I'd prefer Yawney to Runblad. Not convinced the year Vlasic was running the PP in Rockford is going to transfer to his NHL game. Not as confident about Allan and or Del Mastro having impacts at the NHL level. Hope I am wrong.
- stevefrmglencoe

So would most here, but my point was that I don't think you NEED a former player or NHL coach to get good results.

LR is very fortunate that there are no expectations for this team to do anything, the media is soft on him, the owner's are drunken bloats, and the GM sent almost all the prospects to Rockford so he has a veteran roster and has little development to be held accountable for.

I love your passion and optimism. I respectfully disagree about Rockford being well planned out. AHL is a tough league. The teams that win there are typically a bit older. So many young prospects I fear them getting kicked around on the ice and in the standings. Not sure that is the ideal development situation. Hope I am wrong.
- stevefrmglencoe

Yeah, I think LR will have a much bigger spotlight on his results this year. The local media tends to realize the situation and will give a bit more rope than most others.

I go back and forth on agreeing with the long game or shortening the runway to take advantage of the cheap contracts. The more I think about it, I want them to speed it up a bit which is why I'm happy they brough in the vets.

I like the AHL route for a lot of these kids (sorry Fattybeef) as they can work on a lot of stuff without as much pressure. I think if Arty was healthy the entire time, he would have had a good shot of at least starting the year with the big club.

The "wait and see" portion of the rebuild is frustrating as hell.

Here's a list of Hawks prospects not in college or AHL are playing this year.

https://www.bleachernatio...-are-playing-this-season/

Is it just me or does it seem that their Euro picks are kind of afterthoughts?

Ben Pope
@BenPopeCST
Blackhawks lines in morning skate vs Wild, with Martinez missing a second consecutive day:

Bertuzzi-Bedard-Teravainen
Hall-Kurashev-Mikheyev
Foligno-Richardinson-Anderson
Maroon-Donato-Smith

Brodie-Jones
Vlasic-Murphy
Allan-Phillips

Mrazek in starter’s crease
- LAHawk

The guys I'm most interested to watch...

No debate about this. The next 4 or 5 years will show if the level of coordination and development throughout the Hawks system is Stanley Cup level.
- stevefrmglencoe

That's worked out well for Detroit...

Ben Pope
@BenPopeCST
Blackhawks lines in morning skate vs Wild, with Martinez missing a second consecutive day:

Bertuzzi-Bedard-Teravainen
Hall-Kurashev-Mikheyev
Foligno-Richardinson-Anderson
Maroon-Donato-Smith

Brodie-Jones
Vlasic-Murphy
Allan-Phillips

Mrazek in starter’s crease
- LAHawk

This lineup screams the rebuild is in its infant stages. Kurashev is going into his 5th season. Don't consider him a prospect or developmental player. So, you have Bedard as the only young forward.

On the back end you have Vlasic and Allan. I don't think Phillips earned a spot. He is on the big club because the Hawks either keep him or lose him to waivers. If you include him you have 4 guys on the roster the Hawks are trying to develop.

Not sure why we don't have 2 forwards in the bottom 6 that are young and developing. We have more than enough veterans on the team now.

07/08 Hawks had Kane, Toews, Keith, Seabs, Buff, Barker, and Bolland all 23 or younger on the roster playing regularly.

A long way to go here.

Ben Pope
@BenPopeCST
Blackhawks lines in morning skate vs Wild, with Martinez missing a second consecutive day:

Bertuzzi-Bedard-Teravainen
Hall-Kurashev-Mikheyev
Foligno-Richardinson-Anderson
Maroon-Donato-Smith

Brodie-Jones
Vlasic-Murphy
Allan-Phillips

Mrazek in starter’s crease
- LAHawk

I wouldn't call this a "speed" team. Kind of a tweener. They could be playing chase again. Where's Handzus when you need him?

Yeah, I think LR will have a much bigger spotlight on his results this year. The local media tends to realize the situation and will give a bit more rope than most others.

I go back and forth on agreeing with the long game or shortening the runway to take advantage of the cheap contracts. The more I think about it, I want them to speed it up a bit which is why I'm happy they brough in the vets.

I like the AHL route for a lot of these kids (sorry Fattybeef) as they can work on a lot of stuff without as much pressure. I think if Arty was healthy the entire time, he would have had a good shot of at least starting the year with the big club.

The "wait and see" portion of the rebuild is frustrating as hell.
- Chunk

That's fine. Different strokes. It's true that high level talent takes their lumps in the NHL and turns out fine in 2 years. It's also true that some players need a bit longer to grow into their bodies, mature as an individual and all that good poop.

When I played high level the sports and even in my career, I got thrown into the fire and had to succeed or fail. I think that builds character, resilience and in the long run is better than having an "easier" path with constant handholding.

