canes, flyers, canes, blues kings: i expected 1-3-1 and got 1-2-2...hooray they got 3 of possible 10 pts and have now lost 9-10 and collected 5 of 20 pts...

Q: has any team this early in the season loss 9 of 10 and made the playoffs?

now the fun really begins...next 3 vs wild, caps, bolts...the last 2 on the road where they never win even when they were good...

since mediocrity they name is NHL: half the teams are at .500 or below..maybe this team does have a chance at another 1 round elimination sweep...

A think the HAWKS got caught looking past LA ,had strong 3rd just could not beat good young goalie . Schmaltz shooting a lot more last night ,maybe he got the memo .
Really like the new coach think things will really fall in place as the players get use to the system .Lot of Q drilled into them ,will take some time it still early ..
- oldduffman

you can't be serious...a team that has won 1 game out of the last 9 with a new coach can't be looking past anyone...if they are...it demonstrates how bad and out of touch this team really is...

you can't be serious...a team that has won 1 game out of the last 9 with a new coach can't be looking past anyone...if they are...it demonstrates how bad and out of touch this team really is...
- bogiedoc

LA was playing like S__t easy to look past them .HAWKS are still trying to get the Q stink out of their game ,will take sometime .. Better days ahead ..

Love how Schmaltz is the guy/first choice in the high slot, and not a shooter like Debricat.

Same as how Schmaltz is the guy first put with Toews and Kane, not ADB

Then the first OT game they lost, ADB wasnt even one of the first four skaters in OT, and I forget if he even got a shift in OT last night (I know he did, but why is he, maybe the best release on the team/best goal scorer last year...pushed down more for Golden Boy?)

Now everyone can see how absolutely brutal Gustafson is, yet hes told to "play free and loose" (which translates to, keep making mistakes...we wont bench you!) Now that's what Seabrook had to play with the when paired with him. Thats why Seabs look lost when forced to be with him, covering for his idiot plays.

JC is now Stan/McD/Scotty/Barry Smith's puppet
- PatShart

Pat I have not understood the approach of giving Schmaltz and his 2 goals opportunities as if he has 15 goals. He compliments Kane and Toews like oil compliments water. Schmaltz is a complete waste of a spot on the First PP, especially in the position of high slot triggerman. If the team is going to play this formation at all, Schmaltz cannot be the player in that position. C also seems not to recognize that Cat lead the Hawks in goals last year. Need your top goal scorer on your First PP and in OT.

As I said in an earlier post there are 5 TV Analysts, 6 if you include Boyle, and not one of them said, let alone screamed, why is Gus way up the ice, totally out of position, on the Kings’ goal? Gus doesn’t just chip the puck forward - he then actually falls down, doing whatever wrong thing he was trying to do, turning over the puck and causing the break-in. C has been giving Gus the top D minutes, including in the first Hurricanes’ game, where Gus’s turnovers actually lost the game. Schmaltz, Gus, Kampf - move along.

The Hawks seem to be really trying to buy in but C can’t continue to make non-sensical moves, actually rewarding poor or unproductive play.

Agree, Kampf is another one. Not sure he and Kruger should even be in the lineup at the same time (theres 2 of the bottom 6 who will never score...theres 1/3 of the bottom 6). Yet Kampf gets the 2nd shift in OT with Kane? If he wanted to put a 2nd center with Kane...Kampf over Anisimov?

The bench is now being managed by the front office as well - and not just the coach. One of the front office/trade issues was it is done collectively, not by just a GM making calls. And now, that has translated to the bench, now that Q is gone (who wouldn't let them dictate lines/ice time).

Gustafson has never shown any signs of doing anything constructive in his own zone. In fact, he would be better suited never even entering the Dzone. Less chance to turn the puck over in the slot

LA was playing like S__t easy to look past them .HAWKS are still trying to get the Q stink out of their game ,will take sometime .. Better days ahead ..
- oldduffman

The Q stink of accountability? Yeah...that's been washed away with snowflake Schmaltz getting all the golden ice time he wants and Gustafson playing rat hockey without a care in the world out there

A think the HAWKS got caught looking past LA ,had strong 3rd just could not beat good young goalie . Schmaltz shooting a lot more last night ,maybe he got the memo .
Really like the new coach think things will really fall in place as the players get use to the system .Lot of Q drilled into them ,will take some time it still early ..
- oldduffman

Looking past LAK - no - that is too often the Hawks’ offense - passive, stay perimeter, don’t go to the net (with or without the puck) - one-and-dones (if that).

The Q stink of accountability? Yeah...that's been washed away with snowflake Schmaltz getting all the golden ice time he wants and Gustafson playing rat hockey without a care in the world out there
- PatShart

Accountability was really working well .Got to let players have some freedom and make mistakes .This is a bigger picture plan here , and will and is showing good results .

