Why is Strome being given top 6 minutes? To showcase for a trade or are the Hawks thinking about giving the RFA a new contract?

My hope when they brought Borgstrom up, and posted so, was to give the kid a real 20-25 game stretch with maybe 15:00 TOI to evaluate him and for the most part they have although less minutes. I already posted Kane is his 1st, 3rd and 4th most common linemate and lotsa time with Hagel and Dcat so he's been given a look.

25 games is really a small sample size but a peak under the hood for a grizzled 40 yr hockey mind to have a reasonable thought. Unless he's moved or ice time changes that sample size grows to maybe even 60ish games.

His traditional stats are poor but fancies are solid. I do agree with your "tryout" comment/concern concerning multiple players in the top 6 and is a reason I always post NHL TOI is the most valuable of all things cuz it's finite and should never ever ever be wasted. ........... Honestly there isn't much, if anything, KD and King have done I disagree with and Borgstrom's usage fits that too.

And knowing your thoughts on moving Dach to wing, and mine being they will give the kid 300 games before they give up on him as a C, I wonder during this "tryout" phase of Hawk's Hockey if moving Dach to wing for 5ish games just to see what happens wouldn't be a bad idea?

This opens the top 3 center spots for Toews and Strome and Borgstrom will get meaningful slotting and minutes to evaluate?..... A few birds killed with one stone here. We see what Dach looks like as a winger, will that jump start the kid and Strome and Borgstrom get solid looks as centerman with that finite valuable NHL ice time?
- Mr Ricochet

Yep... no idea what the Hawks are doing. Trying to win now and sneak in the playoffs? Borgstrom needs to be in a rotation with Slavin and Enwhistle, etc.? Shouldn't Carpenter and Khaira be part of the rotation? Not Borgstrom?

Ovechkin is one. The guy is top 3 goal scorer of all time.

Kane is probably a generational talent. He's going to be close to the all-time points leaders for American born players. Those guys only come around once in a generation or 2.

Too early for McKinnon and Matthews but Matthews is only 24 and has 3 40 goal seasons already and probably going to have his 4th this year.
- bhawks2241

Yes, Ovechkin falls in the generational category.

Kane will probably end up as the greatest American born scorer, but that doesn't make him a generational talent. Guys can be great scorers, have long careers and pile up great stats, that doesn't make them generational talents. Brett Hull was a great scorer, is he a generational talent, Sakic, Borque, Gilmour, Frances, etc. all great scorers, not generational talents. Leetch, Chelios, great all time American D-men, not generational talents. Orr, generational talent.

He said he wasn't separating himself from the likes of Hardman, Entwistle, or Slavin. If you aren't separating yourself from Slavin and Hardman, you've got some issues. Entwistle seems to actually be playing well and producing.
- Chunk

Slavin is not going away. He has shown he belongs in an NHL bottom 6 as a 22 yr old rookie by the time he's 25-26 yrs old this Swiss Army Knife with a high IQ, high compete, sprinkled with some skill will be a real asset to some NHL organIzation.

No, he doesn't have the skill and ceiling Borgstrom does but he never was expected to be that either.

Watch them. I haven’t seen much of the Russian kid but Bedard is the best player I’ve seen since McDavid. And I qualified the term generational with the word perhaps.
- paulr

The Russian kid has the safest franking soft hands...I will go out on the limb and say he EASILY has the hands and scoring prowess that ranks with the top 9 NHLers.

He is small, and he is signed long term so he could easily pull a Kaprisov and stay in Russian come over pay as year for entry level and then also look for a huge deal.

I moved him ahead of Bedard, and Beadard is BETTER than anyone in this year's draft.

Great way to manage young players. Looking over your shoulder constantly worried about another guy taking your spot. The Hawks aren't going anywhere. Leave him in. Sink or swim.

I don't understand the logic at all. Either he is benched for his play or he isn't.
- bhawks2241

Is King coaching a NHL hockey team or a Squirt house league team? Is Borgstrom the first young player in the history of the NHL to sit out because of a coaches decision? Didn't he do the same thing with Kurashev earlier this year? Why should Entwhistle sit if he is doing the job, even though admittedly Borgstrom has more offensive talent? is Entwhistle so old now that he shouldn't get minutes to develop? If anything, they should sit Kubalik and just trade him for that third round pick already.

Slavin is not going away. He has shown he belongs in an NHL bottom 6 as a 22 yr old rookie by the time he's 25-26 yrs old this Swiss Army Knife with a high IQ, high compete, sprinkled with some skill will be a real asset to some NHL organIzation.

No, he doesn't have the skill and ceiling Borgstrom does but he never was expected to be that either.
- Mr Ricochet

the best thing about the floundering administrative end here in Chicago Blackhawks land is all these kids the defenseman and "bottom end" forwards are going to actually get major league experience to build upon and sink or swim like ..better swimmers.

