Just Desserts

[icehogfan08]

Some are lamenting a lost point or two in the Hawks’ 5-4 regulation loss to the Flyers, after coming back from a 4-2 deficit late in the third. And yes, the points do matter.

But the Hawks were fortunate to have even been in position to get a point, much less two. They did not play well for the second consecutive outing. So Philadelphia’s winning marker with :32 left did hurt. But the larger issue is the 59:28 that preceded it.

Let’s get this out of the way first: Ray Emery has had better games. But he also didn’t have a lot of help. Razor’s rebound control was pretty bad, but he had a lot of traffic in and around his crease and James van Riemsdyk was essentially uncovered all night.

The Hawk defensive zone coverage was a Chinese Fire Drill.

On the winning Flyer goal, all four Hawk defenders (including first pairing Duncan Keith and Brent SeabrooK) and Emery were mesmerized by Claude Giroux on the half board, allowing van Riemsdyk to streak in and score.

Maybe I’m becoming like Jeff Dunham’s crusty old man puppet ‘Walter” in my latter years; I seem to be the guy who has to burst Hawk fans’ bubbles over this player or that.

A couple of days ago, there was a major Nick Leddy Love Fest going on my message board thread. Now, I am not pinning the blame for last night’s loss entirely on Leddy. But at the same time, those who have elevated this kid to Doug Harvey/Bobby Orr-like status at this point need to just . . . chill . . . out.

Cuz here’s the problem.

I like Leddy. I like his game (for the most part) today. And I love his potential. But the fact is, making Leddy out to be more than he is hides the fact that he is -2, while his partner is +5 and the two defensemen ahead of him on the depth chart are +14 and +12 respectively.

Keith was a culprit on the winning goal last night, but was +2 for the game.

Leddy was directly or indirectly victimized on two Philly goals last night and was -2 for the game.

He is 20 years old and probably playing over his head right now at 23+ minutes a night. So you can continue your love fest over a -2 defenseman (for the season), or get real and say the Hawks have a depth problem on defense.

And that’s not Leddy’s fault. It’s Stanley Bowman’s.

Nik Hjalmarsson is not quite Denis Potvin at this point either. But he is second in the league in blocked shots and does everything else, meh, fairly well. He is just 24.

By comparison the second pairing of the Detroit Red Wings, Nik Kronwall and Brad Stuart, are 30 and 32 respectively. Look at every contending team in the West alone and their second pairing has more experience than the Hawks’ does. And most have better combined +/- as well.

All this blind adulation of every young Hawk player or prospect is starting to make me feel (though not look) like Mugatu from the film Zoolander: “I feel like I’m taking CRAZY PILLS here!”

It’s one thing if Hawk fans believe all the hype coming out of the marketing department; it is far more dangerous if Hawk hockey personnel do.

Here’s the other balloon that must be taken away this morning.

Everyone please stop with the Rick Nash/Ryan Getzlaf/Corey Perry talk (including possibly you, Stan Bowman). The Hawks’ problems are not at forward, though they could use some help at center, if not the speedy return of Marcus Kruger. In fact, Jimmy Hayes and Andrew Shaw look very much worth a longer look going forward, maybe one or the other pushing Bryan Bickell off the roster.

Further, as discussed here yesterday, acquiring any of those aforementioned star players is going to cost the Hawks at least one marquee, scoring forward (Kane, Sharp, Hossa) they currently have. So other than maybe—maybe— getting more physical on the top lines, why even think about it?

At center, Patrick Kane and Dave Bolland were a combined 5-16 in the dot last night. Kruger is not great on draws but you have to think he might have done better. Jamal Mayers and Jonathan Toews were 17-12.

But where the Hawks really need help is on defense. They need a stabilizing force. Veteran savvy and physicality.

