Problem is a lot of the defensive issues are related to your veteran D men.

Keith is making horrific decisions.

Blindly threw a pass around the wall on the Panthers 1st goal. Got beaten up the ice on the 4 on 4 goal, and every kid from the moment they first play D are taught never to blindly throw it in the middle of the ice......

hard to start nit picking younger guys when the veterans and supposed leaders are playing brutal hockey.

As far as the goalies go....you 2 AHL caliber goalies and a guy who was a throw in a trade. Reason for that and we are seeing it now.

On last note’s postgame, I heard Colliton say that he didn’t have an answer about the low TOI for some players (presumably Kubalik, Strome, Kurasvhev) - that he hadn’t realized that there were low TOI for them. (That comment seems to have been edited out of the video posted on the Hawks’ web site this morning. )

Not a good sign if your head coach doesn’t realize what’s going on on the ice.
- StLBravesFan

I thought he said that the official TOI was different than what the Hawks had on their internal calculations.

That said, he’s mismanaging Kubalik, at minimum.

Did the Bears win three SB's in the last 10 years I completely forgot about?

The Hawks have at least signaled a rebuild whether you think Bowman's the guy for the job or not.

That's a horrible comp.

This team was a long shot to make the playoffs to begin with but what did you think was going to happen when Dach got injured and the Toews illness was announced?
- HawkintheD

Going to be a LONG here on this board if people are expecting this team to be anything other than what they are....a lottery pick. Also a tough year if after 3 games we are going to give the trade win to Colorado regarding Saad.

Very few had issues with the all in mentality on weisse and fleischman for danault
Further understood to dump Bickell's deal it would take TT

THe list goes on and on and on.....Bowman chose his core, some deals worked out, and some didn't. Not going to get all 100% right.

Biggest thing is seeing the improvement out of the younger D men, some of the younger forwards and see if we can get more consistency out of 17/12, and making sure 8 doesn't regress like 12 did last year.

The Keith downfall is just the beginning. He's old. I wish BOwman would deal him to a contender and he could play 4-6 minutes but that's also up to Keith to accept. The return could help them turn this around quicker. By trading Keith I am saying closer to the deadline.....it's great Keith, if engaged, can mentor some of these younger kids.....

Problem is a lot of the defensive issues are related to your veteran D men.

Keith is making horrific decisions.

Blindly threw a pass around the wall on the Panthers 1st goal. Got beaten up the ice on the 4 on 4 goal, and every kid from the moment they first play D are taught never to blindly throw it in the middle of the ice......

hard to start nit picking younger guys when the veterans and supposed leaders are playing brutal hockey.

As far as the goalies go....you 2 AHL caliber goalies and a guy who was a throw in a trade. Reason for that and we are seeing it now.
- SteveRain

Good points. I read that they should be able to get a lot for a 37 year old Keith. I don't see it.

1. Saad for Zadorov
2. Maata for Morrison (who?)
3 .Lehner for Subaan

Sorry we didn't get 6 first rounders this is simply Stan bashing and stupid.
- rpeters01

I’d rather have Lehner. And I thought that was a reason Stan picked him up when he did, to have a high end NHL goalie in place to fall back on if he decided to move on from CC. They can afford the $5M CAP hit.

You build a team from the net out.

I’d rather have Lehner. And I thought that was a reason Stan picked him up when he did, to have a high end NHL goalie in place to fall back on if he decided to move on from CC. They can afford the $5M CAP hit.

You build a team from the net out.
- scottak

The best team of the hard cap era did the exact opposite.

I think they will patiently run through the roster and prospects auditioning, but clearly circling the names of which vets / new acquisitions can be used as capital to acquire youth.
The biggest thing I took away for yesterday other than Delia has got get a quicker glove, was watching this Panther:
Vincent Trocheck was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes by the Florida Panthers for Erik Haula, Lucas Wallmark, Eetu Luostarinen and Chase Priskie.

