Does TT still have some games to burn before losing a year of eligibility? If so we still might see McNeil before Verstteg comes back
- Cup-Bearer

If I'm not mistaken, Teuvo is burning that season right now by playing in a professional North American league (AHL & NHL).

If I'm not mistaken, Teuvo is burning that season right now by playing in a professional North American league (AHL & NHL).
- EKolb13

That makes complete sense

Last night's game made me sick......
- BGKarras

It made me

Fed up with hearing varlomov with the save!

Meh, T2 was fine. His positioning and movement off the puck are both fantastic. One of the benefits to being able to see the whole ice at the game. The jitters are only going to get fixed with minutes so may as well toss him out there and let him play with the same few guys for a while.

Oduya was bad. But he was not worse than the power play. Talk about guys standing around with their whats in their hands. Abysmal. I didnt think it could be worse than on TV but I assure you it is more putrid live. Awful.

Sharp + Richards + Kane is not how I would roll the second line. Richards and Kane OR Richards and Sharp need someone like Versteeg or Saad or Hossa to play fetch. Not a good line combo IMO.

Oh well.

It made me

Fed up with hearing varlomov with the save!
- bogiedoc

Drunky McVodka (as Fels calls him) was on fire last night. I did think the Hawks were getting to the net in the 3rd. He just made the saves or the redirects and rebounds didn't go their way.

Who's the #1 D on the Hawks?

Having a debate on another thread

I say Seabrook he says Keith

Seabrook 2 yrs younger more of a defensive guy with the same amount of points is my argument.

Anybody?

Thanks,

Who's the #1 D on the Hawks?

Having a debate on another thread

I say Seabrook he says Keith

Seabrook 2 yrs younger more of a defensive guy with the same amount of points is my argument.

Anybody?

Thanks,
- Garnie

Keith. Just look who played pretty much the same position for TC.

Stop taking Hawks on your fantasy team.

Who's the #1 D on the Hawks?

Having a debate on another thread

I say Seabrook he says Keith

Seabrook 2 yrs younger more of a defensive guy with the same amount of points is my argument.

Anybody?

Thanks,
- Garnie

Seabs is great but the Hawks possession game depends on Keith IMO. Seabs would be number 1 with many teams but Keith has the edge - again JMO. Also, looking at their careers so far Keith has been more consistent. No question he is number 1 in my mind.

>Crawford had a stretch last year or the year before? where he could not close out games without giving up real bad softies that tied the game late -- but, often the Hawks ultimately won
>CC eventually got through that mental block -- think he is in one now as it relates to starting games
>Q took a public shot at CC yesterday by saying, "We have to stop letting the first shot go in all the time."
>Think CC will eventually right his ship, but think CC plays better with a bit less work -- would like Q to give Raanta more games overall and not because of CC's struggles
>Like Shaw's energy and "fight" playing the wing

THE SKY IS FALLING THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!!!!!!!!!
Take a step back guys.

Who's the #1 D on the Hawks?

Having a debate on another thread

I say Seabrook he says Keith

Seabrook 2 yrs younger more of a defensive guy with the same amount of points is my argument.

Anybody?

Thanks,
- Garnie

I think Keith, too, but Seabs is having a pretty good year so far. Been better than Keith so far this year, IMO.

Keith. Just look who played pretty much the same position for TC.

Stop taking Hawks on your fantasy team.
- Elbows15

I just remember being in a fantasy roto pool and Keith as was being picked up and dropped for a while, Seabrook was never dropped.

Seabrook younger, same #'s more responsible defensively...no?

what is it with varlomov vs the hawks: the guy must have .960 sav% ovr the last 2 years...

hockey is crazy sport...stuff happens that makes no sense....

I just remember being in a fantasy roto pool and Keith as was being picked up and dropped for a while, Seabrook was never dropped.

Seabrook younger, same #'s more responsible defensively...no?
- Garnie

Look at TOI, Garnie. Keith plays the most. I don't think the gap is large by any stretch of the imagination but Keith is their #1. The each play defense very well. Just differently. I am not sure I call Seabrook a #2. More of a 1B to me.

Edit: Look at my avi. Seabrook is my favorite player to watch.

what is it with varlomov vs the hawks: the guy must have .960 sav% ovr the last 2 years...

hockey is crazy sport...stuff happens that makes no sense....
- bogiedoc

Its why we love it so much, bogie. Its a great game.

