Justice prevails...Bruins win for the second time tonight in OT.

Babcock has never really thought that highly of Seabrook so I doubt that's going to happen and they are committed contractually to Anderson in goal.

I've never really liked Kadri but have to admit Babcock has made him into a player with a nasty edge and he puts the puck in the net too. Just not sure you would get the same guy in a Hawks jersey.

Fans really are excited about the Leafs and how they play. But the team I think is potentially almost as good is Buffalo. If you look down their roster and consider how many games lost to injury they had this year, the Sabres are a sneaky very good sleeper team on the rise. Eichel, Reinhart, O'Reilly, Ennis, Girgensons, Jake McCabe and my absolute favourite Risto Ristolainen on D.

They just got rid of that idiot coach Bylsma and if they can bring in a top notch replacement you will see that team take off.
- RickJ

I'm a huge Ristolainen fan as well. He is big, nasty and has a ton of offensive ability. Eichel can't win a draw, but he does everything else at an extremely high level. I liked the Sabres black/red/white jerseys better than the current sweaters, however. LOl

I'm a huge Ristolainen fan as well. He is big, nasty and has a ton of offensive ability. Eichel can't win a draw, but he does everything else at an extremely high level. I liked the Sabres black/red/white jerseys better than the current sweaters, however. LOl
- EnzoD

I don't know who put the Sabres in red, white and black but he should fired.

They are the a white, blue and gold team. Their original white jersey from when they came into the league is what I identify them with. Never won a Cup but they've had some great players in Buffalo.

Justice prevails...Bruins win for the second time tonight in OT.
- ArlingtonRob

indeed...clean faceoff win (hawks need a few more of those), point shot, deflection and right place right time rebound....

big saves by rask earlier...

I don't know who put the Sabres in red, white and black but he should fired.

They are the a white, blue and gold team. Their original white jersey from when they came into the league is what I identify them with. Never won a Cup but they've had some great players in Buffalo.
- RickJ

Current jerseys aren't nearly as sharp as the Lafontaime era sweaters. Very blah IMO, just like their recent stretch of play...I think they toned down the gold accent which makes them almost as bad as the Yotes current uniform. The Aztec Coyote Goalie jersey might be my all time favorite besides the Hawks.

And I've said that too. Most people I think know this is a perimeter oriented team. My point still stands, the aging of our Defense is pronounced. It's obvious, it's there. If everyone thinks that's not an issue then so be it. I also think they have issues on their forward group (not a fan of our centers other than 19), but I think the larger issue is on the blueline.

And I contend this DID NOT happen overnight. They had one streak where they looked good. Early in the season they won games because of goaltending they were playing in a depleted West, Nashville had all kinds of injuries early in the season and had a brutal OT/shootout record. But by the end of the season they were the BETTER team than Chicago. Did that happen overnight? Not exactly, but it happened...all during the course of one season.
- kwolf68

Correct me if I'm wrong - but didn't you predict Hawks in 6-7? (as I did, but didn't post it)

Hindsight is 20-20. Lets not extrapolate these 4 games to say we knew from the beginning of the year that Nashville was the better team.

You don't look back on the season game by game and put an asterisk on every win over the course of an 82 game season and say they were lucky to win the west.

Hawks puck possession game was back to 2013 levels in January-February, and didn't quite fizzle out till they clinched in late March. Because of it I felt we were all very optimistic.

I agree the hawks defense looked tired and old and slow, but I disagree that that's what they are. EVERYONE looked that way because they were playing a team that to a man was more determined than they were, and they did all the chasing, and that makes everyone look old.

What makes this the most puzzling and frustrating season since the rebirth is that you really can't put it on one or two people - it was EVERYONE. EVERYONE failed to raise their level of play, including the coaches.

You just have to find out what happened in the dressing room and turn the page.

I feel like this is on Q. I think we had a better team than the last few years but he just didn't seem to be able to get his guys going. Laviolette we constantly pushing his players even while they were ahead.

I think Q just expects the players to do their thing. We have NO system at all. I feel like we never really have besides don't be too aggressive and don't take dumb penalties. Doing the same things over and over this series and expecting a different result was absolute insanity. The D needs to be a little quicker as well.

Yeah moron...you have not won anything yet,,,,just a series. Only morons like you troll over here to see what Blackhawks fans are saying about your dumb team. Who Cares about Nashville. .....who cares about the Wild....you stupid expansion teams are nothing to the NHL purest . We are an original six club.....six of the best organizations in Hockey.....you will never be at that level. Go enjoy your Country music...thats what you guys are good at.......LMAO

The overall level of disrespect to the Preds by the majority of the posters was and is incredible. An intelligent post is as rare as a Chicago sweater at Bridgestone in 2009

What a beat down, total domination. Revenge in part for 2010, 2015, series that you got all the breaks, you got the goals in double and triple OT that easily could have swung the series the other way.