I see everyone ripping on the trade deadline adds and subtractions and how much the hawks lost in these deals in the past, and I see Trocheck the 11 goal 38 point guy actually as the typical "butchie Goring puts us over the top" trade that teams who feel they are in Striking distance to the Cup Final make.

I am not advocating any moves right now.

But patience might open things up on the trade market that helps for the future, because so far I don't see any dominant impact scoring machines in the hawk system just churning up bulking up before they are set loose on the NHL.

The team they iced at the tournament was okay - good enough to play with the Oil, nowhere near good enough to play with Vegas. So, they decided it was time to rebuild. McD was against it, so he was launched. The subtracted Saad and Maatta. Added some kids. Then lost Toews and Dach. The plan is for them to play the kids, and suck. The plan is coming along nicely.

Also, bad teams in sports typically look like they have little idea how to play the game. Part of being bad.

Another thing.....no coach - even Q - makes this team close to good.

The core.....two of them are absolutely untradeable right now. Keith might bring back a little something at the TDL, but he's 37 and not playing well. Kane, in normal times, would still bring a solid return. First, they have to find a team willing and able to take on $10.5M, likely with a bad contract coming back. Now the hard part - to get better, the Hawks need high #1's; and you don't get that from the teams in a position to acquire Kane. That leaves high end prospects. Is a team giving up high end prospects for an older guy making that much? During this economic era for the league?

PE, this was general commentary, not directed at you in particular.
- mohel

Kane is still an elite player and if he were "available" that's a trade that is made during the offseason as teams can work his deal in. Not small enough to do in season unless you expand it to multiple teams and 1 has ample room to take on cap hits.

Even with Dach and Toews this team wasn't making the playoffs. NOt with this 3 headed monster of crap goaltending. Which is perfectly OK as understanding what this team has and doesn't helps curb expectations.

I think Keith will find his game to be attractive enough to a team that is looking to sure up it's 4-6 slots. Question to Bowman and the hawks is.....would the return for Keith be worth it vs what he could bring in regards to mentoring role to the younger guys, assuming Keith's engaged in that role. If he's not engaged in that role, than IMO you need to move him.....

IT;s way early , so take that into consideration, but I think it's VERY fair to point to this organization and question how they have restocked their D and goaltending positions. THis team has a black hole of death in between the pipes.

As far as D goes, the hawks have had to make trades to acquire top 4 guys (2 younger at the time), in DeHaan, Murphy and Zadorov....

Mitchell looks like he understands the position, but boqvist......we really need to see a drastic improvement out of him on understanding the right time to pinch and wrong time.....he looks lost way too much.

So I get the Bowman questioning and bashing to an extent, but this team is in a major transition and the fan base needs to 100% understand it and accept it.

The best team of the hard cap era did the exact opposite.
- mohel

You could arguing that the first Cup team buried Crawford to let him develop signed the Swiss Cristobal Huet but needed help with an unknown Finn in Antti Niemi.

But I do agree teams that want to solidify long spans of winning seasons need a long term solution.

Years ago, goalie prospects got traded...
The Boston Bruins have acquired goaltender Tuukka Rask from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for goaltender Andrew Raycroft, it was announced today by Bruins Interim General Manager Jeff Gorton.

I think Markstrom was a pretty nice buy for the Flames, but again, the planets must align (Cap space, departure, interest, dollars paid).

This will be an on-going issue even if the address it from outside with vet, unless one of the Rockford Troika actually shows NHL 60 minute ability.

Yeah... an wouldn't a couple extra number ones be handy right now....and a fan base patient enough to not spend each day talking anti coach and GM.

The best team of the hard cap era did the exact opposite.
- mohel

There are exceptions, but I’d classify CC as an elite goalie in his prime, and he was in net for 2 Cups. Detroit thought it was important enough to go get Hasek, who may be the best goalie to ever live.

Good goaltending gives you a chance every night.