Rockford hasn't really helped Reichel, for example. If they let him eat it in the NHL maybe he builds some character or fails miserably and doesn't get a second contract.

I agree that Luke will be under more of a microscope this year. That being said, the roster is still rubbish aside from the top line that only has two first line calibre players and TT is more of a tweener.

I don't think they should be wasting productive Bedard years.

I think an interesting bet would be which team fires a coach first - the Bears or the Hawks.

That's worked out well for Detroit...
- fattybeef

Not the same they just recently have drafted more than one 1st round pick in 2 out of the last 4 years, before then pretty bleak.

That's fine. Different strokes. It's true that high level talent takes their lumps in the NHL and turns out fine in 2 years. It's also true that some players need a bit longer to grow into their bodies, mature as an individual and all that good poop.

When I played high level the sports and even in my career, I got thrown into the fire and had to succeed or fail. I think that builds character, resilience and in the long run is better than having an "easier" path with constant handholding.

Rockford hasn't really helped Reichel, for example. If they let him eat it in the NHL maybe he builds some character or fails miserably and doesn't get a second contract.

I agree that Luke will be under more of a microscope this year. That being said, the roster is still rubbish aside from the top line that only has two first line calibre players and TT is more of a tweener.

I don't think they should be wasting productive Bedard years.

I think an interesting bet would be which team fires a coach first - the Bears or the Hawks.
- fattybeef

Let’s be honest… nothing has helped Reichel. He was given extended time in the NHL and poop the bed, but he played well in not Rockford and for Germany. I think sometimes a guy just can’t cut it.

Edit: that is an interesting bet. I’d die laughing if the Hawks fired LR and hired Q again.

That's fine. Different strokes. It's true that high level talent takes their lumps in the NHL and turns out fine in 2 years. It's also true that some players need a bit longer to grow into their bodies, mature as an individual and all that good poop.

When I played high level the sports and even in my career, I got thrown into the fire and had to succeed or fail. I think that builds character, resilience and in the long run is better than having an "easier" path with constant handholding.

Rockford hasn't really helped Reichel, for example. If they let him eat it in the NHL maybe he builds some character or fails miserably and doesn't get a second contract.

I agree that Luke will be under more of a microscope this year. That being said, the roster is still rubbish aside from the top line that only has two first line calibre players and TT is more of a tweener.

I don't think they should be wasting productive Bedard years.

I think an interesting bet would be which team fires a coach first - the Bears or the Hawks.
- fattybeef

Bears.

As far as wasting Bedard years, it is what it is. If you try cobbling a contender together without the pieces already there you get the 2020 Blackhawks. Ideally, we would have drafted Bedard 3-5 years later.

One team seemingly always employing young players and recalling a boatload of prospects, is the favorite in the World Series

Wouldn’t we love to see KD the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball attractive situation this season become the normal for the Blackhawks!

Despite some youngsters not ready for prime time the onset of this season, I would say KD is in the right track. His drafting has been pretty good

But my gosh talk about taking the best player available in Tge Entry Draft ‘25 and ‘26 - we desperately need a top line point priducing forward. The Chicago Bulls basketball once upon a time used to tout Superman and Batman

Oh to draft a forward to play with Bedard….the Batman in the duo

I like our draft choices under KD so far and this is a critical year for many of them to continue development

I do know that wiz has mentioned a better draft for goaltenders is coming. I do not believe KD would draft a netminder in round one but he might grab another dman if he isn’t convinced the current dmen NHL and through farm system is not going to become top notch

Kind of early to project ‘25 draft but I am wondering if KD might not take a forward

Let’s be honest… nothing has helped Reichel. He was given extended time in the NHL and poop the bed, but he played well in not Rockford and for Germany. I think sometimes a guy just can’t cut it.

Edit: that is an interesting bet. I’d die laughing if the Hawks fired LR and hired Q again.
- Chunk

Better chance of Q ending up in St. Louis or Nashville.

One team seemingly always employing young players and recalling a boatload of prospects, is the favorite in the World Series

Wouldn’t we love to see KD the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball attractive situation this season become the normal for the Blackhawks!

Despite some youngsters not ready for prime time the onset of this season, I would say KD is in the right track. His drafting has been pretty good

But my gosh talk about taking the best player available in Tge Entry Draft ‘25 and ‘26 - we desperately need a top line point priducing forward. The Chicago Bulls basketball once upon a time used to tout Superman and Batman

Oh to draft a forward to play with Bedard….the Batman in the duo

I like our draft choices under KD so far and this is a critical year for many of them to continue development

I do know that wiz has mentioned a better draft for goaltenders is coming. I do not believe KD would draft a netminder in round one but he might grab another dman if he isn’t convinced the current dmen NHL and through farm system is not going to become top notch

Kind of early to project ‘25 draft but I am wondering if KD might not take a forward
- jhawk59

They will take a goalie early - most are averaged sized or under sized save two on from the Dub, and one in Switzerland...

