Your Chicago Blackhawks offseason thread

[ClydeLee]

First of all

Ruttta > Rosie

TooToo had no business starting ahead of Hayden, much less is he able to hold off the flood of talent coming for him next year.

Q will get the **** out of the way and let the youth energize this team, or he will be gone.

I expect contributions from Motte, Hayden, Bondra, Debricat, Forslin just for starters...players in the system with clear top 9 talent. Rasmussen is the new Kruger.

Rutta is a gigantic question mark on that... it's not like he even was in a great league, Rozi would be still a great defender in the Czech leagues.

I don't get it.. half the time you want more physical players yet the folks of players you rant against are the few physical players in small roles Q uses. Rozi hits the 2nd most of all defenders on the team behind seabs, he actually does hit guys away from the crease more

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[LordKOTL]

First of all

Ruttta > Rosie

TooToo had no business starting ahead of Hayden, much less is he able to hold off the flood of talent coming for him next year.

Q will get the **** out of the way and let the youth energize this team, or he will be gone.

I expect contributions from Motte, Hayden, Bondra, Debricat, Forslin just for starters...players in the system with clear top 9 talent. Rasmussen is the new Kruger.

Q got soft. Tries to play games 2-0, that time has gone, has been gone since 2015.

We won with Crow by going up and down the ice. Up and down. Up and down. Trade chances. He sucks with traffic in front, and the D sucks at moving traffic out. We got skate up and down.

Rutta/Kempny/Forsling...up and down. Kempny/Forsling/Hayden/Hino all should have played in the playoffs. Q was a damn fool. UP and down. Crow is a fast break master, we win those battles with Kane, Toews, Teuvo, Saad, Hino, Smaltz types benefitting the most from up and down. We have to finish better, we have to use Keiths/Seabs as masters at retreating sticks.

We put Kruger on the third, fucking Tootoo, Rasmussen, Hartman up top some, with AA hurt....

I mean our game was completely fucked. What do we expect? We gotta have 3 lines that fly, and one that defends and we gotta trust all 4, and figure out 3 defensive lines so we don't run Keith to death, Seabs to death, and Hammer to death. Split them up and give them each a young set of wheels that compliments them.

Hammer and Pokka? Seabs and Kempny? Keith and Rutta? Forsling and Seabs? TVR just wasn't a good fit with any of those guys so I don't care that he is gone. He didn't have the right flavor. We don't need the best defenders, we need the best complimentary guys that complete our big 3 and make for a two way functioning defense on every line.

All the players I listed were players which, according to CF, were on the roster as-is (less Kruger and TVR). Rosie's pegged at 650k (and let's be fair, might retire), and Tootoo is pegged at 700k. With the exception of Glass, they are the cheapest "roster" players.

Non-roster, you're looking at Baun being cheaper at 625k. Everyone else, from Fortin through Motte, is more expensive than Rosie at D or Tootoo at FWD.

Here's what that means cap-wise--running a minimal 12FWD/6D/2G roster, we're over the cap by about 600k with Rosie/Tootoo (who are 13 and 7 at best anyway)--anyone else except Baun, and we're even more over--best case a few k, worst case about 275k--which would be the case of icing Ruuta over Rosie.

Something else has got to give unless the cap rises.

I don't disagree with the concept of your D--split the big 3 and give them a complimenting player. The problem is the big 3 functioning as all-star D-men who can carry rookies; they certainly didn't in the playoffs and IMHO they played the "Gassed" excuse last season. No excuse for that this season. After all, Keith's bonerfarts in the playoffs can't be blamed on being gassed or covering for a rookie 'cause more often than not it was Hjammer who was bailing him out. However, the real question is whether or not that player exists in our system. Yeah, Forsling and Seabs I think would make a great pair (at least on paper. Pokka? Too slow. Rutta might look good with Keith as long as he can play defense and is not a Daley/Runblad 13th FWD. I don't think Hjammer/Kempny would be too bad, however, Kempny would have to prove he can soak up a fuckton of minutes.

Like I said though, Rutta over Rosie puts us at near 900k over--and that's without a 7th D. With Rosie as a #7, that's 1.5M over.

