[A] "We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope." MLK

[the canadian dream]

Frolik took the dumbest penalty of the night not keith. Sloppy and dumb penalty.



Q in no way has lost Toews. Its called a wrist injury. Toews was on pace for career numbers until the wrist injury.



Lepisto is horrible if an assist and a +1 in one game is a sign of a player that deserves more ice time then lets get Walker back and make him out #1 blueliner. Did you forget how shitty Lepisto looked in the other games he played earlier in the season?



Olsen has a good future he isn't ready for nhl full time minutes. Wanna ruin a good young blueliner by bringing him up too early? I don't. Seen that too much in the past. I think he had a decent game last night too. Worthy of another look but I would be very shocked if the Hawks keep him up for any large remaining parts of the season.



Start talking about Hossa if you want to make a statement about a forward underproducing and who appears lazy and making big mistakes. Having a terrible road trip and looks horrible. Im sure that will get spun as Q losing him but if you want to see a player making a shit load of positioning mistakes look at Hossa last night.



Crawford def has issues this season esp on pk he's not helping out anything. Everyone knows this. No one predicted this after a strong season last year. Bet you 100 bucks even you were saying the Hawks kept the right guy last year for their goalie. You know you were because Neimi sucked last year in San Jose (there were rumors through the season they were looking for goalie help) and Crawford was playing better. Ohh how soon people forget. Or maybe you weren't watching San Jose games or paying attention to them? I have the luxery of watching a lot of west coast games here and trust me there were not many cheers for Niemi last year in San Jose.



Stalberg gets his first benching here. After being treated pretty well by Q all season (let me know the next time a second year lwer no one had faith in gets big 1st line minutes). Big deal...im sure him having the flu probably has something to do with the benching also. Talk about an over-reaction today about that benching. Stalberg has gone from a player 80% of people didn't like to a guy that people put their arms up for when he gets benched for a period. Strange.

 

[Ton]

For 48games this year, they were tops in the league.



For 7...they've struggled.

Only 7? Do you know their record the past 25 games or so? They've only won 8 of them.

 

[R K]

Only 7? Do you know their record the past 25 games or so? They've only won 8 of them.

I think from the start of January, though through 48 games they were the #1 team in the league, so you can go from there I suppose.

 

[Ton]

Dallas was #1 in the league last year halfway through the year too. Ask them how that turned out. Nothing is "fine" until they fix it!

 

[R K]

What ever.

 

[supraman]

For 48games this year, they were tops in the league.



For 7...they've struggled.

And at no point this season have they LOOKED like the tops in the league. Hell we looked better last year

 

[PuckPowWow]

Ton: "Dallas was #1 in the league last year halfway through the year too. Ask them how that turned out. Nothing is "fine" until they fix it!"



My sentiments exactly.



I could also say (and I actually did back then) that when the Hawks were at the top, they were lucky to be there. Lots of games won in the first half that covered the issues we see now. There were a lot of wins when they should have lost. Luck it would seem, has them still in a playoff spot. An extremely explosive offense fueled by some great talents turned our gaze away from the weakening structure.



I do think this team is better than this. But, the transition game is weak, their puck management shotty, PK terrible, PP on vacation, defensive zone coverage a work in progress, goaltending is not the best, and drive up for debate. Add in the current atmosphere of frustration and confusion built by a bad coaching staff. It all equals trouble. And yet, I think they can fix it, but not with Q behind the bench.

 

[Pez68]

I think from the start of January, though through 48 games they were the #1 team in the league, so you can go from there I suppose.

This team will be lucky to make the playoffs. Seriously. They had an easy schedule to start the season, and now that it's gotten tougher, the team has crumbled into dust.

 

[the canadian dream]

It has totally crumbled.



Team could be in 8th by the end of this road trip.



Smelling like a lot like last year all over again.



