Happy New Year all.
Looking forward to more wins.

Curious to what the next piece to the puzzle is.

Anyone think Darling needs more games to play? Seems like its hard to stay sharp playing only once or twice a month.
- Yikes726

he is going to play more in january....very heavy schedule...no more than one day off between games with 3 sets of BTB games and 5 of those games on the road...

9 of 14 vs eastern conf teams

Well said Molly, I didn't like how Johnson was able to get by him in the 3rd but his overall game is pretty good so far
- BetweenTheDots

No, he didn't get beat. He forced him wide, outside the dots, to a place where it's a very low percentage shot. Unfortunately, Darling misplayed it. A Dman needs to do his job, and be confident that his team mates will do the same. Gus made the correct play.

BTW, Darling isn't the only NHL goalie to screw that shot up. I recall the Hawks winning the 2010 SC on a similar shot, and have seen every big name goalie, including The King, Price and even CC, give that one up. It's a flaw in the butterfly system. To me the 2nd goal was worse. No way to get beat from that far out.

That probably has more to do with how depleted/bad their D is...but they (PITT) still struggle to get the pucks to their forwards and he won't help that. But he can skate And be involved in the play
- PatShart

He's actually playing pretty well. Remarkable improvement over Scuds. Even though we're eating a mil of Scuds contract (which I hate), I'd do that deal 100 times over because that's how bad he was here.

I always figured he'd be playing with your AHL team within a month of the deal. Strictly a cap move for you guys. Scuds has been toast for 3 years.

there are 20 teams still in playoffs and everybody claims to need D. How we could not have moved all of daleys salary for nothing is beyond me. now we have 2 buyout canidates except we cannot afford to buy out anyone. Any cap hit in 2 years would be a killer. also Gus is 2017 RFA.

Ok. First off , read what the "comparisons" are being made. Nothing to do with talent (which is your fault if you read it that way, not mine) but in not living up to CURRENT CONTRACT

How is is asinine to think that a guy that demanded 10mil per year is not playing like a 10mil dollar player THIS YEAR??

And he never produced at historic pace, lol. He was a 70+ point guy on pace for 50pts. He nearly doubled his salary but is producing at 20% less.

Fan-f-ing- tastic about his leadership and helped win cups. Kudos to him. Well, Bickell DID help this team win the second cup (some could even say more so than Toews, who being the greatest leader since Mess and Yzerman had to be lectured in game by Seabrook). But as Bickell didn't live up to his massive 16mil dollar contract he signed afterwards (when he previously made 2mil for Chicago his first 4yrs) - I'm sorry it hurts feelings but right now Toews isn't living up to the 80mil he is signed for RIGHT NOW

If he needed Saad so badly, maybe he should have signed for less to keep him. He didn't. He wanted to he paid as the top player in the league which comes with high expectations which for me means more than winning 6 out of 10 faceoffs and hustling.
- PatShart

OK, All of this: Second off, We get it?!?! You think Our Captain is having a "terrible year" according to your posts in yesterday's rant with oldduffman.
You're not hurting anyone's feelings by your posts... just look rather silly!!!
Shame on You and be careful what you wish for. We could have Captain named Sindy Crosby

No, he didn't get beat. He forced him wide, outside the dots, to a place where it's a very low percentage shot. Unfortunately, Darling misplayed it. A Dman needs to do his job, and be confident that his team mates will do the same. Gus made the correct play.

BTW, Darling isn't the only NHL goalie to screw that shot up. I recall the Hawks winning the 2010 SC on a similar shot, and have seen every big name goalie, including The King, Price and even CC, give that one up. It's a flaw in the butterfly system. To me the 2nd goal was worse. No way to get beat from that far out.
- scottak

We agree to disagree, like I said I expect more from what I consider a good defenceman he has work to do, it's only one play and don't have any other complaints of his play, but then again I was only able to catch the 3rd period and on

How did we get to Scuderi again? From the beginning:

Sharp traded to Dallas for Garbutt at half off and a fresh off the operating table Trevor Daley. Nobody gets to trade a $6 million cap hit with recurring shoulder problems for the proverbial bag of pucks any more. Dealing Campbell meant taking the Olesz contract, let's not forget. Cap space is expensive. Nobody gives it away anymore. So painfully expensive it meant letting Oduya walk on top of it all.

Surprise, Daley is not his career year self anymore. Eclipsed by TVR on the depth chart, and he didn't come here to play 3rd pair minutes. He wants out. Can't blame him for wanting a bigger role in the NHL. Not a fit here, best case scenario. Is there a market for him out there at that cap hit? Not really.

