Thought so too. That hit he had on O'Connor or whatever that Av's player's name is was solid and I thought that INT call on him was a hometown call. Granted the puck had slid forward but he pulled up and Rantanen was going down on his own.
- HawkintheD

From what i saw in the 3rd period it seemed like the Hawks were the men's team playing against a bunch of skinny kids. Jones threw a few kids off the puck to get possession along the boards.

MacKinnon lost in the first round his rookie year and then missed the next three years. maybe hit the brakes a bit on the Bedard wants to leave talk...
- Chunk

There was also the goofy Patrick Roy poop going on there.

I think his second or third year or between they unloaded Duchene, O'Rielly and let Statsny walk then "retooled" with MacKinnon and Landeskog as the forwards they were going to build around. During that drop off they were fortunate enough to draft Mikko and Makar. Also the trade for Toews was huge.

This is a bit different since, other than Jones (at least salary wise), there aren't any high profile players on the roster so there are a few less excuses to not be taking bigger steps to actually build a team.

If "most of these guys" aren't gonna be here when they're good then they aren't building a team these are place holders until whatever happens.

Decent game on the road, pretty solid effort. I liked Jason Richardinson 1 vs 3 in the corner to get the puck to Donato. Late in the game too noticed Jones playing pretty well in the corners vs MacKinnon. Won a few battles and pucks off him. Also seems like the last few games Hall is skating faster and faster. I think just getting his mid season legs after that injury last year.
- breadbag

After he got absolutely torched by him a few times (including for the goal) I think someone probably said something to him - like maybe just grab him - next time.

Do you try Maroon or Smith there? Smith was in front on Kurashev’s goal. Maybe not ideal but it’s what you’ve got.

Doesn’t always have to be a big guy. Andrew Shaw was pretty effective in front of the net and Disco Dino in his day.
- HawkintheD

I think that is what Bertuzzi is supposed to be, but the ice seems to be too slippery for him this year.

After he got absolutely torched by him a few times (including for the goal) I think someone probably said something to him - like maybe just grab him - next time.
- fattybeef

To be fair we don't have a D man on the roster who wouldn't have got torched on that goal.

I think that is what Bertuzzi is supposed to be, but the ice seems to be too slippery for him this year.
- LAHawk

Oh right...forgot about him. Hopefully his next 70 Hawk games make us forget about the first 10.

Oh right...forgot about him. Hopefully his next 70 Hawk games make us forget about the first 10.
- HawkintheD

I know it’s early, but not crazy about the Bertuzzi and Brodie signings, especially the term. Bertuzzi does not fit the the speed and skating game that KD is trying to implement, that signing makes no sense. Not trying to slam KD, I like how he’s building this team.

From the ball arena. The biggest pain in the ass for the 300 level is, especially behind the net you can't really see the closest net easily.

The first period was weird and the game itself was one of the less entertaining ones I've been too. Makar was certainly the best player on the ice.

The top line was ineffective. MacKinnon really has Bedards number. Though off the puck Bedard was whacking and maybe chirping Makar behind the play which was pretty hilarious and another good sign of growth from the kid. Kurashev does not fit with TT and Bedard. Still think Bertuzzi is the way to go there since he has no desire to handle the puck just win it, go to the net and look for garbage.

We were right behind the Hawks goal for the first period. You could have thrown a bed into the goal with the amount of space Georgiev left open. Woof. Yay that he finished that but he was also pretty useless 5v5.

It was interesting to see how they play with that 4th line on the ice. Basically, the two defenders and Smith and Maroon sit back in a box and Reichel just skates around like a wombat on speed looking to pop the puck off someone. It's like watching kids play. Sure it looks like he's productive and he's winning some pucks and getting a few shots and points but that definitely explains why that "productivity" doesn't translate to playing with actual hockey players. And I guess if you're getting spanked in possession - as long as its the other teams worst players how bad could it be?

I'd just leave him there and maybe something clicks at some point to where he can play with better players in an actual system?