I’d rather have Lehner. And I thought that was a reason Stan picked him up when he did, to have a high end NHL goalie in place to fall back on if he decided to move on from CC. They can afford the $5M CAP hit.

You build a team from the net out.
- scottak

I'm really racking my brain here......but probably since MAF was a young kid on that younger Pittsburgh team that beat Detroit did we see a true elite goalie will a cup in the last decade.....Valshinevsky (spell) is arguable this past year....but in between....

Thomas, Billington, Crawford, Niemi, Quick, Murray, etc......all guys who showed up when the needed to but not your King Henrik's or Carey Price's of the world.

Think it;s been proven you can win with above average goaltending just as easily. However, you have no shot if your goaltending is made up of minor league calibre players....

The best team of the hard cap era did the exact opposite.
- mohel

Build a team from the back-end and center position.

Fill in the rest and get a solid goalie that shows up in crunch time (although you really don't know that until you get to crunch time).

Boqvist really concerns me. I don't see skating that is anywhere close to elite. I get he needs a lot more time to develop as a d-man but idk don't see a lot of raw tools.

He made nice offensive plays as a junior but it doesn't appear to translate to the NHL and he doesn't seem to have the feet/skating to make up for the mistakes he makes (in his prime Keith could cover up his mistakes/high risk plays b/c he had the feet/skating to recover).

You could arguing that the first Cup team buried Crawford to let him develop signed the Swiss Cristobal Huet but needed help with an unknown Finn in Antti Niemi.

But I do agree teams that want to solidify long spans of winning seasons need a long term solution.

Years ago, goalie prospects got traded...
The Boston Bruins have acquired goaltender Tuukka Rask from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for goaltender Andrew Raycroft, it was announced today by Bruins Interim General Manager Jeff Gorton.

I think Markstrom was a pretty nice buy for the Flames, but again, the planets must align (Cap space, departure, interest, dollars paid).

This will be an on-going issue even if the address it from outside with vet, unless one of the Rockford Troika actually shows NHL 60 minute ability.

Yeah... an wouldn't a couple extra number ones be handy right now....and a fan base patient enough to not spend each day talking anti coach and GM.
- wiz1901

Hope you are well......

I was always and still am to extent, that a hot goalie, can steal a series. Most of these guys at the NHL level have proven to an extent that they have the physical tools necessary to play at the level....and really it comes down to the mental side. Is that kid in STL going to become a bust? Won a cup, but was pretty crappy in the playoffs this summer vs Vancouver.

I keep thinking of those Vancouver teams in the 208-09 to early 2010s when they had Sundin and the sisters, and a pretty stacked team.....their only downfall was each series they played the Hawks.....Khabibulin or Niemi or Crawford outplayed Luongo...and even in 2010-11 the Hawks had NO business pushing that series to 7 games and it was likely because Luongo was just a mental sieve more often that not.

Hawks just need to find a goalie who they can build around that is above average in the regular season, may not win individual awards, but will stabilize the positions by not allowing soft goals and make the occasional spectacular save....and has another level come playoff time.

Going to be a LONG here on this board if people are expecting this team to be anything other than what they are....a lottery pick. Also a tough year if after 3 games we are going to give the trade win to Colorado regarding Saad.

Very few had issues with the all in mentality on weisse and fleischman for danault
Further understood to dump Bickell's deal it would take TT

THe list goes on and on and on.....Bowman chose his core, some deals worked out, and some didn't. Not going to get all 100% right.

Biggest thing is seeing the improvement out of the younger D men, some of the younger forwards and see if we can get more consistency out of 17/12, and making sure 8 doesn't regress like 12 did last year.

The Keith downfall is just the beginning. He's old. I wish BOwman would deal him to a contender and he could play 4-6 minutes but that's also up to Keith to accept. The return could help them turn this around quicker. By trading Keith I am saying closer to the deadline.....it's great Keith, if engaged, can mentor some of these younger kids.....
- SteveRain

Agree with the post and hoping to see some of the same things you are. This year's a throw away year, other than looking for some young players to develop or continue developing.