Wow, even more sad, sounds like after all Clint Reif hung himself in his own home.

Very sad he would do that in the first place especially for his family to find him like that

http://thethirdmanin.com/...death-memorial-fund-info/

THE SKY IS FALLING THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!!!!!!!!!
Take a step back guys.
- pred_26

Get used to it around here. I'd say 75% of the people who post are irrational ledge jumpers(regardless of how good the Hawks are). So if you're stoppin' by just to get some perspective from Hawks fans, just be prepared to ignore most of the comments u see.

Drunky McVodka (as Fels calls him) was on fire last night. I did think the Hawks were getting to the net in the 3rd. He just made the saves or the redirects and rebounds didn't go their way.
- tredbrta

Woulda been a good name for Tretiak.

Everybody,

Can we limit discussions of Clint Reif's passing to this:

The Clint Reif Memorial Fund
c/o J.P. Morgan Chase Bank
120 E. Wesley Street
Wheaton, IL 60187

thx

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New years.

The sky is not falling but.............

1. Crawford: I think it's pretty obvious what is going on here if you take a step back and connect the dots. Injures himself being an idiot, organization is pissed, leaves him to fend his own to the media, and then watches Darling and Raanta perform well AND remembers all the high priced goalies before him who sat to the hot hand. So he rushes back, not at 100% and the numbers and the eye test tell me he's not right. Slow to move, fighting the puck, just looks VERY uncomfortable. Worst thing that happened, was him making the all star team. He needs to be honest and sit and get right for the spring.

2. Hawks look a bit disinterested vs some of these bottom teams, who are trying to salvage seasons OR improve their trade stock. last night was a perfect example, and could also show the correlation to their very slow starts as of late. They need to refocus and come out ready instead of sleep walking through the 1st, 10 minutes of games.

3. Oduya looks bad. In fact, he's back to being the pizza man and no way in gods green earth is he coming back here baring a major discount. I never thought I would feel a lot better about Rundblad then Oduya, but that's where I am right now.

4. Teuvo.....not writing him off ,but it's time to go back to Rockford. The game is too fast, and too physical for him. Saw him get tossed around last night on 3 separate occasions. Very weak on his skates, and staying far too much to the outside. I also would prefer to see McNeil get called up who is a larger body and could be an asset come playoff time to score garbage goals, the way the 4 million dollar man Bickell does.

Think it's just a matter of a bunch of fine tuning for this team to get right and get back rolling along.....

And how about Versteeg!!!!!!!!! And to think people on this board and so called radio show experts wanted to jettisoned him for next to nothing ignoring the obvious fact he rushed back from a major knee injury. Now healthy, he's back to being a HUGE asset at a very discounted salary.

>Crawford had a stretch last year or the year before? where he could not close out games without giving up real bad softies that tied the game late -- but, often the Hawks ultimately won
>CC eventually got through that mental block -- think he is in one now as it relates to starting games
>Q took a public shot at CC yesterday by saying, "We have to stop letting the first shot go in all the time."
>Think CC will eventually right his ship, but think CC plays better with a bit less work -- would like Q to give Raanta more games overall and not because of CC's struggles
>Like Shaw's energy and "fight" playing the wing
- SnapitUpstairs

I also think CC rushed back from injury to lessen the anger internally due to his injury away from the rink, and that has a LOT to do with his play of late.

I would start Raanta Thursday, and go from there. CC needs some fine tuning on the technical part of his game. His angles are off, and he's losing his net a lot more frequent, and guys are exploiting that glove hand again.

Crawford's game last night was mixed. Other than the goals (which had issues other than Crawford), the Avs just missed a couple golden chances when Crawford was swimming around in his net or laying on his back. I just don't like the way he is playing right now. Zero is still zero and Crawford can do nothing about the Hawks not scoring.

The bigger problems are zero net presence, a freakishly soft (yet skilled) team that seemingly can only score on the tick, tac toe plays as opposed to the dirty goals, not enough sandpaper and a powerplay that often appears to be only interested in the one perfect look (which explains the perimeter passing often seen). Another thing of concern was the disaster on the dot last night. The Hawks were horribly dominated in the circles and I am still waiting for Shaw to return to wing where he should be.

