Not that I'm arguing for the Hawks to sign him, but literally Mitch Marner.

The Rangers launched Buchnevich, Zuccarello, Hayes, Fast, Skjei, Shattenkirk and JT Miller (and probably a few others that I'm missing).

I know we kept no one. That's the mistake that I think KD made. They have the cap space and resources to put a better team on the ice. I think it is better to do it sooner than later. The fact that they have tons of prospects coming up allows them to move on from older contracts instead of resigning them to deals that they know will put them in cap hell.
- Chunk

He ain't going to make it to free agency either is Rantanen.

Yea Chunk, I'm positive that's what he was talking about but he also said that nobody on the roster besides Bedard can hit small spots with their shot. I responded this yr even Bedard can't do that and went on to expound on why IMO and then went on to expound on that, and no VBear didn't not mention this/these part(s) in his post, of why Bedard is "slumping" this yr which is to introduce the topic which is nationally discussed, feeling it's germane, to the overall topic of the Hawks underperforming-the Hawks can't score-Bedard is or isn't generational-is he regressing-why ain't he scoring-is the rebuild on course-is it the right kinda rebuild.

You dig, or as the kids and homies say, you feelin me, Chunk?
- Mr Ricochet

Ew.



I get it, just didn't think you caught what he was saying.

He ain't going to make it to free agency either is Rantanen.
- BetweenTheDots

Didn't know we had Nostradamus here. Not really the point though. You don't know who will or won't be available via trade or FA right now. No one thought Tkachuk would be available, or ADB, or Dach, or a host of other players.

There are always options available to improve the team. I think it should be done sooner rather than later. Otherwise, you are just hoping your pics become impact NHLers. As a wise man once said, "Hope is not a strategy".

Havlat isn't irrelevant to the discussion. They were poopty and trying to build a team so they brought him in during his prime and then yay everyone worked out and they got a veteran Hossa to round things out.

They also brought in Sharp as a reclamation project and flipped Ruutu for Ladd.

Rantanen is not a huge risk. It is a slam dunk. Especially with all the lil guys in the system now. He's a big point producer, plays defense and has won a cup.

They have Bedard so regardless of what the other prospects do, they will attempt to build a team around him. They're not going to just be perpetually bad and keep throwing darts. And they're not going to trade Bedard in his last RFA year to start all over again.
- fattybeef

We think we've got a lot of players coming up but the people who rate pipelines aren't so covinced.

And each and every one of these kids can skate and in Mustard's, and even Spellacy's, case they can fly. ......... Gonna be fun to see the pipeline boiled down the its 23 best players in 5 yrs.
- Mr Ricochet

We'll have 23 Viktor Stahlberg and AA's.

Steer clear of Zegras, a one dimensional player whose numbers so far aren’t great, he’s a goof on the ice going after players and hiding behind the refs. He’s a better Kurashev.
- paulr

That's just simply not true at this point.

And now Monahan, actually healthy, is fitting in perfectly in Columbus.

Was it the Habs spending on the player that was an issue or is the issue with the Habs? I'm gonna go with the org is just a dumpster fire.
- fattybeef

Two or three things here....

Monahan signed with Columbus to reunite with Johnny Hockey. RIP.

Whatever problems the Habs may have, I'm merely pointing out that they got a 1st when they acquired Monahan, and they got another 1st when they traded him. The ultimate GM fantasy sequence. And they didn't even have to trade with Bowman to do any of this, either.

We think we've got a lot of players coming up but the people who rate pipelines aren't so covinced.
- rpeters01

I thought our prospects were ranking quite well league wide. Isn't the Hawks pipeline considered to be one of the better right now among the NHL? I know how people rank things can be quite subjective, but I've never seen our prospect pool ranked outside the top 10 in the NHL recently (and that usually doesn't include Bedard or KK).

I think we had something like ~9 prospects among the top 100 in some recent lists? The average team would have maybe 3 (based on the 32 team league).

I think we have some players coming over the next 12-36 months that will help start to reshape the roster.

TBH, the Rangers are currently a mess. Those top two picks have been okay, that’s it, and the rest of the forward group is getting old. Their defense sucks, and they are in a pickle with their struggling goaltender that wants $12M per, I’d rather be in the Hawks position. It also seems like contending teams all need either more talent on defense or a goalie. I’m glad that KD has built the backend first, even without Arty and KK, the Hawks defense looked better than the Leafs on Monday night. One more thing, Allan needs to play most nights, the kid plays solid defense, sure he’ll make a mistake once in awhile, but that’s expected from a young Dman. Now the Rangers will probably go on a five game winning streak.
- Angotti

They've been to two conference finals and weren't able to get over the hump. That's not too shabby.

Contending teams need more talent because of the salary cap. The league is designed to be very difficult to win a cup - let alone multiple ones.

There's not much difference between the Sabres, Wings and Bruins at this stage. Or the jackets, flyers and rangers.

The west is pretty similar. A few very good teams that are going to have cap issues and players aging out. A lot of middle teams that can do damage in the early rounds with excellent goaltending or a key player going on a heater.

