Justin Lowe: Life Begins with Jeremy Colliton I've added "Colliton" permanently to my spell check in Microsoft Word. While Microsoft didn't recognize "Colliton" as a proper word, I have acknowledged that I will need to type that name a lot for the foreseeable future.

If Stan Bowman gets his way, I will be typing Jeremy Colliton's name for a long time. If I am, there's a good chance that he keeps his job because replacing him for a Hall of Fame coach will be forever on Stan's resume.

First!

First!
- 333inthe3rd

Way too quick

I dont think its coincidence either that this happened shortly after Stans current "golden boy" - Schmaltz- was benched.

I would not doubt a call from Schmaltz's agent took place (which happens very often when an agents client is benched)...to vent a little

New PP units to start:

@CRoumeliotis
2m2 minutes ago
More
New #Blackhawks power play units
PP1: Toews-Kane-DeBrincat-Schmaltz-Seabrook
PP1: Anisimov-Saad-Kahun-Gustafsson-Keith

I dont think its coincidence either that this happened shortly after Stans current "golden boy" - Schmaltz- was benched.

I would not doubt a call from Schmaltz's agent took place (which happens very often when an agents client is benched)...to vent a little
- PatShart

Agreed there would have been a call, but I don't think that was the main reason. This seems like it was a long time coming and they were building up to let him go at the first sign of trouble this season.

Agreed there would have been a call, but I don't think that was the main reason. This seems like it was a long time coming and they were building up to let him go at the first sign of trouble this season.
- Justin Lowe

Main? Definitely not...but I wouldn't doubt a factor

And now Schmaltz is gifted the 1st pp...and I bet more ice time to follow.

Now Schmaltz can pull up from getting hit all he wants. As long as his possession and corsi numbers are good, he can stop short and skate away from traffic areas. Same with Saad.

Duclair has another goal tonight. 6 in 15 games, On pace for 31 but we could not afford 1.5 mil for a really fast 22 year old that scored 20 goals at 19. That made no sense to me. We’re trying to get faster and younger. I thought we should have given it 1 more year.
- kmw4631


Duclair was an easy target for Q. As soon a Q questioned Duclair’s hussle he was done. At the Press Conference yesterday Bowman talked of what a wonderful relationship he has had with Q all along. I almost fell off my chair. This was an absolutely huge lie.

I dont think its coincidence either that this happened shortly after Stans current "golden boy" - Schmaltz- was benched.

I would not doubt a call from Schmaltz's agent took place (which happens very often when an agents client is benched)...to vent a little
- PatShart

Really?

New PP units to start:

@CRoumeliotis
2m2 minutes ago
More
New #Blackhawks power play units
PP1: Toews-Kane-DeBrincat-Schmaltz-Seabrook
PP1: Anisimov-Saad-Kahun-Gustafsson-Keith
- Justin Lowe

Hmmm - playing Kane with Toews, Cat, Schmaltz and Seabrook - what a concept. My only ? Is where is Kunitz?

New PP units to start:

@CRoumeliotis
2m2 minutes ago
More
New #Blackhawks power play units
PP1: Toews-Kane-DeBrincat-Schmaltz-Seabrook
PP1: Anisimov-Saad-Kahun-Gustafsson-Keith
- Justin Lowe

I really hope that Keith on the second line is simply paying a little respect to him.

Powers reporting that it is looking like a 1-3-1. I'll wait to see if they change any of the concepts.

There is a good Q&A in the Athletic (subscription required) with Derek King who is taking over for Colliton in Rockford.

As I started this season, I am cautiously optimistic.

No Joki on the PP? Colliton must hate young players

Justin, any chance we see a team of Q's guys and Jeremy's guys?

and Justin, awesome write up!! def one of your best efforts!!!

This move to fire Q and hire Colliton wreaks of the situation between Jerry Krause, Phil Jackson and Tim Floyd. It is blatantly obvious that Bowman thinks that he can rebuild/reload the Hawks with his own hand-picked coach and philosophy. It will not surprise me when Bowman tears the rest of the team apart and deals off the core players that won the Cup. Krause wanted to show that he could rebuild the Bulls without Phil Jackson, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. The parallels between Bowman firing Q and Krause making a power move to take full control of their respective organizations cannot be ignored. To me, this shows of the fragile mentality of both GM's who may have felt that they did not receive the proper respect for the championships the teams won.

For BowKrause to lie yesterday and state that there was no tension between he and Q is almost laughable, but nobody in the press pushed him on the fact that he hired Barry Smith to run the powerplay without notifying Q. I do not know anyone with any experience in the work world that would not be ticked off if their boss brought in someone to take on a key role in their team without notifying them.

