last night’s 5-4 SO win vs. Buffalo.
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Looking at this, it’s fairly typical of a 2018-19 Chicago game; tons of shots and lots of goals.
The Hawks play in Dallas tomorrow and are back home on Monday to the smoking hot Arizona Coyotes(?). Yes, you read that correctly, the ‘Yotes are 8-2 in their last 10.
I will continue to read between the lines with the lines that Colliton tosses out there. It appears that we’re in full audition and evaluation mode:
* It was nice to see Hayden get a shot on a line with Toews but that didn’t last long as #40 ended with 6:37 mins.
* Brendan Perlini is a guy that Colliton is trying to get going. Putting him on a line with Strome and DeBrincat is working out well for him – he scored another goal last night as he netted the game-tying tally.
* I will be interested to see if Crawford gets a break tomorrow night for Delia. It would be nice to see the youngster get a couple games in while Ward is out.
* Will Dylan Sikura find his way back in the lineup? Or does he get sent down when Caggiula is healthy?
Shifting to Rockford, they play 2 games in Manitoba this Saturday and Sunday. Their push for the playoffs continues. They should get a boost with Tyler Sikura expected to enter back into the lineup after being injured.
On the Hawks prospect front, a minor signing was made this week as Stan locked in Red Deer Rebel’s captain Reese Johnson to a 3-year contract worth $925k per year.
This is an interesting signing to me on a few different levels. Johnson is a pure character guy as he’s faced some adversity with injuries and worked his way up to be the leader of a Brent Sutter run team.
Speaking of that, former Blackhawk Sutter must be feeding the Hawks some good intel as this is the 2nd player from his team that the Hawks have scooped up. Brandon Hagel – who is having an amazing year statistically (92 points in 61 games) – was the 1st who was signed on October 30th.
It’s odd that Johnson was given a max contract while Hagel, who by all accounts appears to have a better shot at turning into an NHL player due to his production was handed an AAV of 880k. Not much of a difference obviously, but it speaks to the Blackhawks’ thoughts on Johnson.
This is another chemistry play as not only do Johnson and Hagel play on the same team, but also they grew up in the same Saskatoon, SK community.
On last thing to note, the Hawks remain at 47 contracts overall as Johnson’s contract does not start until the 2019-20 season. Both he and Hagel will remain in the WHL for the remainder of this year.
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Lastly, I wanted to give a shout out to all those amazing women out there. Today is International Women’s Day and behind every great man, there’s a much, much better woman; I’m speaking from experience.
Good on your hockey moms, hockey wives and all the ladies out there – have a great day!
JL
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
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