I still believe Saad is a top 6 player and will be here next year, he has to just get more consistent with his scoring, which I think will come. I also think the cat plays top 6 next year, so all they need is a RW to play with Toews.

Be careful what you wish for with the bolded above, as you trade even one of them away and you will only have one experienced D man to mentor all of these young guys...I think you need both of them to help mentor, and Keith is still a top pairing defenseman in my opinion.
- ToewsdNKanefusd

With you on Saad. He doesn't seem to get a lot of love around here so probably in the minority about him. When he's on, he is one of the best forwards on the ice and can be dominant at times: deceptive speed, great at protecting the puck, rushes the net, can be tough to knock off the puck.

Also, Saad has had so many bad bounces whether hit posts and crossbars or missing a goal by an inch. If he converts just half of those, he's a 20 goal scorer already like DeBrincat.

If either Keith or Seabrook is traded, I could see a veteran being signed on an affordable 1-2 year deal like Stralman. He's in his 30's but still reliable to play steady defense and eat minutes while also being a good role model for the youngsters.

I respect your opinion. However Chicago is more than 1 top 6 away. Saad is to inconsistent and kahun is a nice 3rd line player , strome and Kane need a bonafied top 6 guy.


Drake, kampf and Perlini are nice but after that what does Chicago really have bottom depth wise, they need a solid 3c who can contribute 40 to 50 points bring some size and solid playmaking with speed to compliment kahun and Debrincant


Keith or Seabrook 1 of them has to be moved to clear a roster spot and cap space to bring up 2 kids one who can be a 7th d and 1 who can play top 4 Mitchell, beaudin ,boyquist .

I'm all for moving anisomov and saad.
- Taylorst1

Totally agree,wehave similar optics

Hopefully, this team is not the same team that had 2 8-game losing streaks in 21 games - I don’t think they are.

In the last 13 games, they’ve won 7 (7-4-2=16). Are the that good? Prabobly not. Are the a playoff team - not this year but in general? Prabobably on the bottom end of the bubble.

But - in the last 13 games - the beaten:
Pens twice, once in Pittsburgh
Nashville
Dallas in Texas
Colorado, mile high twice
Minnesota

They’ve also taken NYI to OT on the island, and Winnipeg to OT at home.

Five road games in a row with a point (altho, yes, they’ve lost 3 of 4 at home).

Goalie wins? Yeah, some / most / all - but the defense has been better (all the SOGs against notwithstanding - they’ve generally been doing a better job), getting some depth-scoring.

Plus - special teams looking better, new goalie seems to be for real, new additions seem to be outperforming those they replaced....

Not a bad sequence.

Add in some good prospect performances at the junior tournament.

Time, I think, to be looking to the future with SOME confidence, at least - they won’t make the playoffs this season, but they aren’t the disaster we sometimes project them to be.

Far from it.

This is a work in progress - seems to me that “progress” is the right word. Let’s see how things play out.
- StLBravesFan

i am with you on all this. however this team is not immune to another 6-7 game swoon. They are chasing the game way to much, special teams are vulnerable to another fade, this ongoing frustrating trend to get ripped at the start of games. Still no bottom six scoring to speak of so they are vulnerable to another scoring slump.

lets be fair...the best we can hope for is this teams play .50 the rest of the season.

I guess you missed the 8 other times he traded Adb this week? He's just joking.
- I Am The Breadman[/quote. lol. I've seen it eight times,but it fools me everytime

I still think Kieth can be top pairing but is more suited for top 4 right now. I can see Seabs in more of a mentor role.

For some reason just don’t see that with Keith, based on some comments and things I’ve read on Keith...mostly about how pissed he gets when someone (frank)s up, which I’m not sure Is the right tenor to take in a mentoring role.
- HawkintheD

Hope he gets pissed at himself once in a while, not just at teammates.

Saad is being paid 6 mil per to be a top line forward not a 2/3rd line tweener. His scoring has been down for a year and a half now. He looks better on the PK then on 5 on 5 half the time. That is all effort and hockey IQ. No way he should be more dangerous on the PK then on 5 on 5. He also doesn't hit anyone or bring anything physicality wise. 23 hits in 43 games.

I don't agree with this "mentor" idea. That's what the coaching staff is for. What multiple cup winning d-men was on the Hawks active roster that mentored Keith, Seabrook, and Hammer? None.
- bhawks2241

To be fair, while he never won any Cups (at least from my recollection), Vandermeer was the mentor to Keith and Seabrook during their early years. And while they weren't on the team long, I would imagine Aucoin and Cullimore likely helped raise them as well. Not exactly the best of players when they were the Hawks but they were experienced as well as tough.

I disagree, the habitual beating of the dead horse is what has run its course. As sure as the hawks suck this season, you will see pages of fire stan, seabrook sucks, Mcdonut is an idiot, etc. Last season it was Toews as the daily whipping boy. At least Darth breaks up the non-sense.
- riozzo

Maybe you should develop protocols on what YOU believe people should post about, right after you buy the server, host the message board and authenticate whoever meets your standards.