A think the HAWKS got caught looking past LA ,had strong 3rd just could not beat good young goalie . Schmaltz shooting a lot more last night ,maybe he got the memo .
Really like the new coach think things will really fall in place as the players get use to the system .Lot of Q drilled into them ,will take some time it still early ..
- oldduffman

So, oldumbman, Q is still the problem, even though he's been gone almost two weeks?!

Accountability was really working well .Got to let players have some freedom and make mistakes .This is a bigger picture plan here , and will and is showing good results .
- oldduffman

I agree with this will have good...no great results.

Gives them a very good chance at Hughes. I just hope they dont lose Kane - and other good players that respect accountability - along the way

So, oldumbman, Q is still the problem, even though he's been gone almost two weeks?!
- BMWChiFan

Your a funny guy ,that juvenile insult is the best you can do . You must really crack them up at parties .
And yes Q was the problem, and time will prove that to be the truth .. Be patience ,but your probably one of those premature guy's right .

Only against Chicago. Bettman allows other teams to cheat against the Blackhaws because Bettman hates Chicago.
- paulr

Did you see what I and Stl saw, or are you just piling on like others?

Looking past LAK - no - that is too often the Hawks’ offense - passive, stay perimeter, don’t go to the net (with or without the puck) - one-and-dones (if that).
- StLBravesFan

Yes, the Hawks didn't put the work into to go to the tough areas enough. Would like to see more low to high with traffic in front. Was pretty clear that the Kings struggled to defend those down low plays, but the Hawks didn't school them on it enough IMO.

The losses just keep on piling up and nothing has really changed since firing coach Q.

Their is no sustainable offensive zone play or attack, to much lolligagging around with the puck, defensively they look tired and overwhelmed.

The new coach is to be compared to mark tressman, always coming out after another loss with a monotone voice and saying the same thing over and over with no real progressive results.


The line combinations just are not producing any real results.


Blow this team up.

- DarthKane

LMAO love it great one Darth

Or - maybe - JC is - on his own dime - trying things to figure out what works and what doesn’t.

Too many dark conspiracy theories - sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
- StLBravesFan

via GIPHY

via GIPHY

- Dieselhead

Nice match up.

Kovy and Kopitar didn’t abuse Crawford. I have been saying, and so have others, that Crawford is still feeling symptoms. Don’t notice it all of the time. Straight shots he will track. When he has to track players or pucks, either side to side, or in and out he loses mobility and his net. When Crow made the save on Carter, on a break-in, earlier in the game, he was actually off his angle.

When Crow first returned he seemed to be playing well but then there was a break-away where he lost mobility and left much of the net open, for an easy goal. I was concerned.

In shoot-outs Crow is normally a beast but he did not move well or track the player and puck well on either shot. Kovy scored very easily as Crow gave him lots of net to shoot at. Kopitar also scored very easily as Crow seemed totally overmatched and easily deeked. In the past Crow would play possessed in the shoot-outs.

It is a testament to Crow that even with problems he tries to persevere. Compare Crow to Petersen in the shoot-out. Petersen is very active, mobile and not at all overmatched while Crow is the opposite.
- Z3Hawk

Number 1 Crow is simply a puck stopper, there is no beauty to his game. His movements are not effortless like a Price, Bob, Holtby. He can be choppy, glitchy, stab, lunge, be off his angle and still get a shutout in Game 4 of a Finals.

IMO that is why it took so long, despite a Cup, for him to be recognized world wide as a world class goaler. Simply said he stops pucks ugly.

That said it can be very very hard to diagnose his game but despite his being off his angle there is a common denominator to any successful goalie at any level, no matter their style, and that is to be square to the PUCK, not the player, while reading the play no matter where it is on the ice and at all times.

The 1st time the puck deflected of off Keith's skate on the cross ice pass at the bottom of the circles and while moving right to left Crow got his leg down told me Crow is on. He did not push too hard (overplay), tracked/read the play perfectly and as a result was in balance and square to the PUCK allowing him to effortlessly get his leg down and make look easy a world class save. ......... Think Quick on that sequence. He loooooooooooooooooooves that athletic (look at me) looking monster push side to side and contort/extend/abuse his body to make a huge save side to side. Many times he, and a Bob, would overplay a sequence like that and slide past that deflection... No, IMO Crow is on, but not fine tuned, admitting IMO he was off his angle on the Kovi snapper in the SO.

If Crow, or any goalie, is on they are tracking as a result square as a result in balance no matter if they make saves or not. That is the common denominator and the foundation a goalie must have to consistently stop pucks, at any level.

That said thought Petersen had a reeeeeeal quiet body/movements in his first ever NHL game. Have seen the kid live in the USHL a few times, on tv in NCAA games but you don't know what's between a guy's ears until big games. His body will tell you what his mind is thinking and this kid was not phased one iota in his biggest game ever.

