4 Line Matches to ponder

[Raskolnikov]

Opening Day-O/D

April Fools-O/D

What you got?

April 1st-O
Barrett-Athanasoui-Kane
Reichel-Toews-Raddysh
Dach-Johnson-Kurashev(trade)
Domi-Khaira-Sikura the good

I actually endorse these pairings as potential good fits to try.

 

[Raskolnikov]

Opening day offense

Reichel-Toews-Johnson
Domi-Anthanasoui-Kane
Raddysh-Kurashev-Jones
Khaira-Ent-Sucky Sucky-ira

 

[Raskolnikov]

Unless somebody steps into 1LW and fly’s next to Kane, and a few guys take leaps years, and Mazrek stays healthy despite dealing with more uncontested lane traffic than he ever knew was possible(just wait until you witness how bad of a fit this was by Bowmans genius analytics department he left behind.

A second round pick to drown ourselves and break this man? Really?

One undersized forward and Mazrek is about what we took to crater Kane and the team next year.

Get ready for back-to-back-to-back-to-back deep crater seasons boys.

I barely have the heart to do these defenses.

 

[Raskolnikov]

The idea being this crater will be so deep, with Mazrek hurt by Christmas, Hawks will get early concessions on NTCs from Toews and Kane to ride early momentum to trade deadline. Scoop Bedard or the Russian, and have double picks in every round for 3 years.

That’s the only thing resembling a plan I see.

Guys who could throw a wrench in this plan are Barrett, Dach 2.0 because they have the strength and size to get good in a hurry if it clicks.

A handful of young defenseman could take leaps, and Athanasou could be a revelation paired with Kane.

I’ll say Vlasic, Regula, Stillman as a trio who could show up with other plans for this franchise.

 

[Raskolnikov]

Personally I don’t think the crater plan is great.

I think Kane will stay no matter what, we still get Bedard or the Russian, and decide to turn things around quickly and provide Kane some interesting twilight years.

Just my personal pipedream.

 

[Raskolnikov]

April Fools Defense-

Jones-Korchinski
Kaiser-Vlasic
Regula-Stillman

Jones

 

[Raskolnikov]

Opening Day D-

Jones-Murphy
McCabe-Johnson
Stillman-Regula

Vlasic

 

[Bigfoot]

It’s going to be a rough few seasons. As Chicago fans we should be used to teams sucking by now

 

[Raskolnikov]

Now that I am familiar with Jones I don’t understand who thought he didn’t need Keith to pair with him?

I get the stamina too…but we needed Keith 30 minutes a game to play DEFENSE.

Jones is a 30 minute fucking liability in exchange for offense you may or may not need.

It’s not the same thing at all and it doesn’t compliment Kane the same at all. And it fucking costs MORE!!!

Bowman went fucking nuts at the end I must conclude.

 

[KBIB]

April Fools Defense-

Jones-Korchinski
Kaiser-Vlasic
Regula-Stillman

Jones

I don’t see Korchinski playing with the big club any time soon.

He should just focus on dominating in juniors one more season.

I like his game. His attacking/using opponent’s momentum against them style is something the Hawks haven’t had since Campbell. I really want to see him commit to his own end a bit because he’s pretty much nhl ready offensively

 

[Raskolnikov]

I don’t see Korchinski playing with the big club any time soon.

He should just focus on dominating in juniors one more season.

I like his game. His attacking/using opponent’s momentum against them style is something the Hawks haven’t had since Campbell. I really want to see him commit to his own end a bit because he’s pretty much nhl ready offensively

If he 200 lbs bring him in.

 

[LordKOTL]

If he 200 lbs bring him in.

No.

Bowman the Beancounter ruined guys by rushing them. At this point there's no real need to rush anyone. At best give them their 9-game cup of coffee so their ELC's slide --especially the defensemen.

 

[Raskolnikov]

No.

Bowman the Beancounter ruined guys by rushing them. At this point there's no real need to rush anyone. At best give them their 9-game cup of coffee so their ELC's slide --especially the defensemen.

Yes to 9 games. No to holding kids back in this pussified figure skating league.

 

[LordKOTL]

Yes to 9 games. No to holding kids back in this pussified figure skating league.

There's no benefit to ruining an 18 year old defenseman by rushing him to the NHL--That's the kind of shit accountants do. There's more than just size; Korch has to learn to think and react to plays at the NHL speed and level of play.

If he's good in camp, then fine, give him his cup of coffee. If he actually looks like he belongs here and can play defense well enough to shut down top-line players on any squad, then maybe we consider keeping him up and burning a year off his ELC, but realistically he'll need a few more years developing like the vast bulk of defensive prospects that have ever played the game, so let him develop properly.

 

[Bigfoot]

Think Korch is at least 2 years away from NHL time.

 

[LordKOTL]

Think Korch is at least 2 years away from NHL time.

Easily. However with McCabe out, if Korch does impress in camp I see no harm in giving him 5-9 games just to open his eyes as to what the NHL game is, so he can take it back to Seattle and work on himself (ditto with any other draftees). If he doesn't impress, by all means keep him down. There is exactly zero reason to rush him.

 

[Raskolnikov]

I can’t make any more line pairings.

The excitement is lost. I don’t see any good lines.

I can make 1 top 6 line, maybe a line that could run ok against 3rds after that. Maybe.

And on defense it’s worse. Putting a couple unknowns together for a smile and a prayer.

All that remains for a total tank finish is Mazrek or Kane to miss time.

 

[LordKOTL]

I can’t make any more line pairings.

The excitement is lost. I don’t see any good lines.

I can make 1 top 6 line, maybe a line that could run ok against 3rds after that. Maybe.

And on defense it’s worse. Putting a couple unknowns together for a smile and a prayer.

All that remains for a total tank finish is Mazrek or Kane to miss time.

Given how the latter half of the 2017/2018 season turned out, I think it'll be a total tank regardless.

 

[KBIB]

I can’t make any more line pairings.

The excitement is lost. I don’t see any good lines.

I can make 1 top 6 line, maybe a line that could run ok against 3rds after that. Maybe.

And on defense it’s worse. Putting a couple unknowns together for a smile and a prayer.

All that remains for a total tank finish is Mazrek or Kane to miss time.

Mazrek is a tank commanding goalie. Him missing time might be an improvement.

That said, it wouldn’t shock me if Kane missed some time this season then gets traded at the deadline and becomes Kane again. This season is a complete wash and I’m not mad at all considering the next two drafts are looking to be pretty good.

I’m also in the “this years draft will be good and the scouts didn’t evaluate it good” camp on account of all the pandemic bullshit and I’m really starting to think Korchinski is going to be something special and the teams ahead of the Hawks missed the boat on account of Worlds hype. If you watch his playoff games, Korchinski was a knock off Makar….ok, maybe not that good, but a Brain Campbell comp isn’t that far off if not very accurate. And I’ll go as far as to say his skating is miles ahead of Nemec and on another level then Jiricek, who has a really bad habit of falling down after a slap shot to go along with a Frankenstein knee already.

They were calling him a reach, but I think if the Hawks didn’t nab him the next team would have.

 

[Raskolnikov]

I think Torch is ready to play big minutes with Jones and Kaiser could pull of the limited third line minutes of late 2015.