They wuill take the best forwatd if the pick top 9.

My big sleeper is 2nd gen RD defenseman Fiddler whom I told you all caught my eye a yeear ago...

One team seemingly always employing young players and recalling a boatload of prospects, is the favorite in the World Series

Wouldn’t we love to see KD the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball attractive situation this season become the normal for the Blackhawks!

Despite some youngsters not ready for prime time the onset of this season, I would say KD is in the right track. His drafting has been pretty good

But my gosh talk about taking the best player available in Tge Entry Draft ‘25 and ‘26 - we desperately need a top line point priducing forward. The Chicago Bulls basketball once upon a time used to tout Superman and Batman

Oh to draft a forward to play with Bedard….the Batman in the duo

I like our draft choices under KD so far and this is a critical year for many of them to continue development

I do know that wiz has mentioned a better draft for goaltenders is coming. I do not believe KD would draft a netminder in round one but he might grab another dman if he isn’t convinced the current dmen NHL and through farm system is not going to become top notch

Kind of early to project ‘25 draft but I am wondering if KD might not take a forward
- jhawk59

There also is the option of signing a second scorer to go along with Bedard. We don't really know what the Hawks have in the pipeline right now. There are plenty of scouting reports out there, but guys like Lardis, Kantserov, Vanaker, Boivert could all prove to be good to great scorers.

First regular season game underway in Czechia. NJ leads Buffalo 3-0 in the 2nd.

Jeremy Colliton is now assisting head coach Sheldon Keefe behind the bench for the Devils.

Boqvist got his bell rung numerous times before getting to the NHL. He also never played a full season at any level. The biggest detriment to him has been his ability to stay healthy and also that his straight line speed is not especially impressive. He's also not very good at defending.

Handling the puck, passing, moving laterally - all very good.

Hopefully he can stay healthy in Florida and realize some of his potential.

But HEALTH not necessarily readiness has been the main retarder in the NHL and a problem his whole career.

Theoretically he should be able to replace a lot of what OEL did if he can stay healthy.
- fattybeef

Man, Boqvist was so out of his element as a rookie, one who was waaay overdrafted despite some evaluators liking him...... I'll say this, the last couple times I saw him he had an NHL element to him and he's no longer a boy. Kinda thick and with his 1st step off the blueline he was beating the winger wide, looked weak side and if nothing there he'd let that good shot of his rip. Kid has a heavy shot.

But, he still hurts his club all over the ice. If any franchise/roster can get anything outa him it just might be FLA.

Man, Boqvist was so out of his element as a rookie, one who was waaay overdrafted despite some evaluators liking him...... I'll say this, the last couple times I saw him he had an NHL element to him and he's no longer a boy. Kinda thick and with his 1st step off the blueline he was beating the winger wide, looked weak side and if nothing there he'd let that good shot of his rip. Kid has a heavy shot.

But, he still hurts his club all over the ice. If any franchise/roster can get anything outa him it just might be FLA.
- Mr Ricochet

As of the last preseason game, Bovquist is on PP1 for the panthers with Barkov/Tkaczuk/Verhaege and Reinhart

Man, Boqvist was so out of his element as a rookie, one who was waaay overdrafted despite some evaluators liking him...... I'll say this, the last couple times I saw him he had an NHL element to him and he's no longer a boy. Kinda thick and with his 1st step off the blueline he was beating the winger wide, looked weak side and if nothing there he'd let that good shot of his rip. Kid has a heavy shot.

But, he still hurts his club all over the ice. If any franchise/roster can get anything outa him it just might be FLA.
- Mr Ricochet

He is destined to go to Europe once he fizzles out of the NHL completely. He doesn't have it.

Better chance of Q ending up in St. Louis or Nashville.
- rpeters01

If you remember, Q doesn't like rookies and the team will be full of them soon enough.

How do you know if a 18/19/20 year old is ready to play in the NHL? They saw in the preseason that his skating was up to par and that he had enough feel for the game to be somewhat effective. He was on a poor team last year and they told him to concentrate on not getting beat which hindered his offense, but he did get a full year of experience.

I believe I get your point (that if a player isn't ready for the NHL they shouldn't be thrust into it), but is there any guarantee that he would learn to play defense better in junior than in his time in the NHL? Another year there may have simply reinforced habits that are counter to what he needs to improve upon. Right now he knows exactly what his deficiencies are for the NHL game. The coaches in the NHL and AHL at least all are on the same page in terms of teaching the game and tactics (at least from what we've seen with Kaiser and Vlasic).

