Justin Lowe: Center of Attention The purpose of this blog is to examine the Blackhawks current depth at the center position, as well as to look into the future to see what type of cavalry is on the way.

First

Well might as well carry it over from the previous blog.

From my friend Alphonse the Monk:

Temp Monk Fr. Alphonse, again.
Captain Toews continues to struggle. He came to me early of our week long experiment. He had that blank expression on his face, and his usual monotonic speech. So it took all my experience to understand the Captain is stressed, at wits end.
Five straight days of beef Sammiches, three times a day, and still, the Captain is coming up zeros.
I told him, we have one last resort. It may either make him, or, break him. I recommended he go to Minnesota, and submit to Sheila of the Norths' two week crash course in tough guy hockey. He accepted that he will be subject to physical and verbal abuses. The Captain asked who might have survived this training. I told him no hockey player has ever survived, but, a non athlete named Deno, has succeeded. Captain asked how he succeeded, and I explained Deno has developed the fastest hand action, and disappearing act on record. Deno steals credit cards, and is the best 'Dine and Dash' man in history. The Captain then realized that the Sheila training could pay dividends. He will commit to the 'North as soon as he is cleared by Q.
As he left, he looked at me, and blinked. I then knew he can recover. God bless the Captain. God bless Sheila of the 'North

J Lowe,

In case it hasn't been mentioned, you are an excellent blogger. Keep up the good work.

I Miss Roenick....LOL. Its hard to believe that Capt Serious has slowed this much while #88 keeps getting better.

We all realize now if we didnt already, at what cost 3 Cups got us too. It was worth every penney I suppose......but I just wish Stan would not have jumped the gun on these huge contracts...Seabs is one of my favorites, but he is the poster child for bad contracts right now.

Throw #2 and 50 in there and its a hell of a mess even though at times #50 earns every Penney. Then of course we have the Talon contract with big Hoss...but hes another one worth every cent , regardless if he makes it back or not for one more season. (although this year we are cap safe) I will always be thankful he played here and will go to the HOF as a Blackhawk. We will be down for several years to come...now Stan will have to prove his worth.

However great article.....great insight.

J Lowe,

In case it hasn't been mentioned, you are an excellent blogger. Keep up the good work.
- Dieselhead

I second this, great work as always JL.

In a previous blog somebody brought up Luke Glendening as a possible trade target for Stan. While Glendening may not seem like a glamorous acquisition he could be just what the doctor ordered....especially for Toews.

Glendening is a solid defensive centre who is great on face offs. He could take some of th defensive pressure from Toews and allow the captain to focus on offense. Toews will always be a two-way forward, but he wouldn’t have to be the number one option anymore in defensive situations.

Glendening’s cap hit is reasonable, $1.8 million for this season and 3 more. That checks off some boxes for Stan.

The only question mark would be the cost to acquire Glendening. As much as I am a fan of the idea I don’t think this is a guy worth mortgaging the future for. So off the table would be DeBrincat, Forsling, Jokiharju, and Sikura. That being said, Detroit would want some combination or prospects and/or picks. I’d be ok parting with Hayden, Snuggerud, Hinostroza, Mitchell, Krys or pretty much any of the other unsigned prospects. It’s just a matter of finding the right combination that would satisfy what Detroit wants/needs.

Great article JL.

Yup I think this team is in a bit of a pickle in regarding to re-transforming itself into another contender.

How is that possible to rebuild with the JT and Seabs contract? Can it be done?

I think if the team falls they should really fall and get a top 3 pick and rebuild on that as they did with 19 and 88 or try and shed those big contracts and use that money to rebuild with acquiring younger FA elite talent.

Great in theory but not sure either one can be achieved as I doubt the FO would let the team get so bad that they land a top 3 pick or on the other hand be able to get rid of those boat anchor contracts for players who are no longer performing at that salary level......picking in the middle rounds or acquiring middle of the road FA talent will not change this team, and the result is the current product on the ice, not a bad team but not a great team. This team needs significant turnover if it wants to be that team again.

Like I said in a pickle.

Well if blowman isn’t adding...like we all expect... then he has to pull the trigger and start unloading to start a rebuild/reload.... even if he is competent enough to do that

Great article, keep up the good work

This article really hones in on just how difficult it really is to ice a Stanley Cup caliber team. A team needs:
The horses,
Health,
The right breaks.
And the 'Hawks did it three times in 5-6 years.
The entire organization, from toilet scrubber to Rocky, will ALWAYS have my appreciation. Because I know they want to get back to The Cup.

I Miss Roenick....LOL. Its hard to believe that Capt Serious has slowed this much while #88 keeps getting better.

We all realize now if we didnt already, at what cost 3 Cups got us too. It was worth every penney I suppose......but I just wish Stan would not have jumped the gun on these huge contracts...Seabs is one of my favorites, but he is the poster child for bad contracts right now.

Throw #2 and 50 in there and its a hell of a mess even though at times #50 earns every Penney. Then of course we have the Talon contract with big Hoss...but hes another one worth every cent , regardless if he makes it back or not for one more season. (although this year we are cap safe) I will always be thankful he played here and will go to the HOF as a Blackhawk. We will be down for several years to come...now Stan will have to prove his worth.

However great article.....great insight.
- imissroenick

Its not hard at all, Toews has absorbed some hellacious crosschecks that are not legal in the game - Shift after shift, night after night. Meanwhile, 88 is contact adverse, rarely working a puck in the corner as that is not his game. As fans we will have to accept that Toews career may be shorter than hoped.

Also cheap shots like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgIgat2GBRI and thishttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLbLiGXqHIA
and this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFQSlmhnZME

The glendenning suggestion is a good one. Not ideal but probably doable and he's a NHL center not a makeshift one. And the price cap wise isn't egregious.