 

[Raskolnikov]

It looks like we are about 2,000,000 over then. Even after Kruger when you have a full roster of our best players.
13-7-2(not glass).

I expect it goes up after great playoffs, oil rising ever so slightly. And Canadian teams doing well finally.

Still, the one core guy lost talk might not be a want at all, but them doing the math and realizing somebody has to go.

It's an impossible choice when we already aren't good enough.

We have to trust the youth and improve training methods.

I only hate rozy sometimes. Hartman, bondra, debrocat, hino, Hayden, motte, Smaltz, Kero are the key to getting better.

We don't know who it is but we just have to bite our cheeks and know it had to be done because of bad Panarin and Seabrook contracts.

Both need to show up to next playoffs or I could care less how great they are next season.

 

[ClydeLee]

Now some are saying the cap COULD bee 77.5 million. Constant back n for nut that'd probably be if the nhlpa did the full 5% escalator

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[Raskolnikov]

Now some are saying the cap COULD bee 77.5 million. Constant back n for nut that'd probably be if the nhlpa did the full 5% escalator

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my economy sense is for sure feeling like the NHL cap should go up. I think the league is doing well and building fan steam and clout.

If all we need is 75.5 to be bear bones and caught in inflexible, 77 would mean they have masterminded this thing perfectly. We should be able to move who we want up and down, add a key vet or two at area of weakness at 700,000-1,000,000 ....or have trade flexibility with 1/2 million,

and get started on the season well and if a veteran goes down for the season or for a while, be able to acquire the expensive center we need to have 3 functioning offensive lines.

 

[anotheridiot]

The only teams pushing to keep the cap down are the ones wanting to be at the floor. Raise the cap without raising the floor and bigger numbers will happen.

 

[LordKOTL]

It looks like we are about 2,000,000 over then. Even after Kruger when you have a full roster of our best players.
13-7-2(not glass).

I expect it goes up after great playoffs, oil rising ever so slightly. And Canadian teams doing well finally.

Still, the one core guy lost talk might not be a want at all, but them doing the math and realizing somebody has to go.

It's an impossible choice when we already aren't good enough.

We have to trust the youth and improve training methods.

I only hate rozy sometimes. Hartman, bondra, debrocat, hino, Hayden, motte, Smaltz, Kero are the key to getting better.

We don't know who it is but we just have to bite our cheeks and know it had to be done because of bad Panarin and Seabrook contracts.

Both need to show up to next playoffs or I could care less how great they are next season.

See, Seabrook at least showed some tenacity even if his body couldn't keep up. He wasn't good, but certainly wasn't *the* problem.

Now Toews & Keith--hell even Panarin and Kane...THEY were the problem. They were the ones that, with respect to their expectation, promised the stars and delivered the sewers. The drop-off was like the difference between Kennedy and Clinton: The expectation was like doinking Marylin Monroe. The result was like getting your dick bent by a government clerk.

I don't disagree someone might have to go--hopefully not Hjammer or Crawford at this point because either IMHO would be blowing up the team: Without Hjammer what little defense we have is gone and there is no way you can get a career 70th percentile goalie since 2006 for cheaper than what he makes that can carry who we got in front of him. If we're going to retool as opposed to rebuild, you gotta have 2 players that career-wise have been doing their jobs.

I do agree about Rosie--he is what he is. His frustration is that there are guys in the system that can physically play the game better than him in his old age. His plus is that he's still a smart D-man that does play defense. IMHO if he doesn't retire he's still good for about 10-15 games and fetching off Eddie O.

However, as much as we need to put more faith in the youth movement that is secondary in my opinion to expecting our stars to perform like stars--especially in the playoffs. You can't really expect Panik, TVR, Kempny, Hayden, Hartman, etc. to be the ones to carry the team. IMNSHO you should be expecting Toews, Keith, Kane, and Panarin (especially with Panarin's new deal) to be dragging everyone's carcass rather than having their carcasses dragged.

