Adam Boqvist Done for the Year
During Tuesday night’s season-(effectively)-ending blowout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, defenseman Adam Boqvist suffered a broken wrist. Head coach Jeremy Colliton confirmed after the game that Boqvist’s 2021 season is over.
Boqvist produced two goals and 13 assists in 35 games this season.
Sorry to hear but he’s been a pleasant surprise. Kid’s got a bright future.
Tough break for the kid, hope he heals in time for training camp, similar to Dach’s wrist injury in that contact with the rock hard shoulder pads nowadays seemed to be cause. Very noticeable that this type of injury and concussion injuries have showed sharp increase since the use of this type of shoulder and elbow pads.
Mitchell or Beaudin will get some game time in his absence, hopefully both and maybe sit someone else too.
No synopsis on last nights game??? What’s up with that??
The kid was making strides. Yes, this year was yet another learning year, for him, but he was getting better in his apprenticeship. He quarterbacked the 1PP…and he did that quite well. How odd is it that two of the Blackhawks #1 picks both broke their wrists? Is it coincidence? Probably. But, I would submit, to the Blackhawks Training Staff, Do they still use Battle Ropes? How about kettlebells? Good, old-fashioned pushups?
Thankfully, Boqvist will have plenty of time to recover and rehabilitate. Looking forward, Beaudin, Mitchell, or Kalynuk may get a chance at that #1 or #2 PP Unit. Thankfully, the team has Duncan Keith. The grizzled veteran has much to offer these kids.
No Game Synopsis?
Is that because Tab:
1. Did not see the game and has nothing to say until he reviews the film?
2. Was so upset with the game that he ate a whole gallon of Ben & Jerry’s and is still heaving?
3. Is still trying to compose something but does not know where to start or what to say?
Another nail in the c…… Only bad breaks, no pun intended. Heal up young man your future is bright!
Wait til next year
Kane played 22+ minutes in a meaningless game. Will this continue?
In the last 15 games, Duncan Keith has scored more goals than Kane. Is this where all those Kane minutes get us?
By not playing him in the most important game of the year Friday, did Colliton destroy Kevin Lankinen’s confidence? Did Colliton intentionally or inadvertently show no confidence in him?
EDMAN68, You opened up a very interesting and legitimate conversation. I always feel horrible when any of our Hawks suffer broken bones,concussions,and anything physically serious. That being said last night’s game was a perfect illustration that this team is massively physically inferior to their opponents. Watching the Bolts,Canes,Preds,Panthers,and Stars at times physically manhandle the Hawks is stunning. Even the 2 large Defensemen were handily thumped in 2 separate fights last night. I don’t know what the answers are. A different weight training program,drafting more developed less passive more physically developed players,all the above? I don’t know but what they have done is clearly not working all the way around.
Turn out the lights the party is over. They say that all good things must end.
There’s a realistic chance that 3 to 5 teams could jump us making a top 8 to 10 pick before ping pong balls. Would Buffalo take #8 and a second rounder for #1. Better if the ping pong balls take us to #3. Just thinking Buffalo has #1 Dman that they drafted and dropping down could still pick a top need with #3 or #8 and an extra second round pick.
Time to bring in Regula and or Phillips from Rockford and see what they have.
Let the kids play….give Hardman 2nd or 3rd line , let him use his size and see what happens. He was extremely nervous and spent alot of time on his knees after falling.
One of Cizikas. Ritchie, Goodrow Simmons or Bennet Rienhardt if not qo’ed must be signed for a year or 2.
Willing to lose a 3rd round pick for Federic or 2nd round pick for Copp or Sanford.
Take a flier on Vesey Chiason Armia.
Long term (max 5yrs, 4yrs preferred) Landeskog Wennberg.
I have never been so angry watching a sporting event in my life. I literally found myself wanting to go out on the ice and break every stick I might reach over the mouth of every Lightning player. What a shitshow.
Really not happy to lose Boqvist to a wrist injury. Dach gave us a peek at what that recovery could look like. Setback to his development and who knows how this will ultimately affect his long term development. Not happy about this at all.
It was nice to see Zadorov and Murphy try to put a stop to the shenanigans, which quickly turned into despair at how completely inadequate their responses were. I am not a fan of fighting in the NHL, but if the refs are going to allow that kind of play, then the players have to defend themselves. When Kubalik got blindsided in a hit not unlike the one Murphy delivered to Cernak (I think?) in a previous game, it was as if the Lightning were purposefully attempting to test the line in retaliation. And it did not stop for most of the game. The Hawks response was like a limp noodle.
Inadequate. That is what the Hawks response to Lightning last night was.
Beer….
I agree we should call those 2 kids and play them and play more kids till the end of the season because we are done for the playoff anyway.
