How would you realistically fix the Hawks?

[Tater]

I'm not quite ready to relegate Seabs to Aucoin duty yet...

Didn't Augroin wear the C at one point?

 

[LordKOTL]

Didn't Augroin wear the C at one point?

Yep

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[MassHavoc]

Let's hope Keith reverts from Matthew Keith.

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I wast thinking more like Alexander Keith...

 

[anotheridiot]

Seems like Patch is the hot topic. I cant see how getting a team captain from Montreal, upset he is only making 4.5 million this year, his final year of the contract, looking for a big payday is going to fix our never ending cap problem.

I'd rather get Panarin back for two more years over his current 6 million dollar contract for the money Patch is looking for. They can always bring Nash in for a PTO.

 

[anotheridiot]

Stan talked to someone on NBS sportsnet when they announced Crow would be at the convention. Said Crawford was in town and has not gotten on the ice yet, but said most of the team is just starting to skate today anyway? No update on the injury, said he was training, but basically had no answers still.

 

[MassHavoc]

I know how you realistically fix the hawks! Hire Chelios as an Ambassador....

 

[Tater]

I know how you realistically fix the hawks! Hire Chelios as an Ambassador....

disliked and reported.

 

[MassHavoc]

disliked and reported.

Worth it.

 

[bamainatlanta]

Jokiharju Looking to Play This Season
A recent report from NHL.com sites Chicago Blackhawks prospect Henri Jokiharju is doing whatever he can in an effort to join the team this season. Hoping to increase his odds of making the team, he’s been chatting up veteran defenseman Duncan Keith.


Henri Jokiharju (Dayna Fjord/Portland Winterhawks)

Jokiharju was drafted by Chicago in the first-round pick of the 2017 NHL Draft. He’s a 19-year-old right-handed defender who could make the jump this year and partner up with Keith. “Duncan Keith is a role model for me,” Jokiharju said. “He can play like 30 minutes in a game and he’s not even tired and every decision he makes is right. He’s one of the biggest guys I talk to and I want to learn from the most.”

Jokiharju had 71 points, was plus-47 in 63 games with Portland of the Western Hockey League last season.

https://thehockeywriters.com/nhl-rumors-july-25-2018/

 

[LordKOTL]

Jokiharju Looking to Play This Season
A recent report from NHL.com sites Chicago Blackhawks prospect Henri Jokiharju is doing whatever he can in an effort to join the team this season. Hoping to increase his odds of making the team, he’s been chatting up veteran defenseman Duncan Keith.


Henri Jokiharju (Dayna Fjord/Portland Winterhawks)

Jokiharju was drafted by Chicago in the first-round pick of the 2017 NHL Draft. He’s a 19-year-old right-handed defender who could make the jump this year and partner up with Keith. “Duncan Keith is a role model for me,” Jokiharju said. “He can play like 30 minutes in a game and he’s not even tired and every decision he makes is right. He’s one of the biggest guys I talk to and I want to learn from the most.”

Jokiharju had 71 points, was plus-47 in 63 games with Portland of the Western Hockey League last season.

https://thehockeywriters.com/nhl-rumors-july-25-2018/

Being mentored by Keith will do him nothing but good--in spite of Keith's lacklustre year. Joker has a lot of shades of Leddy in him but with some D upside. I still think Joker would do better on-ice with a stay-at-home lefty rather than Keith, though.

 

[Tater]

Jokiharju Looking to Play This Season

https://thehockeywriters.com/nhl-rumors-july-25-2018/

And from that same web page:

[h=2]Teams Interested in Panarin[/h]Jared Clinton of The Hockey News recently listed a handful of teams that might have interest in Artemi Panarin if the Blue Jackets do pull the trigger on a trade. The Florida Panthers, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues are five possible destinations.

Artemi Panarin, Flyers vs Blackhawks, 12/3/16 (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

Clinton believes the Panthers can afford to re-sign Panarin when he becomes an unrestricted free agent and there were rumors Panarin may have had a previous interest in the Panthers organization. He would fit well with a young core that includes Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau and Vincent Trocheck.
Clinton also thinks the rebuilding Rangers might speed up the rebuilding phase if Panarin becomes available. With a ton of cap room, the Rangers could line Panarin up beside Mika Zibanejad or perhaps Vladislav Namestnikov.

