How would you realistically fix the Hawks?

[anotheridiot]

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.

considering the options to move closer to center for the bulls, not many gave them up. Hawks tickets are much tougher to let go of. We went thru half last season before they allowed you to list them for less than face value to help get rid of them.

 

[LordKOTL]

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.

If the 'hawks don't have Crawford they're a lottery team...It's as simple as that right now. With him we're on the playoff bubble. Seabs isn't the only problem. The entire core outside of Kane and Crawford hasn't been pulling their weight and aside from Schmaltz & El Gato...there's no replacements anywhere close to ready.

I think Q's gone at the end of this year barring a fucking miracle...and I wouldn't be surprised is Stan followed.

 

[EbonyRaptor]

It's all very simple ... observe:

Keep Crawford out for most of the season to ensure we tank and get the most ping pong balls in the draft lottery.
Have Toews, Saad, Keith and Seabrook have comeback years.
Have Schmaltz and DeBrincat preform even better this season.
Have Jokiharju, Hillman, Sikura, Kahun and Hayden all have very good rookie seasons.
Have Boqvist and Mitchell have great years and prove they're ready for the NHL.
Win the draft lottery and select Jack Hughes.
Trade Anisimov for cap relief.
Use Russian mind control and convince Panarin to sign for $6M AAV.
And then use Russian mind control again to convince Shalunov to terminate his KHL contract and join the Hawks for the 2019/20 season.

Panarin-Hughes-Kane
Saad-Toews-DeBrincat
Shalunov-Schmaltz-Sikura
Kampf-Kahun-Hayden

Keith-Jokiharju
Hillman-Boqvist
Mitchell-Seabrook

Crawford
Delia

See ... nuttin to it.

 

[Spunky Porkstacker]

It's all very simple ... observe:

Keep Crawford out for most of the season to ensure we tank and get the most ping pong balls in the draft lottery.
Have Toews, Saad, Keith and Seabrook have comeback years.
Have Schmaltz and DeBrincat preform even better this season.
Have Jokiharju, Hillman, Sikura, Kahun and Hayden all have very good rookie seasons.
Have Boqvist and Mitchell have great years and prove they're ready for the NHL.
Win the draft lottery and select Jack Hughes.
Trade Anisimov for cap relief.
Use Russian mind control and convince Panarin to sign for $6M AAV.
And then use Russian mind control again to convince Shalunov to terminate his KHL contract and join the Hawks for the 2019/20 season.

Panarin-Hughes-Kane
Saad-Toews-DeBrincat
Shalunov-Schmaltz-Sikura
Kampf-Kahun-Hayden

Keith-Jokiharju
Hillman-Boqvist
Mitchell-Seabrook

Crawford
Delia

See ... nuttin to it.

Nice...Too bad Q says no

 

[EbonyRaptor]

Nice...Too bad Q says no

OK ... seriously, I don't think there is a quick fix. I think the best case scenario is that Kane will still be a 70 point difference maker and Toews can get back to something close to the 2015 Toews by the time the supporting cast is ready to contend for a Cup - hopefully by 2020/21 but probably more like 2021/22. And that's if at least a few of the young d-prospects pan out soon enough to be solid veteran players before Kane and Toews fade into the sunset.

 

[anotheridiot]

The whole point though is the only way these young D prospects get better is learning from their mistakes. To me that means staying with the NHL team. Make one bad play, that we see nightly from Keith and Seabs, and you grab an uber to rockford where you do not play against the level of competition you need to learn against.

 

[LordKOTL]

The whole point though is the only way these young D prospects get better is learning from their mistakes. To me that means staying with the NHL team. Make one bad play, that we see nightly from Keith and Seabs, and you grab an uber to rockford where you do not play against the level of competition you need to learn against.

Agreed to a point. If a guy like, say, Joker, is only slottable in slot-6 it would make more sense to send him down to Portland or (Preferably) overseas to Finland for a year to see better competition. You want him getting icetime especially as a 19 year old.

If he is slottable in slot 3 or slot 4, then you keep him up. Either way if he doesn't go past 10 games his contract slides which is not a bad thing.

Unfortunately I think Q specifically is a problem here. He overused Keith *way* too much last year and didn't use Kempny enough. He didn't trust the younger D-men in game situations even when it was clear the 'hawks were out of it.