Oh, Pittsburgh will give up Scuderi while retaining salary. Hallelujah, more cap space. Now it's possible to call up players with bigger cap hits than Mashinter without being forced to waive assets or trade valuable assets. Even if Scuderi doesn't work out, the value of the extra cap space here can't be stressed enough.

What happens with Scuderi going forward? Platoon with Rozsival? Deal his cap hit for someone else's problem? Does he start to play like he did when he first got here, or is last night's version what to expect going forward?

Cap purgatory is a horrible place to be, and nobody is going to provide the lifeline free of charge, either.

I have been talking up Danault for a long time and there was NEVER any doubt he'd be a good NHL player. He has already in short time gotten to where I thought he projected (L3-C). Without him, our team would be in a bit of a mess, but he has stabilized first the fourth line after Krug went down and has now added to our third line. His leadership, character, heart, tenacity and just raw skating talent can't be denied. SOOOO happy we did not move him. He's in Chicago for the next few years. NO ONE projects into L3-C anytime soon, so he's the man.

Oh yea, LOVE ME some #52. While the drafting has been meh over the last few years had we snagged Panarin and Gus in "the draft" that would have been considered major wins.

Scuderi. Another sorry trade. Getting Daley was costly but then you gave him away for a guy Pittsburgh would have probably wanted to just cut anyway. NO WAY the Hawks couldn't have gotten a 6th rounder for him? Another "makes no sense" trade. Scuderi NEVER fit UNLESS it was as a 'backup plan' for Rosy (which it still may be). Defense. I am STILL not convinced it is as good as last year (minus JO), but I do think it IS deeper. Give me Gus + Rosy any day over kimo + cumiskey or whatever the hell we were running out there last playoffs. Hawks CAN NOT rely on top 4 to play the minutes they did last year.

Toews bashing. I read the game thread earlier this morning and restricting myself from calling out the absolute morans beating this guy up. The guy has been in Chicago for what 8 years now and has done NOTHING but inspire greatness from his team, helped bring us 3 Cups, been arguably the finest leader the NHL has seen since Mess or Yzerman and has a 2 and a half month stretch where he isn't producing quite at his historic clip and he takes a royal beating? Even comparisons to Bickell were made? This defies logic. LET ME KNOW when Toews gives NO effort, floats, plays like he doesn't care THEN and ONLY then can such asinine comparisons be made. Was sweet to see 19 end that one last night

The only real missing piece right now may be the winger to slide in with 19 and 81. If we can't get that then a top 4 guy to further improve our depth would be an option. Which is harder to get? Adding EITHER would vault the Hawks into the top 3 or 4 candidates in the West (right now we're merely top 8). Get both and the Hawks could be odds on favorite AGAIN. Doubt we can get both and it SOUNDS like L1-LW is the option. However, I STILL BELIEVE Dano or TT could be that guy, though playing the offside seems to be an issue there. Which sounds like a trade could make sense.

Anisimov. While I love to brag about my confidence in Phil Danault, I missed it on Anisimov. I was wrong. He has been the best 2nd center the Hawks have had maybe since when? Sure, he's playing with two video-game esque talents, but he is producing and playing his part. He is on pace for 25 goals, which would be phenomenal.

Darling softies. So what. It happens. I am totally on the Crow wagon and NO he won't be traded this year, but next summer he very much IS a candidate to be moved. The cap isn't going anywhere...and if Saad, Sharp, Ladd, Buff, Niemi, etc...(not to mention Wayne G) can be traded so too can Crow. Though he is an absolute MUST KEEP if the Hawks are to win another Cup this year.
- kwolf68

Another excellent post KWolf, one of your best and IMO you are right on all of your points. I wanted to go over a few of the most salient ones...

To those who are still a little worried about Danault because he is an unproven rookie, the one thing I can say to you is that Phil is wired differently from most young people. He is very humble, wise and yet self assured for someone so young. If there is a young player that will continue to get better and not "flatten out" its Phillip Danault. As for "missing his assignment" by allowing the opposing Centre to skate free after a lost draw, its because sometimes he's trying to do too much, he wanted to make up for his "mistake" (a DZone lost draw) by following the puck...Q will have reminded him to "stay within himself" and to remember his responsibilities...trying to "save the world" isn't one of them...he'll learn.