-I get tired of people pining for Breadman
-People constantly posting prospective line combinations is annoying (see post below)
-Of course, ref/NHL conspiracy theories (thanks PowerE, LOL) is also not to my liking

Ya know what I do? Just move on and engage someone who is talking about what I like, or if that's not an option I just turn the channel of. Perhaps you should try that. I know it's hard to see information/comments you don't like/agree with without a resounding rebuttal, but this isn't AM radio, people are pretty much free to discuss issues pertaining to the Hawks as they see fit, no matter what you think.

I would like to see a bunch of forward signings as a number of guys look to be ready for Rockford.

Entwistle and Hagel are already signed. Could sign Olofsson, Kurashev, Soderlund and Hakkarainen. Maybe Coughlin and Starrett could be added on AHL contracts initially. Would be a logjam unless guys move up or out though. (Below is more of a list than proposed line combos):

Fortin - Ejdsell - Highmore
Knott - Johnson - Iacopelli
T. Sikura - Louis - Noel
Hagel - Kurashev - Entwistle
Olofsson - Soderlund - Hakkarainen
(AHL?) Coughlin - Starrett - Bondra

Lots of interesting players, and as was noted a few days ago, separating the wheat from the chaff is the difficult part. I think there are a few players (wheat) in there which is all that's needed; just have to keep the right ones.
- totem

Good post. While I love talking about prospects, I never thought about projecting which ones would earn at least an AHL contract to stock Rockford even if they never will make it to the NHL. Just my guesses:

Regular font: good to great potential to make it
Italicized: on the bubble, may or may not make it
Bolded: likely will NOT make it

Fortin - Ejdsell - Highmore
Knott - Johnson - Iacopelli
T. Sikura - Louis - Noel
Hagel - Kurashev - Entwistle
Olofsson - Soderlund - Hakkarainen
Coughlin - Starrett - Bondra

Straight up? Not until I knew I was out on Duchene and/or Stone. But then yeah, maybe.
- BINGO!

Dunno exactly why your cap situation is off the top of my head, but I know Nylander makes only about a mill more than Dougie so you could swap them out and depending on your cap, have the space to make a run for one of them in FA. Add two Top 6 forwards to a very deep defensive core seems like the a great move going forward

Can’t spell Duchene without douche...we’ll almost anyway. I wouldn’t want that cancer anywhere near a team I profess to like.
- Ogilthorpe2

Well, can't say it without douche..... Agree - forget him....

Good post. While I love talking about prospects, I never thought about projecting which ones would earn at least an AHL contract to stock Rockford even if they never will make it to the NHL. Just my guesses:

Regular font: good to great potential to make it
Italicized: on the bubble, may or may not make it
Bolded: likely will NOT make it

Fortin - Ejdsell - Highmore
Knott - Johnson - Iacopelli
T. Sikura - Louis - Noel
Hagel - Kurashev - Entwistle
Olofsson - Soderlund - Hakkarainen
Coughlin - Starrett - Bondra
- AEL_Fox

I would agree with your assessment of Rockford and the farm forwards. Never know with these guys. Not to mention what trades will likely happen going forward, as we always mention as well.

I remember correctly Sikura is a FA at the end of the year and Johnson, Louis, and Ejdsell are RFAs so it's possible one or more could not be back next year.

Well your entitled to your opinion , but to say that is a pipe dream or could never happen isn't based on any realization , that teams have to deal with a certain amount of cap and contracts. If a team is at the cap and has a few assets who might be the facesnof the team but are struggling one with them in the lineup and two in order to try and turn things around based on no real assets and no cap space you have to put something of value on the table and drasaitli and Mcdavid are both great but both eat up a ton of cap space , so you try and get the best possible return you can while staying within the cap, if getting 3 or 4 players back of which 1 is a top 6 the other top 9 and to veterans and a prospect and maybe a pick while dumping off some bad contracts then that is surely a possibility.


Remember Chicago did trade a guy named panarin for a saad? So things do happen or ROR nobody thought he'd move or at least be had for what was given up? Karlsson was moved for basically nothing.


So these trades do happen, just because you don't like the players being offered up doesn't mean they are foolish their is a bigger picture teams look at.
- Taylorst1

I looked at the big picture the hawks with Kane and toews will always bewotking the cap there’s no way they can add another contract that large and why would ypthe oilers trade there 2 best players to get worst? Also if and that’s a big If mcjesus was available there are multiple teams with better assists and picks then we have I believe buffalo has 3 first rounders

Pm'ed you. Sorry if the damn thing sent twice.
- I Am The Breadman

No worries, I just hit ya back

Why in the world would you trade ADB? Kid has 20 goals already, and is a pure sniper on the left side of the PP opposite to Kane.
He can play up and down in the lineup, tough and scrappy, canon for a shot.
Ya lets trade that for a dman which we have plenty of.
You need to score to win games the last time I checked. He may be a streaky scorer but it worked for Sharp.
Keep ADB in my opinion!

