Out with the Old (Barker), In with the New (Johnsson)
In the wake of the Blackhawks trade with the Wild, let’s look at how newcomer Kim Johnsson stacks up against Cam Barker this year.
Age
Barker: 23 (24 on April 4)
Johnsson: 33 (34 on March 16)
Height/Weight
Barker: 6′3 223 lbs
Johnsson: 6′1 187 lbs
“Soft J’s” in Last Name
Barker: 0
Johnsson: 1
Games Played
Barker: 51
Johnsson: 52
Goals
Barker: 4
Johnson: 6
Assists
Barker: 14
Johnson: 8
Plus/Minus
Barker: +7
Johnsson: +3
Average Time on Ice
Barker: 13:06
Johnsson: 23:46
Hits
Barker: 59
Johnsson: 31
Penalty Minutes
Barker: 58
Johnsson: 26
Blocked Shots
Barker: 33
Johnsson: 64
Short-Handed Time on Ice (average/game)
Barker: 0:02
Johnsson: 2:29
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So what do we take away from these numbers? Let me first point out that, in December of 2008, Johnsson served as captain of the Wild. In the ten years he’s been on the earth longer than Barker, he’s played in the 2002 Olympics for Sweden and 43 playoff games; Barker has played in 17 playoff games, all of which were last year.
A few numbers jump off the page. The two that strike me the most are the blocked shots and average short-handed time on ice per game. Johnsson figures to replace Barker on the third defensive pairing with Brent Sopel and should, in theory, play a more significant role in penalty killing.
In a perfect world, Brian Campbell wouldn’t step on the ice short-handed, but because Niklas Hjalmarsson has been banged up, he’s seen more time on the PK lately. The fact that Johnsson averages almost 2:30 per game in short-handed ice time is significant because it will help Sopel stay on the ice further into the playoffs. Despite Sopel’s legendary performance on the PK in overtime against Dallas earlier this week, expecting him to block four shots and play all 120 seconds of a penalty kill in overtime in late April or early May isn’t realistic.
The blocked shots totals are significant because, right now, the Hawks are taking a beating getting between pucks and the net. Every night, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Sopel and Hjalmarsson all seem to leave the ice in pain at some point because they sacrificed their body to keep the puck away from the net. By adding another guy that averages more than one blocked shot per night, coach Joel Quenneville can have more confidence that a veteran will position himself to take one for the team.
Another number that is impressive is the difference between the two in penalty minutes. Considering that Johnsson is averaging more than ten minutes per game more than Barker and has been called for just over half as many penalty minutes means the Hawks are getting a smarter player. The biggest headache Barker gave Blackhawks fans (other than the two guys drafted in front of him) has been stupid penalties. Johnsson’s numbers indicate that he won’t take the dumb penalty.
Adding Johnsson should, as Stan Bowman said when he met with the media on Friday, give Quenneville more options. His presense on the roster should help limit the minutes Keith, Seabrook, Campbell and Hjalmarsson are skating down the stretch, and should put the team into fewer short-handed situations.
Johnsson makes the Blackhawks a better team on paper. But paper can burn, and chances can fade if performance doesn’t match ability and challenges aren’t met. Hopefully this move is the right spark for a team looking to bring home the Stanley Cup for the first time in almost 50 years.
The Cam Barker Era is OVER!
New Blackhawks' defenseman Kim Johnsson
The Blackhawks traded Barker to Minnesota for defenseman Kim Johnsson and the Wild’s top pick in the 2009 draft, Nick Leddy.
Leddy is the prize in the deal, a solid young defenseman prospect taken 16th overall in 2009, and was described this way by Hockey’s Future: ”You’d be hard pressed to find a better, more complete defenseman playing in the Minnesota state high school Class A/AA league this season than the Eden Prairie native. Leddy is also one of the early favorites for this year’s Mr. Hockey Award, which recognizes the top high school player from the state of Minnesota.”
Listed at 5′11 and 185 pounds, Leddy joins a deep group of Hawks prospects on the blue line with Dylan Olsen and Shawn LaLonde. He was the third-ranked prospect in the Wild organization. Hockey’s Future also says
The Hawks finally unloading Barker, who has disappointed throughout this year, allows the team to slide a veteran, minutes-eating blue liner into his slot on the third defensive group for the rest of this season. Barker had 14 points (4 G, 10 A) and was +7 for the Hawks this year, averaging just 13:06 on ice this season.