I mean technically, you could say the exact same about Bedard. As Rico has hammered home, he had some terrible habits to start the season, and while those seemed to improve toward the end of the year, he still is pretty brutal in his own end and at times through the neutral zone. He's a year younger and smaller than KK so that's not it. I think the main difference between the two is that Bedard's offense is so much better than anyone else on the team. I don't think this will hurt KK's development at all.
- Chunk

Chunk, I bought in as a 7 yr old and became an old soul when I was 9. I don't care who you are hit the cutoff man, back up a man/base, choke up with 2 strikes, 45 second shifts kinda stuff.

Posted I'm thrilled Bedard won't have freaks with cameras following him around asking what kinda cereal he likes and he can "enjoy" an offseason to refresh mentally and physically.

No way a person can develop the skills he has without being a proud MFer. I'm excited to see what he's decided to work on over his offseason cuz I know his pride won't let him do otherwise.

I'll say this, first period of Game 1 this yr was the only time I thought the kid was playing like a centerman. Not perfect but the effort (legs moving without the puck and in all 3 zones) was there, staying high when needed in the Ozone, supporting and battling for pucks in all 3 zones.......

Green shoots maybe but to my eye the kid is more aware and with his skill in my mind a matter of time for the 19 yr old starts fixing some things.... I've accepted Bedard's chances of being a freakish 3 zone player like Crosby are slim at best but the kid is far from a finished product and his pride will push his 2 way game.

What is starting to concern me, maybe interesting is a better term, is his scoring in high danger areas. Gotta be one of the best shots ever and it seems he finds the goalies belly or shoulder. Between the dots with his shot a 35-40% SPG seems about right.

Here's a list of Hawks prospects not in college or AHL are playing this year.

https://www.bleachernatio...-are-playing-this-season/

Is it just me or does it seem that their Euro picks are kind of afterthoughts?
- Chunk

This is something I find kind of interesting, the KD drafts have all looked similar - after the top picks, all the late 1st, 2nd and 3rd rounders tend to be from the mid-continent area (OHL, USHL, college, etc.). Even players like Gajan and Misiak had already come over to the USHL when they were drafted. Kantserov and Felcman I think are the only exceptions.

Scandinavia seems to only get late rounders. It makes me wonder if Euro scouting is a little bit weak, or if they just prefer to take guys that are going to play closer to Chicago. They did at least invest a 5th this year in Svensson. Peltonen played in the World Junior Summer Showcase this year but he's got a long way to go.

LR is very fortunate that there are no expectations for this team to do anything, the media is soft on him, the owner's are drunken bloats, and the GM sent almost all the prospects to Rockford so he has a veteran roster and has little development to be held accountable for.

I love your passion and optimism. I respectfully disagree about Rockford being well planned out. AHL is a tough league. The teams that win there are typically a bit older. So many young prospects I fear them getting kicked around on the ice and in the standings. Not sure that is the ideal development situation. Hope I am wrong.
- stevefrmglencoe

Steve, Chunk agreed with everything you preach and IMO his was a solid post. You disagree with him saying the plan between the Hawks and Hogs is no good? I've read numerous times that the systems being taught in RKF has allowed the kids to step right in with the Hawks. No lag time in getting caught up on "how we do things up here" for a kid to deal with.......... You disagree with that or the coaches down there? Counting on you to be specific on this kinda stuff cuz you follow coaches, coaching and the AHL closely.

Glad your posting, Steve. This should get to your wheelhouse as the league/city/fans are expecting some wins outa the club and if not the spotlight goes to LR first.

One team seemingly always employing young players and recalling a boatload of prospects, is the favorite in the World Series

Wouldn’t we love to see KD the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball attractive situation this season become the normal for the Blackhawks!

Despite some youngsters not ready for prime time the onset of this season, I would say KD is in the right track. His drafting has been pretty good

But my gosh talk about taking the best player available in Tge Entry Draft ‘25 and ‘26 - we desperately need a top line point priducing forward. The Chicago Bulls basketball once upon a time used to tout Superman and Batman

Oh to draft a forward to play with Bedard….the Batman in the duo

I like our draft choices under KD so far and this is a critical year for many of them to continue development

I do know that wiz has mentioned a better draft for goaltenders is coming. I do not believe KD would draft a netminder in round one but he might grab another dman if he isn’t convinced the current dmen NHL and through farm system is not going to become top notch

Kind of early to project ‘25 draft but I am wondering if KD might not take a forward
- jhawk59

Hawks had their chance to draft that point producing forward and chose to draft a defenseman instead.

You mean it might have been a misjudgment by an inexperienced GM? Who would think ?
- LAHawk

Probably better to ask on the eve of opening night, LA. But as a guy who hated the total tear down do you have any thoughts as they go into pretty much the first yr of not tanking? Any way you look at it it's a different phase of "the plan".

And speaking of "the plan" it was only a short while ago fans begged for the organIzation to come up with a plan, any plan and stick to it.