Hey Rain, you might have been the guy who I first saw suggest this and at the time I thought it was brilliant. Still do. Would Hossa be one of the best 3rd line guys ever or what. And he could actually do that effectively until the end of his contract if he chose to. Not being on the 1st line would take a lot of weight off his shoulders and I'm thinking he could really get used to it and like it.
- 6628

People with less concussions than I might remember differently but seemingly under the threat of having his children kidnapped Q did move Hossa down to the 3rd line for a few games and IMO looked damned good down there. ......So good Q scrapped that after a couple games.

Hey Rain, you might have been the guy who I first saw suggest this and at the time I thought it was brilliant. Still do. Would Hossa be one of the best 3rd line guys ever or what. And he could actually do that effectively until the end of his contract if he chose to. Not being on the 1st line would take a lot of weight off his shoulders and I'm thinking he could really get used to it and like it.
- 6628

Thanks and I keep thinking back to what Modano was at the end of his career. Hossa is still by far their best back checker, a beast on the cycle, and teamed with Kruger you literally would have the best shut down line in hockey. It also takes weight off of 19s shoulders and gives 16 some offensive skill to dish to.....

But to John's point you have to find guys to play with 19 and I think the key to all this again.......is 86. he HAS to take MONUMENTAL leaps this season to be a long term answer. otherwise he does you no good moving forward.

The parity Bettman wants, and has gotten, is 26 of the 30 teams have a mathematical chance of making the playoffs with two weeks left in the season in an idiotic 3 points per game set up. This way fans of teams that have no real chance of making the playoffs will continue to buy tickets in February or March.

Your other points are excellent as well as they show the cap as it is TODAY is a farce.

Point of the exercise is to fool as many fans into buying tickets as long as you can.
- Mr Ricochet

That is true....the 3 point game is bad, but the 3 on 3 is exciting to watch. I'll give him that much. As nice as the shoot out was for the 1st year, it got old fast.

In a copy cat world that is the NHL, I'm very curious to see the teams who are sitting with monster AAV hits in goal, if they start to move those guys out and go the Jones or Murray route......which is why the market may want Darling, but in the Hawks cap dilemma might be better off trading Crawford.

I have no huge issue with it, but now Toews has nothing on both wings, not just one.
- John Jaeckel

Crosby had Hornqvist and Sheary (rookie), Malkin had Rust (rookie) and Kunitz, Kessel had Bonino and Hagelin...........

Make it work with Panik and TT or whoever. Speed, some size and skill with 2 players very aware defensively.

Thanks and I keep thinking back to what Modano was at the end of his career. Hossa is still by far their best back checker, a beast on the cycle, and teamed with Kruger you literally would have the best shut down line in hockey. It also takes weight off of 19s shoulders and gives 16 some offensive skill to dish to.....

But to John's point you have to find guys to play with 19 and I think the key to all this again.......is 86. he HAS to take MONUMENTAL leaps this season to be a long term answer. otherwise he does you no good moving forward.
- SteveRain

I'd feel better about that if he were here, working out under watchful Blackhawk eyes.

Supposedly there's a shoulder injury: if it takes him all summer to recover from that, there will be no time left to work on improving in the areas he needs to improve before next season starts - and I fear we're looking at a repeat of last season.

People with less concussions than I might remember differently but seemingly under the threat of having his children kidnapped Q did move Hossa down to the 3rd line for a few games and IMO looked damned good down there. ......So good Q scrapped that after a couple games.
- Mr Ricochet

He did but I'm talking long term....not just a quick fix in series like he did in games 6/7 but more so on long term basis. But to John's point, you have to solve 19s 1LW and 1 RW 1st, to justify this......and yes I know 19 had a horrific year in his standards and people will point to his cap hit vs production and scream....but in fairness to 19 his linemates were

81 on the decline.....more so now then ever you can see it. His shots and scoring chances are there, but he can't finish like he used to.

Then 1LW was a revolving door all year long.

I have no huge issue with it, but now Toews has nothing on both wings, not just one.
- John Jaeckel

You aint kidding. So they need to give him 88 or 72. So JJ... if you had a choice would you have kept Saad over AA? Thats a mixed bag. We needed another C to help the Captain, but Saad was just figuring it all out. He was the total package at LW.

That is true....the 3 point game is bad, but the 3 on 3 is exciting to watch. I'll give him that much. As nice as the shoot out was for the 1st year, it got old fast.

In a copy cat world that is the NHL, I'm very curious to see the teams who are sitting with monster AAV hits in goal, if they start to move those guys out and go the Jones or Murray route......which is why the market may want Darling, but in the Hawks cap dilemma might be better off trading Crawford.
- SteveRain

And add the expansion draft into the difficulty moving a high priced goalie when possibly Crow along with Fluery, Howard, Bishop, Andersen, Lethomen and Riemer are on the market.

IMO you'll get pennies on the dollar for a high priced #1 this coming year.

