This one's gonna sting all throughout the summer, and won't stop until the Hawks raise the hardware again.....

Which of course will be next year!
- Hawksandhabs11

LA has the perfect balance of race horse and mule. Hoping Stanley sees that. I will say this.. Doughty is a damn fine D man.. If Sharp goes and Richards comes here.. he can keep his #10.

Real nice ending on CBC. They went thru every player and coach on the Kings who stated their favourite player growing up.

When it got to Darryl Sutter they showed his mentally disabled son and Darryl named the Golden Jet as his favourite player.

Not one Ranger player or coach was interviewed.
- RickJ

Nice call on the Smythe winner.

Sutter learned one thing from his Hawk days. That fore check is right out of the Mike Keenan school.

"Sorry, every team has to be lucky to win the Cup......It had nothing to do with luck!"

You say so.... Whatever. Best team this year won. Has nothing to do with the regular season. All to do with the playoffs. The Kings were better then any team this year. If you would like to prove that otherwise, I would be glad to hear it. Gonna be tough since the Kings are holding the Cup!


- bogiedoc

Am I a blind homer for saying the Hawks are?

That's what makes this one sting so badly. We'd be the team hoisting the Cup at the UC tonight....
- CaptainBlackhawk

The homer in me says - gave away too many leads - games two and three, three leads in fame seven - didn't get it done.

Nice call on the Smythe winner.

Sutter learned one thing from his Hawk days. That fore check is right out of the Mike Keenan school.
- Elbows15

If my memory is correct, Sutters last year as a HC in Chicago was leading the Hawks to the conference finals against Detroit in 1995. I also heard that Roenick did not like him at all.

Real nice ending on CBC. They went thru every player and coach on the Kings who stated their favourite player growing up.

When it got to Darryl Sutter they showed his mentally disabled son and Darryl named the Golden Jet as his favourite player.

Not one Ranger player or coach was interviewed.
- RickJ

Heart sank when they showed the Martinez goal that ended our run. First time I've seen it since it happened.

CBC knows hockey and their fan base so well. Next year should be interesting for HNIC

The homer in me says - gave away too many leads - games two and three, three leads in fame seven - didn't get it done.
- StLBravesFan

that's my point... giving up all those leads, they were still an incredibly lucky two bounces away from hoisting the Cup this year.

LA has the perfect balance of race horse and mule. Hoping Stanley sees that. I will say this.. Doughty is a damn fine D man..
- z1990z

The Kings didn't let the Western Conference down either (unlike the Canucks did), basically ran over the Rangers when the real playing started.

The homer in me says - gave away too many leads - games two and three, three leads in fame seven - didn't get it done.
- StLBravesFan

Indeed. Unfortunately, that was a theme all season long.

If my memory is correct, Sutters last year as a HC in Chicago was leading the Hawks to the conference finals against Detroit in 1995. I also heard that Roenick did not like him at all.
- z1990z

Probably because Sutter tried to explain to Roenick there was no I in team.

Heart sank when they showed the Martinez goal that ended our run. First time I've seen it since it happened.

CBC knows hockey and their fan base so well. Next year should be interesting for HNIC
- wizardofi

HNIC is a brand nobody wants to lose. Hockey on TV will be different next season.

Looked to me like nobody can play for the Kings if they weren't born in Ontario or Saskatchewan. Probably had to take a vote to let Kopitar and Gaborik play on the team.

Call me strange, but I was relieved as soon as LA won it. Means back to business for the Hawks. Not gonna lament bad calls or whatever.. this is a great team that took that game 7 as far as their dead legs would carry them. Game on now.. game on getting ready for opening night. Betcha Toews is already in the weight room!

We just need Stanley to be smart and make the needed adjustments.

What pisses me off is the Kings are basically intact from their 2012 Cup. Most of their team have won 2 cups now. We had to trade off and dump have our 2010 Cup team and still trade a bunch of others in 2013. Yet they actually have money to keep adding offense

that's my point... giving up all those leads, they were still an incredibly lucky two bounces away from hoisting the Cup this year.
- CaptainBlackhawk

I can't think about that right now.

If I do, I'll go crazy.

I'll think about that tomorrow.

After all - tomorrow is another day.



Goodnight all.

They made a thousand trades to get this team right. It sucks how they make all these trades to add offense to their group and basically kept most of their other Cup team and we HAD TO trade away all our great draft picks and secondary guys
- tomcat24

The Hawks haven't made a million trades to improve the team.

In general, Dean Lombardi has been proactive in the trade market. He's made good hockey trades. Jack Johnson for Jeff Carter. Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn for Mike Richards...I'm not even sure what they gave up for Gaborik.

Luckily for the Hawks and us, Stan Bowman doesn't nearly have to make as many trades as Lombardi did. The Hawks are really close, one piece away IMO.