Blueline depth is like a game of dominoes. The more you have, the less pressure there is up and down your pairings and on your coaching staff to match up. Leddy or Hjalmarsson might be better anchoring a third pairing that between John Scott, Sami Lepisto, Steve Montador, Sean O’Donnell and Dylan Olsen has become a clown car.

I agreed with the logic I heard yesterday: that the Hawks feel it makes sense to see what Olsen has before pulling the trigger on a deal for a blueliner. But I reserve the right to change my mind. And I now exercise that right.

Olsen might even be fine as a 7th defenseman, but it would seem he’d be better off playing regularly at Rockford. I am also not blaming Olsen for last night’s loss. But there is no reason to wait to make a deal, and even slightly overpay in a seller’s market, for veteran blueline help. It needs to be done ASAP.

The Hawks are fortunate to be facing an Avalanche team at the UC tonight that has tumbled a bit from an early hot start. It is also a must win. And don’t take anything for granted; the Avs are 22-18-1 and just 7 points behind Chicago.

Let’s be clear, the Hawks were lucky to have even been in position to tie the game last night, much less win it. They were not good (albeit against a better team than the Oilers), for the second straight outing.

The injuries the Hawks very luckily avoided for the first half of the season are now starting to happen, and the Hawks’ lack of depth and quality experience, especially on the blueline, is getting exposed.

Bowman needs to make a move or two. And soon. I agree with his recent quote that it takes two to tango. But that is all relative to what you’re willing to deal. If you’re holding out for the best buy in a seller’s market, you’ll end up getting another softish, puck rushing defenseman (at best) at the deadline—like last year.

I will be back this weekend with an Avs recap and also a report from Bill “Wiz” Placzek, my prospects guru, on the WJCs.

In case you were living under a rock (or in the U.S.), Sweden won gold late last night in a dramatic 1-0 overtime game over an inspired Russian team. Hawk prospect C Joakim Nordstrom played a significant role last night and really in the entire tourney for Sweden. More on that to come.


Thanks for reading,


JJ

pretty good read

 

[Dementia]

Who is the target audience for this article? Hawks homers.

There is many realists on this forum (including myself) that despite our record, we have a lot of problems that need to be solved with this team. The defence is the absolute priority and should be the main focus of the Hawks.

I have 2 issues with this article. Nobody has elevated Nick Leddy to god status, he's basically come in and replaced Brian Campbell for a fraction of the price. Nick Leddy is the absolute least of our problems right now and making him a scapegoat is a cheap way out.

Also IF a Nash/Getzlaf/Perry player is up for trade then you don't have to trade a Kane/Sharp/Hossa. It's called rebuilding, no team is going to trade 1 superstar for another, that defeats the purpose. They will want draft picks and prospects.

The biggest problems I've found this season is just defenceman actually defending and our secondary scorers actually scoring and taking the pressure off our main guys.

 

[icehogfan08]

The D needs to be fixed. We have 2 top defenders, the rest are #4 D-men or lower. Leddy has not replaced Campbell, BC was the big reason we had a very good Powerplay the past couple years, and his departure shows the offensive ability he brought. Campbell was a bit more 2 way then Leddy as well.

I dont think the article was making Leddy the scape goat, but using him as an example of how we used a young defender to just jump up and be a #3 guy, and his in-experience shows.

 

[hawkTawkTV]

I think its abundantly clear that our D is where the GM's attention needs to be focused. More specifically, I think we need defensemen who are more comfortable handling the puck and getting it out of our own zone.

They generally do a good job of shutting down passing lanes and getting in front of shots when the opposing team is set-up and running their offense. To me, the problems are happening in transition, both coming in and out of our zone. Trying to get out, we fumble passes leaving easy odd-man opportunities for the other team.

And when we're coming back on D, we focus on the puck and forget about guys coming up the other side (exactly what happened in the last minute of the Flyers game last night). Its like we just need to get back to fundamentals.

Keep your heads on a swivel, Make some crisp, clean passes. And for gods sake shoot the puck!