[A] Building Confidence: CHI 3, STL 1

[Rex]

Look, Rex asked if his "haters" to come out. I'm not a fan of his - wasn't a fan last year. I don't bash the guy at every chance.



I said last year how he earned the job and played very well.



Sorry if I don't think he's been very good this season. I want him to do well. I want him to play better. The Hawks need better goaltending than they've gotten the first 60gms this year. I don't think that's a secret. Whether it's him, Emery, or whoever - I don't give a shit. But a .900 save percentage doesn't give your team a chance to win. I don't think or expect him to come in and win a Vezina, just be better than what he's been. I'd go on a limb and think he probably thinks the same of himself.

he is likely the first person that will tell you that. Like I said, once he gets his confidence rolling, his stats will get much better. Even you have to admit he was lights out in the playoffs.

 

[PatrickShart]

Crawford has been great all year.



Coaching and the D in front of him have sucked and let him down.

 

[Rex]

Crawford has been great all year.



Coaching and the D in front of him have sucked and let him down.

now you're twisting my words. Crawford has been shaky for a good chunk, his confidence is shot. The shitty D hasn't helped him any through that time though.

 

[Pez68]

Crawford has been great all year.



Coaching and the D in front of him have sucked and let him down.

He hasn't been garbage all year, either. Lots of extremes happening here.

 

[Chief Walking Stick]

**** REAVES DIRTY POS!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sehwBeOPvJI

 

[Tater]

Anyone else want to join the Dylan Olsen fan club? Man is he exactly what the Hawks lack on the back end. Big, physical, defensively responsible, and nasty to boot. Somebody on another forum said it, and I'll echo it. Olsen hates guys standing in front of the net. That's fucking awesome. Didn't give an inch against the Blues' hacks either. He and Hayes need to stay up, even if it means waiving one of the useless retirees.

/raises hand I would like to be a charter member.

 

[Mach29]

Anyone else want to join the Dylan Olsen fan club? Man is he exactly what the Hawks lack on the back end. Big, physical, defensively responsible, and nasty to boot. Somebody on another forum said it, and I'll echo it. Olsen hates guys standing in front of the net. That's fucking awesome. Didn't give an inch against the Blues' hacks either. He and Hayes need to stay up, even if it means waiving one of the useless retirees.

Sure: Olsen for Prez.

 

[EspoForever]

Needs better rebound control, and I think he's not very good at goal scrambles.

The Defence has taken a beating and the poor goaltending this whole season has gotten a pass,

I will give you that his agility suffers...I think he wears pads that are 3 sizes too big so that's the tradeoff. He, at least, is talking about his problem being overplaying and ending up out go the net...he's a big goalie so needs to challenge less than Marty Brodeur.



I could not disagree more with you on the goaltending being poor and the defence getting a pass...other way around.



My main concern is that I still see Corey parallel to the goal line on low angle plays...in the post game, Q said he was square in the Columbus game but there were some plays when he was not. Not being square and the overplaying are the two things he has to constantly stay away from. (IMO)

 

[Larmer83]

Anyone else want to join the Dylan Olsen fan club? Man is he exactly what the Hawks lack on the back end. Big, physical, defensively responsible, and nasty to boot. Somebody on another forum said it, and I'll echo it. Olsen hates guys standing in front of the net. That's fucking awesome. Didn't give an inch against the Blues' hacks either. He and Hayes need to stay up, even if it means waiving one of the useless retirees.

Olsen has been good. He needs to avoid the turnovers that he had at Columbus.



Bolland between Stalberg and Bickell has impressed the last two games. I'm sure I'll regret this, Bickell has been playing strong the last several games.

 

[thanson1990]

Anyone else want to join the Dylan Olsen fan club? Man is he exactly what the Hawks lack on the back end. Big, physical, defensively responsible, and nasty to boot. Somebody on another forum said it, and I'll echo it. Olsen hates guys standing in front of the net. That's fucking awesome. Didn't give an inch against the Blues' hacks either. He and Hayes need to stay up, even if it means waiving one of the useless retirees.

Olsen has taken a big step forward from the first time I saw him play at the 2010 Prospect Camp. He was very passive then, and it seemed like he hadn't learned how to use his bigger frame yet. This past prospect camp though, he looked like a completely different player. He physically dominated, which he should do against lots of smaller and lesser talented players. Its nice to see that he's been able to keep improving and developing as time has gone on. He's been able to do more than just hold his own, especially in the past few games. He's going to make a great pairing with Leddy sometime in the not to distant future.

 

[puckjim]

Nice comeback.



Got to fix the power play.



It's a complete mess and cost the Hawks wins.

 

[thanson1990]

Olsen has been good. He needs to avoid the turnovers that he had at Columbus.



