Nick32 was no worse last night than Keith or Leddy, everyone wants to make sh!t out of him but give me a break the other D men suck just as bad lately
- Maggie

You must not have seen the brilliant pass he made up the middle on to an oiler players tape. Leddy is out of his league. He is not a top 4 D-man in this league...yet. No defense is really at fault when the oilers are tic tac toeing around the ice.

This team as currently constituted probably will not get past the second round of the playoffs. we need a stud d-man bad. And I do agree that the front office first needs to quit the Jedi mind tricks and start looking at this team realistically. Remember... we were all so excited that we saved 7 mill on Campbell, but what good does it do if that money's not spent, as seems to be the case?

But.. does anyone think that the Oilers can give the Hawks a run for their money in a 7 game series right now? Remove those feelings of frustration and cynicism. Think carefully. Now relax. No firesale is necessary.
- busmaster

Personally, I think this Oiler team would sweep the Hawks. It wouldn't be the first time a supposedly inferior team blitzed a favored club.

K, im back. I just Dished out 20 buck to get back on here. First i would like to say JJ you are spot on , but i think you need to bring her down a little. I watched every game this year EVERY and last nights game was not even that terrible. Beside Keith and his f ing Drop passes and his unwillingness to carry the puck past the blue line. Yes we got Blown out but we did tons of good things. Edmonton was on fire plain and simple they wanted to beat us and that feeds motivation similar to how we play Van. We truly are 1 or 2 moves away from being a force.
- Dojodan

Coach Q is that you?

I think tonight is going to be a HUGE game for this crew. I think Hawks win 4-3. The Oil just have your number. Look at what the Canes have done against Boston. It's just hockey...
But, if the Hawks come out flat and lose this one then as a fan I would be very concerned.
Maybe the boyz are just disinterested and waiting for the playoffs.

There's a fundamental flaw with a lot of the "One Goal" criticism, in my opinion.


Being an advertising guy at heart, JJ, I'm a bit surprised at your jabs at the whole one goal thing. Are they not supposed to advertise? Or send out the message - "Hey, We're a Marginal Team. Come see us if you want."

I don't think this campaign exudes arrogance. It exudes the desire to keep one's bottom line healthy.

Did we call Pepsi arrogant for claiming to be the choice of a new generation? Especially when they are clearly second fiddle in the soda world? No.

I know, I know, sports are a different animal. But perhaps our anger should be directed at the mouth-breathing dolts who take the message as gospel, and reguritate in the forum of intelligent hockey conversation.

There's no shame in advertising, only shame in believing it.

Blam!! JJ hits it outta the park. Nothing to add.

I wonder if any Red Wings bloggers wrote anything like this when they lost 7-2 to the Canadiens...wow.
- andru2797

I doubt it because I don't think they got blown out by them twice in embarrassing fashion and lost 3 out of 4 to them like the Hawks did to Edmonton. One blowout loss, can be an aberration. Two blowout losses to the same team, that's a problem. But hey, that's just me.

Coach Q is that you?
- RetiredGoalie

I dunno why but i re-read his comment as if it were coach Q speaking, made me laugh

Don't blame Monty!...Yet. He's a real cringer come playoff time.

Give us someone who has relative interest in throwing the puck at the 4x6..and you may pick a D. The shear incompetence of our "offense" is unfathomable outside of Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek.

But I'll tell you one thing. We never get blown out by the Oilers. As shotty as we are. Take a D..please..

Flames will be all over Hawks tonight after 2 days off and Hawks bloodied and staggering to 3rd game 4 nites.

Not hopefull on this one.....kool-aid drip did not work!

Don't blame Monty!...Yet. He's a real cringer come playoff time.

Give us someone who has relative interest in throwing the puck at the 4x6..and you may pick a D. The shear incompetence of our "offense" is unfathomable outside of Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek.

But I'll tell you one thing. We never get blown out by the Oilers. As shotty as we are. Take a D..please..
- TheSabresTaco

Myers included? Although not much help this year, it looks like.

Flames will be all over Hawks tonight after 2 days off and Hawks bloodied and staggering to 3rd game 4 nites.

Not hopefull on this one.....kool-aid drip did not work!
- bogiedoc

Not to mention losing 2 in a row at home.

Not to mention losing 2 in a row at home.
- Al

Have a feeling this one will put me deep in the bottle this evening...

I think the Hawks were just looking for another trip to Vegas....

How soon we forget the last debacle in Alberta was rewarded by this organization with a cool few days in Sin City...

[quote=John Jaeckel]Your premise is all wrong. I am a truth seeing hippie.

Sorry to have urinated on your Lucky Charms this morning.

Red Light District likely has a blog up that will blame everything on Michal Frolik and John Scott, if that's more your cup of kool aid.
- FredoXV[/quote]




Wow, way to throw Zawaski under the bus after pimping him in your blog.