The bolded cracked me up. Keith hasn't been good but he's not quite Kimmo bad yet.

With losing Toews and Dach the Hawks plan for this year will be to compete for the 1st overall pick. I highly doubt we’ll see any major trades or firings.

While he still might be knocking the rust off after the off season, in some regards I think over the last few seasons we've started to see the mileage/age start to catch up to Keith in regards to his high risk style of play. He isn't a bad player and still makes some great plays, but I think he needs to do more to adapt his game to the fact he is approaching 38 years old. He has the heart/competitive drive of a superstar still but at some point (which was like 2-3 years ago) the Hawks need a player to replace Keith and let Keith play a smaller role. He is still a valuable veteran guy to help the young guys learn and I think that is the focus right now.

Theo, I'm glad to see you mention Zadorov, I think he is an interesting guy to watch. He has that physical element and is tough to face one on one, but I think he does wander around a bit too much. Still, the guy is only 25 having started his NHL career pretty young for a D and if he is coachable he could be pretty solid.

Keith/Murphy have been deployed as the shutdown pair right now, and I think the might want to try swapping de Haan for Keith and let de Haan/Murphy take the defensive load. Let Keith/Mitchell play together.

Small sample size and 2/3 of their games badly outmatched but the team has been outscored 11-1 at 5v5. Our top line isn't very good at a 200 foot game and the Hawks can't do the top line vs top line match up very well. Some guys have had some chances but failed to convert. I hope JC gives some more icetime to the forwards who are playing like they deserve it... Kurashev, Kubalik, Highmore, Kampf etc..

With losing Toews and Dach the Hawks plan for this year will be to compete for the 1st overall pick. I highly doubt we’ll see any major trades or firings.
- Quetzalcoatl

Accurate. Although, I don't see them as "trying" to get the #1 overall pick, that will likely be around where they are picking. I said before the season started, I will have very specific purposes for watching the team this year because they will likley not be competing for the PO's. I want to see which young players rise to the top and see some progress in playing together as a team instead of 5 individuals on the ice.

BTW... Blackhawks and Flyers fan? 2010 must have either been euphoria or torture for you.

Going to be a LONG here on this board if people are expecting this team to be anything other than what they are....a lottery pick. Also a tough year if after 3 games we are going to give the trade win to Colorado regarding Saad.

Very few had issues with the all in mentality on weisse and fleischman for danault
Further understood to dump Bickell's deal it would take TT

THe list goes on and on and on.....Bowman chose his core, some deals worked out, and some didn't. Not going to get all 100% right.

Biggest thing is seeing the improvement out of the younger D men, some of the younger forwards and see if we can get more consistency out of 17/12, and making sure 8 doesn't regress like 12 did last year.

The Keith downfall is just the beginning. He's old. I wish BOwman would deal him to a contender and he could play 4-6 minutes but that's also up to Keith to accept. The return could help them turn this around quicker. By trading Keith I am saying closer to the deadline.....it's great Keith, if engaged, can mentor some of these younger kids.....
- SteveRain

Keith isn’t the Keith of four or five years ago but on a contending team I can see him as a solid second pairing guy who is on the first penalty killing unit. On Chicago he’s basically playing on a third rate or rebuilding team. I think his mistakes are a combination of his distaste of having a rebuild thrust on him, his age obviously and the fact there are so many non NHL caliber players on the roster. I watched Florida take advantage of the fact Keith had few or no pass options and pounded the crap out if him. Look at Kane, without some solid line mates he’s not the player he was last season either. The best player in the NHL, Connor McDavid makes allot of dumb mistakes because he’s surrounded by so many lousy team mates.

I’d like to see Keith, Kane and possibly Toews moved to put the glory days behind us, to capture cap space and to get as many draft picks and prospects as possible.

Agree with the post and hoping to see some of the same things you are. This year's a throw away year, other than looking for some young players to develop or continue developing.