Barker has two years left on the contract extension he received before this season with a cap number over $3 million.
New Blackhawks' prospect Nick Leddy
Update: From Stan Bowman when he met the media.
Re: Johnsson: “He’s been in the playoffs, he’s been in the Olympics… he’s been in high-pressure situations before.” Johnsson played for Sweden in the 2002 Olympics.
Re: Leddy: “He was a big part of the deal… We’ve been very high on him since last year when we were trying to trade up in the draft to get him, actually… His speed is something that’s been talked about quite a bit… He had to be in the mix for this to work.”
For those that have been reading CommittedIndians all season, you might remember that back on Dec. 8 we wondered out loud whether or not the Blackhawks could strike a deal with Anaheim to bring back James Wisniewski. On Saturday, the Daily Herald’s Barry Rozner reported that the Hawks have inquired about doing just that.
A quick refresher on the scenario: Wisniewski played for the Blackhawks for three and a half years before being dealt to the Ducks at last year’s deadline for Sami Pahlsson. Wisniewski was always a tough defenseman who loved to mix it up, but too often paid the price; he has never played more than 68 games in a season.
However, this year has been the best in Wisniewski’s career. In 53 games, he’s averaging a career-high 24:12 in average ice time and has scored 24 points (3 G, 21 A). His career high in points is 26, which he set in 2007-08 with the Hawks when he appeared in 68 games. That year he also served 103 penalty minutes, which he’s cut back in Anaheim this year to just 32 so far. In fact, Wisniewski is third on the Ducks in average ice time per game, behind only Scott Niedermayer and Ryan Whitney.
The two factors the Hawks will consider when making any deal at this point will be the quality they’re bringing back and the future financial impact on the organization. As we pointed out in December, Wisniewski is making $2.5 million this year and will be a restricted free agent this summer. Considering his production this year, Rozner estimates that Wisniewski could see a salary increase to the $4 million neighborhood after this season. While that likely means the Hawks wouldn’t bring him back, it also means Anaheim could potentially save money by bringing in Cam Barker in a deal; Barker is set to make $3 million for each of the next two years, and is two years younger than Wisniewski.
What would make this deal a home run for the Hawks would be that it would take care of three issues. First, they would be bringing back a more productive player if they dealt Barker for Wisniewski; Barker has scored just 14 points (4 G, 10 A) in 50 games this year. Second, they would be cutting $3 million off their books for next year. And third, because of his tenure with the team being as recent as it was and his popularity when he was dealt last year, re-acquiring Wisniewski would likely have a positive impact on the team’s chemistry more than anything else.
We were on board with the idea in December, and continue to hope that this rumor has some merit. If the Blackhawks dealt for Wisniewski, it would be a great move.
Kris Versteeg is still here... for now...
If only Stan Bowman had advised Adam and Eve.
The Hawks had a great opportunity in the last week to acquire an elite scorer in a trade, but ended up not pulling the trigger. The Atlanta Thrashers instead dealt Ilya Kovalchuk to the New Jersey Devils for defenseman Johnny Oduya, forward Niclas Bergfors, prospect Patrice Cormier and the Devils 2010 first round draft pick. The teams also swapped their 2010 second round picks in the deal. (Side Note: Cormier is indeed the player recently suspended for the rest of his minor league season for throwing an awful elbow into the head of an opposing player. You have likely heard his name in the last month, and will again; he’s a pretty good prospect.) This is a nice haul for the Thrashers, but it likely could have been better if Bowman had wanted in.
Not making this deal is the right thing to do, though, and I applaud Bowman’s patience. Though some of my colleagues (John Jaekel for one) might have been at the head of the bandwagon to pull the trigger, my excitement over adding another all star was restrained by the reality that there’s only one puck on the ice at any time, and making a good team even better in once aspect of the game at the expense of others likely wouldn’t have solved the bigger issues for the Hawks, and ultimately not helped achieve the ultimate goal of a championship.