Bolland between Stalberg and Bickell has impressed the last two games. I'm sure I'll regret this, Bickell has been playing strong the last several games.

Its true, and its scary to say based on the season he's had. He's looked a lot better on both ends of the ice.

 

[R K]

Nice comeback.



Got to fix the power play.



It's a complete mess and cost the Hawks wins.

0-24 on the Road through the trip.



Before today the Wings were 2-23.



Must be costing them wins as well.



Today they were 0-3, Blues were 0-1, must have cost the Blues the game.

 

[thanson1990]

0-24 on the Road through the trip.



Before today the Wings were 2-23.



Must be costing them wins as well.



Today they were 0-3, Blues were 0-1, must have cost the Blues the game.

The Hawks are going to need the power play come playoff time. You can't get away with going 0-24 when the checking is so much tighter during 5 on 5 and you're playing better opponents. I'm not saying the Hawks haven't beat some of the better teams in the league in NY and St. Louis, but when there's more on the line in April, May, and June you're going to need a PP that you can rely on

 

[puckjim]

0-24 on the Road through the trip.



Before today the Wings were 2-23.



Must be costing them wins as well.



Today they were 0-3, Blues were 0-1, must have cost the Blues the game.

There's a great write up in "The Committed Indian" about it.



They win a couple more of those road games if their PP wasn't such a bag of shit.



It's a problem and must be fixed or they're fucked.



Pretty simple.

 

[R K]

I was being sarcastic. I think the PK was far more important. The PP will come. Blues were forchecking the PP today like mad. They are not an easy team to score on at anytime. Yesterday they gave a total of 13 shots on goal and today through two periods, yea 13 shots on goal.



Hawks had a great 3rd period and guess what, Crawford made the HUGE SAVE when asked, IE Stewarts break away. Biggest moment of the game IMO, as they score it puts them up 2-0.

 

[R K]

There's a great write up in "The Committed Indian" about it.



They win a couple more of those road games if their PP wasn't such a bag of shit.



It's a problem and must be fixed or they're fucked.



Pretty simple.

Good for the Committed Indian. I stopped reading that trash after he suggest Seabrook shouldn't have come back and was possibly hiding and or getting around the concussion test. No thanks.



again they went 0-24 on the trip. Not good, but other things were costing them games far more than scoring on the PP. Like keeping the fucking puck out of their own net.



I even gave you an example of the best team in the league. Their last 22 PP's have yeilded 2 PPG. Almost the exact same bag of shit yet they are winning. Why, because they keep the puck out of their own net by team play.

 

[Shantz My Pants]

Anyone else want to join the Dylan Olsen fan club? Man is he exactly what the Hawks lack on the back end. Big, physical, defensively responsible, and nasty to boot. Somebody on another forum said it, and I'll echo it. Olsen hates guys standing in front of the net. That's fucking awesome. Didn't give an inch against the Blues' hacks either. He and Hayes need to stay up, even if it means waiving one of the useless retirees.

lmao, Pez you were complaining a few games back about him being "slow as ****" lol.



But, I'm glad he's doing well.



I believe I told Ton a few years back that he's going to be the better dman prospect over Lalonde and Leddy. Leddy has him though right now, but who knows.

 

[Chief Walking Stick]

What's up with Lalonde these days anyways?

 

[Variable]

Shots allowed and goals for. That's what I look at. Use those numbers and find the win threshold. I don't really pay as much attention to how each team finishes in PK or PP or their overall record as some people do. In the playoffs, it's getting closer and closer to a coin flip in the team having the better record winning their series, a testament to the unpredictable nature of the game. Believe it's near 60% now, maybe under that. But when you look at the team with the better win threshold, it's better tool to use to predict which team would win/make the playoffs, odds are near 70% in favor of the team with the edge in that category.



The Hawks in their Cup year were a great example of that. With their high scoring combined with obscene low amount of shots allowed (lowest by a long shot that season) their win threshold was somewhere near .870 I believe. The save percentage predicted to win at the very least a .550 clip. Niemi was of course better than that, but according to their win threshold, they didn't need him to be and in the Final he certainly wasn't that much better than what was needed to win. And people still put a lot false belief in the "goalie winning a cup" myth. It's just not always right, in fact more and more it's wrong. The team with the better win threshold routinely beats out a team with the better save percentage. If you want to see an example of a goalie winning the cup, you look at last year.



Last year's Bruins were not quite the exact opposite from the Hawks, they were 5th in the league in scoring, but they also let up the second most shots allowed on goal. Their win threshold was around .910. Vancouver's was below .900. That is an example of a goalie "winning the Cup". That is appropriate praise. It fits in their case,at the very least much more so when it comes to arguing the reasons of keeping Niemi because he "won a Cup". The Canucks had the edge in nearly everything, but they didn't have Thomas.