​

 

[ruprecht]

And from that same web page:

[h=2]Teams Interested in Panarin[/h]Jared Clinton of The Hockey News recently listed a handful of teams that might have interest in Artemi Panarin if the Blue Jackets do pull the trigger on a trade. The Florida Panthers, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues are five possible destinations.

Artemi Panarin, Flyers vs Blackhawks, 12/3/16 (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

Clinton believes the Panthers can afford to re-sign Panarin when he becomes an unrestricted free agent and there were rumors Panarin may have had a previous interest in the Panthers organization. He would fit well with a young core that includes Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau and Vincent Trocheck.
Clinton also thinks the rebuilding Rangers might speed up the rebuilding phase if Panarin becomes available. With a ton of cap room, the Rangers could line Panarin up beside Mika Zibanejad or perhaps Vladislav Namestnikov.

​

I will puke if he ends up in a Blues sweater.

 

[anotheridiot]

I miss the "are you guys brothers" line with Kane and Panarin. Whoever said that still makes me laugh thinking about that picture.

problem wiht Artemi is he is always going to be that guy that wants more. He never seemed like that, a wide eyed kid here, maybe its just his agent. You make him fit this year and cant do it next. Stan would have had too hard of a time letting him go after two more solid years, so I doubt he picks at that scab.

 

[anotheridiot]

Kind of glad we got Ward. There have been many fans posting things about Corey really afraid when he was walking down the runway. It really seemed like it was the vertigo because it makes you feel like you are walking crooked.

 

[LordKOTL]

Kind of glad we got Ward. There have been many fans posting things about Corey really afraid when he was walking down the runway. It really seemed like it was the vertigo because it makes you feel like you are walking crooked.

Unfortunately through Ward is not the solution for a 100% done Crawford--not even close. Our defense is just too weak to make that remotely viable. It would be like saying, "Hey, we can't play with Scottie Pippin anymore, let's replace him with Bill Wennington!" (and yes, I know that's dating the last time I watched basketball)

There's a drop-off there.

That being said Ward, assuming we *didn't* overpay him by twice his market value, would be a great backup with respect to the fact that when our porous D hangs him out to dry, he should be less rattled than Forsberg, Delia, etc. with Crawford primarily manning the pipes. However if Crawford is done then barring an acquisition of a good stay-at-home D-man which Q will actually play to take the load off of Keith & Seabrook to a lesser extent, or a Bonafied Top-6 goaltender with the D as-is, This upcoming year is likely going to hurt. We are effectively running with Turco as our emergency starter (same career numbers as Ward) except we don't have a top-flight D in front of him. Debrincat, Kane, Schmaltz, Toews, etc. are going to have their work cut out for them trying to score more than the opposition without Crawford being 100% or a miracle on the backend/net.

 

[anotheridiot]

Got to hear Q on the score this morning, he said Ward is really excited about being here, thinks spending his entire career in Columbus was something he needed to change. He said he was put in the backup role the beginning of last year and did not take it well, but ended up being the man in the net when they were fighting for the playoff spot. Q mentioned that he took some of the blame for the D by keeping 8 guys in the mix, he said this year they are going to stick to 7, so I guess we hope a top 6 is really evident after camp and #7 just missed out and ends up getting regular time. Its not saying there wont be back and forth with rockford, its just going to go around 7 not 8. Really dont know what to read into that, other than guaranteeing that there will be no d men dressing as a forward.

Keith, Rutta, Seabrook, Forsling/Gustaffson, Manning, Murphy, sounds like Joker really needs to make an impression to break into that.

