Hey wiz,

Over the years you would catch the Ivan Hlinka Tournament in August.
- jhawk59

Thanks for posting on my personal Q & A, here (LOL), and sorry I missed your phone call, but there were a few medical appointments.
As much as the world awaiting the 2022 lottery selection of Shane Wright, I watched much of the Ivan Hlinka and was most impressed by Russian Ivan Miroshnichenko. You may be the only one on the interweb who saw/remember my 2010 prediction on Vladdy Tarasenko was certainly up there with Taylor / Tyler (Hall/Sequin) in terms of impact skills but would linger because of the "Russianess."
I am ready to go out on a plank with Ivan Miroshnichenko based on the Ivan Hlinka tourney. (Ultra skilled Danila Yurov and the 6' 7" right winger Kirill Dolzhenkov were high-skilled too.)

What I would like to know Wiz, is whom do you think Bowman would have drafted if no S Jones deal. Sillinger was there. The goaltender idea never materialized
- jhawk59

As far as which way a Hawk team w/o the Seth Joines addition would draft:
I think they would stick to their list, and I think if you look at the way the top eight picks went off the board as they were predicted, you see that Ottawa felt the next tier began with their #10 slot.

That tells me that with #10 a goalie or forward would have to be a name on the Hawks draft card at #12 (#11).

All those months prior to the draft I had my draft day dream scenario where the Hawks two second rounders (later, one went bye-bye in the S Jones' acquistion) were filled with e names Tyler Boucher/ Chase Stillman and never had my sites on Colton Dach. (I even commented a time back how may maybe the just take Colton even if they add/trade where they pick late in the first...why not? You like him (C. Dach), you take him.

Sure, I could easily see the hawks taking Cole Sillinger at #11(12), but the present level of his upside is still in question. That is what happenes when the entire draft class is suspect due to Covid-19/games played, and so I can say I WOULD have taken Sillinger (or a goalie) I can't speack fro a Hawk team whose brain trust "trusted" THEIR thoughts on Nolan Allen enough to stick for the fences there.
(In my own backward perverse fan brain, I keep thiunking at #32 they were hoping Ty Boucher or Riley's little brother Chase Stillman were gonna be there.)

Now when we play Columbus, and Columbus is a beast, do we want Murphy/Stillam, or even Seth jones matched against him?
- Jhawk59

I don't think any Sillinger buzz-sawing hawks takes place before Seth Jones makes a reverse impact on his old team.
We KNOW what Seth does and we only know what Sillinger with time and work might do.

sorry triple

double

quadruple!

Nobody else has an extensive 2022 mock, but me...check it out on

A nice top 100 first mock of players plus more...
https://www.lines.com/nhl/drafts

(this just is making yet a FIFTH goofy copying to the site and me disguising it with my self promotion.---I don't know what happened....the space bar stopped working and their was LOUD click sound that I guess was the alarm the post is going on, once and again...

Hi Theo - thanks for the write-up.

I may be in a pissy mood over all that is happening in this State and Country, but these guys are playing a game. Should it really matter what side of the ice they are playing on? It's not like if they win or lose will determine if WW III starts or not. Every day workers have to learn new things on the job, and they do. If these guys can't play on either side of the ice, they are a flawed player and your roster has limitations.
It's like the talk of Jenkins with the Bears, can he move from the right side to the left. He has been an O-lineman all his life, yes he can. Block the guy in front of you. Learn the differences and play the game. If these guys are pros, they can do it.
- powerenforcer

Umm No.
In football the best pass rushers used to be on the right side (usually the QB's blind side) so the most agile Tackle played left side. It had nothing to do with handedness it was who was big and strong enough, coordinated enough and agile to play against the best became Left Tackles. The right side was more "road graders." That has been changing over time because of course teams adjust and some are putting their best pass rusher on the Left side now.

Regarding hockey: Unless a person is ambidextrous one side will always be stronger than the other. Using your logic, "every professional baseball player should learn to be a 'switch hitter' because they are professionals" and that is simply not true.

I've been in a pissy mood what's going on with this country for years and it is only getting worse. But sports are still sports, entertainment if you want to be technical but that does not mean some are better at it than others. Professional has nothing to do with it. We once had the CFO of the Buffalo Bills in a Finance class and he said the difference between the "All Pros" and other players was night and day you do anything you can to get and keep those guys. They were all professionals.

The Hockey News put out their annual pool guide today, here are some of the Hawks' rankings:

Kane - 90 points
DeBrincat - 76
Dach - 66
Kubalik - 50
Toews - 50
Strome 42
Johnson - 36
Nylander - 30
Hagel - 28

S Jones - 53
Murphy - 21
Kalynuk - 19
C Jones - 19

Fleury - 28 wins, 2.65 GAA, 0.915 SP, 5 SO
Lankinen - 14 wins, 2.89, .906, 2


Of the most importance... they project Caufield with 58 points which is grossly underestimating his talents. Caufield will net 70 points on his way to winning the Calder Trophy.
- DarthKane

My over and under is 110.

