Oliver Moore with a goal.
- rickboardman

John Mustard with a goal and an assist.

John Mustard with a goal and an assist.
- rickboardman

Sam Rinzel with a goal.

Sam Rinzel with a goal.
- rickboardman

Lardis with a great shot to continue his scoring streak.

Lardis with a goal.

Quite the return for Jiricek. The Wild gave up four picks plus, including a 1st. RS defensemen have value.

A Gaudette scored his 12th goal in 22 games

He had I think around 40 in the AHL last season

Quite the return for Jiricek. The Wild gave up four picks plus, including a 1st. RS defensemen have value.
- Angotti

Another nice move by the Wild, crazy that CBJ couldn't reestablish a good relationship with Jiricek, isn't that one of the 1st round picks Blackhawks traded for S Jones? They just made the RD position really young.

On another note what was Levshunov doing in OT? Weird he didn't defend the skater flying up the middle

Levshunov and KK need to just stay in the Rock they need a lot of reps.

Vinnie Hinozstra scored in OT as Milwaukee beat Rockford 3-2. Dach has goal # 7; Nazar goal # 10; and both KK ((on PP) and Arty had an assist

Another nice move by the Wild, crazy that CBJ couldn't reestablish a good relationship with Jiricek, isn't that one of the 1st round picks Blackhawks traded for S Jones? They just made the RD position really young.

On another note what was Levshunov doing in OT? Weird he didn't defend the skater flying up the middle

Levshunov and KK need to just stay in the Rock they need a lot of reps.
- BetweenTheDots

Maybe both prospects need two years in Rockford

Maybe both prospects need two years in Rockford
- jhawk59

It's possible

Maybe both prospects need two years in Rockford
- jhawk59

I think it's good they are in Rockford, maybe 2 years maybe not, i think Nazar will be up definitely next season, but it wouldn't surprise me if he's up in March sometime. Same with Slaggert.

I think it's good they are in Rockford, maybe 2 years maybe not, i think Nazar will be up definitely next season, but it wouldn't surprise me if he's up in March sometime. Same with Slaggert.
- BetweenTheDots

Expect they both are recalled maybe as soon as after trade deadline. I am guessing KD wants them to get at least half a season. And although KD would never admit that he doesn’t want to leave his top dmen prospects developing without Nazar on the team, you figure without Nazar the Icehogs will be pretty bad!

I bet Dach gets a look too because they want to see him at NHL level playing a tough wing style. Dach has 7 goals and if he is between 15-20 late in season, KD is thinking he could be a tough style L3 who can chip in on offense…..maybe occasionally L2 should the team want more toughness on L2.

I bet they move Smith at trade deadline or after this season to allow Slaggert to replace and Dach could be a depth guy on call in Rockford if he shows well enough in a brief NHL trial this season

Damn. Blog fell off the front page. I know Ztra has been trying to get a response out of Ek, but seems there has been no movement. Hopefully something can be worked out.

Maybe Ztra's idea of a group effort could work. PE can start us off with a post about how the league is fixed and taking out the stars of the other teams is a good thing.

I'll follow with a long winded rant about roster building that is neither realistic nor effective, then follow that up with a post about long winded rants not being an effective communication vehicle.

Dots can continue with an overly rosy breakdown of the farm club.

Paulr follows with telling everyone to calm down and be patient for a new blogger.

Darth can finish with a post entirely in red font.

Deal? I think we can do this!!

You don’t see a problem acquiring a 28 and a 29 year old when most of the team’s prospects are two to four years away from being on the team and another year or two after that before they’re ready to be productive?
- paulr

Besides maybe Nazar, there aren't any top 6 forwards in our prospect pool. That's not to say 1-3 could blossom into something unexpected in terms of being top 6 worthy. Even blue chip prospects aren't guaranteed to hit their ceilings and playing the waiting game will get you to the land of mediocrity.

All I'm saying is this is where we are right now in terms of the rebuild and where KD is at. In all actuality all those teams you mention were where we are at right now. He's in the position of make me an offer i can't refuse.

Model org the Avs? What are they going to win without Landeskog who has had another set back. They are quickly becoming a one line team again. The Toews deal was fantastic, loser Isles on that deal. By the way they drafted top 10 seven out of eleven years.

Tampa started through the draft and they got hella lucky when Drouin wanted to be traded and Habs lost that trade by a country mile, set back for Habs. Tampa drafted top 10 six out of seven years?

Caps just keep plugging away, but remind me again didn't they have a stretch where they drafted top 5 three out of 4 years?

So what you say is not true all those orgs at some point had a lot of boring hockey because they didn't have talent

I think when the Blackhawks are ready for playoff runs they will be fun to watch because they will be the team that is superior in talent and speed.

Added, looking at their draft history Avs and TB only had 2 extra first round picks

The Caps in that 4 year span had 4 additional first round picks. If you zoom out they had 14 first round picks in that 7 year stretch.
- BetweenTheDots

The whole point is none of these teams were dreadful on purpose and none of them took this long to get into the playoffs and be relevant after they tore things down.

I would do that deal yes Norris has had shoulder issues but when healthy heck of a player. Still young mid 20s. Also would inquire about Pinto and grieg one other player would ask about is voucher maybe change of scenery would help 3rd 4th line power forward.
- Scott1977

The advantage with Norris, if he is healthy, is that he is a true two way 200ft center who can also score.