Tim W
The 2 large Dmen are there to hit and they do the job most of the time ,they are not fighters they are players…if Hawks want to fight then they will get a few gons and they will win fights but also get many penalties and probably will loose more games …not easy to find the perfect players and needs time to rebuild a team …not 1 or 2 years .
What ever training you have won’t make you less vulnerable to getting your wrist broken .
Just my 2 pesos
Agree with above posts. Hawks need size, next year back in the Western Conference they are going to tossed around by the bigger teams….Better keep their heads on s swivel.
Sorry about the wrist. He was not ready to be up with parent club.
Hawks2010, I respect your opinion but those 2 Lightning players were not fighters either,no one is exclusively that anymore and for quite awhile, but if you watched both of those fights you saw a lack of physicality and a feeling of I just want to hang on and cover up. Sort of like the way the Hawks play the game when physicality and chippy play enters the game by an angry focused opponent. I see no edge or anger from this team when they are getting it handed to them other than the slamming of a door when exiting the ice or the breaking of a stick. This team needs hardness and physicality to at least protect their high-end assets. I’m sorry but last night went beyond embarrassing.
Did not look good when he was skating off.
Boqvist along with Kalynuk the bright spots on the blueline this season, hopefully Beaudin and Mitchell with an opportunity are next season. Unless a major change beyond moving on from Zadorov, quite likely not surprise anyone to see start next season, may change as year moves along the top 4 something like Kalynuk/Murphy Keith/ Boqvist, who doesn’t need surgery. Then Stillman Mitchell Beaudin. Bowman already made comment about forward group, with some real positive surprises returning with Reichel and Borgstrom signed to elcs and Toews and Nylander on ir this year being available, he didn’t see any major adds there in off season. So hopefully 1 or 2 of Hardman, Entwistle, Johnson or maybe Morrison back from injury too can impact the roster in a positive way with size and physical play. Hopefully just a blip for Lankinen and the bs we saw last few games doesn’t affect his confidence and that remains a strong point heading into next season, not back to square one there again.
To John Galt. Totally agree with your assessments, And I’d like to ask anybody here, seeing I’m a newcomer here only been here for the last couple of months: I just don’t get this website, sometimes the assessment of the game(which I actually like, I like to compare what the writer saw to what I saw and see if I’m seeing the same thing) is on time after the game, sometimes its half a day after or the next day and sometimes there is zip. Is it always like that here???? Trying to give this site a chance but its inconsistent, can’t reply directly to a commenter unless that person checks back to the column. Is it always like this here????
With playoff hopes now gone, there’s no need to see anymore of DeHaan. I get the coach doesn’t want to waive the white flag but he should rest any nicked up vets and give younger players a bit more action. He can ensure the team plays the “right way”through ice time. Younger kids should play hard to take advantage of the opportunity and vets who don’t can sit. I’m expecting to see more of Beaudin and Mitchell but also hope to see Regular called up. Hardiman’s play warranted more looks between now and year end. Hoping to see Johnson and Entwistle get some action and think Slavin’s performance in Rockford merits a call up.
To Miroslav: Not a huge fan of the fighting part but it is part of the game and there is a purpose for it and as long as we don’t revert back to the Mike Keenan era I’m good with it. But StanBo has to get somebody here that won’t tolerate that crap of smacking our players around(Z fills that role) and somebody that can hold his own.(aka Brandon Bollig type) Can’t remember the last time I seen Z actually win a fight. Schenn is just a bull in a china shop and Murphy?? give him credit for sticking up for Hardman but he’s not a fighter either. Somebody some day is going to take Kane or the Cat out and what will Kid Coach do about it??? Shrug his shoulders and maybe wave his hands. We have to be the softest team in the league and that’s not going to fly here if the team is going to ever be back to being a force.
Zadorov and Murphy are supposed to be the big guys who are able to keep opponents honest … well … except neither one can fight. It’s embarrassing watching Murphy get ragdolled. Maybe that’s why Colliton told him not to fight.
Hammertime,,The lack of postgame analysis directly after the game is something new for this site. So is the having to go through the Facebook backdoor to post.
To Tim W: Thanks for the response. I don’t use a Facebook backdoor to post.
This hurts! Not just the injury, but Boqvist’s overall off-season strength program. The kid is in dire need of a weight based regimen, and now he will come in softer than when he exited the season. It appeared to me that the kid was progressing, but Kalynuk, Beaudin, and Mitchell were in my eyes better defensemen! I will say that playing with Duncan Keith killed this kid. Keith has been a turnover machine, and if you’re his partner you are always playing to a minus-2 on a nightly basis.
What progress did you see this year from Boqvist? His skating is no better.
The slowest of all defensemen….not named Zaderov. Unless he does a point every other game his defense makes him a liability.
Tommy and Otto, I absolutely agree with you’re assessments of Boqvist. Since his 1st day in the NHL I have primarily questioned his skating. His small size and lack of physicality is going to make it very difficult for him to be a top 4 D man for anybody. He is piling up injury after injury including approaching his 5th concussion before his 21st birthday. It’s a shame. I like his honesty about his own game.