There was a great comment made by another regular on Guftasson playing with such confidence, as if he EXPECTS success...that is so true. And while, yes, it will "cost" the Hawks from time to time, I don't see Q putting him into the "coach's kennel" because Guftasson plays the way Hawk defenders MUST play if we are going to generate sufficient offence with all the back checking our forwards do. Mistakes happen, Q understands this, what he won't accept is mistakes by guys doing the wrong things in the wrong manner. If EG was delaying on moving the puck out of the DZone and then made erratic passes, that's a ticket to the dog house because that's NOT what Hawk DMen are supposed to do. I think that EG has the ability to slot ahead of TVR over the next month as the #4 DMan because his style of game is IDENTICAL to what the Hawks play, TVR is doing an admirable job of learning to become this kind of defender, but there is an instinctual difference in their games.

As for Scuderi, what I was told is that Coach Q wanted him as a replacement for Rozy should his ankle continue to be a problem. Bowman has a plan for Scuderi should his play continue to decay. I personally think that Scuderi is playing through an injury right now and should get better, not worse. He knows exactly what the Hawks are asking from him, and if he is healthy enough, he can deliver. At least with a group of bottom 4 defenders in TVR, EG, Rozy and Scuderi, the Hawks have a chance at making a deep playoff run, with Daley and Runblad on the roster, it simply was NOT going to happen.

I always defend Kane because IMO there isn't a better 200' player in hockey, plus he's the best Captain in professional sports. His "problem" this season was epitomized once again last night, he is skating with wingers that CAN'T FINISH great scoring chances. Once again, Toews scored a non 5 on 5 goal with OTHER line mates. If Hossa and a combo of Dano, TT and Shaw had between them 25+ goals right now (as they should), we wouldn't be hearing a single word about Toew's play. The fact is, no matter how much JJ wants to resist calling it what it is, Hossa has flat out lost his scoring touch and there is literally no production from the left side all year long. Toews needs at least one line mate who can finish, or much of his hard work is being wasted. Ebony Raptor's idea of moving Hoss to LW and giving Dano a chance at 1st line RW is FAR from a bad idea at this point.

Someone posted yesterday that they thought that Anisimov was still just a 3rd line Centre, benefitting from playing with Kane...wow. AA has PROVEN that he was a not only a nice addition, but well worth the cost of his new extension contract. Benefitting from actually playing the game I can tell you that "computer game" lineups don't often work. For players like Kane and Panarin to be able to play their games, they must have a Centre who will unselfishly work the corners to get/retrieve pucks and then crash the net to create open space, which AA has done to perfection this season. And, if he can get his FO% over 50%, he will look a like a BARGAIN at $4 million per.

As for Scott Darling, how do you explain a situation where he let in two soft goals and yet made countless excellent saves? He's young, inexperienced and rusty. No one knows this better than Q. The only reason that CC played the last 9 straight games was that the Hawks were a work in progress trying to replace both Daley and Runblad and running 2 to 3 lines. Q knew that the Hawks needed as many points as possible during this stretch and thus he ran the risk of "stale dating" Darling. The more SD plays, the better he will get. He is going to make a good #1 goalie when the time comes.

One final point to caution everyone about last night's win. The Hawks won because our defence was much improved by using only 5 guys (thanks to EG) and our ONE scoring line had another productive game, after being held mostly in check over the last few weeks. Why did Kane's line "rebound" last night? Because Roy refused to look at how teams were shutting this group down, and decided to continue playing his "fast paced" attack game against the Hawks. All this did was give Kane's line the necessary space to generate chances, and THEY FINISH! The WC and our own division will NOT be as generous as the season progresses. The Toews line MUST start contributing regular 5 on 5 goals or the Hawks simply won't make it out of the first round and that is now all on Stan Bowman to find someone who can skate with Toews and Hossa who can finish because the current roster doesn't feature this player (unless of course its the wondrous Brandon Mashinter).

No, he didn't get beat. He forced him wide, outside the dots, to a place where it's a very low percentage shot. Unfortunately, Darling misplayed it. A Dman needs to do his job, and be confident that his team mates will do the same. Gus made the correct play.

BTW, Darling isn't the only NHL goalie to screw that shot up. I recall the Hawks winning the 2010 SC on a similar shot, and have seen every big name goalie, including The King, Price and even CC, give that one up. It's a flaw in the butterfly system. To me the 2nd goal was worse. No way to get beat from that far out.
- scottak

Gustafsson was still around the blue line when Johnson scored. He was beaten badly at the line when he tried to jump up at the line. It happens. He may have been confused by all the players in the area since the Avs were in the middle of a line change. But he did get beat.

