Young D.....
Younger D man who is a turd: Zadorov
Older D men on their last leg forced to play above their current skill set: Keith/DeHaan

Really leaves Murphy who had his good moments/bad moments...still a little too inconsistent for me to deem an untouchable.

Not hard to see why they have major issues....that's before you get to a bunch of younger forwards and centers who can't get the puck out up high on the wall or cover a guy in the slot.....

Biggest thing to watch is WHAT young player(s) are still making the same mistakes next year....then, IMO, it's fair to start looking at JC and said players.


Hawks really need to adjust to forechecks.....lots of these better teams owned them 5 v 5 and pinned them in their zone when you began to wonder when/not if the puck was going in....Tampa, Florida, Carolina, Dallas, and Nashville.
- SteveRain

Compare the Hawks roster to any of these 5 teams and its an easy answer to why the Hawks are where they are. They were put into this very tough division and played fairly well for a period of time - and then the hard competing and playing for keeps commenced and it was straight down the porcelain pony.

This team is miles from being any kind of contender. And jamming rookies into the lineup under the rationale of 'let the kids play' is just idiotic rhetoric.

I sure hope Bovquist doesn't regress as much after his wrist injury than Dach has. He was brutal last night. Not saying he won't develop into a top 6 player (hopefully soon), but an honest assessment of his play after he came back this season is definitely disappointing.

I sure wouldn't count on him being more than a third line forward at the start of next season.
- LAHawk

Boqvist will have a training camp Dach didn’t. He’ll Be fine unless he doesn’t learn to avoid huge hits. If he doesn’t I’m afraid he’ll have a very short career

Nothing better players can't fix.
- rpeters01

I agree. You will get some juice and newbies from this year's auditions, but it seems a bit unrealistic to think the positions of goal, defense, and scoring forward has some outstanding impact player emergence coming from anyone I saw new on the team.

They need a few lightning in the bottle guys to show ups and help lit it up at all three.

I sure wouldn't count on Dach being more than a third line forward at the start of next season.
- LAHawk

He takes care of business in two of the zones and we can give him time to be better with the face-off circle and the shot. (Let's give the tender wrist injury a LITTLE blame.)

Dach (as was said above about Kane) is the least of the problems.

We do not see in Dach a dominant scorer, but have the rangers or devils from the guys they took before him or from the guys taken after?

Compare the Hawks roster to any of these 5 teams and its an easy answer to why the Hawks are where they are. They were put into this very tough division and played fairly well for a period of time - and then the hard competing and playing for keeps commenced and it was straight down the porcelain pony.

This team is miles from being any kind of contender. And jamming rookies into the lineup under the rationale of 'let the kids play' is just idiotic rhetoric.
- RickJ

I guess where we disagree is letting the kids play this year to get acclimated to the NHL size, strength and speed. Only way to do that is through game experience.

My memory is fading.....but didn't guys like Bolland, Versteeg, Buff, Kane, Toews, Burish, Hammer, Keith, Seabrook, Fraser and even Sharp all experience trial by fire in/and around 2005-06-2007-08?

I know ladd was added for Ruutu and Sharp and Versteeg were trades but don't recall any have a lot of NHL games before the Hawks put them in.....Think back then you had vets like Havlat, Smolinski and Barnaby showing the way......

Boqvist will have a training camp Dach didn’t. He’ll Be fine unless he doesn’t learn to avoid huge hits. If he doesn’t I’m afraid he’ll have a very short career
- paulr

I'll say it again....to your point, if he can't....might be time to try him at F and have him watch hours of Kane avoiding hits and his longevity doing so.

I'll say it again....to your point, if he can't....might be time to try him at F and have him watch hours of Kane avoiding hits and his longevity doing so.
- SteveRain

Boqvist just keeps getting hammered and the strange thing is he seldom ventures to loose pucks first, he allows the opponent to go after loose pucks and yet he still takes bigger hits than Keith ever did. Not sure if moving Boqvist to wing would help because all the hits he takes are when he’s carrying the puck. Maybe the hawks should register Boqvist onto a lacrosse team where he can learn how to roll off hits?

I guess where we disagree is letting the kids play this year to get acclimated to the NHL size, strength and speed. Only way to do that is through game experience.

My memory is fading.....but didn't guys like Bolland, Versteeg, Buff, Kane, Toews, Burish, Hammer, Keith, Seabrook, Fraser and even Sharp all experience trial by fire in/and around 2005-06-2007-08?

I know ladd was added for Ruutu and Sharp and Versteeg were trades but don't recall any have a lot of NHL games before the Hawks put them in.....Think back then you had vets like Havlat, Smolinski and Barnaby showing the way......
- SteveRain

Keith, Seebs, Buff and Wiz didn't start putting up decent numbers until their second years or so. We'll see how our young D perform next season.

