TGDT: 11/3 Devils @ Blackhawks 7:30PM CSN

[puckjim]

I'm less worried about the record and more worried about some of the questionable decisions being made from the coaching and management staff.



Smith works hard and gets rewarded with a bus ticket to Rockford, but the shitfest of Scott/Hendry at forward was considered a wise "hockey decision?"



Yes, we have some injuries. Hossa back will help in a big way. A healthy productive Bolland will also make a difference.



I even can see all of the line juggling. It helps players get familiar with each other. But Scott/Hendry was one of the dumbest fucking things I ever saw. Scott has zero skill and his dubious fighting ability does NOT validate a roster spot.



Cullishit, Hendry, Boynton...Whatever. They're all shitty. Leddy is a much better option because even though he'll make his mistakes, at least he has talent. I'd rather him get his fire baptism now. Might has well have something good come out of all of these losses.



The Hawks are a dead-ass team right now. Other than cap implications, there is no reason why we can't see one or more of: Morin, Beach, Makarov, Leddy.



Cheer up....Long way to go.

 

[5Minutes4Fighting]

Ron, in the last week, this team has lost to the worse team in the East, and the worse team in the West. Both on home ice. The Oil had like one win in the last 20 road games. You don't see a problem there beyond injuries?



Every team has injuries. Look, Devils are missing Parise.



Am i down on the team for having a hangover? no. I expected it. Its sport. No way could you expect this team to match the intensity and focus of last year's team. I'm confident the boys will come around, i just have no idea when it will be and what its going to take to wake them up.



-5Minutes

 

[FlaHawkFan]

Well here's your quote:





My reading is fine. Care to tell us what the positives have been in all these losses?

"You rarely see the positive in anything." I was speaking generally and said nothing about hockey.

 

[Kerfuffle]

I'm less worried about the record and more worried about some of the questionable decisions being made from the coaching and management staff.



Smith works hard and gets rewarded with a bus ticket to Rockford, but the shitfest of Scott/Hendry at forward was considered a wise "hockey decision?"



Yes, we have some injuries. Hossa back will help in a big way. A healthy productive Bolland will also make a difference.



I even can see all of the line juggling. It helps players get familiar with each other. But Scott/Hendry was one of the dumbest fucking things I ever saw. Scott has zero skill and his dubious fighting ability does NOT validate a roster spot.



Cullishit, Hendry, Boynton...Whatever. They're all shitty. Leddy is a much better option because even though he'll make his mistakes, at least he has talent. I'd rather him get his fire baptism now. Might has well have something good come out of all of these losses.



The Hawks are a dead-ass team right now. Other than cap implications, there is no reason why we can't see one or more of: Morin, Beach, Makarov, Leddy.



Cheer up....Long way to go.

I agree with your post except for the coaching decisions. Things aren't working so Q is shuffling the lineup. Remember the definition of insanity is the doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. He knows he has no depth on this lineup but these are the players he's stuck with so he has to make the most of the situation. I'm not upset with him - I'm ticked at our core for the taking the season off and the new guys that either have no talent or belong in the AHL.

 

[FlaHawkFan]

I'm less worried about the record and more worried about some of the questionable decisions being made from the coaching and management staff.



Smith works hard and gets rewarded with a bus ticket to Rockford, but the shitfest of Scott/Hendry at forward was considered a wise "hockey decision?"



Yes, we have some injuries. Hossa back will help in a big way. A healthy productive Bolland will also make a difference.



I even can see all of the line juggling. It helps players get familiar with each other. But Scott/Hendry was one of the dumbest fucking things I ever saw. Scott has zero skill and his dubious fighting ability does NOT validate a roster spot.



Cullishit, Hendry, Boynton...Whatever. They're all shitty. Leddy is a much better option because even though he'll make his mistakes, at least he has talent. I'd rather him get his fire baptism now. Might has well have something good come out of all of these losses.



The Hawks are a dead-ass team right now. Other than cap implications, there is no reason why we can't see one or more of: Morin, Beach, Makarov, Leddy.



Cheer up....Long way to go.

Exactly. I didn't get the Hendry/Scott "shitfest" at all. Why penalize your best players by making them play more than they should so you can make a cute cap move by sending down (or failing to call up) decent forwards and instead playing two crappy d-men as forwards for three minutes each? It's just baffling.