The Hawks haven't made a million trades to improve the team.

In general, Dean Lombardi has been proactive in the trade market. He's made good hockey trades. Jack Johnson for Jeff Carter. Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn for Mike Richards...I'm not even sure what they gave up for Gaborik.

Luckily for the Hawks and us, Stan Bowman doesn't nearly have to make as many trades as Lombardi did. The Hawks are really close, one piece away IMO.
- Hawks82

Gaborik for Matt 'Freakin' Frattin and a couple of draft choices.

And if you really want to get PO'd Justin Williams makes $1.5M per season less than Versteeg.

What pisses me off is the Kings are basically intact from their 2012 Cup. Most of their team have won 2 cups now. We had to trade off and dump have our 2010 Cup team and still trade a bunch of others in 2013. Yet they actually have money to keep adding offense
- tomcat24

As for the purge in 2010?? See: Tallon, Dale

The Hawks haven't made a million trades to improve the team.

In general, Dean Lombardi has been proactive in the trade market. He's made good hockey trades. Jack Johnson for Jeff Carter. Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn for Mike Richards...I'm not even sure what they gave up for Gaborik.

Luckily for the Hawks and us, Stan Bowman doesn't nearly have to make as many trades as Lombardi did. The Hawks are really close, one piece away IMO.
- Hawks82

Stan is great at the draft. We built our Cup teams through the draft. We didn't need to make a million trades. Just a few. And I think maybe one or 2 more good trades can turn us into a real dynasty

As for the purge in 2010?? See: Tallon, Dale
- z1990z

Yeah that's what pisses me off. Mismanagement. What is LA's cap situation? I bet they aren't even near it and will bring back most of the same team for 3 Cups. We mismanaged the money so much that we are always over and HAVE TO dump so many of our players. Luckily stan drafts really well so we can still maintain a great team and compete

Gaborik for Matt 'Freakin' Frattin and a couple of draft choices.

And if you really want to get PO'd Justin Williams makes $1.5M per season less than Versteeg.
- RickJ

Well Bowman did trade for Versteeg and Rundblad this season..

Stan is great at the draft. We built our Cup teams through the draft. We didn't need to make a million trades. Just a few. And I think maybe one or 2 more good trades can turn us into a real dynasty
- tomcat24

Completely agree.

I'm asking myself...is there too high of a price for Kesler?

Yeah that's what pisses me off. Mismanagement. What is LA's cap situation? I bet they aren't even near it and will bring back most of the same team for 3 Cups. We mismanaged the money so much that we are always over and HAVE TO dump so many of our players. Luckily stan drafts really well so we can still maintain a great team and compete
- tomcat24

Things will get awfully difficult for them after next season.

Clifford, Toffoli, Pearson are all RFA.

Martinez is a UFA
Muzzin is a RFA
And they do not have the farm system the Hawks do to replace that type of talent.

Yeah that's what pisses me off. Mismanagement. What is LA's cap situation? I bet they aren't even near it and will bring back most of the same team for 3 Cups. We mismanaged the money so much that we are always over and HAVE TO dump so many of our players. Luckily stan drafts really well so we can still maintain a great team and compete
- tomcat24

I throw that jab at Tallon half heartedly. He had to throw big $$$$ to lure FA when we sucked. Campbell, Huet etc. The biggest turd Tallon threw was the contract tenders to Bolland, Steeg and don't remember the other player. That cost a lot in the end. Also I believe 19/88 had contract incentives entered into their salary hit for the Cup win in 2010.

Bowman does draft well, but really needs to work on the trade element of his game. He is now on the trade clock, unless he thinks he can nab a FA C in the likes of Stastny or Grabovski. Really curious to see where this goes and if Sharp is really traded.

Gaborik for Matt 'Freakin' Frattin and a couple of draft choices.

And if you really want to get PO'd Justin Williams makes $1.5M per season less than Versteeg.
- RickJ

Did the Kings get Williams as a part of the Richards trade?

I throw that jab at Tallon half heartedly. He had to throw big $$$$ to lure FA when we sucked. Campbell, Huet etc. The biggest turd Tallon threw was the contract tenders to Bolland, Steeg and don't remember the other player. That cost a lot in the end. Also I believe 19/88 had contract incentives entered into their salary hit for the Cup win in 2010.

Bowman does draft well, but really needs to work on the trade element of his game. He is now on the trade clock, unless he thinks he can nab a FA C in the likes of Stastny or Grabovski. Really curious to see where this goes and if Sharp is really traded.
- z1990z

Luckily the drafting part is the most important nowadays. But stan does need to work on trades. And these will be his most important now. I think we are really close, but we do need another venter and some bottom 6 grit. Next year guys like hartman and danault will be ready but this coming year we need a trade or 2. I do expect sharp and 1 of Leddy or Oduya gone this summer