Really going to enjoy this. When does a team ever lose as bad as you did. Historical. Not even a goal on your home ice.

Time to realize the only way the "Hocks" get good again is to get as bad as you were throughout the 2000s to get the #1 picks

Enjoy your ride to the basement and have a Great summer!




- VopatsRash

Gee but it didnt go your way did it....no you have nothing. We have three recent ones.....Expansion teams aint crap....go back to your music hall moron. ....oh and big deal....we have been in the NHL since it started moron.....you have been here since 1998......big friggin deal idiot.

Woke up this morning and rechecked- the Preds still swept the Blackhawks. Chicago scored as many home ice goals this playoffs as Arizona and the Avalanche.

Hey but you're still an Orignial 6 franchise-can't take that away from you

The best part is your Defense is terrible and getting worse.

Life is good

Spin or not. This isn't on Bowman or Q. The players lost the series with the effort they put forth. End of story.
- breadbag

This team with the current core has been known to coast/lose interest for long stretches of 15-20 games or more and Keith, and he admits to this, a whole year.

I keep looking for the phrase "change of culture" to find it's way into the main stream conversation. Because of the long stretches of "disinterest" the last 5-6 years I've wondered myself about the culture but they kept winning cups. Now they're not with the same core that has been known to lose interest, and who's contracts are burdensome, when they were younger and healthier.

ANY team can lose, any team, and that's ok to an extent, disinterest is never acceptable. Who's in charge of making sure there are interested players rosted and played?

For me it's pretty simple.

In 2009...they probably overachieved and ran into men in the WIngs in WCF.

In 2011 I didn't expect them to beat Vancouver. I expected a decent showing and the core pushed hard and the Hawks were ultimately the 800 lb elephant that Canucks had a huge MENTAL block in beating because on paper that series shouldn't have gone 7 games.

In 2012 Hossa gets KO'd and unlike this series, Mike SMith was unreal and CC was letting in horrendous OT goal after OT goal.

In 2014, you lost to a better team in the WCF game 7...

This year, while on paper they might have been better, they were dominated and exposed and that should be alarming to everyone. You lose that series in 6 or 7, OK....a break here or there......not true about being swept.

Furthermore, you had ZERO effort from 95% of your roster, including coaches, who couldn't figure out how to adapt to Nashville after period 1 of game 1....numerous guys refused to engaged all series long, and you looked slow and old.........

In 2016 you lost in a toss up series vs STL in game 7....
- SteveRain

This IMO needs addressed. IMO every pertinent issue stems from disinterest and effort. Address this and 7-8-9 other issues take care of themselves.

i didn't realize the preds won the cup last night. congrats on the series win. thanks for the beat down...it now forces change in Chicago. remember this series as a turning point for the Hawks and their future down the road. if you think the Hawks are headed to the basement, you're foolish.
- frafra

Good post sir........ I don't begrudge the Preds fans for enjoying the hell out of pounding their tormentor the last 5-6-7 years. But as you mention they haven't won anything yet but to do that they had to go through Chicago, which they did.

Step one of a long journey complete for the Preds.

Accountability in response to failure - should logically lead to a change in your approach.

Every option should be on the table and viewed through the prism of "does this make us better?"

Replace Q? Trade Toews, Hossa, Keith, Seabrook, Anisimov, etc...?

There should be no sacred cows based on sentimentality - or the notion that "it can't be done." No movement clauses are NOT absolute bars to trading a player - but requires that player to agree to the trade.

During the end of season interviews - the Hawks should absolutely discuss with each player who has a NMC how they'd would feel about being traded and under what circumstances would they possibly agree to a trade. Plant that seed in their head.

No one has "tenure" here - wearing the Indian Head is a privledge - and this series showed that many "stars" apparently have grown to take it for granted.
- Chief4Feathers

I'm two pages in and most every post is rational and this is no different. Well said sir. Boiled down what makes this team better and there are no sacred cows, both on and off the ice........

Woke up this morning and rechecked- the Preds still swept the Blackhawks. Chicago scored as many home ice goals this playoffs as Arizona and the Avalanche.

Hey but you're still an Orignial 6 franchise-can't take that away from you

The best part is your Defense is terrible and getting worse.

Life is good
- predsfan97

Yep you are right life is good winning 3 Cups in 7 years and able to witness them in my lifetime is a beautiful thing. I guess you would not know anything about that. But hey Preds played great they deserved to win because they were the better team. Congrats on a series win finally...come back when you can add Stanley Cup Champion to your teams name if they ever make that far. But for now just run along troll...