I still think Kieth can be top pairing but is more suited for top 4 right now. I can see Seabs in more of a mentor role.

For some reason just don’t see that with Keith, based on some comments and things I’ve read on Keith...mostly about how pissed he gets when someone (frank)s up, which I’m not sure Is the right tenor to take in a mentoring role.
- HawkintheD

How much of that is truth though. I mean, it could have been that one time or a couple of times, he got mad about someone messing up, and everyone blew it up into he can't mentor. Things get overblown and taken out of context all of the time these days.

Maybe you should develop protocols on what YOU believe people should post about, right after you buy the server, host the message board and authenticate whoever meets your standards.

-I get tired of people pining for Breadman
-People constantly posting prospective line combinations is annoying (see post below)
-Of course, ref/NHL conspiracy theories (thanks PowerE, LOL) is also not to my liking

Ya know what I do? Just move on and engage someone who is talking about what I like, or if that's not an option I just turn the channel of. Perhaps you should try that. I know it's hard to see information/comments you don't like/agree with without a resounding rebuttal, but this isn't AM radio, people are pretty much free to discuss issues pertaining to the Hawks as they see fit, no matter what you think.
- kwolf68

But I'm already here......

But I'm already here......
- I Am The Breadman

Actually, the first thing I thought of was you breadman, when I read that. Then I realized he meant the actual player...

Just curious cuz I read the Montreal blog and he was speculating on it, but how would you guys feel if they traded AA for Andrew Shaw? Or some sort of three way trade where we get Shaw back, AA goes elsewhere, and Montreal gets a pick?

Shaw has one more year than AA has but his cap hit is about 600k less and his deal is structured so the actually money goes down. I know, I know, everyone is gonna freak out about adding yet ANOTHER former Hawks player BACK to the team once again, BUT we've all agreed after watching him play against the Hawks back in November that Shaw brings a lot of things this team is desperately missing. If we're looking to bump Cat up to play with Kane and Strome regularly there will be a 3rd line Center hole on this team (unless Kampf gets that, but we all seem to agree that he's better suited for 4C and PK Kruger role) that he could fill with any of the many forwards we have that have shown some flash. Idk just an idea wanted to get a feel for what people thought, especially those who don't think we have any shot at signing any big FAs this offseason.

Actually, the first thing I thought of was you breadman, when I read that. Then I realized he meant the actual player...


- ToewsdNKanefusd

I was about to take offense, hahahaha!

Just curious cuz I read the Montreal blog and he was speculating on it, but how would you guys feel if they traded AA for Andrew Shaw? Or some sort of three way trade where we get Shaw back, AA goes elsewhere, and Montreal gets a pick?

Shaw has one more year than AA has but his cap hit is about 600k less and his deal is structured so the actually money goes down. I know, I know, everyone is gonna freak out about adding yet ANOTHER former Hawks player BACK to the team once again, BUT we've all agreed after watching him play against the Hawks back in November that Shaw brings a lot of things this team is desperately missing. If we're looking to bump Cat up to play with Kane and Strome regularly there will be a 3rd line Center hole on this team (unless Kampf gets that, but we all seem to agree that he's better suited for 4C and PK Kruger role) that he could fill with any of the many forwards we have that have shown some flash. Idk just an idea wanted to get a feel for what people thought, especially those who don't think we have any shot at signing any big FAs this offseason.
- Savetheembers33

I would love Shaw back on the Hawks, so I am all for it!

I would love Shaw back on the Hawks, so am all for it!
- ToewsdNKanefusd

A little bit of retention, but I miss him too.

I bash on Stan as much as anyone, but credit where credit is due: his Hartman trade for a 1st, a 4th, and Ejdsell is looking very good.

Beaudin didn't make team Canada, but he was in the mix.
Kurashev was a standout at the WJC, and to me looks like he has the tools for a middle 6 player.
Ejdsell is still trying to learn how to skate in Rockford, can't play if you can't skate.

If Beaudin and Kurashev turn into everyday NHLers, it won't take much for them to be better than Ryan 'inopportune late penalty' Hartman.

A little bit of retention, but I miss him too.
- I Am The Breadman

However, I would keep Kampf at center and have shaw on his wing with sikura or kahun.

I bash on Stan as much as anyone, but credit where credit is due: his Hartman trade for a 1st, a 4th, and Ejdsell is looking very good.

Beaudin didn't make team Canada, but he was in the mix.
Kurashev was a standout at the WJC, and to me looks like he has the tools for a middle 6 player.
Ejdsell is still trying to learn how to skate in Rockford, can't play if you can't skate.

If Beaudin and Kurashev turn into everyday NHLers, it won't take much for them to be better than Ryan 'inopportune late penalty' Hartman.
- ObeseOprah

Hartman brought extra locker room dynamics that led to his departure

However, I would keep Kampf at center and have shaw on his wing with sikura or kahun.
- ToewsdNKanefusd

Sounds good.