 

[Larmer83]

I've seen Q's name called out several times in this thread for the line up last night, specifically the 4th line. If you're so inclined to piss in Q's Corn Flakes this morning due to the 4th line, leave at least a couple drops for Stosh. The Hawks carried 22 players last night, 2 of which were injured. That's not entirely a coaches decision. Sending Smith and Poutulny down on Tuesday allows the Hawks to save a little cash on cap space. They need every dollar. Unfortunately, it is what is.



During last nights game I reminded a buddy about a conversation we had at the beginning of the season as to how many games it will take for the Hawks to "gel" given all the changes/hangovers. We started at 20 games and before the conversation ended, we agreed to 40 games.



You may have to get use to this shit for a while. And if you don't like it, it's ok to ***** about it.

 

[LordKOTL]

As I said...NJ didn't win this one, we lost it...for no damned good reason.



Yes, we could complain about the 4th line, but that was 1 goal...a goal that we could ahve easily made up for.



Campbell looked slow out there...defensively aware, but slow, he looked rushed back either by his own volition or coaching staff. That hit was a thing of beauty though.



Dowell actually won a fight?



Okay, back to the game. I don't blame the 4th line--the whole team sucked, and I agree with RK on this...it's Q's job to give the guys a rectal craniectomy.

 

[mill500]

Here's where I am on the whole thing...frankly this year so far has driven me nuts, but I've decided it's time to get down off the ledge and just live with it.



We just put out a 4th line of Pisani and 2 questionable NHL level d-men at forward. Everybody can beat the shit out of Kane and Toews, and yes, they can be playing better, but when that's what's on the end of the bench what can you expect? Wanna beat the shit out of Hammer? How many times has he been out of position covering for Boynton? He's had Campbell back for all of 2 games. Want to beat the shit out of Keith? The damn guy has lead the league in ice time by a huge chunk...he's spread a little thin.



I know this will rub the eternal optimists wrong, but this team right now looks like about a 4 or 5 in the West and losing in the second round, and it's taken me this long for it to sink in. If that's the way it ends up, it is what it is. I'll still keep going to every game and live with it. Maybe it'll thin some of the douchebags out.

 

[5Minutes4Fighting]

Its also getting to the point where we may want to have Ton switch the name from "Indian Head Nation" to "***** About The Lines Nation."



Its like when your at a baseball game and you hear a little old lady tell another spinster that she "doesn't like the way Ozzie handles the pitching staff."



Its just an easy way for fans to complain. and to be honest i was a little guilty myself until the playoffs of last year. First theHawks were down to the Preds and Q put Bick on the first line. Then Hawks were having big problems with Pronger and the Flyers and Q orchestrated the most radical line juggling in NHL history. The result? Lord Stanley.



-5Minutes

 

[BiscuitintheBasket]

As I said...NJ didn't win this one, we lost it...for no damned good reason.



Yes, we could complain about the 4th line, but that was 1 goal...a goal that we could ahve easily made up for.



Campbell looked slow out there...defensively aware, but slow, he looked rushed back either by his own volition or coaching staff. That hit was a thing of beauty though.



Dowell actually won a fight?



Okay, back to the game. I don't blame the 4th line--the whole team sucked, and I agree with RK on this...it's Q's job to give the guys a rectal craniectomy.

Exactly.

 

[R K]

Ron, in the last week, this team has lost to the worse team in the East, and the worse team in the West. Both on home ice. The Oil had like one win in the last 20 road games. You don't see a problem there beyond injuries?



Every team has injuries. Look, Devils are missing Parise.



Am i down on the team for having a hangover? no. I expected it. Its sport. No way could you expect this team to match the intensity and focus of last year's team. I'm confident the boys will come around, i just have no idea when it will be and what its going to take to wake them up.



-5Minutes

Sorry I don't see it as a hang over. I explained to you what I thought it was above. Far more factual evidence than just a "hang over".



Again the team lost 8 players due to the Cap.



Then they lost Campbell up until two games ago.



They then lost hossa for the last 4 and probably the next two at least.



They have lost more talent than ANY team I can remember winning the Stanley Cup.



If anything what you see is lack of chemistry, New players, and injuries. If you want to use the "hang over" as an excuse feel free. I don't see it that way at all.