Told you guys this team wasn't improved and the coaching def hasn't helped. Stan clogged the bottom line with junk and Q has ruined the team by coaching. Great combo we have there (AND I AM LOOKING AT THIS SEASON ONLY I AM NOT CARING NOR TALKING ABOUT STANS PROSPECTS RIGHT NOW AND WHAT THEY MIGHT BE). This is becoming a joke. Good teams still manage to make impacts on the regular season while still building for the future. This is a poorly ran team from head office down to coaching.



Management and Ownership need to do something big if they want to salvage this season and make any sort of legit playoff push. Fire Q. Dont give a shit do it 3/4ths into the season and do something thats rarely seen. If not that fucking go out there and do a wild ass trade (if its not there you make it there...overpay for something i dont give a shit). This team needs a grade A shake up. It's flat and it's boring and tired. No one looks like they are having fun and no one has any charisma or jump on the ice. Don't fucking care what happens aslong as something happens. This team as is with this coach is not going to do much. Im fed up. Frustrated and fed up and bored.

 

[PuckPowWow]

Okay Canadian Dream, you asked for it. These are your exact words only a few weeks back in response to my article that was apparently crap.



"powow



The Hawks have injuries to key players right now. No shit they wouldn't beat any of their divisional counterparts if they faced them right now. Good thing the playoffs are a couple months away.



Yikes we are talking about a team that was 1st in the league a couple weeks ago. In the league!!! Not sure what the point of all this "the hawks need to change their style" stuff is comming from. Really it makes no sense. You quiz anyone on who the favorites are to win the cup this year you will hear the Hawks come up more often than not. This is a long season in sports. No team is going to play lights out hockey every game of the season and some are even going to go on losing streaks and lose to teams that on paper they should be beating easy. Hell the Wings got stomped by the Habs the other night. Guess the Wings should change their system now?



The Hawks system is fine. It is a system that won us a cup, took us to the conference finals the year before and was an inch away of rewriting the history books last season in the first round (a round they had no rights pushing to 7 games based on the roster, the burn out and the injuries going into an early playoff round). This is a club 80% of NHL fans would love their teams to be.



We need an extra body on the blueline to correct defensive mistakes we don't need an overhaul of the system and a new coach. This is ludacris!!! The doom and gloom shit has to end..the Hawks are fine. They have some important bodies on the sidelines but they are fine. This is turning into a discussion fans for teams like Columbus and Anaheim should be having. Not the Hawks fan base.



Also if you want a more defensive based system then you are going to have to sacrifice some offense to get it. Are you ready for that? Or are you just going to turn around when that happens and ***** about how the Hawks need to adjust their offense? It's a catch 22. Could the Hawks use a bit more focus on defense? Sure..and that can be solved easily by a simple trade if it becomes available. It could also help if our goalkeeping can step it up a notch. I still think Craw can regain the form he had last year and can be the goalie he was in the 1st round last year..he was amazing...least we forget that. This is still a team built for playoff hockey also.



Let's wait and see how this team looks when Sharp and Toews both return with the added additions of Hayes and Shaw. Could be a team that competes with the talent and character levels that the cup winning team had (minus the Brian Campbell which to date is still this teams biggest loss and unreplaceable body). Yah I said it.....and I mean it. And I am one that thinks that cup winning team was one of the best built NHL teams of all time. "



The canadian dream.



Seriously, your words as you attempted to discredit mine. And now you say this. I don't get it?

 

[Pez68]

TCD is very emotional and reactionary when it comes to his Hawks.

 

[the canadian dream]

yah no shit i eat crow



wont be the first time I am wrong and it wont be the last. Fear not I am one of the few who will admit it first. I really don't have much riding on what my opinions are other than another night watching the Hawks lose then getting up for work in the morning.



Team sucks fire the coach..i don't care anymore. Didn't think shit would get this bad I dont think many of us did. Its a giant shit show now and I am tired of it. everyone who said that coaching was a huge issue I now agree. I needed more than 2 shitty games in a row to prove it and I always will. But now the writting is on the wall.



