You make what I consider to be the most important point for the Blackhawks. Their PK needs to be totally revamped. The remaining PK mainstays, except for Saad, are all of the age where they shouldn't be playing PK minutes anymore.
- 35Tony0

The Hawks PK will have a new look. The top 3 PK minute forward players are gone. Kruger, Rasmussen, Hossa (and Desjardins was a top PK minute guy from the season before.) Looking at the current lineup, I think the it will be some of the following guys.

Kero - Bouma
Toews - Saad
AA - ????

Jurco is an athlete with some technical skill so they probably thin Panik 2.0
- fattybeef

You said it about Jurco, but disagree about the Panik comp. Panik can play top line or throw himself around on the 3rd/4th line whereas Jurco is 2nd line or bust. He's not a checking line guy and def not an energy line guy. Will be interesting to see what happens at 2LW, since it hasn't been a revolving door in a couple years so all we know that will work for sure is Sharpie and that was years ago. IF, and it's a big if, Jurco somehow works out at 2LW and gets to use his strengths while limiting his weaknesses by playing a 2nd line role, this team would be super deep and constantly able to play fresh capable bodies on that 4th line

Ha, the way last year is discussed you would think these Hawks are the 1970s Cubs...
with all these "crappy" players they had the most points in the west last year and are still a pretty darn good team.
The very evidence that the Hawks can bounce back just won the cup two years in a row, after not winning for five years and their best player had concussions.

Many Schleprocks (edit: pessimistic) analyzing Mr. Jaeckel's objective roster report as "the end"... same as when Crawford let Coyotes spit pucks past him in '12, and we know what happened next.
Are they contenders, maybe-maybe not. Could they be contenders, yes.

Ha, the way last year is discussed you would think these Hawks are the 1970s Cubs...
with all these "crappy" players they had the most points in the west last year and are still a pretty darn good team.
The very evidence that the Hawks can bounce back just won the cup two years in a row, after not winning for five years and their best player had concussions.

Many Schleprocks (edit: pessimistic) analyzing Mr. Jaeckel's objective roster report as "the end"... same as when Crawford let Coyotes spit pucks past him in '12, and we know what happened next.
Are they contenders, maybe-maybe not. Could they be contenders, yes.
- RedFeather

Yes! Absolutely!

You said it about Jurco, but disagree about the Panik comp. Panik can play top line or throw himself around on the 3rd/4th line whereas Jurco is 2nd line or bust. He's not a checking line guy and def not an energy line guy. Will be interesting to see what happens at 2LW, since it hasn't been a revolving door in a couple years so all we know that will work for sure is Sharpie and that was years ago. IF, and it's a big if, Jurco somehow works out at 2LW and gets to use his strengths while limiting his weaknesses by playing a 2nd line role, this team would be super deep and constantly able to play fresh capable bodies on that 4th line
- Assman22

Hmmmm, disagree. Both were banished by Babcock and his crew. Both athletes with some technical ability that don't have much above the shoulders.

They're basically the same player. Panik put some decent games together last year but also hit quite a few rough patches. Cause he sucks off the puck. Aside from going hard to the net he doesn't have a lot of a clue where to be.

However because he is big, strong and can skate good he was able to do some digging and break up some stuff in the neutral zone. No reason Jurco can't do the same thing cause hes strong and can skate good too.

Hmmmm, disagree. Both were banished by Babcock and his crew. Both athletes with some technical ability that don't have much above the shoulders.

They're basically the same player. Panik put some decent games together last year but also hit quite a few rough patches. Cause he sucks off the puck. Aside from going hard to the net he doesn't have a lot of a clue where to be.

However because he is big, strong and can skate good he was able to do some digging and break up some stuff in the neutral zone. No reason Jurco can't do the same thing cause hes strong and can skate good too.
- fattybeef

"can skate good"?

The Hawks PK will have a new look. The top 3 PK minute forward players are gone. Kruger, Rasmussen, Hossa (and Desjardins was a top PK minute guy from the season before.) Looking at the current lineup, I think the it will be some of the following guys.

Kero - Bouma
Toews - Saad
AA - ????
- breadbag

I forgot about Wingels. He has been a penalty killer on previous teams he's been on. So .... if you use the penalty killer thinking - Bouma and Wingels probably on fourth line with Kero. Which leaves open spots for left wing on Kane line, and the entire third line. Looks be be four open spots then in the line up at forward. But we will have to wait and see.

CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS REPRESENT SLAVE OWNING TRAITORS WHO FOUGHT A WAR TO KEEP HUMAN BEINGS IN CHAINS! WAKE UP YOU FRANKING CLOWN!
- EnzoD

Yes, exactly.

And I wonder if people bemoaning the taking down of these statues realize that once removed, they're going into museums. They're not being erased from history, just removed to pedestals because they shouldn't be revered or celebrated. There's a museum outside Atlanta that has a floor dedicated to just these types of statues/monuments.

It's also ironic that this latest uproar started after a protest removing a Robert E. Lee statue when Lee himself discouraged monuments. He wrote that we should "not to keep open the sores of war but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife, to commit to oblivion the feelings engendered.” There is a reason that the big push to create statues related to the confederacy didn't start until over half a decade after the Civil War ended - most of the guys with statues probably wouldn't have wanted them needed to be dead.

So I support the Lightning org.

I predict a 4D that isnt currently on the roster. Either coming from Vegas, or froa Hossa LTIR move Stan has had in his hip pocket most of the summer. That's my prediction, and I'm sticking to it!
- Cmonalready

I'm kind of in disbelief over the Patrick Sharp love going on with all these line combos being suggested. He's an old and often injured player that barely played 3rd line for us 3 years ago and yet everybody's got him penciled in for 2 LW with Kane and AA ?

I'd still prefer finding another top 6 Center that can win a faceoff or 2LW to add to the 2nd line....and I'm going to stick to that theory. Yes another defenseman would be great but spending the Hossa money on a number 4 or 5 is crazy IMO. A number 2 OK, but nothing lower than that.

Hmmmm, disagree. Both were banished by Babcock and his crew. Both athletes with some technical ability that don't have much above the shoulders.

They're basically the same player. Panik put some decent games together last year but also hit quite a few rough patches. Cause he sucks off the puck. Aside from going hard to the net he doesn't have a lot of a clue where to be.

However because he is big, strong and can skate good he was able to do some digging and break up some stuff in the neutral zone. No reason Jurco can't do the same thing cause hes strong and can skate good too.
- fattybeef

Was Jurco really banished by Babcock? Jurco only played two years under Babcock -
good rookie year, sophomore slump the second. Babcock was the main reason he stayed up at all when he was one of the waiver-exempt players. Babcock didn't seem to want to banish Jurco, he just wanted him in a different role than Jurco was used to / they wanted him to play before. Blashill is the one that gave up on Jurco.

I'm kind of in disbelief over the Patrick Sharp love going on with all these line combos being suggested. He's an old and often injured player that barely played 3rd line for us 3 years ago and yet everybody's got him penciled in for 2 LW with Kane and AA ?

I'd still prefer finding another top 6 Center that can win a faceoff or 2LW to add to the 2nd line....and I'm going to stick to that theory. Yes another defenseman would be great but spending the Hossa money on a number 4 or 5 is crazy IMO. A number 2 OK, but nothing lower than that.
- Hawkytalk

Sharp didn't barely play 3rd line with the Hawks in 2014-15 - he was played on the 3rd line because it distributed the scoring throughout the lineup. Deep teams like the 2014-15 Hawks have the luxury of playing top 6 guys like Sharp on a lower line, just like Pittsburgh did with Kessel.

Sharp played top 6 minutes both at 5v5 and overall. Sharp often double shifted on the 2nd line that year and played there when Versteeg went down - his most common line was actually with Richard-Kane. His production saw an uptick with that line, obviously (better QOT and he got to play on his natural side). Sharp then went on to play most of his time with Sequin-Benn or Spezza in Dallas, though he played more 3rd line there after he came back from injury last season.

I don't know if Sharp can play opposite Kane next year and I'd personally love to see a Sharp-Schmaltz-Hartman 3rd line because on paper it could be a beaut, but penciling Sharp in as 2LW right now with how the other options look is reasonable.

Was Jurco really banished by Babcock? Jurco only played two years under Babcock -
good rookie year, sophomore slump the second. Babcock was the main reason he stayed up at all when he was one of the waiver-exempt players. Babcock didn't seem to want to banish Jurco, he just wanted him in a different role than Jurco was used to / they wanted him to play before. Blashill is the one that gave up on Jurco.
- L_B_R

Bingo!

NEW BLOG GANG!!!!!

Well done. I agree with a lot of what you suggest. But we need someone who can take face-offs, especially in the D zone, with some success. After Taser, we don't really have anyone, especially with Kruger gone. I think/hope, outside of a D upgrade, there will be one more, significant, change before we get too far into the season.