They have HALF the team they did last year to win the Cup with the added injuries. That's why they can't seem to pull these wins out. Add that to the more than questionable coaching and you have what you have.

 

[bookjones]

Its also getting to the point where we may want to have Ton switch the name from "Indian Head Nation" to "***** About The Lines Nation."



Its like when your at a baseball game and you hear a little old lady tell another spinster that she "doesn't like the way Ozzie handles the pitching staff."



Its just an easy way for fans to complain. and to be honest i was a little guilty myself until the playoffs of last year. First theHawks were down to the Preds and Q put Bick on the first line. Then Hawks were having big problems with Pronger and the Flyers and Q orchestrated the most radical line juggling in NHL history. The result? Lord Stanley.



-5Minutes

**** that. Q is a big boy and can reap what he sows---if he is going to be a "line matching fanatic" coach then he's gonna live and die by the sword. He brings critiquing whether positive or negative on himself because he chooses to constantly change lines, switch-up lines, and shuffle lines in his dogged desire to always be line matching the opponents. He's the one who's always claiming that he's trying to have the right people out there against whatever the opposition is throwing at him. If we had a coach who was infinitely less infamous for that shit then yes, your argument about all the whinging on the boards about lines would be valid but not IMO when it comes to this coach.

 

[Tater]

I don't mean to pile on about the 4th line, but when I saw the lineup at start of the game, I made a promise.

My wife had a candle lit in a glass candle container about the size a mason jar.

I half jokingly told her if anyone on the 4th line scores, I will put out the candle with my ass.



I'm pretty sure she would have held me to that if they scored.

 

[LordKOTL]

Its also getting to the point where we may want to have Ton switch the name from "Indian Head Nation" to "***** About The Lines Nation."



Its like when your at a baseball game and you hear a little old lady tell another spinster that she "doesn't like the way Ozzie handles the pitching staff."



Its just an easy way for fans to complain. and to be honest i was a little guilty myself until the playoffs of last year. First theHawks were down to the Preds and Q put Bick on the first line. Then Hawks were having big problems with Pronger and the Flyers and Q orchestrated the most radical line juggling in NHL history. The result? Lord Stanley.



-5Minutes

The line combos aren't bugging me--after all, except for the goal, the 4th line was pressing the play a bit more effectively than most other lines until Brodeur went down.



What's bugging me is the motivation. It seems like only a handful of guys seem motivated to do...anything, and even that ebbs and flows.



Turco and Crawford seem to be playing with some passion--like Crawford trying to show he's good enough for the NHL and Turco trying to show he should be considered in the upper eschelon of Goaltenders.



Just about everyone else has been looking lackluster for long stretches. Someone needs to motivate those guys--Q.

 

[FlaHawkFan]

I've seen Q's name called out several times in this thread for the line up last night, specifically the 4th line. If you're so inclined to piss in Q's Corn Flakes this morning due to the 4th line, leave at least a couple drops for Stosh. The Hawks carried 22 players last night, 2 of which were injured. That's not entirely a coaches decision. Sending Smith and Poutulny down on Tuesday allows the Hawks to save a little cash on cap space. They need every dollar. Unfortunately, it is what is.



During last nights game I reminded a buddy about a conversation we had at the beginning of the season as to how many games it will take for the Hawks to "gel" given all the changes/hangovers. We started at 20 games and before the conversation ended, we agreed to 40 games.



You may have to get use to this shit for a while. And if you don't like it, it's ok to ***** about it.

The bolded part is what I want to know for sure. Is it absolutely true that they "need every penny" and can't afford to bring or keep any of those young forwards up? Or was it a cute move to save a few bucks just in case they might need them later? If it was absolutely necessary to have Scott/Hendry on the fourth line due to cap issues then you're right, it is what it is. But if it wasn't necessary . . . then what the hell were they thinking?



I do agree with you completely about how long it will take this team to get its chemistry together. From this summer I've figured it would take about half the season, at least through December, so I'm not surprised at all by the slow start. To tell you the truth, they've played much better in a few games than I expected them to. And it wouldn't surprise me at all if they were to barely make the playoffs and perhaps fall early. The cap makes dynasties nearly impossible. But if they don't do well this year, I'm thinking they'll be much better next season. (And no, I'm not giving up on this season yet -- at all.)