It also strikes me as odd that BowKrause fired Q on election day where the vast majority of the media attention would not be focused on sports. If the three loses on the road trip were not the trigger to fire Q and this was building up, why let Q linger for the first 15 games of the year with the crap roster he built? Why not fire him on Monday afternoon after the trip? This is a further display of the gutless and conniving tactics that BowKrause employs and it is only a matter of time that the Hawks experience what the immediate post-Jordan/Jackson teams went through.

Really?
- paulr

Really? Great Response. PatShart has been going extremely strong blaming absolutely everyone for Q’s firing other than Q. My personal position, and I obviously have Insider Info on this, is that Tommy Hawk is to blame.

Really? Great Response. PatShart has been going extremely strong blaming absolutely everyone for Q’s firing other than Q. My personal position, and I obviously have Insider Info on this, is that Tommy Hawk is to blame.
- Z3Hawk

Not at all. Q will be fine and the teams slide isn't on him. It'll be exposed here when things get worse.

But I look forward to all of Duclairs success now that he has a coach that will play him more lol

Blackhawks lines
DeBrincat-Toews-Kahun
Schmaltz-Anisimov-Kane
Saad-Kampf-Fortin
Martinsen-Kruger-Kunitz

Let the bashing begin!!!

AND if you dont think agents call GMs when their player gets benched...well, not sure how well you know agents - Especially contract years/negotiations

Not at all. Q will be fine and the teams slide isn't on him. It'll be exposed here when things get worse.

But I look forward to all of Duclairs success now that he has a coach that will play him more lol
- PatShart

It looks like Duclair is getting PP1 time with Panarin as well. He only averages about 11-12 mins/game, but apparently he is showing something on the PP. I think three of his goals are on the PP.

Really? Great Response. PatShart has been going extremely strong blaming absolutely everyone for Q’s firing other than Q. My personal position, and I obviously have Insider Info on this, is that Tommy Hawk is to blame.
- Z3Hawk

I posted it in the previous blog. The blame for where the Hawks are now resides at the feet of theHawks' decade of success.

AND if you dont think agents call GMs when their player gets benched...well, not sure how well you know agents - Especially contract years/negotiations
- PatShart

No doubt agents call to complain about how their clients are being treated. I think there is no chance that factored into Q's firing.

Blackhawks lines
DeBrincat-Toews-Kahun
Schmaltz-Anisimov-Kane
Saad-Kampf-Fortin
Martinsen-Kruger-Kunitz

Let the bashing begin!!!
- Chunk

Man, Schmaltz better learn to shoot and quickly, otherwise he's going to waste a golden opportunity.

I actually like the center depth better this way.

This move to fire Q and hire Colliton wreaks of the situation between Jerry Krause, Phil Jackson and Tim Floyd. It is blatantly obvious that Bowman thinks that he can rebuild/reload the Hawks with his own hand-picked coach and philosophy. It will not surprise me when Bowman tears the rest of the team apart and deals off the core players that won the Cup. Krause wanted to show that he could rebuild the Bulls without Phil Jackson, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. The parallels between Bowman firing Q and Krause making a power move to take full control of their respective organizations cannot be ignored. To me, this shows of the fragile mentality of both GM's who may have felt that they did not receive the proper respect for the championships the teams won.

For BowKrause to lie yesterday and state that there was no tension between he and Q is almost laughable, but nobody in the press pushed him the fact that he hired Barry Smith to run the powerplay without notifying Q. I do not know anyone with any experience in the work world that would not be ticked off if their boss brought in someone to take on a key role in their team without notifying them.

It also strikes me as odd that BowKrause fired Q on election day where the vast majority of the media attention would not be focused on sports. If the three loses on the road trip were not the trigger to fire Q and this was building up, why let Q linger for the first 15 games of the year with the crap roster he built? Why not fire him on Monday afternoon after the trip? This is a further display of the gutless and conniving tactics that BowKrause employs and it is only a matter of time that the Hawks experience what the immediate post-Jordan/Jackson teams went through.
- MileHighHawks

Wow!!! I was thinking the same thing 100%

Scott Powers‏Verified account @ByScottPowers · 6m6 minutes ago

Saad took a deflected puck to the face and immediately skated off the ice

F....F....S....

New PP units to start:

@CRoumeliotis
2m2 minutes ago
More
New #Blackhawks power play units
PP1: Toews-Kane-DeBrincat-Schmaltz-Seabrook
PP1: Anisimov-Saad-Kahun-Gustafsson-Keith
- Justin Lowe

I commented in the previous blog that Colliton is stepping into a daunting situation. He needs to implement the changes he wants to make without alienating the players by being too over the top gung ho and he also needs to learn the players up close to figure out the best use of the players in his team concept. So there's sure to be this "feeling out" process for some period of time, hopefully not too long.

I bring this up because I see Keith is still on one of the PP units. Hopefully Colliton will figure out that Keith is not a good option for the PP and make that change sooner than later.