The bolded cracked me up. Keith hasn't been good but he's not quite Kimmo bad yet.
- HawkintheD

No kidding. Father time is catching up to Keith. The mental errors combined with not being able to physically execute. He has to know he isn't what he once was.

On this Hawk team right now, Keith is in your top 2. On just about any other team in the league he's probably a 3-4-5 at best.

Maybe with the constant losing after having so much success he re-thinks his NMC and is willing to go to a contender for one more kick at the can. He wouldn't have the pressure of being "the man" unless he still wants to do that on this team.

HEY WHO IS PROJECTED TO GO NUMBER 1 IN THE ENTRY DRAFT NEXT SUMMER.
WE WOULD WIN THE LOTTERY WHEN THE CANADIAN JR LEAGUE IS SHUT DOWN AND NO CONSENSUS #1 PICK

I’d rather have Lehner. And I thought that was a reason Stan picked him up when he did, to have a high end NHL goalie in place to fall back on if he decided to move on from CC. They can afford the $5M CAP hit.

You build a team from the net out.
- scottak

Lehner wasn't signing for $5m at the time of the trade. Stan got a 2nd rounder with Suban.

I think the biggest problem is it feels like the Hawks are in the first year of a re build that should be in its 3rd or 4th year. I read a hockey writers article on the top 100 prospects not in the nhl as of the end of last season.
The Hawks had one Reichal (I believe in the 50's). That's not good and sorry that falls on Bowman . As bad as we have been there should more then one. I know we have Dach and Boquist but in the nhl but most teams have good young players on their roster too.
Wiz ,Theo and others do you agree that the Hawks prospects are far behind other teams?

I thought he said that the official TOI was different than what the Hawks had on their internal calculations.

That said, he’s mismanaging Kubalik, at minimum.
- scottak

Official stats are normally compromised by the fact that they are done with a computer by mouse clicking which means the stats guy has his head down when he's registering a stat. This crazy year and current protocol's with an opt out the league is having a much tougher time staffing an off ice crew. So tough that they are making allowances for stats guys with their computer to watch a tv at home to do their job. And without being able to see the whole ice there is no possible way to do a completely accurate job. So don't read too much into the official stats this year. Tough situation.

It's a perfect year to play the kids and take lumps. And nobody is there to boo them. Just a crazy f'd up year. The commish said publicly that they lose more money playing than not. The only reason for the NHL to have a season is to make an attempt to maintain a tv contract, which is what they have been all about the last twenty five years. I have never liked the fact that the NHL in recent times is about money first and hockey second, but I don't make a living at it so it's easy for me to say. But I give them credit for the effort they make to have a season no matter how crazy it gets. They are underdogs to make it all work but they have done a great job so far.

Keith isn’t the Keith of four or five years ago but on a contending team I can see him as a solid second pairing guy who is on the first penalty killing unit. On Chicago he’s basically playing on a third rate or rebuilding team. I think his mistakes are a combination of his distaste of having a rebuild thrust on him, his age obviously and the fact there are so many non NHL caliber players on the roster. I watched Florida take advantage of the fact Keith had few or no pass options and pounded the crap out if him. Look at Kane, without some solid line mates he’s not the player he was last season either. The best player in the NHL, Connor McDavid makes allot of dumb mistakes because he’s surrounded by so many lousy team mates.

I’d like to see Keith, Kane and possibly Toews moved to put the glory days behind us, to capture cap space and to get as many draft picks and prospects as possible.
- paulr

You aren’t’t going to get that much cap space because you will have to carry the max 50% retain age on each. Second, you have very few teams owners that would be willing to give up the prospects the Hawks would want. Third, who is going to trade for a player on LTIR, with some sort of ailment that appears more complex than a broken wrist?

HEY WHO IS PROJECTED TO GO NUMBER 1 IN THE ENTRY DRAFT NEXT SUMMER.
- Ging72

Owen Power, D from Michigan. Who the red wings are getting.