How did we get to Scuderi again? From the beginning:

Sharp traded to Dallas for Garbutt at half off and a fresh off the operating table Trevor Daley. Nobody gets to trade a $6 million cap hit with recurring shoulder problems for the proverbial bag of pucks any more. Dealing Campbell meant taking the Olesz contract, let's not forget. Cap space is expensive. Nobody gives it away anymore. So painfully expensive it meant letting Oduya walk on top of it all.

Surprise, Daley is not his career year self anymore. Eclipsed by TVR on the depth chart, and he didn't come here to play 3rd pair minutes. He wants out. Can't blame him for wanting a bigger role in the NHL. Not a fit here, best case scenario. Is there a market for him out there at that cap hit? Not really.

Oh, Pittsburgh will give up Scuderi while retaining salary. Hallelujah, more cap space. Now it's possible to call up players with bigger cap hits than Mashinter without being forced to waive assets or trade valuable assets. Even if Scuderi doesn't work out, the value of the extra cap space here can't be stressed enough.

What happens with Scuderi going forward? Platoon with Rozsival? Deal his cap hit for someone else's problem? Does he start to play like he did when he first got here, or is last night's version what to expect going forward?

Cap purgatory is a horrible place to be, and nobody is going to provide the lifeline free of charge, either.
- 333inthe3rd

Excellent points...the main aspect to moving Daley for Scuderi is that it has meant being able to play Erik Guftasson while still having a 7th DMan...plus, as you said, it will mean that the Hawks don't have to keep Mashinter's rock bottom contract as the 13th forward should he and Q "break up" at some point.

The only benefit of the Scuderi move was the cap savings. He has been done for the past 4yrs

Hopefully it will pay off with the money saved at the trade deadline
- PatShart

Agreed here and Re to Wolfies post , Scuderi "addition" was to save 1Million dollars . Q hated Daley , so be it .

Another excellent post KWolf, one of your best and IMO you are right on all of your points. I wanted to go over a few of the most salient ones...

To those who are still a little worried about Danault because he is an unproven rookie, the one thing I can say to you is that Phil is wired differently from most young people. He is very humble, wise and yet self assured for someone so young. If there is a young player that will continue to get better and not "flatten out" its Phillip Danault. As for "missing his assignment" by allowing the opposing Centre to skate free after a lost draw, its because sometimes he's trying to do too much, he wanted to make up for his "mistake" (a DZone lost draw) by following the puck...Q will have reminded him to "stay within himself" and to remember his responsibilities...trying to "save the world" isn't one of them...he'll learn.

There was a great comment made by another regular on Guftasson playing with such confidence, as if he EXPECTS success...that is so true. And while, yes, it will "cost" the Hawks from time to time, I don't see Q putting him into the "coach's kennel" because Guftasson plays the way Hawk defenders MUST play if we are going to generate sufficient offence with all the back checking our forwards do. Mistakes happen, Q understands this, what he won't accept is mistakes by guys doing the wrong things in the wrong manner. If EG was delaying on moving the puck out of the DZone and then made erratic passes, that's a ticket to the dog house because that's NOT what Hawk DMen are supposed to do. I think that EG has the ability to slot ahead of TVR over the next month as the #4 DMan because his style of game is IDENTICAL to what the Hawks play, TVR is doing an admirable job of learning to become this kind of defender, but there is an instinctual difference in their games.

As for Scuderi, what I was told is that Coach Q wanted him as a replacement for Rozy should his ankle continue to be a problem. Bowman has a plan for Scuderi should his play continue to decay. I personally think that Scuderi is playing through an injury right now and should get better, not worse. He knows exactly what the Hawks are asking from him, and if he is healthy enough, he can deliver. At least with a group of bottom 4 defenders in TVR, EG, Rozy and Scuderi, the Hawks have a chance at making a deep playoff run, with Daley and Runblad on the roster, it simply was NOT going to happen.

I always defend Kane because IMO there isn't a better 200' player in hockey, plus he's the best Captain in professional sports. His "problem" this season was epitomized once again last night, he is skating with wingers that CAN'T FINISH great scoring chances. Once again, Toews scored a non 5 on 5 goal with OTHER line mates. If Hossa and a combo of Dano, TT and Shaw had between them 25+ goals right now (as they should), we wouldn't be hearing a single word about Toew's play. The fact is, no matter how much JJ wants to resist calling it what it is, Hossa has flat out lost his scoring touch and there is literally no production from the left side all year long. Toews needs at least one line mate who can finish, or much of his hard work is being wasted. Ebony Raptor's idea of moving Hoss to LW and giving Dano a chance at 1st line RW is FAR from a bad idea at this point.