The Blackhawks are fourth in the NHL in scoring at 3.16 goals per game entering Friday’s action, and only San Jose and Vancouver are ahead of them among Western Conference teams. Three goals a night should be good enough to win, but the knee jerk reaction of many casual fans after a couple lazy losses is that something needs to change. Every team goes through stretches where the offense struggles; we’ve all forgotten the Blackhawks scored 43 goals in their first nine games after Christmas (4.78 per night). The Blackhawks offense is as deep as any in the NHL, and adding a player like Kovalchuk would almost be too many weapons.
In fact, if you watched Bowman’s appearance between the first and second period on Wednesday night, or listened to owner Rocky Wirtz’s appearance on ESPN 1000’s “Waddle and Silvy” on Thursday, it because pretty clear that the Hawks were looking to bolster their defense. Wirtz was asked point-blank whether or not the Hawks were in the mix on Kovalchuk, and while he didn’t dismiss the idea he did say the Hawks, if they made a move, would look to add players that added to the team’s overall mold of solid two-way players. The Cliff Notes: Kovalchuk doesn’t play defense, so we don’t want him.
There is little doubt that the Hawks will make a move at some point between now and the March 3 deadline, but the reasonable and logical move would be to bolster the blue line. Ecklund, who spins as many rumors as TMZ with less documentation, has picked up a rumor that claims the Blackhawks stepped away from the bidding for Kovalchuk to keep pieces, presumably Kris Versteeg and Cam Barker, available for a trade to acquire Scott Niedermayer. Niedermayer, who is the captain of Canada’s Olympic team (which will have three Blackhawks in uniform I might add), would likely mean more to the Blackhawks on the ice than Kovalchuk could have because of his experience and ability. He isn’t the only name being linked to the Hawks, though.
Dreger has the Hawks interested in Andrzej Mezsaros, Spector says Sean O’Donnell, and the rest of the blogosphere has pretty much any experience defenseman with an expiring contract coming to Chicago in exchange for Versteeg, Barker, Andrew Ladd, Patrick Sharp and/or Dustin Byfuglien. Reality is that the Blackhawks have players hypothetically available that every NHL team would want, and can afford to make a deal or two to improve the team.
The Eastern Conference has now become a three horse race it appears, with the Devils joining the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals at the elite level. This could certainly help the Blackhawks to make a deal into the East as teams will undoubtedly react to this bold move by New Jersey by trying to add players to combat Kovalchuk’s presence. After all, the Flyers brought in Chris Pronger specifically because of the big forwards in the East like Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby in Pittsburgh and Alexander Ovechkin in Washington, so seeing another move forced by reaction to Kovalchuk going to New Jersey isn’t far from happening.
So while the sexy move might have been nice, it wouldn’t have been the right move for the Blackhawks at this point. Yes, there are still some questions between the pipes, and the depth on the blue line could use some help, but the offense isn’t the issue. So before you throw your coffee mug across the room, be thankful Versteeg and Company will still be playing together against Phoenix on Friday night.
Could the Blackhawks make a deal for Atlanta's Kovalchuk?
Yes, the Blackhawks have a handful of games between now and the Olympic break. Those will be important for the team’s success this year, and could play a major role in their eventual seed in the Western Conference playoffs this spring. But there is more that Hawks fans should be paying attention to between now and Valentine’s Day than just the games, and it could make an even bigger difference in the team’s contention for the Stanley Cup.
On Wednesday night, the Hawks host the St. Louis Blues. The face value of this game is limited, with there being great joy in Chicago for the road warriors finally returning home against a rival. But between the lines, there is more intrigue building around this roster that won’t quickly go away.
The Blackhawks, with Dave Bolland returning, now have 13 healthy forwards trying to fill 12 active spots, and Adam Burish is expected to come back in March. Reports are that Colin Fraser will be the first healthy scratch in the mix of forwards for the crowded Blackhawks front lines, but the Hawks won’t likely go too long with too many players on the roster for the available slots. Which is what makes the next two weeks interesting for Blackhawks fans.
It’s the trade market.
We’ve already seen a handful of fairly substantial deals go down. The Calgary Flames have made two moves that, on their face, appear to be desperate moves to shake up a struggling roster that’s fallen out of the playoff picture in the West. Unloading a young star like Dion Phaneuf is hard for any franchise to do, and when you look at the return the Flames received, it raises eyebrows. Both moves made by Calgary are, presumable, calculated risks to maximize the immediate at the expense of the future. Ian White’s a nice player, but his upside isn’t nearly that of Phaneuf.
