Theoretical Off Season Changes If We Had A Real GM

[Shantz My Pants]

Crawford's mental game is what holds him back IMO. I have been on our team defense all year long and no doubt Crawford was held out to dry many a times.



I'm not looking for a Vezina trophy winner, but I am looking for someone who can stop the puck when the game is on the line, and Corey has been inconsistent with that.

 

[Shantz My Pants]

Right, give us Stamkos and we'll trade Kane. Otherwise, dumb ass idea. This kid is just one person, he is not all 12 forwards, all 6 Dmen, and both goalies.

Exactly. Unless I'm getting Stamkos, Datsyuk, Malkin I'm not trading Kane. He's got the potential and the tools, its just a matter of the right linemates and coaching (not line shuffling) to get him there IMO.

 

[Rex]

he proved his mental game was fine when he bounced back and was lights out in game 5.



He will bounce back next season if the D allows it.



As for how many SO's he could have had, well, Crawford had 15 games this year where he only let in one goal. How many of those do you remember being let in due to defensive brain farts in the last 5 minutes?

 

[BigPete]

The only time Corey got 'mental' was when Q tried to play him close to ten games, he fell apart, then Q played Emery for 5+ games. That didn't hurt his confidence, imo. The press sure ate the whole thing up though. I have said it before - but I'll beat that old dead mare once more - don't play ANY goalie 5, 6, 7 games in a row and you won't have a physical/mental collapse in a game.

 

[klemmer]

Unless the skaters in front of you plan on scoring one or no goals, a shutout is nice, but no more important than any other win, especially since you can now get a shutout and be charged with a loss in the same game.

 

[TSD]

Trading Kane isn't an answer. Only way I would even think of it is if we were getting someone in the next tier above his caliber, which aren't many.

So far in the NHL Kane hasn't really been a "big numbers" goal scorer. He got 30 one year, But it wouldnt surprise me if he never gets out of the 20-30 G range, in my opinion hes always been more of a playmaker, the problem is giving him someone thats a great finisher.

 

[The Count Dante]

I think Kane has been held to a role of playmaker and even the most hardcore fans can easily forget he has a great shot too. I would argue if he ripped it more often, you keep the d-end guessing and at least keeping goalie honest.



I blame the coaching again here for not utilizing Kane as a complete offensive force as he is.



Trading Kane is dumb. Nuff said in my book.

 

[Pez68]

What a joke that post-season press conference was. Don't expect ANY attempt to acquire a #2C, as apparently Stan is perfecly happy with Kane being that guy....



Unreal.

 

[Ashor-redtribe]

Stan would be stupid to trade Kane, out of the question, he is the only one with an eye for finding the open player and still is amazing when it comes to puck handling, I do agree that he needs a finisher on the line with him.

 

[The Count Dante]

What a joke that post-season press conference was. Don't expect ANY attempt to acquire a #2C, as apparently Stan is perfecly happy with Kane being that guy....



Unreal.

And so my broken record keeps on playing...



I think that Kane has done a good job as center, he has, but I feel it is a waste of his strengths. He is not a big body to help behind the net on D. It forces the wingers to take a harder look to ensure the 3rd man back and then limiting Kane's use of the whole O end, which he can certainly do and is not a common skill. Call me old school, but to me, wingers are a dime a dozen, but with a solid natural center, lines find chemistry without losing O or D presence.

 

[klemmer]

What a joke that post-season press conference was. Don't expect ANY attempt to acquire a #2C, as apparently Stan is perfecly happy with Kane being that guy....



Unreal.

Sure sounded like it. Stanbo was more concerned with deflecting accountability than anything else.

 

[Pez68]

And so my broken record keeps on playing...



I think that Kane has done a good job as center, he has, but I feel it is a waste of his strengths. He is not a big body to help behind the net on D. It forces the wingers to take a harder look to ensure the 3rd man back and then limiting Kane's use of the whole O end, which he can certainly do and is not a common skill. Call me old school, but to me, wingers are a dime a dozen, but with a solid natural center, lines find chemistry without losing O or D presence.

He can't win a faceoff, which is kind of important for your centers. These playoffs showed me WHY Kane doesn't play center. 10-26 in the circles against Phoenix. When you are losing that many faceoffs, it's no wonder his line couldn't get anything going. Puck possession starts with the faceoff.

 

[BigPete]

So if we are stuck with him at center I can only hope that someone starts showing him tapes of what makes other small centers successful. Have him spend a week over the summer with Danny Briere for instance. The funny thing about that example though, is that Briere's numbers aren't much different than Pat's.



I think the Rosendipshits of the world expect Kane to score 70 goals a year no matter what else he does to contribute or what obstacles he has to face (injury, playing out of position, etc).



Back to Scooter, I can only hope that he is holding the cards to his chest and he really will pursue Paul Gaustad during free agency. Failing to address the lack of a sizeable and skilled #2 center is fucking criminal!

 

[supraman]

So I'm in the boat that so far Corey has been good but not show stopper, and I do think he may have that extra gear. I keep looking at the fact that he had no shutouts all year and I can't help but wonder if that's his fault of the hawks d fault.

I thought about this yesterday. Here's the conclusion, even with a shitty defense a goalie will steal you a shutout. A great defense can even steal one for a shitty goalie. So we should have at least got 1 shutout, we got none.

 

[BigPete]

He can't win a faceoff, which is kind of important for your centers. These playoffs showed me WHY Kane doesn't play center. 10-26 in the circles against Phoenix. When you are losing that many faceoffs, it's no wonder his line couldn't get anything going. Puck possession starts with the faceoff.

