I've thought the same thing about Florida, Tallon has a ton of money available next year to re-sign Buff if he wanted so why not try and get him in there early. I'd be interested in one of their young roster players if i'm the Jets. i also think Washington makes a ton of sense for Buff, they are a good team and Buff could put them over the top. I'd like Madison Bowey straight up.
- Ross77

Not Tom Wilson

Here is a question for JJ since its his blog,, any way we can get a monthly Rockford update. Whos playing well/not etc? I still think we have some really good young talent there with Ross, Hartman, Baun, Danault, Gusto etc.. Maybe work that out with whoever sees the Hogs play. Just an idea..
- z1990z

Speaking of where did Dano play last game, left or right wing?

Teravainen and Dano are young kids breaking into the league. They have the potential to be very good but they will take time and they will make mistakes as they learn. Even Kane and Toews weren't perfect when they started.

Trading Teravainen because he's too small or Dano because he hasn't stuck in the NHL yet would be a big mistake. That being said, any player is tradable and if the return for 86 or 56 somehow made the team better then it's a good move. But at this point I'd say a deal like that is unlikely, so give the kids some time.
- DarthKane

All truth right here. Good post Darth.

If the Jets could work something out with Ladd much like the Habs did on term with Plekanec I think they would be very happy to keep him. But if he and his agent insist on a Ryan Kesler deal then he is long gone either at the deadline or as a UFA.


- RickJ

Ladd ain't no Buff. He shows up most every game for 10 years, never injured, never a distraction, plays all 3 zones, plays physical, will pot 20+ goals 50 + points and that's a lot of checked boxes for a true power forward.

Ladd is a guy a team can feel confident will fulfill his contract.

Jamie Benn with a nice W over d-bag Backes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgmg7Z2LqAE


And from same game, our buddy Roussel got a tune up too

https://www.youtube.com/w...continue=31&v=bBUeQ7Feftk

Speaking of where did Dano play last game, left or right wing?
- Mr Ricochet

LW last night.

Ladd ain't no Buff. He shows up most every game for 10 years, never injured, never a distraction, plays all 3 zones, plays physical, will pot 20+ goals 50 + points and that's a lot of checked boxes for a true power forward.

Ladd is a guy a team can feel confident will fulfill his contract.
- Mr Ricochet

Very nice player to have at the right price. But if reports are accurate he is asking for a Kesler contract match which would be 6 yrs @ $6.8M per. Won't get it from the Jets.

Very nice player to have at the right price. But if reports are accurate he is asking for a Kesler contract match which would be 6 yrs @ $6.8M per. Won't get it from the Jets.
- RickJ

Should not get it from anyone else either. These players and their agents need to get real.

Very nice player to have at the right price. But if reports are accurate he is asking for a Kesler contract match which would be 6 yrs @ $6.8M per. Won't get it from the Jets.
- RickJ

I don't know if he's worth almost $7M a year but at similar money for some of the reasons people have mentioned, I'll take him over Kesler.

As few do, it's old and stale. But what I find interesting, is how most folks here are dismissing Dallas as an easy out in the playoffs. I beg to differ. This is a good team with the cap space to add what they need at the deadline, but their much maligned defense is really not that bad.

And now you add in the much respected Jim Nill as their GM. Hmmm. The Hawks have yet to play their five games against Dallas yet. I have tickets for all three down here, but they are VERY good and quite frankly shouldn't be dismissed quite so easily.

It's a long season boys. Let's see how it all plays out. And honestly, how many of you have watched Dallas this year? Just saying.
- TexasFlood

Damn fun team to watch and two solid, objective, adult broadcasters.

Seguin, Benn, Demers, Sharp good as any top 4. Nishushkin playing top 6 this kid looks to be on the come as a legit power forward. Hemsky a skilled borederline top 6 guy.

Experienced role players in Eakins, Rousell, Fiddler, Sceviour. Young promising high IQ guy like Janmark (really like this kid, a Detroilet draft pick).

As of this day Klingenberg is as good as any offensive Dman in the sport.

Niemi has pushed Lethomen and vice versa. Vets who will give you at least average goaltending.

The D is said to be their weakness and not many would disagree but are solid just the same. What I see is no legitimate shut down pairing. Solid guys like Demers, Benn, Oduya, Goligoski but no difference makers with a first rate 2 way game.

No real weaknesses, genuine elite players in Benn-Seguin, mix of youth and vets, speed, enough grit, an elite PP, an elite offensive Dman, vets who have won cups, at worst average goaltending with one of them being a cup winner.

No team wants to draw the Stars as of today.

Tikhonov's first game with AZ:
1 assist
+3
over 18 min ice time
50% on faceoffs
Not bad for a waiver pick up. I still don't understand this move by Bowman.