On the other side of the spectrum is Toronto, where Brian Burke has been bold in making two moves to add stars. By making moves for Phaneuf and Jean Sebastian Giguere, despite being clearly out of the playoffs, Burke has bolstered his lineup for the coming seasons. Toronto unloaded a lot of draft picks to get Phil Kessel last summer, and now has to look to either their minors, which are limited, or the trade market to improve. Burke has done a masterful job of lining his franchise up to be a player in the coming seasons.
The Blackhawks aren’t similar to either of these teams. They aren’t building for the future like Burke, and they certainly aren’t desperate like Calgary. The Hawks are in it to win it, so they’re in a mindset to tinker more than overhaul.
The subplot to this tinkering is the looming salary cap issues the Hawks are staring at this coming summer. Conservative estimates are that the Blackhawks need to cut between $10-12 million off next year’s payroll to have a roster under the cap. Between that reality, and the Hawks likely want for more depth on the blue line, a deal might be coming.
The trade deadline isn’t until March 3, but there’s a trade freeze during the Olympics (Feb. 12-28), which is what’s pushing the trade rumors up to now.
Kris Versteeg's name is hot in trade rumors.
We’ve already talked about the biggest name on the trade market, Ilya Kovalchuk. The reports have been mixed regarding his future, with some saying he’s going to agree to an incredible extension with the Atlanta Thrashers.
Reality for a financially-struggling franchise like Atlanta committing eight, nine, or ten years and $100 million to one player, though, is hard to imagine even in Georgia. The Thrashers organization has a history of letting players go, and Kovalchuk could be one of those players that the Thrashers’ management decides they simply cannot afford.
Reports from TSN’s Darren Dreger on Wednesday afternoon are that GM Don Waddell met with Kovalchuk today to inform him that a trade could be coming.
If you read what many of the big name analysts have said lately, the best, and perhaps only logical fit for a Kovalchuk deal is Chicago. Atlanta is not willing to let the receiving franchise negotiate an extension with Kovalchuk before a trade, which has pulled many teams away from the table. Kovalchuk has also expressed interest in testing free agency, meaning a team that trades for him would have to unload a lot of talent for a potential rental.
A rumor that has been brought up recently by TSN’s Bob McKenzie and HockeyBuzz’s John Jaeckel is a deal that would send Cam Barker, Andrew Ladd and Kris Versteeg to Atlanta for Kovalchuk and defenseman Boris Valabik. Intriguing…
Barker’s time in Chicago is likely, and thankfully, coming to a close at some point between now and September. For the production he’s bringing on the ice, and his $3 million price tag, he’s not pulling his weight on a team loaded with studs. Valabik is a big (6′7, 240 lbs) defenseman that has only played in 22 games this year, but who would fit into a rotation with Brent Sopel and Jordan Hendry for the rest of the season well. He’ll turn 24 on Valentine’s Day, and is under contract for next year with a cap number of only $775,000. That’s the kind of depth the Hawks are looking to build. He isn’t a statistically great contributor on the offensive end, but a team that has the firepower under contract that the Hawks have isn’t necessarily looking for another Brian Campell.
What makes this deal intriguing is considering the relative value being exchanged up front. Ladd is a restricted free agent after this season who, in all likelihood, won’t be invited back because of the cap issues. So, like Kovalchuk, he would be gone after this year anyway. The big gamble would be swapping out his offense, and Versteeg’s, for the rest of this year for Kovalchuk’s production.
To date, Ladd and Versteeg have combined for 58 points (24 goals, 34 assists). Kovalchuk, to date, has produced 58 points alone (31 goals, 24 assists). Hopefully that answers any potential problems with the production being exchanged.
The other point to consider in this deal is that it would cut $7.6 million off the 2010-11 books for the Hawks in exchange for an elite scoring forward. Kovalchuk would allow coach Joel Quenneville to move Dustin Bydfuglien out of the point on the power play and put his 240-pound frame in front of the net where it belongs. It would also give the Hawks more offensive depth than any team in hockey, including the ridiculous Washington Capitals.