Haven't commented much here this season, but my thoughts:

*There are clearly some aging Core players. Seabrook has looked slow for the past couple seasons and now Keith appears to be taking a step back whether it's due to a lingering knee injury or just age. I wish I knew what was going on with Toews, but even with scoring 50 something points...I no longer see an ability to drive offense or win board battles with consistency.

*I'm not advocating to dump Quenneville yet, but a lot of these guys have been playing for the same coach now going on several years. Whether they've tuned him out or the systems need tweaking, I don't know. I do know we've seen many of the same failures (PP/PK...I know the assistants work on this, but it's still a Q team), but this team can no longer consistently be a puck possession team. They can no longer get along just on skill.

*I'd be interested in a psychological study of the affects of early success on athletes. Several of these guys got the champions (1, 2, or 3) and got paid at an early age. Do they still have the WILL to win it and to dig deep...or is it been there/done that at this point?

All I know is I saw one team this series who looked like they were ready to go for the grind that is the NHL playoffs and another team who looked like they were skating around in an early season game. I can think of maybe 1 period this entire series where they looked legitimately good and weren't just taking perimeter shots.

Disappointing given all the success of this team, but can't say it's not expected. With the exception of Kane, I'm seeing a group that's clearly looking like they're on the down swing of their careers/window.
- Coca

What's that saying, "talent beats hard work only if talent works hard"? ..... Of all sports IMO hockey is a will sport. The will to win the puck battle, no small feat, that all 10 skaters participate in and affect. A sport where even just a few passengers sabotages success.

As you mention when does losing hunger happen and how do you identify that? Then how do you fix it? And who decided that and how to fix it?

As far as to who is to blame......

1. I think this is a GREAT wake up call for an organization that has been sky high since 2009, and rightfully so. In 2012 they could rebuild on the fly and tweak this or that. Now? Cap is real, room is not there, and you will have subtract a significant piece to get complaint and HOPE you have an internal solutions or targeted CHEAP eternal solutions to get "right".

2. Look at legit young talent that has gone elsewhere. Why? Playing woulda, coulda, shoudla is dangerous, but Kevin Hayes or Vesey would like nice right now over a Schamltz or Rasmussen or even Hartman (who laid a fat turd the past 4 games). Was it being blocked? Was it something else?

3. Decisions on SHaw, Leddy, and Saad. Saad and Leddy wanted money, but decisions were made to keep OUR guy vs THAT guy and it's left them older and slower. panarin subs for Saad, but for all his bonus money, 72 was one of the most disengaged players on the ice all 4 games his quote post game was pure BS.

THis team had zero guys willing to go to the net and score the "hard" playoff goals that advance you deep in the spring.......

4. Bowman/Q are both accountable. If 1 goes, the other should go, but he power struggle games will begin shortly.

5. Players....to a man something stinks in that locker room. IS it wages and guys in middle of pack or lower knowing they are expendable thanks to heavy top end dollars? Is it leadership? Have they tuned out Q? I don't know what it is but since they got their "rest" all have been pure dog poop and that can't be ignored. Coaches are to blame but players after all that talk gave nothing back or showed zero heart or character that my friends.....is the most ALARMING thing I see right now as this season has come crashing to an end.
- SteveRain

Are you talking about the culture? If so for how many years now? If you are I agree that I don't know what it is but you or I aren't in the locker room, meetings or at practice and as a result have no way of knowing.

We need those who are to identify the problem(s) and rectify them. Or will it be we won the Western Conference, had 109 points with rookies strewn throughout and with that experience we'll be fine next year?

This IMO needs addressed. IMO every pertinent issue stems from disinterest and effort. Address this and 7-8-9 other issues take care of themselves.
- Mr Ricochet

How to prove disinterest unless you are in the locker room or know these guys?

I can understand boredom from long seasons or having to play too many meaningless games, but real winners seldom lose interest in winning when it really counts - Kane, Toews, Keith, Seabs, Crawford, Hossa, I doubt they were actually disinterested.

I submit a lot of those guys looked around the dressing room and saw a whole bunch of players they knew they could never win with. There was no grit or grind or nasty on this team like Shaw provided, all they did was bring in a guy like Tootoo as a simulation, cheap and at the request or Keith and Seabrook. But the guy can't play. There was nobody that ever belted an opposing defenceman or forward the entire season until Keith did it in Game 4. The team basically plays Non Contact Over 50 hockey and gets paid big $ for doing it.