The coyotes making the conference final one year comes to mind. The Jackets making it to the second round when they beat the lightning is another. The Blues were not a "typical" cup winning team but weird poop happens because the difference between 9 and 3 isn't really that huge.

Consistently making the playoffs so hopefully one or three years the stars align over a 10 year period is really the best case scenario.

We'll have 23 Viktor Stahlberg and AA's.
- rpeters01

And Jack Skille's

TBH, the Rangers are currently a mess. Those top two picks have been okay, that’s it, and the rest of the forward group is getting old. Their defense sucks, and they are in a pickle with their struggling goaltender that wants $12M per, I’d rather be in the Hawks position. It also seems like contending teams all need either more talent on defense or a goalie. I’m glad that KD has built the backend first, even without Arty and KK, the Hawks defense looked better than the Leafs on Monday night. One more thing, Allan needs to play most nights, the kid plays solid defense, sure he’ll make a mistake once in awhile, but that’s expected from a young Dman. Now the Rangers will probably go on a five game winning streak.
- Angotti

I think we should be really happy with where the team is positioned in the long term. Maybe the scouts messed up and maybe we drafted the wrong guys, but I like that we played the numbers game and got a lot of options, so the front office can be picky and go with the best fit and will have options to trade as needed as well.

And Jack Skille's
- LAHawk

Many of the Hawk prospects have strong work ethics, are highly competitive and are physical to go along with their strong skating abilities. Trouble is so far none has demonstrated they are top line players. With development that can change, we’re seeing what development has done for Rinzel. A good pick in this year’s draft will hopefully help that.

That's just simply not true at this point.
- fattybeef

That is a really strong point.

We think we've got a lot of players coming up but the people who rate pipelines aren't so covinced.
- rpeters01

They've also highly rated Detroit's for a number of years so I don't really get what they look at.

Most high end forwards spend 0 - 1 years maximum in the AHL and are at the pro level. If all of these guys the Hawks drafted need to spend time in the AHL then I would argue that it is true they didn't draft a lot of high end players.

If Nazar doesn't stick with the big club this year - I think that is a problem - I think it's a bigger problem if the club doesn't give him a look in the next few weeks.

Defenders are a little different. Maybe we get a look at Korchinski or Leveshunov at the end of the year but maybe not.

A lot of the guys coming through the NCAA are there for 2 - 3 years then straight to the NHL (high end players like Makar, Faber or Fox). The CHL path seems to be a little different. But, if we don't see Korchinski or Levshunov next year on the club out of camp or absolutely wrecking the AHL I think the likelihood of them being impact guys also starts to drop.

You can say whatever about progress isn't linear or some guys take longer or whatever and that's fine but 9/10 very good players don't spend a lot of time if any in the minors and if the Hawks are hell bent on making guys play there just to check some arbitrary box then I think that is a pretty big organizational problem.

Goalers are weird.

Didn't know we had Nostradamus here. Not really the point though. You don't know who will or won't be available via trade or FA right now. No one thought Tkachuk would be available, or ADB, or Dach, or a host of other players.

There are always options available to improve the team. I think it should be done sooner rather than later. Otherwise, you are just hoping your pics become impact NHLers. As a wise man once said, "Hope is not a strategy".
- Chunk

This was a very organized approach to a rebuild. To say hope is a strategy is misleading, hope while tipping the odds in your favor? Some call that counting cards.

We'll see if those guys hit the market, but my guess the odds are in my favor they don't. Like KDs bountiful amount of quality draft picks.

And Jack Skille's
- LAHawk

Jack Skille was drafted 7th OA, next pick #43

Korchinski 7th OA, Nazar 13th, Rinzel 25th, Ludwinski 39th all future busts

I thought our prospects were ranking quite well league wide. Isn't the Hawks pipeline considered to be one of the better right now among the NHL? I know how people rank things can be quite subjective, but I've never seen our prospect pool ranked outside the top 10 in the NHL recently (and that usually doesn't include Bedard or KK).

I think we had something like ~9 prospects among the top 100 in some recent lists? The average team would have maybe 3 (based on the 32 team league).

I think we have some players coming over the next 12-36 months that will help start to reshape the roster.
- breadbag

Some don't consider Bedard or KK part of it because they played a full season, whatever

It'll be interesting to see where we are in a couple of years. I know it won't get here fast enough for a few angry fans here.

Agreed 100%. The kid needs to let it rip and be a little less selfless. At times the pass can open his shot but yes totally agree vast majority of the time it should be shots.

In the 350 to 450 range like Ovechkin does.
- fattybeef

That is on the coaching staff then. Tell him to shoot the puck. In reality, Bedard is probably passing more b/c he knows he's being doubled and triple teamed. The right decision is to pass the puck. Problem is he doesn't have any competent top 6 forwards to pass the puck too. TT maybe but he is not playing like it so far, at least offensively speaking.

They've also highly rated Detroit's for a number of years so I don't really get what they look at.

Most high end forwards spend 0 - 1 years maximum in the AHL and are at the pro level. If all of these guys the Hawks drafted need to spend time in the AHL then I would argue that it is true they didn't draft a lot of high end players.