I'd feel better about that if he were here, working out under watchful Blackhawk eyes.

Supposedly there's a shoulder injury: if it takes him all summer to recover from that, there will be no time left to work on improving in the areas he needs to improve before next season starts - and I fear we're looking at a repeat of last season.
- StLBravesFan

I agree 100% and unlike Kane, who for the most part has stayed healthy and avoided major injuries, Teuvo can't do the same and was largely ineffective vs STL because of it.

He needs to add muscle up top, and train on his skill set.

He did but I'm talking long term....not just a quick fix in series like he did in games 6/7 but more so on long term basis. But to John's point, you have to solve 19s 1LW and 1 RW 1st, to justify this......and yes I know 19 had a horrific year in his standards and people will point to his cap hit vs production and scream....but in fairness to 19 his linemates were

81 on the decline.....more so now then ever you can see it. His shots and scoring chances are there, but he can't finish like he used to.

Then 1LW was a revolving door all year long.
- SteveRain

Same can be said for Seabs........ Indeed the 1LW was a festering would all year that was never fixed, but PITT had that problem too and are drunk this morning after winning the cup last night.

They have a core 26-27 teams would dream of, fill in the blanks. PITT did.

And add the expansion draft into the difficulty moving a high priced goalie when possibly Crow along with Fluery, Howard, Bishop, Andersen, Lethomen and Riemer are on the market.

IMO you'll get pennies on the dollar for a high priced #1 this coming year.
- Mr Ricochet

And you know what drives me nuts about this team....is this......

They have now given up 2 monster deals to 2 guys when the organizational depth sucked. Bickell and Crawford. Bickell is even more maddening because IN SEASON they could have extended him and saved money, and Bowman wouldn't and got smoked because of it. Still is easy getting taken to the wood shed on that deal.

Crawford....yes, he has panned out, but the weird thing is tying up money to a goalie isn't the Bowman recipe for cup glory. Detroit they had 3 guys wins cups in Hasek, Vernon and Osgood. Just odd they would hand out a monster deal to CC, like Howard in Detroit, when their own blue print was against it.

Like you, while I think CC could be the answer to getting out of cap hell, I just dont' see a TON of teams lining up to get him when we just saw 2 teams make the cup final with 2 uknowns in net..........for a GM on the hot seat with a team almost there, can you take a chance on a Darling or do you go the more pricey, proven route with a CC, Fleury? Tough call.......give Wilson credit........he had some huge stones on that Jones gamble.

You aint kidding. So they need to give him 88 or 72. So JJ... if you had a choice would you have kept Saad over AA? Thats a mixed bag. We needed another C to help the Captain, but Saad was just figuring it all out. He was the total package at LW.
- z1990z

Not JJ here, but I would have moved mountains to part with the $2M/yr differential between AA and Saad to keep #20

Same can be said for Seabs........ Indeed the 1LW was a festering would all year that was never fixed, but PITT had that problem too and are drunk this morning after winning the cup last night.

They have a core 26-27 teams would dream of, fill in the blanks. PITT did.
- Mr Ricochet

I don't disagree on 7. I was critical of idiots like CI who took 7 to town based on Corsi numbers alone and not looking at what he was forced to baby sit all year long, and playing HUGE tough minutes, along with 4, when 2 was out and the depth wasn't there. No question he was worn down.

I have no huge issue with it, but now Toews has nothing on both wings, not just one.
- John Jaeckel

So maybe Toews is the unexpected guy who is moving. Just kidding. But if the trade scenario you've heard about is big maybe someone comes back to play with Toews. In any event, I like Hossa on the 3rd line with Krueger. I think you can understand what it's like to be a 1st line guy. When everyone knows moves have to be made they don't look at tv, they don't read the paper, they are waiting on YOU.

Asssuming none of these guys are traded here in the next while, I still think you have to go with the following to try to balance the lines out and to help jump start 19 offensively next year:

1LW-19-88
72-15-86
3LW-16-81

Give Panik a shot with 19-88 and give it 20 games or so to develop some chemistry and evaluate. Not perfect, but considering the situation the Hawks are in cap-wise, no solutions this offseason are going to be perfect.

Jeremy Rutherford
@jprutherford
BREAKING: #stlblues announce Mike Yeo has been hired to Ken Hitchcock's staff as an assistant and will take over as head coach in 2017-18.

And you know what drives me nuts about this team....is this......

They have now given up 2 monster deals to 2 guys when the organizational depth sucked. Bickell and Crawford. Bickell is even more maddening because IN SEASON they could have extended him and saved money, and Bowman wouldn't and got smoked because of it. Still is easy getting taken to the wood shed on that deal.

Crawford....yes, he has panned out, but the weird thing is tying up money to a goalie isn't the Bowman recipe for cup glory. Detroit they had 3 guys wins cups in Hasek, Vernon and Osgood. Just odd they would hand out a monster deal to CC, like Howard in Detroit, when their own blue print was against it.