This is just one rumor that’s flying right now, but the meeting between Waddell and Kovalchuk seems to make a move imminent. The Los Angeles Kings have been the hot name tied to Kovalchuk lately, but they don’t have pieces of value that they can afford to move in a deal like Versteeg, Barker and Ladd that wouldn’t impact their depth like this proposed move would impact the Hawks.
As the rumors continue to fly, we’ll keep you updated.
Rumors are swirling that Dave Bolland will return to the ice for the Blackhawks on Wednesday night at the United Center when the Blackhawks host the St. Louis Blues.
Bolland has been out since Nov. 5 because of a back injury (herniated disc) that required surgery. In the 13 games Bolland played for the Hawks before going under the knife, he scored two goals, was credited with four assists, and was +3.
If Bolland is in the lineup, the questions being dodged for the last month become relevant: who’s the odd man/men out?
The first issue to consider is the how coach Joel Quenneville puts his lines together with Bolland being available. The general assumption is that Bolland will be playing center on the Hawks second line, but it isn’t guaranteed that he’ll jump straight into the mix between Marian Hossa and either Patrick Sharp or another skilled wing in his first game action in almost three months. He might not be ready for the speed of the game, and expecting him to carry the 18-20 minutes required of the second line center would be an aggressive, and potentially irresponsible, move.
So where does Bolland go?
One logical spot would be into the third line. Bolland skated with Kris Versteeg at times last year, and has familiarity with both Dustin Byfuglien and Andrew Ladd. In this scenario, the top two lines for the Hawks would stay intact, and Bolland would bump John Madden to the fourth line with Ben Eager and Tomas Kopecky. Unfortunately for Colin Fraser, his roster spot is in jeopardy if this is the lineup Quenneville uses.
Another option would be to move Sharp back to wing opposite Hossa and indeed drop Bolland into his slot as the second center. That would shift Ladd down to either the third or fourth line, and could move Byfuglien down as well. In this scenario, Eager or Kopecky could be watching the game from the suite. Frankly, having Kopecky off the ice isn’t a terrible scenario; despite playing better lately, Kopecky still has the worst plus-minus on the roster at -4 and has scored only 11 points this season.
There’s another scenario that appears to be gaining consideration from many analysts, though.
All season, especially after the extensions to Duncan Keith, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews were signed, the Blackhawks have been in the forefront of trade rumors because of their salary cap situation. In early January, CommittedIndians discussed the long term reality for the Hawks roster, and at that time we postulated that it would be Ladd that might be dealt during the season because of his expiring contract.* Even though Ladd will be a restricted free agent after the season, odds are that the Hawks won’t be able to afford him, and moving him during the season to bolster the blue line makes more sense than waiting for the draft.
Considering the return of Bolland, it makes more sense that the Hawks are picking up steam in trade rumors. A number of sites, including the Daily Herald, have linked the Blackhawks to Pittsburgh defenseman Jay McKee. McKee was a healthy scratch last night, which has only elevated speculation that he could be moving. However, if the Hawks are going to make a move it would figure to A) be for a younger player than Brent Sopel and B) be for a player who’s better than Cam Barker. McKee fill neither of those criteria. However, according to one story, “McKee is a 6-foot-3, 210-pound physical, stay-at-home defenseman who interested the Hawks last summer before he signed as a free agent with the Penguins for only $800,000.”
That doesn’t sound like a player that would cost as much as Ladd, or even Sopel for that matter. If Pittsburgh was willing or able to take Sopel’s cap hit off the Hawks’ books, I’m sure Stan Bowman would sign on the dotted line with anything that writes, but that doesn’t seem to be logical or realistic.
Other names the Hawks have been linked to as potentially bringing depth to the blue line for the rest of the season have been Carolina’s Aaron Ward, Toronto’s Garnet Exelby and Los Angeles’ Sean O’Donnell. Considering the action that’s already taken place in Toronto this week, a move with Brian Burke and the Leafs is certainly possible.
What could evolve into an intriguing scenario, though, is how willing Carolina becomes to dump veterans. The Hurricanes are playing well, as the Hawks unfortunately found out on Saturday night, but are far from playoff contention in the East. They have been rumored to be ready to clean house, but are waiting for the right offer(s). A name that would look good in Chicago is Ray Whitney, who’s rumored to be drawing more interest than Ilya Kovalchuk right now. Whitney, 37, has scored 41 points this year and has the desired expiring contract that would make him a great veteran to add to the Hawks’ roster for the stretch. If he and Aaron Ward were packaged together, it would present enough value that the Hawks could consider sending a package including Barker and perhaps Ladd to Carolina.