With his hands he should be winning every faceoff. Get the man some lessons...

 

[Rex]

So if we are stuck with him at center I can only hope that someone starts showing him tapes of what makes other small centers successful. Have him spend a week over the summer with Danny Briere for instance. The funny thing about that example though, is that Briere's numbers aren't much different than Pat's.



I think the Rosendipshits of the world expect Kane to score 70 goals a year no matter what else he does to contribute or what obstacles he has to face (injury, playing out of position, etc).



Back to Scooter, I can only hope that he is holding the cards to his chest and he really will pursue Paul Gaustad during free agency. Failing to address the lack of a sizeable and skilled #2 center is fucking criminal!

Paul Gaustad isn't a number 2 Center. He's a Number 4 on most teams.

 

[Spunky Porkstacker]

What a joke that post-season press conference was. Don't expect ANY attempt to acquire a #2C, as apparently Stan is perfecly happy with Kane being that guy....



Unreal.

The team was exposed vs the yotes and that all falls on Stans shoulders. I believe Stan (backed by dollar squeezing Rocky/ chip off the old block) is waiting for a center and wingers to come thru the Hawks pipeline thus saving $$$$ spent on the free agent market.



Unfortunately Q and Kitchen will both be back next year. Lame ass PP and underperforming against the yotes, a team not as talented but better coached. Dismissal of either would be an admission of failure, not gonna happen from this smug regime.

 

[PatrickShart]

Something that will help going into next season, will be they won't be facing 8-10 new players in the organization. The more that happens...the more consistency teams have. It's showed with CHI when they went the first 3 years with Toews and Kane...not much was "added" other than the players played together.



Hossa was swapped for Havlat....Campbell/Madden then added to the group.



I'd like to see Frolik moved.



Goaltending stays the same.



FORWARDS

Patrick Sharp ($5.900m) / Jonathan Toews ($6.300m) / Brandon Saad ($0.925m)

Daniel Carcillo ($0.825m) / Patrick Kane ($6.300m) / Marian Hossa ($5.275m)

Bryan Bickell ($0.542m) / Dave Bolland ($3.375m) / Andrew Shaw ($0.565m)

Jimmy Hayes ($0.875m) / Marcus Kruger ($0.900m) / Viktor Stalberg ($0.875m)

Brandon Bollig ($0.578m) /

DEFENSEMEN

Brent Seabrook ($5.800m) / Duncan Keith ($5.538m)

Niklas Hjalmarsson ($3.500m) / Steve Montador ($2.750m)

Nick Leddy ($1.117m) / Dylan Olsen ($0.870m)

GOALTENDERS

Corey Crawford ($2.667m)

Ray Emery ($1.150m)

------

SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $56,625,961; BONUSES: $730,000

CAP SPACE (21-man roster): $7,674,039



[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]This lineup leaves over 7mil in cap space. With Montador...not knowing his status if he'd be ready to go day 1?...may start on IR?They could target 2 Dmen. Or, go hard for Suter...give him 6+ Mil?[/font]



[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Sign someone like Wideman (29yrs old...will help the PP, RH shot) and guy like Brett Clark? May get them for about 6mil combined. Or and combination 2 of Matt Carle, Greg Zanon, Kurtis Foster (PP/Shot)[/font]





[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]The PP lacked a guy at the point that can 1-demand coverage and 2-hit the net. If a guy like Foster...or Souray (who I don't like..but can shoot) was at the point ripping one timers, players would have to respect their shots and not be so quick to go down[/font].



I think next year, the forward group would be fine. Guys like Beach, Morin should start getting looks for injuries and when needed. It'll be close to becoming their time. Adding 1-2 Dmen (and not fill ins) could round the team out.

 

[the canadian dream]

pretty much pmx. Won't see much radical change and that is for the better. Unless that radical change is a coaching change.



but we are dealing with mcDick in the mix...do we have any idea which radical ideas he has in mind?

 

[Ton]

So the two overtime goals were unstopable? the second one that slipped by him like it was on slow-mo? The team overall was a big disappointment, aside from Toews. Sharp, Bolland, Kane, ect ect....seems like our bench and call ups seem to find the net in the playoffs these past two year. BUT this series could have easily be in our favor IF Craw had stopped one of the two those shoot the puck goals allowed. Look everyone has their opinion on goalies thats fine but the people in here can expect to have everyone think that Crawford is our future, I don't think he is. Teams that are playing great are building teams around goalies, ala St louis, Nashville, Phoenix, LA. Crawford is not even in the same breath as them. Crawford is good at best IMO. This team needs to address the D right away, the offense is there, but the D has major issues. Kitchen should be shown the door as we speak. Many want to see Stan gone. I am not one of them, not just yet. I think Tallon had some time to build this team, Stan should be allowed the same. But IMO it should be Toews that should be asked who he wants on this team from free agents thats out there not the coach. Lets all hope for a great offseason.

Who cares about those two OT goals when the PP failed miserably and our shooters couldn't score. Our PP was the worst in the playoffs out of all 16 teams, had they even scored one more goal in any of the games they lost, we'd be in Game 7 right now instead of talking about how Crawford needs to be traded even though the real focus should be on abysmal special teams as it has been all season long. One PP goal in a series -- you're going to lose no matter who is in net.



Of course the microscope will always be on the goaltender even though Sharp, Bolland, Kruger, Stalberg, Hossa, Keith, Shaw, Kane, and Toews were outscored by Frolik and Bickell alone. If your top players aren't your top players, that is the bigger issue. Also hate to place Toews in that category, because he busted his ass, and Hossa for obvious reasons... but it just makes it even more pathetic.