I still dislike Stan. That's not going to change until he really impresses me with something instead of riding on Talons coat tails with the core and shipping off all my favorite fucking depth players and guys I at least thought were key in not only the cup run but also making the core look better than they actually are (thats really why I hate him..its personal lol). I also hate him for selling us excuses like everything was cap related which is a bunch of bullshit. Half his moves were finger printing GM ego moves..which don't need to be done anymore in this age of the NHL. He learned that little outdated trick from his pops.



Anyways...lol.....I wasn't really beaking off at you I was just frustrated with all the Q rambling that was going on while other shit was being overlooked..and still is. Its still not all coaching but **** me everyone is right it does indeed look like he has lost this team. Didn't want to admit it...ill admit that.

 

[Larmer83]

TCD is very emotional and reactionary when it comes to his Hawks.

And the rest of the board is always calm, cool, and collected.(Deep Purple. So deep, I've got a Ritchie Blackmore riff going on in my head).

 

[IceHogsFan]

Management and Ownership need to do something big if they want to salvage this season and make any sort of legit playoff push.

Rocky making a change?



McDonough looking bad?



The only faith I have from a hockey back office is Scotty. It is not Rocky, McD nor Stan.

 

[Pez68]

And the rest of the board is always calm, cool, and collected.(Deep Purple. So deep, I've got a Ritchie Blackmore riff going on in my head).

I was just saying....TCD is special.

 

[PuckPowWow]

Sorry about that TCD,



So we are all on a similar page then? Cool.



I find this administration conversation interesting. The truth is that no one really knows what goes on behind those closed doors. Should we place more blame on Q, or Stan. My opinion is Q has the most influence over his players, so Q is first in line for the firing range.



But IceHogsFan brings up a good point too. Should Rocky be making some changes? Should that change include Stan B, and or McDonough? How much does those the marketing concerns of this team influence real changes?

 

[the canadian dream]

From the outside looking in it feels like McDonut has too much influence on the on ice product and probably the off ice personel also. Just how it feels. But if he is making Rocky money then I am sure that is all Rocky would care about of course. Mcdonut has done some good PR for the club and some horrible PR for the club. I am not a fan of all the egos in the office myself. Scotty Bowman and McDonut have enough ego as is. Anything else added to that is a stew of trouble. I wish Stan would make more face time with the media and fans. Would probably help my image of him a little. I don't want everything Tallon did to be a measuring stick as that isn't fair. Tallon made mistakes too but he was good at answering to them. Stan seems to be held at a leash sometimes it feels. Feels like hes a false face as a GM. Not his fault I need to cool it a bit on Stan...I know he isn't working alone either.



Q is obviously going to be the first person axed from this club and righfully so when it happens. Q certainly has the bigger influence over his players. Some times you gotta also look at the players he is trying to influence. Why they are here and where they actually fit and where they came from. Why some guys get treated differently than others and at what points. You can get a feel that there are GM influences and other influences appearing with decisions on the ice also. Not just the coaches.



But you are right. I have bowed down to the coaching problems. I believe them now stronger than I did previously.

 

[fanof19]

speed of the leader (McD) speed of the team.......

 

[klemmer]

Sorry about that TCD,



So we are all on a similar page then? Cool.



I find this administration conversation interesting. The truth is that no one really knows what goes on behind those closed doors. Should we place more blame on Q, or Stan. My opinion is Q has the most influence over his players, so Q is first in line for the firing range.



But IceHogsFan brings up a good point too. Should Rocky be making some changes? Should that change include Stan B, and or McDonough? How much does those the marketing concerns of this team influence real changes?

Mc FuckStickLicker isn't going anywhere, at least not until the empty seats return and sponsorships drop off.



After all, Rocky IS a Wirtz.

 

[Variable]

Rocky seems to escape a lot of criticism.