Edit-

Seabrook actual did put up some nice numbers his rookie year:

G5 A27 P32 +5

I guess where we disagree is letting the kids play this year to get acclimated to the NHL size, strength and speed. Only way to do that is through game experience.

My memory is fading.....but didn't guys like Bolland, Versteeg, Buff, Kane, Toews, Burish, Hammer, Keith, Seabrook, Fraser and even Sharp all experience trial by fire in/and around 2005-06-2007-08?

I know ladd was added for Ruutu and Sharp and Versteeg were trades but don't recall any have a lot of NHL games before the Hawks put them in.....Think back then you had vets like Havlat, Smolinski and Barnaby showing the way......
- SteveRain

This is a very unusual year and the NHL, AHL NCAA and the junior leagues have had to deal with crazy circumstances they have never experienced before.

Overall I think the Hawks have done a decent job moving young players up and down to give them some basic experience (and an NHL paycheque since their AHL wages have been impacted very negatively).

But the facts remain, the NHL isn't a development league. Playing at lower levels until ready for the NHL is the proven method of player development.

Kind of sums up Kane's season, too - he seems frustrated a lot, leading to disinterested play often. He's being heavily covered on the ice, and playing with inexperienced line mates (and many of them, given Colliton's constant line-switching). Lots of assists - that's good - but 4 goals in about 30 games - not good, not for one of the main goal scorers on a team without many others.

What are the team / media / fan base thoughts on a deep playoff run for the 'Canes? I'm impressed.
- StLBravesFan

Team and local media think they can go all the way. National media seems to be warming to the idea now that the goalies haven't totally fallen apart.

I dunno. They play damn hard and they can choke the life out of you while popping in a few goals of their own, but I still worry a bit about just how many unskilled guys are in the bottom six.

The fact that they've only had their complete roster for one game this year and they've done what they've done gives me hope though. They're a tough group, just not in the traditional way.

Yeah, well, Colliton has not proven much in his basically two plus seasons here.

I'm disappointed that the team is not playing better hockey at the end of the season than they did at the beginning. Lots of external reasons why, perhaps, but still (as I like to say)....

My comments about good individual play, but an inadequate team game remain.
- StLBravesFan

that's the part that gives me hope for the Canes. They're not the sexiest looking group of players by any stretch, but they're greater than the sum of their parts.

Team and local media think they can go all the way. National media seems to be warming to the idea now that the goalies haven't totally fallen apart.

I dunno. They play damn hard and they can choke the life out of you while popping in a few goals of their own, but I still worry a bit about just how many unskilled guys are in the bottom six.

The fact that they've only had their complete roster for one game this year and they've done what they've done gives me hope though. They're a tough group, just not in the traditional way.
- BINGO!

You think (or hope) they can win 4 Best of 7 series?

That means that (hypothetically) they would consecutively knock off Nashville, Tampa, Washington/NYI and Vegas/Colorado. Thats a tall task.

You think (or hope) they can win 4 Best of 7 series?

That means that (hypothetically) they would consecutively knock off Nashville, Tampa, Washington/NYI and Vegas/Colorado. Thats a tall task.
- RickJ

I can see it, St. Louis won without what you would call dominant players.

You think (or hope) they can win 4 Best of 7 series?

That means that (hypothetically) they would consecutively knock off Nashville, Tampa, Washington/NYI and Vegas/Colorado. Thats a tall task.
- RickJ

Nashville isn't a worry.

They're 4-3-1 vs Tampa so that's a coin flip (Though Hedman has played like complete ass lately and appears to be hurt, so that's a plus.)

As for the rest, well, you have to beat good teams to win the cup, right? I'm not saying they'll do it, I'm just saying the other teams are saying the same things with Carolina in there as someone they'll have to beat. It's not supposed to be easy.

I'll say it again....to your point, if he can't....might be time to try him at F and have him watch hours of Kane avoiding hits and his longevity doing so.
- SteveRain

And have all the forwards watch hours of Hossa back checking and playing a 200 foot game.

I can see it, St. Louis won without what you would call dominant players.
- LAHawk

And I'd say this Canes team has a more talented top 6 than what St. Louis had.

Young D.....
Younger D man who is a turd: Zadorov
Older D men on their last leg forced to play above their current skill set: Keith/DeHaan

Really leaves Murphy who had his good moments/bad moments...still a little too inconsistent for me to deem an untouchable.

Not hard to see why they have major issues....that's before you get to a bunch of younger forwards and centers who can't get the puck out up high on the wall or cover a guy in the slot.....