LW last night.
- EKB13

Interesting!! I liked Dano's game, when Q played him, his last few. If the kid could finish from 2 feet in he'd have 5 goals.

Very nice player to have at the right price. But if reports are accurate he is asking for a Kesler contract match which would be 6 yrs @ $6.8M per. Won't get it from the Jets.
- RickJ

One thing we know Ladd will insist on getting his money even if it has to be a lower tier team. No discounts from this guy.

Like his throwback, no nonsense, leader, skilled/grit game.

Damn fun team to watch and two solid, objective, adult broadcasters.

Seguin, Benn, Demers, Sharp good as any top 4. Nishushkin playing top 6 this kid looks to be on the come as a legit power forward. Hemsky a skilled borederline top 6 guy.

Experienced role players in Eakins, Rousell, Fiddler, Sceviour. Young promising high IQ guy like Janmark (really like this kid, a Detroilet draft pick).

As of this day Klingenberg is as good as any offensive Dman in the sport.

Niemi has pushed Lethomen and vice versa. Vets who will give you at least average goaltending.

The D is said to be their weakness and not many would disagree but are solid just the same. What I see is no legitimate shut down pairing. Solid guys like Demers, Benn, Oduya, Goligoski but no difference makers with a first rate 2 way game.

No real weaknesses, genuine elite players in Benn-Seguin, mix of youth and vets, speed, enough grit, an elite PP, an elite offensive Dman, vets who have won cups, at worst average goaltending with one of them being a cup winner.

No team wants to draw the Stars as of today.
- Mr Ricochet

Very good analysis Mr. R. Fair and objective. Well done Sir.

Damn fun team to watch and two solid, objective, adult broadcasters.

Seguin, Benn, Demers, Sharp good as any top 4. Nishushkin playing top 6 this kid looks to be on the come as a legit power forward. Hemsky a skilled borederline top 6 guy.

Experienced role players in Eakins, Rousell, Fiddler, Sceviour. Young promising high IQ guy like Janmark (really like this kid, a Detroilet draft pick).

As of this day Klingenberg is as good as any offensive Dman in the sport.

Niemi has pushed Lethomen and vice versa. Vets who will give you at least average goaltending.

The D is said to be their weakness and not many would disagree but are solid just the same. What I see is no legitimate shut down pairing. Solid guys like Demers, Benn, Oduya, Goligoski but no difference makers with a first rate 2 way game.

No real weaknesses, genuine elite players in Benn-Seguin, mix of youth and vets, speed, enough grit, an elite PP, an elite offensive Dman, vets who have won cups, at worst average goaltending with one of them being a cup winner.

No team wants to draw the Stars as of today.
- Mr Ricochet

Yes, a solid looking lineup. Dallas also has a lot of cap space that can be banked to add significant assets at the trade deadline. Sharp is in line for a 4th cup ring.

To me sure you can call them a bubble team they are only 7 points away from being out of the playoffs but at the same time they are tied for the 3rd best record in the WC?

Considering Keith was out for so many games, 6 new players, 7th was sent down to Rockford, TT feeling his way, at times plays tentatively, TVR another 2nd year player who's playing solid minutes.

After 30 games if someone were to tell me Keith would be hurt and only the 2nd line would produce points for the first 25 games of the year, Daley would take time to develop, with all this information I would say the Blackhawks would be lucky to be in a playoff spot, but yet here we are.

I only think we will get better from here, now we have the 4th line starting to resemble what they were last year.

3rd line is still a work in progress

2nd line best line in hockey

1st line is starting to look like a top 6 line

Defense

Keith #1
Seabrook #2
Hjalmarsson #2
TVR defensive #5
Daley offensive #5 getting better defensively
Rozy #6
Runny#7

Rodney top 5 goalie

Big 4 games and took 6 out of 8 points

I guess we'll see but to me the future looks bright
- BetweenTheDots

Really good post.

I think (hope) Q has come around to realizing guys like Garbutt, Shaw, Bickell, (and Kruger a 3rd liner) are not top 6 guys and have put them in spots on the bottom 6 where they can be helpful instead of creating two weaknesses by playing them out of position.

You can only jam so many square pegs into round holes before it becomes a problem. Rather an elite 4th line than a so so 4th line and ok Toews line, an elite 2nd line an effective 3rd line and a Toews-Hossa line that at worst is an elite shutdown line and at best very dangerous with to HOFers.

In other words Q has gone 30 games of mixing and matching. He's got plenty of data now. I think guys will be slotted more realistically and from there the group will find consistency.

And of course the D as you rightly point out the D is 3 1's and 2's and the rest a couple borderline 4 guys and 6-7-8 guys.

Ladd ain't no Buff. He shows up most every game for 10 years, never injured, never a distraction, plays all 3 zones, plays physical, will pot 20+ goals 50 + points and that's a lot of checked boxes for a true power forward.