Looking past LAK - no - that is too often the Hawks’ offense - passive, stay perimeter, don’t go to the net (with or without the puck) - one-and-dones (if that).
- StLBravesFan

Data, Sage. What is/was the problem Q or the personnel? "Hopefully" data is being collected and a judgement will be made organIzationally on Stan at yrs end.

Can't win without speed and skill in this league but can't win with all speed and skill. Q and subsequently JC can only work with what they are given and has that been sufficient?

Speaking of the PP, I like having Schmaltz in the middle for those plays like the one he nearly scored on last night. Seems better having DeBrincat the one sneaking on the far side for backdoor or those cross ice one timers. The bad result with the PP is the big guys aren't scoring all that much.

Hawks PP goals.

Toews - 2
Seabrook - 2
Kane - 1
Saad - 1
Schmaltz - 1
DeBrincat - 1

Keith (0 goals 1 point in 45 PP minutes)
AA (0 goals 0 points in 42 PP minutes)
Gus, Kahun, Joki, Kunitz no goals.

Obviously you want more and specifically you have to expect more from Kane if you are gonna give him loads of PP minutes. Where is Kane's 5v4 PP scoring rates for his career. The PP goes as he goes and it has been decline since his MVP season. It's not just him, as he is only one of 5 guys in that situation, but I think you have to challenge him to step it up. He is the one getting the top minutes and who's #1 contribution is to score and QB that PP. They need to find something that works soon.

LA was playing like S__t easy to look past them .HAWKS are still trying to get the Q stink out of their game ,will take sometime .. Better days ahead ..
- oldduffman

oh and the 1-5-3 hawks were were playing just great...so great they could look past the kings...of course you blame that on Q...

cat scoring 1 goal in 8 games, gus is turnover machine leading to goals and great chances, playing with 4-5 dmen that could not even be a #7 on the preds, and absoltuely nothing from the bottom 6 all season...thats all on Q...

must say you have a solid case of Q derangement syndrome

LA was playing like S__t easy to look past them .HAWKS are still trying to get the Q stink out of their game ,will take sometime .. Better days ahead ..
- oldduffman

you're delusional

There is both accountability and a recognition of what is and is not working chemistry-wise in these lines:

#Blackhawks lines and pairings:
Saad-Toews-Kane
DeBrincat-Anisimov-Schmaltz
Fortin-Kampf-Kahun
Martinsen-Kruger-Hayden

Keith-Seabrook
Gustafsson-Jokiharju
Forsling-Rutta

*Johnson, Kunitz, Manning appear to be extras.

JC seems to be figuring it out. . .

Number 1 Crow is simply a puck stopper, there is no beauty to his game. His movements are not effortless like a Price, Bob, Holtby. He can be choppy, glitchy, stab, lunge, be off his angle and still get a shutout in Game 4 of a Finals.

IMO that is why it took so long, despite a Cup, for him to be recognized world wide as a world class goaler. Simply said he stops pucks ugly.

That said it can be very very hard to diagnose his game but despite his being off his angle there is a common denominator to any successful goalie at any level, no matter their style, and that is to be square to the PUCK, not the player, while reading the play no matter where it is on the ice and at all times.

The 1st time the puck deflected of off Keith's skate on the cross ice pass at the bottom of the circles and while moving right to left Crow got his leg down told me Crow is on. He did not push too hard (overplay), tracked/read the play perfectly and as a result was in balance and square to the PUCK allowing him to effortlessly get his leg down and make look easy a world class save. ......... Think Quick on that sequence. He loooooooooooooooooooves that athletic (look at me) looking monster push side to side and contort/extend/abuse his body to make a huge save side to side. Many times he, and a Bob, would overplay a sequence like that and slide past that deflection... No, IMO Crow is on, but not fine tuned, admitting IMO he was off his angle on the Kovi snapper in the SO.

If Crow, or any goalie, is on they are tracking as a result square as a result in balance no matter if they make saves or not. That is the common denominator and the foundation a goalie must have to consistently stop pucks, at any level.

That said thought Petersen had a reeeeeeal quiet body/movements in his first ever NHL game. Have seen the kid live in the USHL a few times, on tv in NCAA games but you don't know what's between a guy's ears until big games. His body will tell you what his mind is thinking and this kid was not phased one iota in his biggest game ever.
- Mr Ricochet

Crow has talent that will result in good games even if he is not 100%. However, it will depend on the type of opportunities the other team has. I continue to believe he is having difficulty playing his angles and keeping his net on break-aways where he has to move in and out, front to back as the player comes quickly towards him. He just doesn’t seem as mobile as he needs to be. Now perhaps this is a pure physical and/or rustiness problem. However, it is possible it is from holdover symptoms. In any event Crow never was this easily beaten.

Ugh. Hawks were suppose to beat the Kings 🤣