Of course the Hawks have a history of dealing with the Canes; Ladd was acquired from Carolina just two years ago.
However the roster shakes down, it’s encouraging to have a healthy Bolland back on the ice. He’s one of the more skilled players on the roster, and Hawks management considers his Hockey IQ to be elite. The Hawks are three points behind San Jose for the best record in hockey, and they’re about to get better.
It’s late January, and the Blackhawks will play the seventh game of a long road trip in San Jose on Thursday night. Whenever those two scenarios meet, there are usually players missing from the lineup. Throughout this season, we’ve seen Jordan Hendry step in for Brent Sopel, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Cam Barker and even in a forward role at times. There have also been occasions when the Blackhawks have needed the shuttle running a kid back and forth from Rockford to have a full roster.
With the exceptions of Dave Bolland and Adam Burish, both of whom have missed most of the season to date, the Blackhawks will be fully together on the ice for the biggest game on the Western Conference calendar in 2010.
Hjalmarsson didn’t practice on Thursday, but is reportedly good to go for the game. Sopel, who’s been banged up and missed Tuesday night’s game in Edmonton, will also be active for Thursday night’s game.
Cristobal Huet will start in net for Chicago.
The Sharks, on the other hand, will be without Dan Boyle on their blue line this evening.
Where will you be Thursday night?
Thursday night will be the biggest game on the NHL schedule in 2010. The Blackhawks (36-13-4, 76 pts) travel to San Jose to play the Sharks (35-10-8, 78 pts) in a matchup that could ultimately not only determine the winner of the President’s Trophy, but who has home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup Finals.
The Blackhawks and Sharks have clearly emerged as the top of the Western Conference, as Colorado and Vancouver are both 10 points behind Chicago for second place in the conference. Considering there will be 15 Olympians on the ice, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
On paper, these two teams are not only incredibly good, but are also so similar it’s scary.
With both teams having 53 games played, and their statistical resumes being as impressive as they are, it’s no wonder they’re separated by only two points for the top of the NHL standings.
The two teams have met three times this year, with the home team losing each of the last two games.
On Nov. 15 in the United Center, it was Brent Seabrook finding the back of the net only 41 seconds into overtime to get close out a big homestand for the Hawks.
On Nov. 25, in San Jose, Marian Hossa played for the Blackhawks for the first time and the Hawks blitzed the Sharks our of their own building with a devastating 7-2 victory. In that game, the Blackhawks scored their first three goals shorthanded en route to one of their biggest wins of the season.
On Dec. 22, in Chicago, the Sharks pulled off an improbably win. The Blackhawks outshot the Sharks 47-14 and lost 3-2 in a game that was arguably the best effort from San Jose goaltender Evgeni Nabokov all season.
In this, the fourth and final game between the two, everything will be on the line.
The Blackhawks come into the game nearing the end of a long road trip, with this being their seventh of eight games. A solid win against Edmonton on Tuesday night got the Hawks back on track after a rough patch of games that included losses in Ottawa and Vancouver. Chicago is 6-3-1 in their last ten.
Meanwhile, the Sharks are 8-1-1 in their last ten games and are playing perhaps their best hockey of the season. They have outscored their opponents 26-7 in their last five games, and Nabokov has only allowed more than two goals twice in January.
The only game left on the NHL calendar that could potentially carry as much weight as this matchup is when the Washington Capitals visit the United Center on March 14. With the season series and probably the top seed in the Western Conference on the line, is without a doubt the biggest regular season game in the NHL in 2010.
Maybe the Blackhawks that will be back in Vancouver for the Olympics were a little excited to see the city. Maybe Antti Niemi was a little jacked up for his chance to fully grab the reins as the team’s number one netminder. Maybe the travel is finally getting to the Blackhawks.
Lots of excuses, none of which mean anything in the standings.