Ladd is a guy a team can feel confident will fulfill his contract.
- Mr Ricochet

Ladd had off season Sports hernia surgery, I have heard most players are never the same and never fully recover from this. I believe this to be true with Ladd from what i've seen this year

Very good analysis Mr. R. Fair and objective. Well done Sir.
- TexasFlood

Why do I see empty seats on tv? Don't they fill the house until football is over?

Ladd had off season Sports hernia surgery, I have heard most players are never the same and never fully recover from this. I believe this to be true with Ladd from what i've seen this year
- Ross77

How so, he's lost a step?

Tikhonov's first game with AZ:
1 assist
+3
over 18 min ice time
50% on faceoffs
Not bad for a waiver pick up. I still don't understand this move by Bowman.
- 67hawks

ARI called him up to be their no. 1 centre (due to injuries), playing on a line with Domi.

With the Kero, Rasmussen, Hinostroza additions as 3rd line centre... Maybe they had one all along and just didn't realize it.

Bickell handled him but he still looked bigger than BB too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OAtQKsIq4w
- tredbrta

What i noticed was how small the hawks goalie looked. Not sure if it's Huet or Crawford, don't think it's Neimi. But anyone who wants to debate about the size of the goalie equipment can show the difference just 5 years makes. To me it looks substantial.

Didn't get a chance to post today, so I'll chime in now...

Teuvo wasn't gun shy last night. I hope we see more of that. I still believe he had an injury that made him more hesitant, as I saw him getting up time and time again at UC against the Kings after they kept knocking him on his ass. I love his vision. I think he needs to watch tapes of Gretzky and how he was always able to stay on his skates.

Regarding Buff and Ladd, I agree that there is too much romanticizing of the 2010 bunch. Getting one of them at the trade deadline would be insanely expensive. Anybody who thought Vermette was expensive, oh man, just wait for the sticker shock on those two. Welcome Back Steeger sounded so cool when it happened, getting back to romanticizing 2010, but I don't think too many of us minded when he was dealt to Carolina this time around. Granted he had some freak injuries this time around, also, so probably not completely fair to bag on him.

Another vote here for Oduya on which former Hawk would be the most meaningful to this team right now, but I say that not knowing the extent of the injury against Tampa and the effects of it going forward. The other caveat is we don't know how much further along the learning curve TVR will be come playoff time. I could be singing an entirely different tune then. Saad would probably be the second choice, and I think his best years are still ahead of him, but I think injuries are a more likely culprit than Saad's absence as to why Toews and Hossa haven't been on the scoresheet that much this year. I find it hard to believe they have had a lot of games at 100%. They're just too good for this dropoff in production. I tend to give stars the benefit of the doubt in such pronounced slumps, I guess.

Regarding their chances of making the playoffs, I'd guess that they're pretty good. This is not 2013, mind you, but it's not 2011, either. You could also look at how they flatlined for awhile in the second half last year and see that happening again, too. I'd put them at 85% chance to get in. Also consider that Winnipeg is looking at writing off this season, and the Pacific just looks incredibly weak. To me, the most likely Pacific story to deny the Hawks is Boudreau gets fired and Anaheim wakes the (frank) up and San Jose starts playing well again, and one of the other teams is still good enough to be a wild card at the end. I think it's hard to see a way for the Hawks to not make it, unless they just beat themselves out of contention with game after game of the intermittent sloppiness we have seen from them this year.
- 333inthe3rd

Agree with this well written post.

So after blitzing the Blackhawks, the Preds fall 3-2 to COL at home.

In the Central, every team is a bubble team, except COL. All, except MIN, have played 30 games.

STL 38
MIN 36
CHI 36
NSH 35
WPG 30

And DAL will come back to the pack, when they start playing the other Central teams. DAL has played only 5 against the Central COL (1), MIN (2), WPG (1), STL (1). None yet against NSH or CHI.

The points lost by the Blackhawks against non-playoff teams, like PHL, are the ones that hurt. Need to start cleaning up against the East and the Pacific.

Agree with this well written post.
- EbonyRaptor

Thanks.

I suspect Sharp's not fun comment had more to do with all the off ice rumors that swirled around him his last couple of seasons here then the team.

Aside from one shot, Ladd was invisible against the Hawks.

To me, it wasn't a wonder that Vermette and TT were suddenly integral part to the Cup win last season. Once Sharp was on their line.
- TTtime

Sharp? That would be Versteeg.

Ladd did not stand out the other night - maybe injured. Still better defensively than Sharp and younger. The original question was who would add the most to the current roster. After the Olympics Sharp's contributions were borderline - particularly at that salary. I still think Oduya would be the most important as their d group would have actually improved over last year if Daly was rotating at 6 with Rosi or even Rundblad.