 

[whalerhawk]

Right now, minus Hossa, this team looks a lot like the 07-08 team to me, a team that missed the playoffs by 3 points.



Let's go through the lineups, shall we?



There are about 6 guys that played for both teams: Sharp, Toews, Kane, Seabrook, Keith, and Bolland. That's our core right there. Yes, it's more experienced now, and all those guys are better players than they were then, but the core guys are the same. Bolland only played 39 games in 07-08, however.



Hossa, when healthy, is obviously far better than anyone on that team, making us way better when he's in the lineup. However, if he's hurt like he is now and like he was for the first two months last year, I actually like some of the guys we had back then (Ruutu then Ladd, Buff, Havlat, Lang, Jason Williams) over the guys we have now (Stalberg, Skille, Bickell, Brouwer, Kopecky), although that's not an indictment on any of those new guys, as I actually like most of them, but the first group then were better collectively than the latter group is now, in my mind.



We are far better defensively now with Campbell and Hammer than we were 3 years ago with Vandermeer, Wiz, Sopel, Barker and the abomination that is Zyuzin and Johannsen, despite our third pairing of Culli, Boynton, Hendry, etc.



Both teams had an experienced netminder in Turco now and Khabby then.



Without Hossa and a healthy Bolland, I don't think this team has enough to be more than a 6-7-8 seed in the west and that's the kind of play you are getting. Good to great some nights, horrific the next. This is not a surprise to me.

 

[Rdrhwke]

Lets see 9 players leave the SC team. They bring in 8 new players.



Hang over? I disagree. For the reasons I pointed out above.

This is the major problem whether some want to admit to it or not. I cannot even put all the blame on injuries. Hossa missed how many games last year? How many did Bolland miss? But yet the Hawks did rather well last season if memory serves me correctly.



Ton and myself and some others made refernece abou the lack of depth recently and were shouted down. It was lack of practice and some other BS......yada. yada. yada.



The Hawks were able for overcome injuries last season because they had guys like Buff, Ladd, Versteeg, Madden and so on. Those guys are long gone and the Hawks flat out don't have the quality depth to replace them and don't have a huge amount of options because of the same reasons those players are no longer here.........the cap.



As far as the 4th line that was on the ice, I have no idea what Q was looking for from them. I wish I knew.



As far as the team not playing with any urgency. The Keith interview after the first period pretty much spoke volumes regarding that issue. And the weakass lack of shots on goal in the opening period clearly backed him up.



Speaking of Keith, the third goal last nite pissed me off to no end. But more because Turk didn't hug the fucking post.

 

[canucklehead]

Right now, minus Hossa, this team looks a lot like the 07-08 team to me, a team that missed the playoffs by 3 points.



Let's go through the lineups, shall we?



There are about 6 guys that played for both teams: Sharp, Toews, Kane, Seabrook, Keith, and Bolland. That's our core right there. Yes, it's more experienced now, and all those guys are better players than they were then, but the core guys are the same. Bolland only played 39 games in 07-08, however.



Hossa, when healthy, is obviously far better than anyone on that team, making us way better when he's in the lineup. However, if he's hurt like he is now and like he was for the first two months last year, I actually like some of the guys we had back then (Ruutu then Ladd, Buff, Havlat, Lang, Jason Williams) over the guys we have now (Stalberg, Skille, Bickell, Brouwer, Kopecky), although that's not an indictment on any of those new guys, as I actually like most of them, but the first group then were better collectively than the latter group is now, in my mind.



We are far better defensively now with Campbell and Hammer than we were 3 years ago with Vandermeer, Wiz, Sopel, Barker and the abomination that is Zyuzin and Johannsen, despite our third pairing of Culli, Boynton, Hendry, etc.



Both teams had an experienced netminder in Turco now and Khabby then.



Without Hossa and a healthy Bolland, I don't think this team has enough to be more than a 6-7-8 seed in the west and that's the kind of play you are getting. Good to great some nights, horrific the next. This is not a surprise to me.

Khabby then was better than Turco now.

 

[FlaHawkFan]

Khabby then was better than Turco now.

He also cost four times as much.

 

[MassHavoc]

He also cost four times as much.

And you take out the edm. game and I'm not so sure he's right?