If Nazar doesn't stick with the big club this year - I think that is a problem - I think it's a bigger problem if the club doesn't give him a look in the next few weeks.

Defenders are a little different. Maybe we get a look at Korchinski or Leveshunov at the end of the year but maybe not.

A lot of the guys coming through the NCAA are there for 2 - 3 years then straight to the NHL (high end players like Makar, Faber or Fox). The CHL path seems to be a little different. But, if we don't see Korchinski or Levshunov next year on the club out of camp or absolutely wrecking the AHL I think the likelihood of them being impact guys also starts to drop.

You can say whatever about progress isn't linear or some guys take longer or whatever and that's fine but 9/10 very good players don't spend a lot of time if any in the minors and if the Hawks are hell bent on making guys play there just to check some arbitrary box then I think that is a pretty big organizational problem.

Goalers are weird.
- fattybeef

Just so certain posters don't lose their minds he said the likelihood of being an impact player starts to drop. He did not say any of them would be busts or are busts.

I agree 100% if your blue chip prospects start hanging out in the AHL for more than a season, the odds they become elite NHL players does begin to decline.

They've also highly rated Detroit's for a number of years so I don't really get what they look at.

Most high end forwards spend 0 - 1 years maximum in the AHL and are at the pro level. If all of these guys the Hawks drafted need to spend time in the AHL then I would argue that it is true they didn't draft a lot of high end players.

If Nazar doesn't stick with the big club this year - I think that is a problem - I think it's a bigger problem if the club doesn't give him a look in the next few weeks.

Defenders are a little different. Maybe we get a look at Korchinski or Leveshunov at the end of the year but maybe not.

A lot of the guys coming through the NCAA are there for 2 - 3 years then straight to the NHL (high end players like Makar, Faber or Fox). The CHL path seems to be a little different. But, if we don't see Korchinski or Levshunov next year on the club out of camp or absolutely wrecking the AHL I think the likelihood of them being impact guys also starts to drop.

You can say whatever about progress isn't linear or some guys take longer or whatever and that's fine but 9/10 very good players don't spend a lot of time if any in the minors and if the Hawks are hell bent on making guys play there just to check some arbitrary box then I think that is a pretty big organizational problem.

Goalers are weird.
- fattybeef

Development isn’t linear and there are all kinds of factors for a prospect’s stay in the AHL. Working on a certain aspect of their game, to introduce him to playing against men or waiting for the prospect to get stronger or bigger.

I know you don’t agree with players being developed in the AHL but many if not most players require time in the AHL for the said reasons.

When Nazar is ready, he’ll be promoted, simple as that. You don’t know what KD is looking for in Nazar any more than anyone else here. KD wants these prospects in the NHL faster than we do. Luckily for us he’s not panicking like we are.

I think we are going to get a new blogger about the same time as Comcast puts the Hawks on TV

I think we are going to get a new blogger about the same time as Comcast puts the Hawks on TV
- bjphawkfan

Hahaha

This was a very organized approach to a rebuild. To say hope is a strategy is misleading, hope while tipping the odds in your favor? Some call that counting cards.

We'll see if those guys hit the market, but my guess the odds are in my favor they don't. Like KDs bountiful amount of quality draft picks.
- BetweenTheDots

The Hawks have had a 1OA and a 2OA. Let's assume that those two will be hits. The rest are far from guaranteed. The Boston Bruins had the opportunity to draft three first rounders in succession 13-15 in 2015 and one of them has made a decent career out of it thus far about (0.6 PPG career). The other two played less than 100 NHL games combined.

The NHL drafts 18-20 year old kids. Regardless of the number of chances you get, it is still a very non-exact science. Thus, hope.

The Hawks have had a 1OA and a 2OA. Let's assume that those two will be hits. The rest are far from guaranteed. The Boston Bruins had the opportunity to draft three first rounders in succession 13-15 in 2015 and one of them has made a decent career out of it thus far about (0.6 PPG career). The other two played less than 100 NHL games combined.

The NHL drafts 18-20 year old kids. Regardless of the number of chances you get, it is still a very non-exact science. Thus, hope.
- Chunk

Agree. The Hawks had 3OA, 3OA and 1OA in 4 years. 2 turned out to be in the Hall of Fame. One was traded to Minnesota for Leddy and Johnsson and was out of the league in 4 or so years. Further, proves non-exact science.

I hope our 2OA this year doesn't end up like Barker. Both characterized as the cool, calm persona.

Agree. The Hawks had 3OA, 3OA and 1OA in 4 years. 2 turned out to be in the Hall of Fame. One was traded to Minnesota for Leddy and Johnsson and was out of the league in 4 or so years. Further, proves non-exact science.

I hope our 2OA this year doesn't end up like Barker. Both characterized as the cool, calm persona.
- Popsghostly

Korch,Bedard,Lev, Misa/Martone/Hagens/Schaefer
The odds on all 4 hitting are awfully low.

Wiz has the Hocks taking Schaefer with #2 at lines
If that happens, who is getting traded? Korch? Lev? Could you even get anything in return for them other than late round picks the way Columbus got 26th overall for Jiricek+Hunt and lower rd picks?