Hey wiz,

Over the years you would catch the Ivan Hlinka Tournament in August. Then many teams had NHL rookie tournaments. This year the Blackhawks again are bypassing the Traverse City Tournament.

Theo however will surely have a report of the games the Blackhawk rookies are playing - has to be soon as we are on the last week of August.

What I would like to know Wiz, is whom do you think Bowman would have drafted if no S Jones deal. Sillinger was there. The goaltender idea never materialized

Now when we play Columbus and Sillinger is a beast, do you want Murphy or Stilman OR does even S Jones match up against him. There may be moments in games throughout the season when a Murphy could switch sides just to go up against a buzzsaw like Sillnger?
- jhawk59

Water over the dam.

You always put your employees, in this case players in a position to succeed, on defense a right handed shot has a better chance at succeeding playing RD. Forwards can play on their side or off wing, doesn’t matter as much.
- Angotti

I agree with this, but the 1st goal is for the organization to succeed. So if that means you need to play on your off-wing, you better be able to do that, or the organization needs to determine if you need to be there. In a cap world, a team does not have the luxury to have only players that can play their comfortable side. If you are a team player, you will conform to play on the off-wing.

In the original six team sixties. there might be ONE right-handed shot defenseman who was a top five defenseman (yup, they rotated five if they had a solid five) and most teams din't have a right hander, because kids were still forced to right with their right hand in places, and it might have been mere luck that a left handwritter would get a RW stick and "follow their true path."


There weren't 6 GM actively shopping their left shooting defenseman for that rare preference of a right shooter who would advance the board play as a right defenseman.

Gosh, the attacking more offensive defenders were less zone entering push the pace attackers as they were good instinctive passers whose shots boomed from farther out.
So you saw many of those "offense able defenseman" to get used to being on that opposite right side for give them options in ways to set up looks.

And some defensive sided left handers just were really used to that off-hand side and their coaches had confidence they were the guys they wanted on the right side.

In general many right wings back in the mid line-ups were left handers playing their because they were better than the right shoot forward options their clubs had.

Things have radically changed where GMs can revere right handed dee-men.

In the original six team sixties. there might be ONE right-handed shot defenseman who was a top five defenseman (yup, they rotated five if they had a solid five) and most teams din't have a right hander, because kids were still forced to right with their right hand in places, and it might have been mere luck that a left handwritter would get a RW stick and "follow their true path."


There weren't 6 GM actively shopping their left shooting defenseman for that rare preference of a right shooter who would advance the board play as a right defenseman.

Gosh, the attacking more offensive defenders were less zone entering push the pace attackers as they were good instinctive passers whose shots boomed from further out.
So you saw many of those "offense able defenseman to get used to being on that opposite right side for give them options in ways to set up looks.

And some defensive sided left handers just were really used to that off-hand side and their coaches had confidence they were the guys they wanted on the right side.

In general many right wings back in the mid line-ups were left handers playing their because they were better than the right shoot forward options their clubs had.

Things have radically changed where GMs can revere right handed dee-men.
- wiz1901

Boston-Orr- (then Bourque)
New York - Howell- (replaced by Park)
Toronto exception, Horton and Baun
Hawks- Pilote (repaced by White)
Detroit - Bill Gadsby
Montreal-JC Tremblay.

Boston-Orr- (then Bourque)
New York - Howell- (replaced by Park)
Toronto exception, Horton and Baun
Hawks- Pilote (repaced by White)
Detroit - Bill Gadsby
Montreal-JC Tremblay.
- LAHawk

Side perhaps but style it was Stapleton dare I say "Whitey."

Today @ 7:55 AM ET
Agree on Kubalik. IMO he has the best one timer, a little harder than the Cat. And I agree they don't deploy him like that enough.

6628

Since Kane is deployed on the half wall, and plays at least 1:30 of the 2 minute PP, that doesn't leave much PP time for Kubalik does it? The times they have tried Kane on the left boards, he has generally been less effective than the right.

So if Kane and Kubalik are considered most effective at the same area on the PP, who do you prefer? Then where do you put Kubalik? Does he replace ADB? Does he play the point? Does he play behind the net, or does he play bumper? Or does he play his :30 seconds on PP2?
- LAHawk

I'd let him get the :30 2PP time and play him 5 on 5 as a weak side trailer. Get the puck low on the left side and look for Kubalik coming late or circling around. He then needs to be the 1st forward back to help the D. The dude has a monster shot that produces goals or rebounds. Don't discount the value of rebounds.

I'd let him get the :30 2PP time and play him 5 on 5 as a weak side trailer. Get the puck low on the left side and look for Kubalik coming late or circling around. He then needs to be the 1st forward back to help the D. The dude has a monster shot that produces goals or rebounds. Don't discount the value of rebounds.
- 6628

I agree on Kubalik and giving him more of an opportunity on the powerplay. Kubalik has not been used to optimize his abilities, but I hope they extend him first before we see a consistent 35 goal scorer, which I believe he can attain.

