DMelt36
Bolland > You
- Joined:
- May 27, 2010
- Posts:
- 13,969
- Liked Posts:
- 8,434
DMelt has departed these lands.
His tyranny is never to be seen here henceforth
DMelt has departed these lands.
His tyranny is never to be seen here henceforth
Understatement of the decade.They lack Panarin type of forward, Hjalmarsson type of shutdown defender, plus a healthy Crawford, to be able to contend for Playoffs.
Bottom line, Toews and Seabrook contracts (plus diminish in play level, Keith also took a step back), Hossa retirement, and couple of dumb trades (Panarin, Hjalmarsson) basically killed Blackhawks team, from title contender perspective.
Keith took a step back, but he's more or less still worth $5M per year he's getting.
On the other hand $10M Toews, projected to be a team leader, plays like $5M 2nd liner at best, and $7M Seabrook plays like $2M, 3rd defensive pairing veteran.
And with those $10M extra spent on quality players, Blackhawks would now have adequate roster quality.
For example, that's why Patriots dynasty in NFL is lasting so long, "what have you done for me lately" mentality, and if you don't perform up to high standards, you get traded or cut, not rewarded with big contract (like Seabrook did, plus they also traded away Hjalmarsson and Panarin to clear room for his absurd contract).
The only thing Q is to blame for is having this idea that pucks should be cleared thru the middle of the ice, between the dots, in the blue paint. Every team in this league keeps men in the middle because the hawks dont want to do the ugly work along the boards. They need to clear up the boards for two years before teams start leaving the middle open for the easy clears. Last game I swear Keith purposely put one right in the blue paint.
It was even mentioned by some ex hawks as they do pre or post games on CSN, that its by design. Sure seems like the design needs to change.
well, keith is on the powerplay more because he is on the line with 4 forwards. The second line, without keith has 2 d men, so the trade off is having the better talent on the ice with the first unit and your best d man to handle the break away steals and let 4 shooters shoot.