Biggest thing to watch is WHAT young player(s) are still making the same mistakes next year....then, IMO, it's fair to start looking at JC and said players.


Hawks really need to adjust to forechecks.....lots of these better teams owned them 5 v 5 and pinned them in their zone when you began to wonder when/not if the puck was going in....Tampa, Florida, Carolina, Dallas, and Nashville.
- SteveRain

Well said. Or have they simply reached their ceiling hustle only gets you so far? Too many one dimensional players don't do multiple things well. Too slow to be small, too small to be slow. One trick ponies. Like Chunk said, this will take longer than we want. Drafting at the bottom so long. Didn't expect core to age so quickly. Slow to embrace the rebuild.

I can see it, St. Louis won without what you would call dominant players.
- LAHawk

I like the Canes and especially like their coach. What I really don't like is their goaltenders. Binnington got hot for the Blues at the right time and they had Pietrangelo and Bouwmeester playing big time in front of him.

Nashville isn't a worry.

They're 4-3-1 vs Tampa so that's a coin flip (Though Hedman has played like complete ass lately and appears to be hurt, so that's a plus.)

As for the rest, well, you have to beat good teams to win the cup, right? I'm not saying they'll do it, I'm just saying the other teams are saying the same things with Carolina in there as someone they'll have to beat. It's not supposed to be easy.
- BINGO!

Saros is on fire. I've seen runs that lead to the Cup or close with the hot goalie- Price, Miller, Hasek...

But this might be the Canes year. 7 players or so with 30 or more points? Solid D...

I agree. You will get some juice and newbies from this year's auditions, but it seems a bit unrealistic to think the positions of goal, defense, and scoring forward has some outstanding impact player emergence coming from anyone I saw new on the team.

They need a few lightning in the bottle guys to show ups and help lit it up at all three.
- wiz1901

I kind of give my seat of the pants scouting report above.

I like the Canes and especially like their coach. What I really don't like is their goaltenders. Binnington got hot for the Blues at the right time and they had Pietrangelo and Bouwmeester playing big time in front of him.
- RickJ

The only way you can show you can do it is to do it.

It's going to be Mrazek and Nedeljkovic unless somebody gets hurt.

He takes care of business in two of the zones and we can give him time to be better with the face-off circle and the shot. (Let's give the tender wrist injury a LITTLE blame.)

Dach (as was said above about Kane) is the least of the problems.

We do not see in Dach a dominant scorer, but have the rangers or devils from the guys they took before him or from the guys taken after?
- wiz1901

Hey Wiz. I don't think this can be stressed enough:

Zadina
Kotkaniemi
Hughes
Kakko
Podkolzin
Wahlstrom
Turcotte
etc.

All of these players were touted as being high end players. They are mostly in the 19-21 yr old range. None of them have really taken the bull by the horns yet. I'll give you Quinn Hughes and Dahlin as ones that have played better than Boqvist (although I'm really not all that impressed with Dahlin).

Let's let them actually develop into players.

Saros is on fire. I've seen runs that lead to the Cup or close with the hot goalie- Price, Miller, Hasek...

But this might be the Canes year. 7 players or so with 30 or more points? Solid D...
- Popsghostly

Trocheck is such a game-changer for them.

Being able to put J.Staal full time as the 3C AND letting Aho take on the hard match-ups changes so much for Staal because now he's getting the opportunity to just grind out the opposition's 2nd,3rd or 4th lines instead of having to focus on shutting down their stars.

That depth down the middle is huge.

Aho - 55 points in 52 games
Trocheck - 41 points in 43 games
Staal - 38 points in 50 games

Not to mention Necas is a natural C and you can use TT there in spot duty if need be.

I sure hope Bovquist doesn't regress as much after his wrist injury than Dach has. He was brutal last night. Not saying he won't develop into a top 6 player (hopefully soon), but an honest assessment of his play after he came back this season is definitely disappointing.

I sure wouldn't count on him being more than a third line forward at the start of next season.
- LAHawk

Last night, I forgot which goal against it was, there were so many, the one where Murphy fell down leading to that 2 on 1, Dach was just gliding back through the neutral zone watching that play develop. Then the light turned on and he realized he should turn it on and cover that other forward. He got to him about 2 strides too late. Maybe it was the end of his shift and he was gassed. Poor play and lack of hustle on his part IMO. No excuse for that. I don't want to hear he's only 20, didn't have a training camp, blah blah blah. He's been playing for a month and should be in game shape by now.

You think (or hope) they can win 4 Best of 7 series?

That means that (hypothetically) they would consecutively knock off Nashville, Tampa, Washington/NYI and Vegas/Colorado. Thats a tall task.
- RickJ

What about the Leafs????