You think those winners don't know a college boy like Nicky Schmaltz isn't scared sh$tless out there and when the real playing starts is basically going to evaporate? Or they don't know their 4th line is useless and can't contribute out there? Or that it's way too soon to ask John Hayden to be a meaningful contributor in a playoff series.

Its on all of them including the coaches and Bowman, but the makeup of this team doesn't work and has to change. They need to airmail Tootoo, Desjardins, Rasmussen, Campbell and probably Hinostroza and Oduya out of town. That's where I'd start.

A lot of questionable moves supposedly made by Bowman but is he making the moves or does the roundtable have the final say. Q makes a lot of decisions based on his system which is dictated on pace. With all the hard miles, age and complacency this is just not that team anymore. Can Q evolve and work with Stan to change the system with the cupboard bare and the core aging. Just cannot see it. I think one of them takes the fall.
- walter34

Good question that I'm guessing will be revisited as it was brought up here many times before the last 5-6-7 years. What is the decision making process, who is involved, how is that weighted and does it need to change?

I've held off jumping in and wanted to digest this loss a bit.

First hats off to a good well coached Preds team. Folks dogging the Preds are just wrong - that team has got a ton of talent and Lavy has done a real nice job. Poile made a couple of moves to get a bit more offense in there. Preds were thought in the preseason to have a shot this year at the hardware. We'll see where they go. Lavy it seems to me took some of the Ducks game plan from a couple seasons ago and just had his guys pound the crap out of the Hawks and it worked.

As far as the Hawks who knew - maybe if you get Calgary in the 1st round you advance. But this team looked like it was on fumes and very disinterested. I think our expectations grew as this team went on a torrid run here in Feb - March and over took the Wild (who basically tanked).

The question remains now where do they go from here. Has Q lost the room? No question both the PK and in particular the PP were brutal all season. Pass around the perimeter and pray for that Panarin one timer. Maybe its time for a new voice?
Is it time for a coach that will play the kids more. I thought Q actually did a good job with the rooks this season. Whether those kids will develop into top end talent or remain bottom six players remains to be seen. I certainly would have liked to seen more of Kempny playing.


The other problem and the greater one is the GM. While Stan added around the core nicely a bit (Vermette, Frolik, Oduya come to mind and his drafting Saad and Shaw) to add two more Cups, the fact remains that his track record has stunk the last several seasons going back to Nick Leddy.

The Bowman defenders will say look the other way he did add two more Cups. Am I happy that they won 2 more sure we all are - but we also know that had Stan been smarter there could have been more hardware.

After the parade in 2015 Stan knew he needed a #4 dman going into the next season and his first move was to run out and resign David Rundblad...just a small sample size but you get the idea.

The reality is - he's overpaid vets based on past performance and given them NMCs and his trade track record (which has never been great) of late has been dubious to say the least for the last three years both in the offseason and at the TDLs.

The large contracts with the NTCs NMCs have and will continue to have an effect moving forward. We saw Crawford nix the deal to Calgary last spring. Some of the proposed trades I've seen are fantasy...who's going to give us a bunch of young talent for some of these contracts...? The Hawks will have to add sweeteners to any deal they make and more than likely take back salary.

So what does McD do? He would have to be blind not to see this? Of course McD is the guy who was bidding against himself for Soriano when he was with the Cubs and Stan is his handpicked guy because he's BFFs with Scotty. It should be real interesting here moving forward with the draft coming up here in Chicago.

How to prove disinterest unless you are in the locker room or know these guys?

I can understand boredom from long seasons or having to play too many meaningless games, but real winners seldom lose interest in winning when it really counts - Kane, Toews, Keith, Seabs, Crawford, Hossa, I doubt they were actually disinterested.

I submit a lot of those guys looked around the dressing room and saw a whole bunch of players they knew they could never win with. There was no grit or grind or nasty on this team like Shaw provided, all they did was bring in a guy like Tootoo as a simulation, cheap and at the request or Keith and Seabrook. But the guy can't play. There was nobody that ever belted an opposing defenceman or forward the entire season until Keith did it in Game 4. The team basically plays Non Contact Over 50 hockey and gets paid big $ for doing it.

You think those winners don't know a college boy like Nicky Schmaltz isn't scared sh$tless out there and when the real playing starts is basically going to evaporate? Or they don't know their 4th line is useless and can't contribute out there? Or that it's way too soon to ask John Hayden to be a meaningful contributor in a playoff series.

Its on all of them including the coaches and Bowman, but the makeup of this team doesn't work and has to change. They need to airmail Tootoo, Desjardins, Rasmussen, Campbell and probably Hinostroza and Oduya out of town. That's where I'd start.
- RickJ

Rick I can not ever let this go. http://thethirdmanin.com/...ing-interest-this-season/

It's a character flaw I have. Once I can't trust you I can never trust you. Every time I see Keith since the 2011 season I think of him during the 2011 season.