But won't it be nice to have Seth Jones right handed being an option with one timers from the blue line from Kane.
- BetweenTheDots

Absolutely. He can be an absolute beast in there.

Today @ 7:55 AM ET
Agree on Kubalik. IMO he has the best one timer, a little harder than the Cat. And I agree they don't deploy him like that enough.

6628

Since Kane is deployed on the half wall, and plays at least 1:30 of the 2 minute PP, that doesn't leave much PP time for Kubalik does it? The times they have tried Kane on the left boards, he has generally been less effective than the right.

So if Kane and Kubalik are considered most effective at the same area on the PP, who do you prefer? Then where do you put Kubalik? Does he replace ADB? Does he play the point? Does he play behind the net, or does he play bumper? Or does he play his :30 seconds on PP2?
- LAHawk

The Bumper, please, who drifts to the point at times with the back triangle of Cat-Jones-Patty. That could work nicely.

The Hockey News put out their annual pool guide today, here are some of the Hawks' rankings:

Kane - 90 points
DeBrincat - 76
Dach - 66
Kubalik - 50
Toews - 50
Strome 42
Johnson - 36
Nylander - 30
Hagel - 28

S Jones - 53
Murphy - 21
Kalynuk - 19
C Jones - 19

Fleury - 28 wins, 2.65 GAA, 0.915 SP, 5 SO
Lankinen - 14 wins, 2.89, .906, 2

- DarthKane

Does anyone think that the number for C Jones is tad high. I mean, he hasnt even shown that he belongs in the show, although there has been signs of it. And how will the big brother take it if they ship him out or to the Rock.

Hi Theo - thanks for the write-up.

I may be in a pissy mood over all that is happening in this State and Country, but these guys are playing a game. Should it really matter what side of the ice they are playing on? It's not like if they win or lose will determine if WW III starts or not. Every day workers have to learn new things on the job, and they do. If these guys can't play on either side of the ice, they are a flawed player and your roster has limitations.
It's like the talk of Jenkins with the Bears, can he move from the right side to the left. He has been an O-lineman all his life, yes he can. Block the guy in front of you. Learn the differences and play the game. If these guys are pros, they can do it.
- powerenforcer

Hey PE, I can answer your question by elaborating on this part of the blog:

"However, handedness and where a player is situated on the ice can make a substantial difference whether at even strength, on the power play, or on the penalty kill. Sure, the Hawks are pros so it shouldn't matter but their opponents are pros, too."

It's the bolded part that, IMO, adds another layer of difficulty to thrive on playing on your non-dominant side or hand. Execution may be a step and/or level below the dominant side or hand which is enough time for the opponent -- who is also a pro -- to shut you down.

Excellent point on Kubalik. You need to isolate him on the right side just like we do for Debrincat on the left side. Kubalik has the best shot on the team and I do not mind him playing the right point but if he was set up down lower in the face off circle area his one times are goals. Not sure we have a Patrick Kane to get him the puck like Kaner does effortlessly for the Cat. Great blog as usual!

I agree with this, but the 1st goal is for the organization to succeed. So if that means you need to play on your off-wing, you better be able to do that, or the organization needs to determine if you need to be there. In a cap world, a team does not have the luxury to have only players that can play their comfortable side. If you are a team player, you will conform to play on the off-wing.
- powerenforcer

Yes, but if you have your players in a position to succeed, then your organization will reap the rewards. Like I mentioned, playing an off wing should not be an issue, however in today’s NHL, with the speed and size of players, a defenseman will be better off playing his dominant side.

Looks like things are happening in 3s on this board

I agree with this, but the 1st goal is for the organization to succeed. So if that means you need to play on your off-wing, you better be able to do that, or the organization needs to determine if you need to be there. In a cap world, a team does not have the luxury to have only players that can play their comfortable side. If you are a team player, you will conform to play on the off-wing.
- powerenforcer

Yes, but if you have your players in a position to succeed, then your organization will reap the rewards. Like I mentioned, playing an off wing should not be an issue, however in today’s NHL, with the speed and size of players, a defenseman will be better off playing his dominant side.

Looks like things are happening in 3s on this board
- BetweenTheDots

Good thing we don’t have any posts from that Nashville guy, one of his posts is bad enough, imagine three.

Looks like things are happening in 3s on this board
- BetweenTheDots

Lol, problem fixed. Switched to Edge as Chrome was acting up. Site works way better on Edge. Sorry for all the duplicates.

Lol, problem fixed. Switched to Edge as Chrome was acting up. Site works way better on Edge. Sorry for all the duplicates.
- joegreif17

No worries, the site itself seems to be bogging down at times, so i don't think it's any of us