Someone posted yesterday that they thought that Anisimov was still just a 3rd line Centre, benefitting from playing with Kane...wow. AA has PROVEN that he was a not only a nice addition, but well worth the cost of his new extension contract. Benefitting from actually playing the game I can tell you that "computer game" lineups don't often work. For players like Kane and Panarin to be able to play their games, they must have a Centre who will unselfishly work the corners to get/retrieve pucks and then crash the net to create open space, which AA has done to perfection this season. And, if he can get his FO% over 50%, he will look a like a BARGAIN at $4 million per.

As for Scott Darling, how do you explain a situation where he let in two soft goals and yet made countless excellent saves? He's young, inexperienced and rusty. No one knows this better than Q. The only reason that CC played the last 9 straight games was that the Hawks were a work in progress trying to replace both Daley and Runblad and running 2 to 3 lines. Q knew that the Hawks needed as many points as possible during this stretch and thus he ran the risk of "stale dating" Darling. The more SD plays, the better he will get. He is going to make a good #1 goalie when the time comes.

One final point to caution everyone about last night's win. The Hawks won because our defence was much improved by using only 5 guys (thanks to EG) and our ONE scoring line had another productive game, after being held mostly in check over the last few weeks. Why did Kane's line "rebound" last night? Because Roy refused to look at how teams were shutting this group down, and decided to continue playing his "fast paced" attack game against the Hawks. All this did was give Kane's line the necessary space to generate chances, and THEY FINISH! The WC and our own division will NOT be as generous as the season progresses. The Toews line MUST start contributing regular 5 on 5 goals or the Hawks simply won't make it out of the first round and that is now all on Stan Bowman to find someone who can skate with Toews and Hossa who can finish because the current roster doesn't feature this player (unless of course its the wondrous Brandon Mashinter).
- MexicoHawk

Wonder what made you change your mind on Daley. You told us for months that he was the ideal replacement for Oduya. Some of us told you all along he was incapable of playing defense the way Q wants his D-men to play.

Happy New Year all. Hope you guys have a wonderful 2016 (sans NHL playoffs of course)

Nothing wrong with Rozy playing as a 6th D-man. Smart, can play the PK. Makes a good first pass. Bangs guys around a bit. He is a good partner for a young guy.
- TTtime

Absolutely right. If Guftasson and TVR can play 18+ minutes a night and Rozy is limited to say 12 minutes, this can work for the Hawks. BUT, this also means that Rozy would have to stay healthy, which is why Q pushed for Scuderi...he plays a very similar game to Rozy and has won 2 SCs. By allowing Scuderi to keep Rozy "fresh", Rozy's play will only get better.

Agreed here and Re to Wolfies post , Scuderi "addition" was to save 1Million dollars . Q hated Daley , so be it .
- mrpaulish

Daley's days were numbered when Svedberg, TVR and Gustafsson were all logging more TOI then Daley when Keith was out.

Good riddance I say. I rather suffer the growing pains of two young guys learning to play the system the Hawks want then a mediocre defenseman from a team that sucks defensively.

Absolutely right. If Guftasson and TVR can play 18+ minutes a night and Rozy is limited to say 12 minutes, this can work for the Hawks. BUT, this also means that Rozy would have to stay healthy, which is why Q pushed for Scuderi...he plays a very similar game to Rozy and has won 2 SCs. By allowing Scuderi to keep Rozy "fresh", Rozy's play will only get better.
- MexicoHawk

Scuderi being here also allows some young D-men to play meaningful minutes in all situations in RFD. Also seems more of a team guy then Daley. He will show up at practice work hard and hopefully pass along some of his experience to both TVR and Gustafsson. Something to be said for having guys who KNOW what being a professional is all about.

Ok. First off , read what the "comparisons" are being made. Nothing to do with talent (which is your fault if you read it that way, not mine) but in not living up to CURRENT CONTRACT

How is is asinine to think that a guy that demanded 10mil per year is not playing like a 10mil dollar player THIS YEAR??

And he never produced at historic pace, lol. He was a 70+ point guy on pace for 50pts. He nearly doubled his salary but is producing at 20% less.