This happens every single time I start pumping a guys tires a bit:

Ben Pope
@BenPopeCST
·
16m
King on scratching Borgstrom: “It's nothing really play-wise. He just hasn't separated himself from those group of guys like Entwistle or Hardman or…Slavin. It's just a rotation.”
- Chunk

This was the post of my last post....this open competition lets lots of kids lots to think about in terms of what kind of hockey players they will commit to be...

Yeah he did, and that's a great point. Maltais was a prolific IHL/AHL scorer that just could never stick at the NHL level. Rob Brown managed to amass 543 games in the NHL and 438 points, but the Rob Brown on a line with Mario was not the same as the Rob Brown without him. With Mario he was over a PPG player, without him he is <.5PPG player.

Hartman and Duclair have excelled because they have been placed with players that accentuate their styles.
- TheTrob

Excellent examples about the right linemates can boost offensive stats but regression to the mean playing with other linemates tends to happen.

With Maltais, like you said, he couldn't stick. Not even close to Brown's 500+ NHL games. Same goes for most of the top point getters in the AHL every year, i.e. they can light it up in the minors but don't have staying power in the NHL.

Poturalski is a great story for the Wolves this season but he's hard pressed to hold down a steady NHL job with the Canes or other team, even as a 4th liner.

Is King coaching a NHL hockey team or a Squirt house league team? Is Borgstrom the first young player in the history of the NHL to sit out because of a coaches decision? Didn't he do the same thing with Kurashev earlier this year? Why should Entwhistle sit if he is doing the job, even though admittedly Borgstrom has more offensive talent? is Entwhistle so old now that he shouldn't get minutes to develop? If anything, they should sit Kubalik and just trade him for that third round pick already.
- LAHawk

No Entwhistle should be in every game too. Carpenter and Khaira should rotate in.

Agree on Kubalik.

Why is Strome being given top 6 minutes? To showcase for a trade or are the Hawks thinking about giving the RFA a new contract?

My hope when they brought Borgstrom up, and posted so, was to give the kid a real 20-25 game stretch with maybe 15:00 TOI to evaluate him and for the most part they have although less minutes. I already posted Kane is his 1st, 3rd and 4th most common linemate and lotsa time with Hagel and Dcat so he's been given a look.

25 games is really a small sample size but a peak under the hood for a grizzled 40 yr hockey mind to have a reasonable thought. Unless he's moved or ice time changes that sample size grows to maybe even 60ish games.

His traditional stats are poor but fancies are solid. I do agree with your "tryout" comment/concern concerning multiple players in the top 6 and is a reason I always post NHL TOI is the most valuable of all things cuz it's finite and should never ever ever be wasted. ........... Honestly there isn't much, if anything, KD and King have done I disagree with and Borgstrom's usage fits that too.

And knowing your thoughts on moving Dach to wing, and mine being they will give the kid 300 games before they give up on him as a C, I wonder during this "tryout" phase of Hawk's Hockey if moving Dach to wing for 5ish games just to see what happens wouldn't be a bad idea?

This opens the top 3 center spots for Toews and Strome and Borgstrom will get meaningful slotting and minutes to evaluate?..... A few birds killed with one stone here. We see what Dach looks like as a winger, will that jump start the kid and Strome and Borgstrom get solid looks as centerman with that finite valuable NHL ice time?
- Mr Ricochet

Or maybe to keep Kane from getting so frustrated with ahving no chemisty playing with Dach and Borgstrom to keep him inteerested?

The Hawks are going to lose a 1st round pick either this summer or next so if I had to lose one of them, I'd much rather lose this year's pick to the Jackets and retain the 2023 pick. Seems like the 2023 draft is much deeper.

Either way, in whatever trades can make this happen, the ideal situation would be to recoup a 1st round pick for each of 2022 and 2023. One of those years would have one 1st rounder then the other year would have a pair of 1st rounders.

Obviously picking up a 2022 1st round pick needs to be done before draft day this July but there's a year and a half of time to gain a 2023 1st round pick.
- Theo Fox

Well the only way they keep the pick is if it’s 1/2 I’d be okay with them getting Wright / Cooley

while you guys are trying to figure out why Borgström is sitting, I am trying to figure out why Kurachev plays so much.

I like Borgström and there is time

A kid I missed on.


Elliotte Friedman
@FriedgeHNIC
· 1h
EDM also has Tim Soderlund on unconditional waivers for purposes of termination

Looking at the list of FA's coming out after this year we are going to have to rely on developing our dmen, yikes
- BetweenTheDots

The forwards available are a little more promising.

And if MAF doesn't come back Holtby is available, and he's putting up identical numbers to MAF this season. Younger and probably cheaper stop gap until the kids develop.

Curious, are you in favor of moving just turned 24 yr old Dcat and if so what is the minimum return?

10 yr plan????

Very politically incorrect but there is more than 1 way to skin a cat. The Hawks are gonna have to draft well, hit on a good portion of their trades, sign a couple helpful FA's both here and from Europe/NCAA and have some luck to be relevant in 3-4 yrs but it's reasonable.
- Mr Ricochet

It's not a 3-4 year project though.

Took Colorado 12 years from being stacked to being towards the top again (they don't have a cup to show for it).