 

[LordKOTL]

Got to hear Q on the score this morning, he said Ward is really excited about being here, thinks spending his entire career in Columbus Carolina was something he needed to change. He said he was put in the backup role the beginning of last year and did not take it well, but ended up being the man in the net when they were fighting for the playoff spot. Q mentioned that he took some of the blame for the D by keeping 8 guys in the mix, he said this year they are going to stick to 7, so I guess we hope a top 6 is really evident after camp and #7 just missed out and ends up getting regular time. Its not saying there wont be back and forth with rockford, its just going to go around 7 not 8. Really dont know what to read into that, other than guaranteeing that there will be no d men dressing as a forward.

Keith, Rutta, Seabrook, Forsling/Gustaffson, Manning, Murphy, sounds like Joker really needs to make an impression to break into that.

Fixed it for you .

While 7 instead of 8 D will help, I still think the main problem is that the guys we got on D are pretty ordinary right now. Keith was bad and in all likleihood may not rebound back to a #1. Maybe a #2--age and all that. No shame intended but he is getting older. Seabs is already old and slow even if the puddin' between his ears is still good. Rutta, Gus, & Forsling may very well have Sophomore slumps (or they could take off--it's not all cynicism here). Manning doesn't inspire any confidence in me what with what the Philly fans are saying about him...so that leaves...Murph? Now Murph looked better as the year dragged on but he's nowhere near Prime Hjammer--which is what this D needs.

Joker by all rights will get a bonafied shot, but we're running right now with 6 D-men, only Gus at Sub 2M, and none are waivers-eligible. There's no way Joker rots in the pressbox--especially since his contract can slide this year. Now Gus arguably did okay late like Murphy...so is Stan and/or Q really going to let a guy like manning at 2M+ fetch off Eddie O? Ditto with Rutta.

The D situation is not giving me good vibes especially with Stan historically force-feeding his guys into the lineup (see also: Runblad). Plus, we don't have a dirt-cheap sub-1M vet D-man who can act as the bonafied #7--Gus is the closest but at 26 if he's marginalized like that he may take a Daley/Kempny and want out. I think Joker likely gets 7-9 games and goes down to slide his deal if Stan's not willing to part with one of those 6--and we run with Keith/Seabs/Rutta/Murph/Gus/Manning with Forsling a tweener (who can still take the Daley/Kempny route) That on paper is not better than last year.

 

[anotheridiot]

I am still not sure Murphy is not a Daley, a guy that really does not fit the style of play. Manning is a more physical d man, but we have seen the big seabrook hits from pre 2015 go away, we saw Carcillo try to become a finesse player playing with kane when it seemed the point of getting him here was to wipe out anyone that hit kane. So that leads to what type of play do we end up getting from Manning when he "changes" and what does that go down to?

It would still be nice to have a pair that will separate a player from the puck physically, not with finesse stick moves that end up putting them in the box for hooking or slashing.

Q also mentioned getting Krueger in the right mindset. I thought he changed by being pushed up to the third line and he, as a player, expected someone like Nordstrom or Kero to step up and do his dirty work. Might have been what got him moved. Now he is back to supposedly help the PK, I am almost wondering if he plans on getting back to that fourth line and PK.

 

[anotheridiot]

Hawks announced that Gustav Forsling has had wrist surgery and recovery to hockey time is 14 weeks.

 

[BlackHawkPaul]

Ticket prices are through the roof. The caliber of play last season makes it hard to get face when ST holders want to re-sell their tickets. Be interesting to see if a lot of ST holders don't renew, during the good years the renewal rate was very high with a crazy long waiting list.

Maybe I'm wrong but I gotta think the Hawks are hearing it from ST holders. Seems the Grinch has to be doing some grovelling.

I was out after last season. I took a job out of state and 17-18 was it for me. It may have been it even if I didn't take the new gig.
As far as "fixing" the Hawks, it came down to aging D and a hurt Crawford. Hossa having to be LTIR'ed hurt FA acquisitions, and the Seabrook contract is a lot of money for a D man that is now just average.

They won their Cups and they are going to be a 1st/2nd round exit team until they shed 7. If not, they will see some post season berths, and could make a run in the West. It's a painfully average conference and the road to the Cup is wide open. The East has 2-3 powerhouses at the moment.

If they flounder again this year, Q will probably hang up the 'stache.