Hopefully that was related to the travel schedule and letting the players enjoy Europe, too, and not a regular habit of optional practices and off days like Q used to have. This team needs to learn systems and each other so hopefully there's a strong dose of practices, days in the gym, and sessions watching game tape.
- AEL_Fox

Q had a veteran team. Most coaches handle it the same way.

How many practices do you need to stop chasing the puck? The forwards not all being on the same plane?

I hardly believe any system includes those elements.

Hopefully that was related to the travel schedule and letting the players enjoy Europe, too, and not a regular habit of optional practices and off days like Q used to have. This team needs to learn systems and each other so hopefully there's a strong dose of practices, days in the gym, and sessions watching game tape.
- AEL_Fox

I think if anything, Colliton likes to have as many practices as possible.

Theodore or Schmidt would be our #1 D.
- ItHossaGood

And the other one would be the #2...

Hopefully that was related to the travel schedule and letting the players enjoy Europe, too, and not a regular habit of optional practices and off days like Q used to have. This team needs to learn systems and each other so hopefully there's a strong dose of practices, days in the gym, and sessions watching game tape.
- AEL_Fox

Sounds like the NHL PR machine intervened on at least one of the practices, too. The big practice before the Prague game was open to public (ticketed) and was attended by Gritty and Tommy Hawk on the ice. Hard to get in a good workout with all that hoopla.

With the reports of the ice being so horrible, wondering if O2 was kept open as an ice rink for practicing the whole time or if it reverted back to being the concert arena it's known to be on the off days.

And the other one would be the #2...
- Davewn

And it wouldn't matter, because the minute they start playing for the Hawks and Colliton's system they are automatically reduced to AHLers…

some would call that dementia.
- Elbows15

Most would go with psychosis.

Gus is going to be an enigma all season.

He will be a UFA. He is playing on his off side. Anyone he gets paired with will look bad. He could play with Girodano, Josi or Hedman and they would look bad. He might be a great help on the power play. But that is probably 3 or 4 minutes per game. What do you do with the other 14 minutes he plays. You can protect him with offensive zone starts some of the time.

Would the Blackhawks be better off with a more well rounded 25~30 point scoring defender that actually had the speed. skills and an interest in playing defense?

The Hawks do not have cap space so if you traded him you could not take much back in salary. You would have to get another young cheap RD defender back and they are very hard to find. Or you package Gus, Smith (salary dump), and a draft pick (so they take Smith's salary) for a decent 200' RD defender with some offensive skills. Or you trade him for a high draft pick and bring up Boqvist. He is probably not ready for the NHL, but at least his inexperience and lack of strength and development are an excuse. No excuse for Gus.

To my point earlier, per Powers:

Colliton also said he wants to get Dach into some full practices before determining when he plays. The Blackhawks didn't have a lot of regular practices in Europe.

He also says Murphy isn't a sure thing to go. He is "hopeful" to play.
- Chunk

what the Heck did they do in Europe? it was a Business TRIP!!!

So, to summarize, these are the HB excuses for the Hawk's 1st game performance:

.perennial all-stars deHaan & Murphy are out of the lineup due to injuries
.the ice was way too slow in Prague
.training camp was too short to fully implement the systems
.the team has too may new faces to be able to implement the systems
.long flight to Europe for the first game
.jet lag from the difficult travel
.Keith is too old
.the defensive parings are wrong
.Perlini is not focused/committed enough
.Kampf sucks
.Dach is out with injury
.bad puck luck

SJ is coming in with an 0-3 record, and a -9 goal differential. The Hawks should be able to win the home opener. Unless:

.the stress of the home opener gets to the team
.all the new faces are intimidated by Cornelison's anthem singing
.jet-lagged from the return trip
.SJ tries real hard to turn their poor start around
- scottak

Well it helps to have nhl dmen on the ice, don't you think? They don't have the stable of forwards that the Maple Leaf's have so, it's really not an excuse just a fact.

what the Heck did they do in Europe? it was a Business TRIP!!!
- glennjpawlak22

Well, one of the days was an "open" practice which was basically a glorified skills competition since tickets were sold to the public and the damn mascots were on the ice. They had two travel days (the flight out and Berlin to Prague) where they didn't practice, No morning skate in Berlin, one off-day in Prague.