It's all kind of a moot point of Toews isn't getting to the paint and banging in goals at a 12-14% clip. Kane and debrincat are the only two game breakers right now - maybe Saad kind of if they could get him up the ice with speed and purpose - and I'd really only put money on Kane.

I think it'll be up and down until they shore up the third line and power play. A little push from the defenders would be nice but Q doesn't seem to want to let those guys go.

Crawford placed on IR (too much holiday cheer?).

Glass and Kampf recalled from Rockford.

Crawford placed on IR (too much holiday cheer?).

Glass and Kampf recalled from Rockford.
- DarthKane

What concerts were this week?

I appreciate all that Toews has brought to the Hawks in his career. We should all be thankful.

The concussions, cross checks, number of games have taken their toll on him mentally and physically.

He is still a very good 200' center. Is he elite? No. Is he a top 15 center in the league? Probably not. Would every team in the league like to have him on their team? Yes. (without taking into consideration his cap hit)

He is not producing offensively what you would expect a $10.5 mil player to produce. Could that have been predicted when he signed his contract? Maybe.

Could he bounce back and lead the Hawks to another cup? Unlikely, but he has had 10 to 20 game runs where he has been outstanding, as recently as the end of last last year in the regular season.

The one thing I truly believe is that he is doing everything he can, playing hard, eating right, training right, not partying outside of the rink, etc....

It has been said the Blackhawks, and Toews himself, pace themselves during the regular season. That sounds very negative, like they are not giving their all. I look at it differently. Great players find an extra higher gear at times, especially in big games or in the playoffs. That was the most disappointing thing about the playoffs last year. They could not find that extra gear, Toews, Kane, or anyone else. I think if they could have gotten a few breaks in game one or two they might have been able to find that gear and get better as the playoffs went on, as is their tradition.

Definitely sellers this year....

Did they bring him back to early from his
earlier time on IR?

What concerts were this week?
- riozzo

I’m sure there were plenty of Christmas concerts around town. Corey needs to take it easy on the egg nog.

Kampf being recalled is interesting, don’t they need to make another move to make room for him? The roster was already at 23.

I second this, great work as always JL.

In a previous blog somebody brought up Luke Glendening as a possible trade target for Stan. While Glendening may not seem like a glamorous acquisition he could be just what the doctor ordered....especially for Toews.

Glendening is a solid defensive centre who is great on face offs. He could take some of th defensive pressure from Toews and allow the captain to focus on offense. Toews will always be a two-way forward, but he wouldn’t have to be the number one option anymore in defensive situations.

Glendening’s cap hit is reasonable, $1.8 million for this season and 3 more. That checks off some boxes for Stan.

The only question mark would be the cost to acquire Glendening. As much as I am a fan of the idea I don’t think this is a guy worth mortgaging the future for. So off the table would be DeBrincat, Forsling, Jokiharju, and Sikura. That being said, Detroit would want some combination or prospects and/or picks. I’d be ok parting with Hayden, Snuggerud, Hinostroza, Mitchell, Krys or pretty much any of the other unsigned prospects. It’s just a matter of finding the right combination that would satisfy what Detroit wants/needs.
- DarthKane

Thanks Darth.

Here's my thought, I think Bowman makes another "hockey trade" vs. acquiring a rental.

I believe this is the route he'll go because he knows that trading Ryan Hartman or John Hayden for something like Tomas Pleckanec is going to be a TERRIBLE look if they don't even make the playoffs. Also, the Hawks would like to keep picks (especially the higher ones) as they know this is how they will have to rebuild back up.

Taking a look at every team (excluding the Central) and who they have for their depth, their current place in the standings, here are some names that jump out:

Christian Dvorak
Brad Richardson
Johan Larsson
Derek Ryan
Joakim Nordstrom
Lucas Wallmark
Boone Jenner
Luke Glendening
Andreas Athanasiou
Alex Galchenyuk
JG Pageau
Zack Smith
Travis Konecny
Scott Laughton
Jori Lehtera
Leo Komarov
Any one of Vegas' C (Haula, Karlsson, Eakin, Bellemare)
Lars Eller


These are not guys I'm hearing obviously, but merely looking at C's, factoring in age, contract status, character and versatility that the Hawks would be looking for.

Some guys would cost you more (ie. Dvorak might cost you a Debrincat) vs. Larsson/Richardson (should only cost a prospect/lower pick).

J Lowe,

In case it hasn't been mentioned, you are an excellent blogger. Keep up the good work.
- Dieselhead

Thanks for the kind word Diesel. Keep reading!

Crawford placed on IR (too much holiday cheer?).

Glass and Kampf recalled from Rockford.
- DarthKane

I've been mentioned Kampf as a guy to watch. I mentioned that they really like him.

I see him as being tossed into 3C to see if he has what it takes to play a shutdown role.

I’m sure there were plenty of Christmas concerts around town. Corey needs to take it easy on the egg nog.

Kampf being recalled is interesting, don’t they need to make another move to make room for him? The roster was already at 23.
- DarthKane

Good eye, DK.

I'm looking into what's happening. Something is going on.

It could be that Stan has a trade in place that would have to be announced today (the trade freeze has been lifted).

Maybe Sharp is retiring?

Swing a deal for Paquette, he's like a cheaper Kruger

Good eye, DK.

I'm looking into what's happening. Something is going on.

It could be that Stan has a trade in place that would have to be announced today (the trade freeze has been lifted).

Maybe Sharp is retiring?
- Justin Lowe

On his birthday???

Happy Birthday... now get out.

Happy Birthday... now get out.
- Justin Lowe

Gives blowing out the candles a new meaning