 

[Raskolnikov]

Panik and Hayden are star players and I expect tons from them. Tons. They certainly are already doing work and dragging a bunchy of pussies around NHL ice with them.
If we had 12 of them I would be fucking happy, I hope Bondra is another. Hossa is the old man version, and another notch up the pedigree ladder obviously. If Bondra is ready for 4th line time, that would give us 4 physical 2-way players with adaquate NHL strength and man hood. Rasmussen is not a scorer like those 4, but I think a combo of say Bondra/Ras/Hino could play defense, be physical, and still be a surprise threat to net a few. Hino needs to be fucking used, and they need to figure out who his linemates are. He has as much scoring ability and anyone not named Kane/Panarin on this team. But he has to be matched correctly. A couple heavy hitters behind his forecheck maybe?
Or the Hartman-Hino-Hossa line really deserved more inspection. I'd be curious what the analytics on that trio were, but I'm sure the faceoffs were terrible. They don't need faceoffs though because those 3 can defend and then turn up the ice.

 

[ClydeLee]

Protcted lists are coming out, not hawks yet I saw.

Calle Jarnook being protected by Nashville makes me feel quite secure Kruger is set to Vegas and it's not a flub. Both would be the top kinda defensive centers they could grab.

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[ZOMBIE@CTESPN]

Full list is out pretty much what everyone expected on here during the season

 

[Raskolnikov]

I've got the upcoming draft coverage schedule I will add below.

I'm watching Hawks/Wild/Blues closeup on unprotecteds now.

TVR reported as the consensus obvious choice because Chicago did such a job of presenting old trash like Soupie, Oduya, and Rozy/Kruger. lol in the big picture TVR is projected to be a quality third pairing starter in Vegas. Kruger and/or Boyle are going to be 3rd/4th center.

So its like Ras or TVR. As mentioned above, centers are in short supply, so if Chicago is willing to send a pick/youngplayer and also maybe some cash we might be able to escape the Kruger contract, and they could have some center depth to at least be somewhat functional team on ice next season. We will just have to see what happens, it doesn't make alot of sense that TVR wasn't traded before the process based on a promise involving Kruger...what is likley is we finalized a trade for Kruger that will happen between Wed-Sat and that TVR will be their selection. It could be as simple as the Golden Nights wanting to dominate the headlines in their "moment."

This is "likely" because otherwise we could have traded TVR this week. So we are counting on promises being kept here. Or Kruger may be staying, which is why we heard the "1 core player trade" talk heat up a couple weeks ago. We have to figure out something to to move at least 2.5 million dollars.

SCHEDULE
So....Wednesday is the expansion draft. Twitter will be our first info. There is an NHL network program at midnight your time, 10 pm my time to sum it up. I'll report on that here, so for you Thursday morning will be up.

Friday Night is the first round special on NBCSports at 7 pm central time.
Rounds 2-7 on NBCSports in the morning, 10 am central time until 3 pm.

NHL network will be running pre and post coverage.

 

[ClydeLee]

The icehogs have signed Darren Rayddish the dman and brother of the centee that played with DeBrincat much of last year.

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[ClydeLee]

Now there's rumors Hossa will retire from an allergic reaction.

I always thought it questionable he'd ever play any of these 1 mil seasons but after his play last year it seemed like he had at least 1 go around in him. Might be the idea of the supposed huge core situation... or if he does ltir that gives space to do somethingelse

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[Ares]

When will news start coming out about the expansion draft results?

 

[ClydeLee]

At the awards show tonight

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[Ares]

Idk most of the guys the Knights are selecting....

 

[ClydeLee]

TVR officially taken but I heard it rumored he will be traded to Carolina.

Interesting if Kruger will be traded or not still... Vegas has a lot of D to trade out

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[bamainatlanta]

Now there's rumors Hossa will retire from an allergic reaction.

I always thought it questionable he'd ever play any of these 1 mil seasons but after his play last year it seemed like he had at least 1 go around in him. Might be the idea of the supposed huge core situation... or if he does ltir that gives space to do somethingelse

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wonder if they move Seabs and go after shattenkirk...(doubtful though)

 

[Raskolnikov]

wonder if they move Seabs and go after shattenkirk...(doubtful though)

Too good to be true. I'm sure Vegas would have taken him if they thought he would sign.

I heard the blues traded him because he wants to go home. I think he knows where he wants to play and is good enough to have that luxury.

 

[ClydeLee]

Gah somethings happening.. hjalmarsson is being traded to Arizona for two younger but still experienced guyss

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