Not excusing the product on the ice, but the schedule was janky.

Let's look at the state of Blackhawks defencernen and the team performance in Europe. Let us be honest.
Keith. If he is to be the #1 dman then he needs the right patner. Is there anyone who works well with him or you think might work well? On the NHL roster? Injury prone or slow to adequate barely acceptable skaters characterizes most of them. Not yet proven and shaky = Koekkoek. The league trends toward fast skaters who csn move puck so we are trailing there as we have too many who aren"t. Sure the future defense looks good but the dmen this season is not long for the Indian head.

Bad ice. The Eurooean distraction. Really. The Flyers had the faced the same.
The defensemen probably keep us from playoffs even if the goaltenders stand on their head. I questuon some veterans privately buy into this new defense but we will see.

Let's look at the state of Blackhawks defencernen and the team performance in Europe. Let us be honest.
Keith. If he is to be the #1 dman then he needs the right patner. Is there anyone who works well with him or you think might work well? On the NHL roster? Injury prone or slow to adequate barely acceptable skaters characterizes most of them. Not yet proven and shaky = Koekkoek. The league trends toward fast skaters who csn move puck so we are trailing there as we have too many who aren"t. Sure the future defense looks good but the dmen this season is not long for the Indian head.

Bad ice. The Eurooean distraction. Really. The Flyers had the faced the same.
The defensemen probably keep us from playoffs even if the goaltenders stand on their head. I questuon some veterans privately buy into this new defense but we will see.
- jhawk59

Who would have thought Seabrook and Maatta would have made a solid pair? If the right partner can be found for Seabrook the same can happen with Keith. I don't think Gus is the right guy.

Let's look at the state of Blackhawks defencernen and the team performance in Europe. Let us be honest.
Keith. If he is to be the #1 dman then he needs the right patner. Is there anyone who works well with him or you think might work well? On the NHL roster? Injury prone or slow to adequate barely acceptable skaters characterizes most of them. Not yet proven and shaky = Koekkoek. The league trends toward fast skaters who csn move puck so we are trailing there as we have too many who aren"t. Sure the future defense looks good but the dmen this season is not long for the Indian head.

Bad ice. The Eurooean distraction. Really. The Flyers had the faced the same.
The defensemen probably keep us from playoffs even if the goaltenders stand on their head. I questuon some veterans privately buy into this new defense but we will see.
- jhawk59

The league trends to what works. StL did not have many (if any) burners on the back end. I don't really care how fast our d-men are, as long as they play their position well. Gus is the fastest skater on our backend... he is also by far the worst defensively. So would you rather six of him or six of Seabrook. As much crap as we give him here, I'd take six of Seabrook simply because he knows how to play the position. If you pair him with himself, I think you would get something very similar to him with Maatta. Two positionally solid players who occasionally get burned by speed.

Well, one of the days was an "open" practice which was basically a glorified skills competition since tickets were sold to the public and the damn mascots were on the ice. They had two travel days (the flight out and Berlin to Prague) where they didn't practice, No morning skate in Berlin, one off-day in Prague.

Not excusing the product on the ice, but the schedule was janky.
- Chunk

Pointing out the painfully obvious, the team that took them to the wood shed had similar challenges.

Pointing out the painfully obvious, the team that took them to the wood shed had similar challenges.
- scottak

Indeed, but the question centered on what they were doing while they were over there. So I simply listed the interruptions to the schedule. Further, my last line said that I'm not excusing the product on the ice for precisely the reason you state.

Rangers trade Namestikov to Sens for Nick Ebert and a pick

#more dominos

EDIT: Calvin DeHaan games played per season over his NHL Career...


51, 65, 72, 82, 33, 74

At the time of the trade he wasn’t expected to play till November because of shoulder surgery. So...