If a main cog in any team goes down, said team will have trouble competing. Think if Toews, Hossa, Kane, or Keith went down. If Bedard gets similarly injured, do you think the Hawks will be as good of a team a they are theoretically supposed to be? Does that change the opinion of the rest of the work KD has done?

The cap forces teams to make decisions on their roster. They very often have to move on from guys that they want to keep around. EDM, COL, NYR, TB, FLA, VGK, etc. all have had to either stand pat or lose guys that they wanted to keep or add.

My biggest concern is that they are going to wait for too many of these kids to mature to notably improve. I want as much as anyone for all of these kids to show out. It would be great for the team. The problem I see as twofold. First, if all of these kids hit, it is going to be really difficult to get them all on the ice. Second, I think they need to get this team competing in for (or in) the playoffs sooner rather than later. The pipeline is built and they still have tons of draft capital.

The comparison with the Stars is interesting, mainly because I think they had a lot of pieces in place when they drafted a lot of these pieces. They've had Seguin, Benn, a good version of Radulov and Klingberg, and above average goaltending. This is why I keep harping on them pulling in some good younger talent from outside the club.
- Chunk

Because otherwise you get Ottawa, Buffalo, Columbus, Anaheim or Detroit (especially if you go bargain bin shopping).

You really think Moore has a low floor? I think he exhibits all the traits to be a first rate 3rd liner. Can fly, motor never stops, nose over the puck, 2 way game and 40ish 3rd line pts hands. ....... Kid looks a lot like a young Blake Coleman.

And of course, with that kinda speed he has a pretty good ceiling.
- Mr Ricochet

Oh high floor I mean. Lol.

Another nice move by the Wild, crazy that CBJ couldn't reestablish a good relationship with Jiricek, isn't that one of the 1st round picks Blackhawks traded for S Jones? They just made the RD position really young.

On another note what was Levshunov doing in OT? Weird he didn't defend the skater flying up the middle

Levshunov and KK need to just stay in the Rock they need a lot of reps.
- BetweenTheDots

Levshunov should have stayed in the NCAA another year.

Expect they both are recalled maybe as soon as after trade deadline. I am guessing KD wants them to get at least half a season. And although KD would never admit that he doesn’t want to leave his top dmen prospects developing without Nazar on the team, you figure without Nazar the Icehogs will be pretty bad!

I bet Dach gets a look too because they want to see him at NHL level playing a tough wing style. Dach has 7 goals and if he is between 15-20 late in season, KD is thinking he could be a tough style L3 who can chip in on offense…..maybe occasionally L2 should the team want more toughness on L2.

I bet they move Smith at trade deadline or after this season to allow Slaggert to replace and Dach could be a depth guy on call in Rockford if he shows well enough in a brief NHL trial this season
- jhawk59

For a team that can't score it's pretty ridiculous to have a guy that is scoring a lot in the minors not on the team. It's not like he has a lot else to prove there.

The Wild just took a big swing.

I always liked Bennett, knew he would be an asset on a winning team. Calgary was expecting more offense, the guy is a slightly bigger Bolland, 200’ game and like you mentioned, a pain in the butt to play against.
- Angotti

Bennett types are my blind spot. If I were a GM I'd have 23 Sam Bennetts on my team.

Quite the return for Jiricek. The Wild gave up four picks plus, including a 1st. RS defensemen have value.
- Angotti

And if a RS Dman can play they're gold. Another reason I didn't think KD, or any GM really, could pass on a Levshunov. ..... I'm over the moon on Demidov but understand drafting Lev.

The whole point is none of these teams were dreadful on purpose and none of them took this long to get into the playoffs and be relevant after they tore things down.
- fattybeef

Bowman tried to make this team relevant because he knew he was going to be (Beach incident) scrutinized by everyone. He did what you wanted him to do trade away draft picks, sign free agents and it all blew up in the franchises face and guess what set them back. So KD blows it up and does what they should of done 3 years prior and you want to do the samething Bowman did 5-6 years ago.

You say you don't but what's it going to cost to bring in real young talent? It's going to cost a lot and the kids is just beginning to build this team back up.

Another nice move by the Wild, crazy that CBJ couldn't reestablish a good relationship with Jiricek, isn't that one of the 1st round picks Blackhawks traded for S Jones? They just made the RD position really young.

On another note what was Levshunov doing in OT? Weird he didn't defend the skater flying up the middle

Levshunov and KK need to just stay in the Rock they need a lot of reps.
- BetweenTheDots

I'm having a near impossible time getting an AHL feed so unless you and I had a much different evaluation on him predraft you see how raw the kid really is. .. Lev has a ways to go, maybe 2 yrs of AHL or more.

IMO, just as Bedard has been for guys like me, there are gonna be a lotta times/games (years?) that watching him develop is gonna be difficult and probably more so cuz playing D in the NHL is 100 times more difficult/crucial than playing forward.

How do you see KK this yr? The 2-3 RKF games I saw this yr the kid is much more poised/unhurried than he was as a 19 yr old thrown to the NHL wolves last yr. ... Are you familiar with OTT Dman Thomas Chabot? Watching KK this yr he reminded me of Chabot.