It might be more beneficial to see our blue-chip D prospects in the A or the CHL this year (especially if their deals slide) and have the also-rans like Manning filling out the roster with the expected results of us warming the cellar again. That likley gets Stan and/or Q out of here and we get a defensive system tailored to the team as it is now, not as it was a decade ago.

However, if a prospect has the chops to be slotted where their projection is, don't hold them back...but there's no reason to rush them with the team being in the disarray it is right now.

 

[anotheridiot]

DAy 1 of training camp, Connor Murphy back injury out 8 weeks. Seabrook with an abdominal injury will miss at least a week, and Forsling still recovering from hand and wrist surgery.

 

[anotheridiot]

crow reports he is not ready yet, does not look like he will be ready any time soon.

 

[Chief Walking Stick]

Trade Toews for someone that is actually good at hockey.

 

[Tater]

Trade Toews for someone that is actually good at hockey.

He's back!!!!!

 

[Bigfoot]

With Murphy out hopefully one of the kids is ready to go.

 

[Raskolnikov]

With Murphy out hopefully one of the kids is ready to go.

Lots of kids ready to go and the more looks Q gets at them the better so he can get over Seabrooke dreams.

 

[anotheridiot]

Joker was playing with Keith. Kunitz was on the toews line with Cat, Saad, Schmaltz, Kane. I did not hear the toews line referred to as the top line yet.

 

[anotheridiot]

Fortin with a goal in the first minute, no more offense after that. Joker got away with an easy call on interference, got some kids that like to hit, looks like Ejsell is getting pushed to wing.

 

[LordKOTL]

Fortin with a goal in the first minute, no more offense after that. Joker got away with an easy call on interference, got some kids that like to hit, looks like Ejsell is getting pushed to wing.

Can't forget Boqvist taking the puck coast-to-coast beautifully instead of forcing the outlet pass...which means he'll be in Q's doghouse for a year or two.

 

[EbonyRaptor]

How would I realistically fix the Hawks?

In a word - "tank". The hope is the kids can mature and become effective players before Toews and Kane fade into the sunset. Realistically that window starts in a couple years (maybe next season if everything goes exceedingly well), and then the window probably closes in 3-5 years. So the plan for the Hawks should be to gear up for the 2020/21 season. Schmaltz and DeBrincat are already 1 year into their growth cycle and will be at peak performance before the 2020/21 season.

2018/19 season: Sikura, Jokiharju and maybe others (Kahun, Ejdsell, Forsling, Dahlstrom, ?)
2019/20 season: Boqvist, Beaudin, Mitchell, Fortin, Shalunov, Nalimov, 2019 draft pick, others?
2020/21 season: 2020 draft pick, Wise, Soderlund, Kayumov, others?

The plan is to have many of those listed and some that aren't listed become productive NHL players by 2020/21 and join Toews, Kane, Saad, Schmaltz, and DeBrincat to form a Cup contending team.

 

[Bigfoot]

I have been giving this some thought lately. Personally I would be ok for a tank, but I do not see Rocky or McDonut signing off on that. That leaves us trying to do something that is not impossible, but is hard to pull off. We have to retool on the fly, but doing it in a way that we do not purge our prospects.

It is time to look for the next core of players coming up; identify them, and make sure that the development is there. Right now I look at guys like D-Cat, Schmaltz, and Saad as being part of the new core based on what they have proven so far. Players like Sikura, Joker, Boqvist, Beaudin Plus we have the unknown of Kahun, who I hope can be Panarin lite. We are going to have to be patient as on paper with or without Crow we are a fringe playoff team at best. There seems to be light, but it might not happen for a couple years.

I hope Stan and Co can figure this out, and learn from past mistakes handing out some of these contracts that have hamstrung this franchise. Stan needs to have a plan for the short term, but one that will not sacrifice the long term success of this franchise.

 

[Raskolnikov]

Good points, but Sikura is legit. He is already the passing version of the finishing Debricat. Spacing is elite, hockey IQ is elite all around. Dude is a flee but legit. Not as sturdy as El Gato.

Joker is shit. Has no ass or ability to protect his amazing hands on the puck. Hopefully he did squats all summer instead of banging chicks at the world cup. Or maybe that would help too.

Kahun? Is that the German dude? Becasue I watched all those Cup games and let me tell you that the German team winning was a greater miracle than the "Miracle on Ice" of 1980.

They were shit. Slow...ackward, goons to a man. The goalie played unreal...carried them of course. Total miracle, I had no elation at that signing whatsoever or would have for a single offensive player on that team.