Roberto Luongo thoroughly dominated the Blackhawks, stopping 43 of 44 shots as Vancouver defeated the Blackhawks 5-1. As has been the trend from the Canucks, they took as many shots at/after the whistle as they could in an attempt to get into the heads of the Hawks, which hasn’t seemed to rattle the Blackhawks as much as it’s banged them up this year.
Of course, it was back in October that the Hawks lost both Ben Eager and Jonathan Toews in a game against the Canucks. On Saturday night, there were a number of liberties taken again by the home team in a game that wasn’t even as close as the score would indicate.
Niemi was yanked off the ice after allowing three goals on only 12 shots in the first period, and he certainly didn’t get any help from the skaters in front of him. As we saw in Ottawa, poor skating and mediocre passing killed the Hawks early, and against a goaltender like Luongo, giving up two cheap goals is usually enough. Cristobal Huet replaced Niemi and, despite a few good saves in the middle of the second period, didn’t end up doing much better than Niemi; Huet allowed two goals on 16 shots in his two periods of work. Overall, the Hawks only allowed five goals on only 28 shots. Not good.
Also a part of the Hawks game that suffered from lazy passing and poor skating was the offense. The spacing was miserable on all four of the Hawks’ power play opportunities, none of which they would score on despite having a clear advantage in chances.
Even a rare fight from Andrew Ladd, who landed a fantastic shot with his left hand in a brief altercation, couldn’t spark the team.
Something that might contribute to the poor effort could be the amount of time the Hawks will be spending in Vancouver; the team will spend three days in the Olympic city, the longest stop of the trip. Again, that’s nothing more than an excuse that doesn’t cover the fact that the team showed up flat on Saturday night and lost a game.
Jonathan Toews would put in the Hawks’ first, and only, goal in the middle of the third period, cutting the lead to 3-1 and giving at least a little breath to the Hawks offense. But Huet allowed a back-breaking fourth goal only 32 seconds later to Henrik Sedin, his second of the game, pulling the plug on any momentum the Hawks hoped to capture. Huet would allow another late goal to Henrik’s brother, Daniel, to finish the scoring for the night. The Sedins and Alex “I Pull Hair” Burrows all ended up with three points on the night.
What will become an interesting story to continue following for the Blackhawks as the trip continues will be the continuing issues in net; Niemi was given the opportunity to step up and earn more time between the pipes with his first consecutive starts of the season on Saturday, but his performance in the first period and subsequent removal from the game obviously indicates that he wasn’t good enough for coach Joel Quenneville’s taste in the game. However, the numbers weren’t good again for Huet, including the crucial fourth goal so quickly after the Hawks finally got on the board, that there is clearly more work to be done for the Blackhawks in net.
In interviews for a number of newspapers in Chicago on Friday and Saturday, GM Stan Bowman indicated that the Hawks are keeping all of their options open on the trade market and will certainly be able, financially, to add a player if needed. Brent Sopel’s been banged up lately, and was run into the boards late in the game on an icing play (another cheap shot from Vancouver), and the questionable play from Cam Barker since returning from injury makes the depth on the blue line another issue that might be addressed between now and the March 3 trade deadline.
With their victory, the Canucks jumped from sixth to fourth in the Western Conference.
The Blackhawks now have just three games left on the trip, with two seemingly easy games surrounding a big trip into San Jose that could carry President’s Trophy implications. The Blackhawks have now played as many games as the Sharks, 51, and trail San Jose by two points for the top spot in both the conference and the NHL. Tuesday night the Hawks will play in Edmonton, and then they’ll play at Carolina next Saturday.
Antti Niemi stones Henrik Zetterberg's breakaway chance early in overtime - the save of the game.
If there were questions about Antti Niemi’s ability to win a playoff game entering Sunday’s game in Detroit, they were answered in electrifying fashion by the Blackhawks young netminder.
Niemi was asked to stop 38 shots on Sunday, the most allowed yet this season by the Blackhawks, and he was successful on 35 of them before earning a second point in the shootout. He had to make a number of incredible saves to make up for terrible turnovers and against odd man rushes throughout the game, and was up to the task nearly every time. The biggest save of the game came after a rare Brent Seabrook turnover at the Hawks’ blue line just seconds into overtime. Olympian Henrik Zetterberg picked Seabrook’s pocket and streaked up the ice for a one-on-one with Niemi, and was able to get the puck back to his backhand side as he closed the gap with the Hawks’ goalie but a great pad save prevented the game from ending.