Fan-f-ing- tastic about his leadership and helped win cups. Kudos to him. Well, Bickell DID help this team win the second cup (some could even say more so than Toews, who being the greatest leader since Mess and Yzerman had to be lectured in game by Seabrook). But as Bickell didn't live up to his massive 16mil dollar contract he signed afterwards (when he previously made 2mil for Chicago his first 4yrs) - I'm sorry it hurts feelings but right now Toews isn't living up to the 80mil he is signed for RIGHT NOW

If he needed Saad so badly, maybe he should have signed for less to keep him. He didn't. He wanted to he paid as the top player in the league which comes with high expectations which for me means more than winning 6 out of 10 faceoffs and hustling.
- PatShart

To me your argument would hold more value if we were below 500 and out of a playoff spot. The only thing that matters in this league is wins and losses, stats are for fans to nit pick or find something wrong with their team. Honestly don't care what you think of Toews just an opinion and respectfully disagree with. All good on this end but if you want to keep yelling from the roof tops feel free.

Wonder what made you change your mind on Daley. You told us for months that he was the ideal replacement for Oduya. Some of us told you all along he was incapable of playing defense the way Q wants his D-men to play.
- TTtime

First, I am not "beholden" to being right, just happy. Second, I never said that Daley was the "ideal" replacement for Oduya, just that Daley's speed, skill and experience should have allowed him to transition as a top 4 DMan into Q's system. I was clearly wrong, as Daley never proved that he could do this. Knowing the game a little bit, I believed that Daley should have been able to adapt...he didn't. And guess what, after stating that TVR hadn't shown very much in 19 NHL games, I have even been very flattering towards TVR's play all season long...its amazing how well being objective about things works.

Scuderi being here also allows some young D-men to play meaningful minutes in all situations in RFD. Also seems more of a team guy then Daley. He will show up at practice work hard and hopefully pass along some of his experience to both TVR and Gustafsson. Something to be said for having guys who KNOW what being a professional is all about.
- TTtime

Again, absolutely right...good points!

Absolutely right. If Guftasson and TVR can play 18+ minutes a night and Rozy is limited to say 12 minutes, this can work for the Hawks. BUT, this also means that Rozy would have to stay healthy, which is why Q pushed for Scuderi...he plays a very similar game to Rozy and has won 2 SCs. By allowing Scuderi to keep Rozy "fresh", Rozy's play will only get better.
- MexicoHawk

I thought Scuderi was serviceable until he took the slap shot to the face, I imagine that would make anyone timid but many here seen to think hockey players are machines not human beings

Gustafsson was still around the blue line when Johnson scored. He was beaten badly at the line when he tried to jump up at the line. It happens. He may have been confused by all the players in the area since the Avs were in the middle of a line change. But he did get beat.
- TTtime

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

Just not true. Watch the replay, the goal starts at 3:24 of the video. Gus engages at the blue line, then skates alongside Johnson as Johnson moves down the boards. Gus is crossing the faceoff dot when the shot comes from outside and below the dot. He kept the puck carrier outside the dot along the boards.

I thought Scuderi was serviceable until he took the slap shot to the face, I imagine that would make anyone timid but many here seen to think hockey players are machines not human beings
- BetweenTheDots

I thought Scuderi was serviceable until he stepped on the ice

Okay, I am going to throw this out. First off, I have really liked what I have seen from 24 and 52. But, they are both rookies!! Everybody was so excited about 70 when he came up and put in a few goals. Man, that beauty versus Buffalo a couple of weeks back seems like a long time ago now. The league is not stupid, eventually 24 and 52 will level off. The league will at times make them look like the rookies that they are. They have very nice potential no doubt, but to already be claiming that our #4 defenseman is set now and our #3 center is here for the next 10 years. Wait, I thought 70 was that just 2 weeks ago!! I at times am very quick to jump to conclusions positively and negatively, as I thought when 86 came over last year that he was going to put up 60-65 points easily. Let this play out and don't be quick to over judge these kids when we only have had a small sample size of what they can or cannot do. If they truly aren't as good as we are thinking right now, that doesn't mean that they won't ever reach that potential either. Not all kids are 19 and 88 when they made the show and it was obvious that they were clearly keepers and very special. Sorry for the rant and my numbers, just a lot quicker to type numbers than names all of the time. Happy New Year everyone!! Go Hawks, and like I say with most all of my posts when I do post, I try to be as realistic as possible when I do post on this site.

http://www.thehockeynews....uld-be-heading-to-europe/

The good news is Rundblad won't be a 90 minute drive from the UC. No chance of a quick call-up from Switzerland.

I thought Scuderi was serviceable until he stepped on the ice
- PatShart