Like you, while I think CC could be the answer to getting out of cap hell, I just dont' see a TON of teams lining up to get him when we just saw 2 teams make the cup final with 2 uknowns in net..........for a GM on the hot seat with a team almost there, can you take a chance on a Darling or do you go the more pricey, proven route with a CC, Fleury? Tough call.......give Wilson credit........he had some huge stones on that Jones gamble.
- SteveRain

Remember though every Detroilet Red Army cup was won in the non-cap era except for one. The league has changed and so has the position since Scotty's template for winning. I do think you can win today with a non-elite goalie but think that goalie has to be better than average behind a very, very good team. ......And as I posted many times we won't know how elite, or not, Murray and Jones are for 3-4-5 or so years.

It's all about asset allocation, core identification and what the system can fill as far as holes in a hard cap world. The Hawks treated the goalie position system wide like it was a leper for years (their backup was passed out in an alley and fell from the AHL all the way down to unaffiliated A pro playing for 350 bucks a week) and IMO because of that had to pay Crow big. They had no other choice as system depth was miniscule and they had no leverage.

Jeremy Rutherford
@jprutherford
BREAKING: #stlblues announce Mike Yeo has been hired to Ken Hitchcock's staff as an assistant and will take over as head coach in 2017-18.
- golfbard

Yeesh, a semi trap system in STL for the Hawks to play after next year?

Asssuming none of these guys are traded here in the next while, I still think you have to go with the following to try to balance the lines out and to help jump start 19 offensively next year:

1LW-19-88
72-15-86
3LW-16-81

Give Panik a shot with 19-88 and give it 20 games or so to develop some chemistry and evaluate. Not perfect, but considering the situation the Hawks are in cap-wise, no solutions this offseason are going to be perfect.
- Hawksfan37

I could stomach that. That second line's D though could be dicey at times.

Asssuming none of these guys are traded here in the next while, I still think you have to go with the following to try to balance the lines out and to help jump start 19 offensively next year:

1LW-19-88
72-15-86
3LW-16-81

Give Panik a shot with 19-88 and give it 20 games or so to develop some chemistry and evaluate. Not perfect, but considering the situation the Hawks are in cap-wise, no solutions this offseason are going to be perfect.
- Hawksfan37

We are talking about Q here. You would be lucky to get 5 games before he kicks the marbles all over the floor. But I totally agree on giving Panik a good long look on that top line. Skill set wise, he is the best option currently to play with 19 and 88. I also think its possible Hoss starts the year with Toews.

Assuming some how we keep Shaw..

14 19 88
72 15 81
65 16 86
11 ? ?

I think speed is really important. Just seems like the tempo in the conference and Cup Finals the last couple of years is so high, few teams can keep up.
- John Jaeckel

And when team like Kings wins it everybody is saying you need to be big and physical to win. I don´t think there is one formula to win it. Sure speed is important but it is not everything. Tampa was faster team last year in finals.

Crosby had Hornqvist and Sheary (rookie), Malkin had Rust (rookie) and Kunitz, Kessel had Bonino and Hagelin...........

Make it work with Panik and TT or whoever. Speed, some size and skill with 2 players very aware defensively.
- Mr Ricochet

Good points there! And Pens D: Letang, Maatta, Daley, Schultz, Cole, Lovejoy, Dumoulin.. Not that scary on paper but got the job done!

We are talking about Q here. You would be lucky to get 5 games before he kicks the marbles all over the floor.
- z1990z

Believe me, I'm well aware of that

Crosby had Hornqvist and Sheary (rookie), Malkin had Rust (rookie) and Kunitz, Kessel had Bonino and Hagelin...........

Make it work with Panik and TT or whoever. Speed, some size and skill with 2 players very aware defensively.
- Mr Ricochet

I think this format basically HAS to happen next year, especially with the cap crunch.

Panarin - Toews - ELC/Teravainen (if not sacrificed w/ Bickell)
ELC/Schmatlz? - Anisimov - Kane
ELC/Panik? - Kruger - Hossa
Scrub - Scrub - Scrub

Moving Panarin up hopefully gets us two scoring lines, and maybe the third line pots some goals, too... The youth have to catch fire. Period. Saad, Shaw, and Kruger were very strong in 2013 and even better in 2015.

And when team like Kings wins it everybody is saying you need to be big and physical to win. I don´t think there is one formula to win it. Sure speed is important but it is not everything. Tampa was faster team last year in finals.
- MjulQvist

Well said and I have to cop to being one who complained(s) about the Hawk's size for years, winning cups or not.

Yes, there is no silver bullet IMO as far as constructing a cup winning team but would add the margin for error becomes slimmer each year as the cap slowly strangles like a Boa constrictor and you can't just overwhelm with talent anymore.

Identify the core, add as needed and coach to what you have and don't make too many mistakes (contracts) that anchor flexibility over 3-4-5 years.