The action on the offensive side for the Blackhawks, as has become the trend, started early and often. Troy Brouwer scored his 14th goal of the season with a nice pick out of traffic just under eight minutes into the game. Seven minutes later, Patrick Kane scored his team-leading 20th goal of the season on a power play and the Hawks appeared to have secured the momentum.
But this is still Detroit, and the Red Wings wouldn’t go away quietly. At 19:11, Nicklas Lindstrom scored his third goal of the season to bring the game back to just a one-goal advantage for the Hawks. That was when the action on the ice turned from hockey to boxing.
The Hawks' enjoying the Steeger fight.
Right off the faceoff after Lindstrom’s goal, Kris Versteeg and Patrick Eaves dropped the gloves and went at it in one of the better fights in a Blackhawks-Red Wings game in years. In case you missed it, here’s the video. Awesome fight, and it looked like Versteeg skated away with a win.
The Blackhawks had four power play opportunities in the first period to none for the Wings, so logic would indicate that there would be a few calls going Detroit’s way in the second period. Sure enough, the Hawks took three penalties in the first nine minutes, and the Red Wings cashed in on the third to tie the game at two goals apiece. Zetterberg beat Niemi for the tying tally, and that would be the final penalty called in the game. Seven penalties power plays were taken in the first 29 minutes of the game, and there weren’t any in the final 31 on Sunday.
At 11:10 in the second, Patrick Sharp redirected a missile from Duncan Keith to give the Hawks back the lead; it was Keith’s career high-trying 44th point of the season. In the second period, the Red Wings would outshoot the Hawks 12-5, but would escape with a 3-2 lead.
The third period began with a lot of hard hitting and back and forth skating by not many shots. However, in a bush league jinx move that could only be accomplished by a national network trying to put a hockey game on the air, a video montage talking about how well Niemi was playing played over the game-tying goal from Eaves. Thankfully, when NBC got done telling the viewing public about the great game Niemi was having, the first live voice heard was exclaiming that the score was suddenly tied… on a shot that wasn’t seen until a replay was run over more live action.
NBC’s coverage of the game was awful from start to finish. Not only did they butcher players names on both teams, but made a number of clerical errors when speaking about both Chicago and Detroit. At one point in the third period, they said Andrew Ladd was acquired last year (wrong), something that fills air time but does screams amateur to fans that pay attention.
Once NBC got back to showing live action, there wasn’t much to speak of from that point forward. Both teams played the final seven minutes conservatively, apparently saving the fireworks for an intense overtime period. Detroit had four great shots on net in the extra period, and Marian Hossa had a wide open look sail wide with just seconds left before two exhausted teams settled for the shootout.
Cam Barker was playing just his second game in as many days after missing time with an upper body injury, but he made a number of crucial mistakes with the puck that were pointed out by the NBC team almost as well as this fan’s eyes. One mistake could have cost the Hawks the game, as he tried to dump the puck back in behind the net to Brent Sopel without looking to see that Sopel was nowhere near where he was dumping it and there were two Red Wings waiting for an easy wrap-around chance. Thankfully for Barker, Seabook and Brian Campbell, who also had a bad turnover late, Niemi was up to the task on Sunday.
Brouwer led the Hawks with a goal and an assist, and Sharp was the Number One star of the game with one goal in regulation and the winner in the shootout. Detroit netminder Jimmy Howard was exceptional as well, stopping 26 of 29 shots against a hot Chicago offense. It was clear throughout the game Sunday that as Detroit continues to get All Star players back from the injured reserve, they will be able to match up well against anyone in the NHL. Thankfully, in the second game of a long road trip just 22 hours after a hard-fought win in Columbus, the Blackhawks were able to get a third consecutive win over the Red Wings, and second in a row in Detroit.
After a less-than-special performance from Cristobal Huet on Saturday, this exceptional performance from Niemi could begin to put pressure on the Hawks’ number one netminder again. In October, when Huet was struggling, Niemi was fantastic when given the opportunity and Huet responded by having a great November. With Huet struggling yet again, we could see more of Niemi between now and the Olympic break in February.
The Blackhawks have won 2 of 3 in Detroit, and the last 3 straight against the Red Wings.