How do you prove disinterest? At the NHL level, of which I never played, I can only try to do that by seeing how other teams/players go about their business.

But the levels I played at I can. Who showed up and worked through double sessions in the heat of the summer before they made laws banning it after kids were dying from them.

Who skated the bag skates without whining.

Who put the effort in during the mundane endless run down, backup, cuttoff drills in the heat of summer mornings.

Who ran the line drills all out that it's said Michael Jordan never lost.

I do believe those players and coaches at the NHL level know who's interested and who's not the same way I did at the levels I played at.

So the core looks around the room and says we can't win with this group? Have no buy in to the system or management? ... If so Crosby and company could have easily said the same last year when they looked around the room........ If this is true this is a big problem, I'll give 100% only if it's "obvious" we have a chance.

Tommy, Forsberg is a franchise two way forward in my objective opinion.
- DutchSenators

Agreed. This guy is a player. We'll have to see how he performs in the playoffs in the upcoming years but he looks like a franchise player to me.

As usual you are spot on.

We can all sit and contemplate whether the roster is too top heavy, who should be traded away, what so-and-so's "value" is in relation to his contract, etc. etc, etc. but the bottom line when you break it all down, is that in the last 8 years, since Q took over the reins, the Hawks have done very little to adapt their style of play.

They are NEVER going to be a physical team, even if they had the bodies to do it, it is not their style.

Under several different PP coaches, the approach has never really changed. Blame Dineen, Kompon, Torchetti or whomever you want, the style (or lack thereof) has never changed and thats because it is being dictated by Q.

You can trade Crow, Seabrook, Kruger, Panarin, Anisimov or anyone else on the roster but if the new additions play the same system, why expect different results?

I think the one thing this series did was maybe open Q's eyes a bit. Maybe it forces him to make changes finally in the approach. I still think he is one of the premier coaches in the league, but maybe he has gotten stale or complacent. Adapt to the roster and the style needed to win these days or be replaced.

Maybe the Hawks needed to adjust a little to the players on the roster. Look at some of the D-corps on the remaining teams. The Pens D is not great, but they have a philosophy to just get the puck out and let their forwards go get it and create. Fewer D to D passes and re-cycles, less standing and waiting, more up ice pressure. They know they don't defend well in their own zone, so they move the puck out quickly. They have a top heavy roster also, with 8 forwards making $750K or less.

You can win in this league a whole bunch of different ways, but the "way" changes and you have to be able to adjust and adapt when it does.
- TheTrob

Is it that the league adjusted to how the Hawks won with speed/possession as the Pens did last year and that is still the winning formula but the Hawks' core is just to old/beat up/not hungry enough to win with that style anymore?

In other words the Hawks are being out-Hawked cuz they no longer can play that style at a cup winning level due to their personnel?

It seems like they started going downhill after they overtook the Wild. Their record in the last 10 games was 3-7. What happened did they lose their edge? They seemed engaged and focus when they were chasing the Wild. I think many thought they would just"flip the switch"once the playoffs started. Hard to flip a switch on when theirs no electricity.

So the core looks around the room and says we can't win with this group? Have no buy in to the system or management? ... If so Crosby and company could have easily said the same last year when they looked around the room........ If this is true this is a big problem, I'll give 100% only if it's "obvious" we have a chance.
- Mr Ricochet

Nice post Rico.
If the bolded was the case, and got outside the room, there would be hell to pay in more ways than one.

Your mention of Michael Jordan and his insatiable drive to win also brings to mind Walter Payton, another guy who, although he only won 1 title, always went full tilt and worked endlessly in the off-season to be the best he could be.

Got to say (and I've said this before), the only 1 of the core that I can honestly say has improved every year, year-to-year, and continues to work on any/every aspect of his game -- is Patrick Kane. Whether to improve his strength (and there is no question he has turned into a man), improve his shot -- speed, accuracy, quickness, skating, etc. Every year. You can always tell he's worked on some aspect of his game. I would put Hossa in this category as well -- seems he works on things in the off-season in those areas where he's struggled or not quite happy with in the season prior.

Honestly cannot say the same any more when it comes to the rest of the core. And the biggest question for me comes with #19 -- he's not only not improved, he has regressed. There is not 1 single aspect of his game that has taken even a tick upward in the last 2 seasons. And, he appears like Ichabod Crane these days, eyes sunken in and gaunt. He really needs to get OFFIT and NOW!!!!