That's NOT about Zawaski

Amongst all the trade talk, I can't help but focus on an outstanding issue that can be addressed instantly that we have total control of.

Coaching.

Defensively we are atrocious, which is tribute to the system we use, which is issued by the coaching staff.

Speaking of our 'system', we literally are embracing a puck moving mentality when we don't have the players to employ it. We play poke check defense, and give the opposing offense all sorts of time and space. We don't play the body. We let opposing teams set up in front of our net, unchecked and un challenged. Routinely we have a defensemen sitting on the far post, mesmerized by the puck and not marking up there man. We roll 2 d lines while the 3rd skates 6 shifts a game.

It's total chaos in our own end. There is no consistency. No uniformity. No cohesion.

Give this roster to a Coach that demands discipline and accountability.

There's a fundamental flaw with a lot of the "One Goal" criticism, in my opinion.


Being an advertising guy at heart, JJ, I'm a bit surprised at your jabs at the whole one goal thing. Are they not supposed to advertise? Or send out the message - "Hey, We're a Marginal Team. Come see us if you want."

I don't think this campaign exudes arrogance. It exudes the desire to keep one's bottom line healthy.

Did we call Pepsi arrogant for claiming to be the choice of a new generation? Especially when they are clearly second fiddle in the soda world? No.

I know, I know, sports are a different animal. But perhaps our anger should be directed at the mouth-breathing dolts who take the message as gospel, and reguritate in the forum of intelligent hockey conversation.

There's no shame in advertising, only shame in believing it.
- FredoXV

Failure to deliver on the promise of advertising hurts brands. Kills them.

That is a huge, ballsy promise that really can not be misinterpreted. And no, I don't think winning at all costs is really the main goal. I think for some of these guys, given a choice between being quiet and out of the limelight and without a sense of ultimate control, but winning, and being the stars of the show on a, meh, ok team, they would always instinctively go for the latter. Their egos cannot begin to get out of their own way.

See McCaskey, M., Chicago Bears 1986-98

That's NOT about Zawaski
- John Jaeckel

I know, I kid.

The more I think about it.. Last night may have the Hawks version of the Bears/Broncos game.....

I wonder if any Red Wings bloggers wrote anything like this when they lost 7-2 to the Canadiens...wow.
- andru2797

Where are your sermons on how all of us silly hockey neanderthals don't understand the refined brilliance of Corey Crawford?

Failure to deliver on the promise of advertising hurts brands. Kills them.

That is a huge, ballsy promise that really can not be misinterpreted. And no, I don't think winning at all costs is really the main goal. I think for some of these guys, given a choice between being quiet and out of the limelight and without a sense of ultimate control, but winning, and being the stars of the show on a, meh, ok team, they would always instinctively go for the latter. Their egos cannot begin to get out of their own way.

See McCaskey, M., Chicago Bears 1986-98
- John Jaeckel

Don't you find it a bit overreactive to call this a full-fledged failure to deliver at this point? Recent trends are a bit disturbing, but we're not trending toward early 2000's territory here.

I don't think we're quite in Bears (or Cubs, for that matter) territory quite yet.


A somewhat applicable side note to this discussion - I recently received a mass email from the majority owner of the Blue Jackets - as I usually attend a game or two when the 'Hawks are in town - apologizing for the horrible performance.

I think the Hawks were just looking for another trip to Vegas....

How soon we forget the last debacle in Alberta was rewarded by this organization with a cool few days in Sin City...


- Ninja1

After which they played quite well for a couple of weeks.

Have a feeling this one will put me deep in the bottle this evening...
- FredoXV

I'm preping with a stop at Binnys, because it's going to be bad.

I already apologize in advance for any posts from 9:30 pm on.....

I'm preping with a stop at Binnys, because it's going to be bad.

I already apologize in advance for any posts from 9:30 pm on.....
- SteveRain

Do they have apps for computers like they do for cell phones that make you solve a complex math problem prior to making a call/text after a certain time of night?

Don't you find it a bit overreactive to call this a full-fledged failure to deliver at this point? Recent trends are a bit disturbing, but we're not trending toward early 2000's territory here.

I don't think we're quite in Bears (or Cubs, for that matter) territory quite yet.


A somewhat applicable side note to this discussion - I recently received a mass email from the majority owner of the Blue Jackets - as I usually attend a game or two when the 'Hawks are in town - apologizing for the horrible performance.
- FredoXV

I'll just say this Fredo. I have felt (and I believe once or twice remarked on) this for nearly a year now.

This has eerie parallels to the Bears in 1985-86, when Michael McCaskey eliminated Jerry Vainisi for management/style reasons. At that time, the Bears looked like and should have been a dynasty for another 5-10 years, a thoroughly dominant team and the youngest at that time in the NFL. What followed was a slow slide from dominance to respectability to mediocrity to laughing stocks over about ten years. Mostly because McCaskey's ego could never get out of the way.