I DO LIKE the way Nordstrom has developed. His growth from last year to this year is noticeable (to me at least). And while Runblad is still iffy in his own zone, his offensive game is very strong and he is now seeing increased PowerPlay time (I see virtually no dropoff between he and Leddy). One thing I do like about Rundlad on the PP is he seems to have more simplicity and purpose in his game than many of the other point guys. He seems fine just getting the puck low and letting our forwards scrap (snort) for the puck.

TT was meh...wasn't impressed overall. Yet he still gets to moved to a line with Kane later in the game. What did he do to deserve a chance to play with the big boys? Supports theory that some players are favored (the hyped players) while others are not.

Still a very good team with high end talent, but a 3rd-5 seed in the West when all is said and done.
- kwolf68

Yeah? Well I think this "freakishly soft team with no sandpaper that only scores on tick tack toe plays" is gonna get one of the top 2 seeds and then go on to win the Stanley Cup.

Everybody,

Can we limit discussions of Clint Reif's passing to this:

The Clint Reif Memorial Fund
c/o J.P. Morgan Chase Bank
120 E. Wesley Street
Wheaton, IL 60187

thx
- John Jaeckel

Agreed.

Everybody,

Can we limit discussions of Clint Reif's passing to this:

The Clint Reif Memorial Fund
c/o J.P. Morgan Chase Bank
120 E. Wesley Street
Wheaton, IL 60187

thx
- John Jaeckel

Totally agree.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New years.

The sky is not falling but.............

1. Crawford: I think it's pretty obvious what is going on here if you take a step back and connect the dots. Injures himself being an idiot, organization is pissed, leaves him to fend his own to the media, and then watches Darling and Raanta perform well AND remembers all the high priced goalies before him who sat to the hot hand. So he rushes back, not at 100% and the numbers and the eye test tell me he's not right. Slow to move, fighting the puck, just looks VERY uncomfortable. Worst thing that happened, was him making the all star team. He needs to be honest and sit and get right for the spring.

2. Hawks look a bit disinterested vs some of these bottom teams, who are trying to salvage seasons OR improve their trade stock. last night was a perfect example, and could also show the correlation to their very slow starts as of late. They need to refocus and come out ready instead of sleep walking through the 1st, 10 minutes of games.

3. Oduya looks bad. In fact, he's back to being the pizza man and no way in gods green earth is he coming back here baring a major discount. I never thought I would feel a lot better about Rundblad then Oduya, but that's where I am right now.

4. Teuvo.....not writing him off ,but it's time to go back to Rockford. The game is too fast, and too physical for him. Saw him get tossed around last night on 3 separate occasions. Very weak on his skates, and staying far too much to the outside. I also would prefer to see McNeil get called up who is a larger body and could be an asset come playoff time to score garbage goals, the way the 4 million dollar man Bickell does.

Think it's just a matter of a bunch of fine tuning for this team to get right and get back rolling along.....

And how about Versteeg!!!!!!!!! And to think people on this board and so called radio show experts wanted to jettisoned him for next to nothing ignoring the obvious fact he rushed back from a major knee injury. Now healthy, he's back to being a HUGE asset at a very discounted salary.
- SteveRain

Well said. I think u might be right about Crawford and possibly be rushed back or feeling pressured by the play of the backups, but his sub par play has also directly coincided with the teams sub par play on D. I agree a lot of it has to do with playing through this weak stretch in the schedule, and facing a lot of teams that they might not be "getting up for".

Oduya was bad early in the year but i think he was slowly playing his way out of that funk, looked a lot better up until the past few games(especially last night he looked horrible on that 2nd goal). I think he'll be fine when the games matter most.

Not sure TT needs to go back to rockford quite yet. He looked better last night than he did against the Stars, and while he is obviously physically mismatched, i think he can still gain more valuable experience and improve his game until Versteeg comes back, or possibly until we call someone else up.

And yeah about that Steeger, he's been the most pleasant surprise of the season IMO. Cant wait for him to return, and im thinking because the injury wasn't lower body it shouldn't really cause him to have a setback in his game. He's been fantastic and will add another dimension of firepower we didnt have during last years playoffs.

It is just a matter of fine tuning, and i believe we will make all the proper corrections starting the 21st when we go on a 7 game road trip against many of the leagues elite teams. Thats when we'll play our best.