Reichel and Donato are shaping up to be the two best bum slayers in the league. Take em where you can get em.

Taylor Hall very clearly does not have the afterburner he had 5 or 6 years ago and probably needs to make some adjustments to his game. Still strong on his skates but can't blow past guys like he used to and is holding the puck too long and trying too hard to "be a guy". Really needs to get off the puck sooner and as Captain Can't Shut Up says "accept a role".

Pretty funny moment was on a break out thinking oh shoot a jail break - oh nope it's Foligno.

Watching MacKinnon undress Jones was hilarious. And one thing that is apparent live is Jones's skating backwards and side to side is very bad. Good for him finally making an adjustment and just skating directly to him and grabbing him in the later part of the game but I think his jock is still floating down the platt river somewhere on its way to Nebraska.

Murphy is actually a pretty solid hockey player. He gets a lot of poop here but he's usually in the right spot, reads the play reasonably well and usually makes a decent enough first pass. For a 15 minute \ night kills penalties player I think there is a lot of value. @19 mins maybe not so much.

Allen could end up being a better version. There were a few plays he just missed but looks the part. Used his frame well a few times and made some good passes. Kaiser was fine. Neither of these guys are going to be push the puck forward with purpose players though.

Brodie is bad. Whatever happened at the end of last year that got him dropped from the line up looks like it is persisting. He just isn't moving well. You almost feel bad for the guy.

Overall - good to see them win. Especially against Colorado. The Avs looked like a depleted team that played the night before for most of the the game and their goaler is horrifically bad but that's just the league and good on the Hawks for taking advantage of a group while theyre down.

Can't be stressed enough how amazing the Cale Makar show is when that guy flips the switch. MacKinnon is pretty impressive too but I think you could make a Makar is the best player in the NHL argument right now.

New blog!

I know it’s early, but not crazy about the Bertuzzi and Brodie signings, especially the term. Bertuzzi does not fit the the speed and skating game that KD is trying to implement, that signing makes no sense. Not trying to slam KD, I like how he’s building this team.
- Angotti

Bertuzzi does. He skates well enough, wins battles and cleans up garbage. He'll score 20 goals you don't remember but certainly skating him with Hall and Foligno doesn't do a whole lot to get him opportunities to do that.

Smith, Maroon, Brodie, Martinez, Foligno are certainly slow.

Bigger issue is how quickly they advance the puck up the ice. Other than Jones (who is only mostly fine at it) - they don't have anyone who can use their feet to move the puck forward or that is skilled enough to consistently make a home run pass or have a threatening shot from the point.

Can't play fast if you can't move the puck quickly. Korch and big Arty can't get here soon enough.

There was also the goofy Patrick Roy poop going on there.

I think his second or third year or between they unloaded Duchene, O'Rielly and let Statsny walk then "retooled" with MacKinnon and Landeskog as the forwards they were going to build around. During that drop off they were fortunate enough to draft Mikko and Makar. Also the trade for Toews was huge.

This is a bit different since, other than Jones (at least salary wise), there aren't any high profile players on the roster so there are a few less excuses to not be taking bigger steps to actually build a team.

If "most of these guys" aren't gonna be here when they're good then they aren't building a team these are place holders until whatever happens.
- fattybeef

Sure, but the comment was about Bedard wanting to leave because of the "losing culture".

I'm not upset about it really, but the entire situation is KD"s making. He wants to build a team through the draft and have those players as the foundational pieces. They aren't good now and it was going to be hard for them to sell the "good" free agents to come to the Hawks because of that and the fact that he didn't want to sign huge dollars for term. So we get this for another year and hope the patience pays off. I think if they end up like Detroit and are still struggling to get to the PO's in two more years after this changes will be made.

I don't mind KD's plan, but I think it's kinda short sighted in expecting your draft picks to be everything. Not to mention you have all these guys coming in at the same time which can create roster crunch and contract negotiation issues. We'll see how it goes.