If Dach is healthy, he needs to be playing back with his junior team. Practicing with this bunch ain't gonna help.
- Elbows15

He isn’t going to learn anything back in Junior.

Who would have thought Seabrook and Maatta would have made a solid pair? If the right partner can be found for Seabrook the same can happen with Keith. I don't think Gus is the right guy.
- DarthKane

Several people stated the last few years that Seabrook having to play with Forsling, Koekkoek, Dahlstrom, Svedburg or any other AHL dman hurt his game...but many simply want to say hes suddenly out of shape or forgot how to play.

Yet preseason and 1 game with a capable NHL dman and he looked comfortable. You can see a clear difference in his gaps and partner spacing when with a player that knows what hes doing or not. Same with Keith

He isn’t going to learn anything back in Junior.
- gifman

I still think Dach should go back to Jr. He needs to fill out a bit more .Boqvist went back and seem to help him .

The league trends to what works. StL did not have many (if any) burners on the back end. I don't really care how fast our d-men are, as long as they play their position well. Gus is the fastest skater on our backend... he is also by far the worst defensively. So would you rather six of him or six of Seabrook. As much crap as we give him here, I'd take six of Seabrook simply because he knows how to play the position. If you pair him with himself, I think you would get something very similar to him with Maatta. Two positionally solid players who occasionally get burned by speed.
- Chunk

I've heard your point - of - view a couple of times and there is substance to what you say. I am concerned, however, if each of our dmen are any of this combination (six dmen with issues is not good):

speed (can live with some members of blueline crew being slow); attitude and or indifference of performance because management will not get him a good match for him (his pair) and he always has committed too many gaffe even in his Norris season ( too many for a first pair role); injured whom are beginning to sound like chronic injured each season; a shouder or back injury (yes hockey is a rough sport. Playing with or worrying about your bad back or bad shoulder. This can lead to tentative performance.

You are never wrong to carry extra dmen. The pounding and brusing they endure is over many months from training camp to the final playoff game is a marathon

I've heard your point - of - view a couple of times and there is substance to what you say. I am concerned, however, if each of our dmen are any of this combination (six dmen with issues is not good):

speed (can live with some members of blueline crew being slow); attitude and or indifference of performance because management will not get him a good match for him (his pair) and he always has committed too many gaffe even in his Norris season ( too many for a first pair role); injured whom are beginning to sound like chronic injured each season; a shouder or back injury (yes hockey is a rough sport. Playing with or worrying about your bad back or bad shoulder. This can lead to tentative performance.

You are never wrong to carry extra dmen. The pounding and brusing they endure is over many months from training camp to the final playoff game is a marathon
- jhawk59

I hear what you are saying (and I was not arguing with that point). I am also not advocating for having a blueline of slowpokes. My point was that if you are going to ask me to choose between a bunch of D-men whose claim to fame is speed, vs a bunch who have experience and know where to be positionally (even if they are slower), I personally will pick the experienced/slower players pretty much all of the time. Ideally, you have a nice mix of players with different skills that can pair well together. That, however, is normally a luxury vs a rule.

Several people stated the last few years that Seabrook having to play with Forsling, Koekkoek, Dahlstrom, Svedburg or any other AHL dman hurt his game...but many simply want to say hes suddenly out of shape or forgot how to play.

Yet preseason and 1 game with a capable NHL dman and he looked comfortable. You can see a clear difference in his gaps and partner spacing when with a player that knows what hes doing or not. Same with Keith
- PatShart

Ok, wise one, on this point The Narcissist agrees with you. Deal with it.

Leafs played a good game tonight and they hustled. St. Louis remains a beast though, and if they remain healthy, look out again! Picking up Faulk was a good move for them. Nothing flashy, but pretty much consistent. I wonder aloud as to what that must feel like?

On the bright side... at least there was no ‘ugly’.
- DarthKane

not yet anyway...but a shark team that is 0-3 and could be 0-4 after playing the perds tomorrow may be a little bit pssed and ready to torch a maybe to well rested hawk team.

We know the hawks suck after 3 or more days between games.