Took the Flames about 9 years to get from a few playoff appearances to some relatively consistent (albeit not last year) for their new core to take over. Longer if you count back from this year.

The wings have only been garbage for 6 years and were mediocre the 3 before that so them turning the corner at year 9 is not outside of the box.

The Panthers have been rebuilding for 25 years and after retooling their front office and getting a better mix of players, they're finally in a good spot.

Carolina has taken about 12 years from their cup winning team to get their feet under them and be in the mix.

New York took 5 years. Adam Fox is everything Ian Mitchell was lauded to be.

Boston has been well managed and consistently competitive as well as Washington so they don't fit that mold.

At a minimum they're looking at an 8-12 year project compounded by their lack of a first round pick and a disappointing prospect pool. Not to mention their pro evaluation has been very bad and their north American scouting pretty suspect. Snagging Debrincat and Saad in the second round from the island of misfit toys is great but that isn't the norm.

They seem to do OK in Europe so maybe this year that's the only place they should draft from.

Unrealistic to turn this around in 3-4 years and I don't think a person of reasonable intelligence would take that GM job unless it was a 7-10 year project with signs of life around year 6.

A kid I missed on.


Elliotte Friedman
@FriedgeHNIC
· 1h
EDM also has Tim Soderlund on unconditional waivers for purposes of termination
- Mr Ricochet

Freeing up space?

So Strome has actually looked best when slotted correctly with top 6 players, Toews plays top 6 minutes, we need to play Dach top 6 minutes so he can get his confidence, Borgstrom should play top 6 minutes to see what he has? Kurashev possibly also? Maybe the Hawks should go with A and B teams to have enough top 6 minutes to allocate for all these tryouts.
- LAHawk

And the top 6 guys need to play with other top 6 guys.

Hell, who doesn't need to play with top 6 guys?

I need to play with top 6 guys at rat hockey just to do my best Rob Brown imitation.

Yes, Ovechkin falls in the generational category.

Kane will probably end up as the greatest American born scorer, but that doesn't make him a generational talent. Guys can be great scorers, have long careers and pile up great stats, that doesn't make them generational talents. Brett Hull was a great scorer, is he a generational talent, Sakic, Borque, Gilmour, Frances, etc. all great scorers, not generational talents. Leetch, Chelios, great all time American D-men, not generational talents. Orr, generational talent.
- TheTrob

Best post I've read on here about distinguishing generational players from great players.

It's not a 3-4 year project though.

Took Colorado 12 years from being stacked to being towards the top again (they don't have a cup to show for it).

Took the Flames about 9 years to get from a few playoff appearances to some relatively consistent (albeit not last year) for their new core to take over. Longer if you count back from this year.

The wings have only been garbage for 6 years and were mediocre the 3 before that so them turning the corner at year 9 is not outside of the box.

The Panthers have been rebuilding for 25 years and after retooling their front office and getting a better mix of players, they're finally in a good spot.

Carolina has taken about 12 years from their cup winning team to get their feet under them and be in the mix.

New York took 5 years. Adam Fox is everything Ian Mitchell was lauded to be.

Boston has been well managed and consistently competitive as well as Washington so they don't fit that mold.

At a minimum they're looking at an 8-12 year project compounded by their lack of a first round pick and a disappointing prospect pool. Not to mention their pro evaluation has been very bad and their north American scouting pretty suspect. Snagging Debrincat and Saad in the second round from the island of misfit toys is great but that isn't the norm.

They seem to do OK in Europe so maybe this year that's the only place they should draft from.

Unrealistic to turn this around in 3-4 years and I don't think a person of reasonable intelligence would take that GM job unless it was a 7-10 year project with signs of life around year 6.
- fattybeef

All of this is bullpoop. Because this happened for these teams doesn't mean it is what will happen for others. It could take more, or less time. There is a lot of luck that goes into it too

Well the only way they keep the pick is if it’s 1/2 I’d be okay with them getting Wright / Cooley
- Abadseed

I'd be good with getting Wright, Cooley, or Miroshnichenko with the 1st or 2nd overall. Yet, they will lose the 2023 1st round pick if they win the 2022 lottery for the first two picks.

Either way, an ideal situation would be to gain a(nother) 2022 1st round pick and 2023 1st round pick so that way the team will be guaranteed a 1st round selection this year and next year with one more in one of these years.

while you guys are trying to figure out why Borgström is sitting, I am trying to figure out why Kurachev plays so much.

I like Borgström and there is time
- wiz1901

Agree with you wiz

while you guys are trying to figure out why Borgström is sitting, I am trying to figure out why Kurachev plays so much.

I like Borgström and there is time
- wiz1901

Cuz he’s awesome!

Cuz he’s awesome!
- DarthKane

How many points and goals?

Agree with you wiz
- Scott1977

Me too. Except on the Kurashev part. Unless the answer is more Ryan Carpenter. Then I'm in.

How many points and goals?
- Scott1977

3G + 8A

I believe all those goals have come after he got sent to RFD and he seems like a more determined and confident player after doing a stint there. No?