Only saw parts of the game. Mostly watched the pregame and intermission due to Shaw. Will Konroyd and jamal mayers be out of a job due to network switching? I love then they break down plays on the bug screen. Need more of that and a lot less of talking about the standings…my goodness who cares about the standings its so boring. Fans are jaut as bad….if so and so loses and so and so wins…cmon…boring. I recall even back in February they were talking about the standings and jammer was like “we are doing this already?” And i totally agree qith him. So much better things to talk about. Talking about the standings is not action…its boring doesnt matter where they are in the standings. Oh and the press asking players every game is ridiculous. I fast forwarded to the coach colliton interview after said question. Again we are likely never to know how players are tactically being developed or even if they are for that matter. Id love to see a long term or even a short term development plan but i imagine such will never be shared and rightly so.
Oh and yeah i came here to read the typical “keith sucks trade Duncan ” “iF dUnCaN wAiVeS hIs No MoVeMeNt ClAuSE ” post.
Well safe for fans ro evaluate biqvist season. Ill say this hes not the fastest skater many times….course last night as an example he was skating slow but still beat the faster skaer by playing postionally….ah well one shift. A point every other game looks good from a stats perspective i guess. I cant picture him shoving anyome around. As per usual some of the better teams are plain and sinple big and strong. Stillman was an insurance signing and why not. Small cap hit on the grand scheme. Maybe chad krys comes in…dont believe he ever played with hardman.
I wonder what inquiries about players bowman elected to ignore this season. Recall lahtonen is a ufa….good season next year could mean high asking price….no doubt would be a small sample next year regardless of how many games played.
Another season the Hawks get to participate in the playoffs from the comfort of their living rooms! There will be no excuses come next season!
Honest fact is the same scouts who found Panarin, Kubalik, Suter, Lankinen are the same scouts that scouted Borgstrom, Reichel and yes Boqvist, a big reason I believe in them. The fact is he has only played 76 Nhl games and is 20 yrs old, Blackhawks are quite right to do their due dillgence on someone those scouts were that high on for another year or 2 to actually know what they have with him. Anybody who claims at this point to know what he can become, and I do it myself, is just blowing smoke. Time will tell if he has top 4 star potential, a 3rd pair O zone start guy/pp specialist or gets passed by in depth charts and moved out. It takes time and patience.
Sure you can address rough play with a fight, but I got the feeling that the Lightning were physically doing whatever they wanted in large part because they had zero fear of the power play! It seemed to me that the refs were calling a pretty fair game (7 TBL penalties!!!) If the boys had scored on any of the first 2 or 3, or even posed a real consistent scoring threat, the Lightning might have tempered the ‘abusive’ physicality, but they really had very little reason to care
tonyo57
i hope they don’t make the playoffs next year with the excuse being they played even more youth than this year to find out who to count on going forward and who needs to be shown the door. if possible i would like to know for certain what to expect from kalynuk, boqvist, mitchell, and beaudin and many of the young forwards.
Very interesting comment by Colliton in the post game interview that going forward, Boqvist needs to find a way to be durable enough to “play in this league”.
The point has made on these boards that Boqvist is smallish and injury prone and it’s safe to say Colliton verbalized those concerns.
Craig that would be a disappointing way for Boqvist’s career to end for sure.
Any player in the nhl could suffer a broken wrist. ( Dach )
Bowman drafted Boqvist knowing that small and previously had concussion issues.
What is the formula for small NHL player’s to be durable?
Would Colliton suggest that Andrew Shaw become more durable?
In my opinion Colliton is useless.
It dosent take a rocket scientist to give your supposed top players huge minuites and see if they if they will make you look good.
Colliton should try to find a way to make himself become a competent NHL coach.
This is what happens when the GM and coach don’t want to play or teach physical hockey. Players get hurt. Why did Tampa ever let up… no one on the Hawks would have pushed back. And Tampa was being nice. Boston, Washington, St.Louis, Vegas would eat these guys up.
Tampa toyed with the Hawks. It was embarrassing. It was men vs boys.
Murphy should be benched. If accountability is real, then he should be sitting. Awful his last few games.
Believe it or not Boquist will get stronger and probably heavier and he’ll learn how to deal with contact – I look forward to his continuing development next year
I’m upset about JCs handling of Lankinen- Colliton unnecessarily muddied the goalie waters by not playing Lank in the final NSH game – perhaps be Tampa Lank was too concerned about proving he was the #1 instead of being 100% focussed on the task at hand
After pulling him vs TB what now? Does he show the confidence in him that he should have shown for the final NSH game – it seems unlikely but he should – Lank made JC look good at the start of the year and now it seems JC is unsure about him – I don’t like it.
Lank should get the start next game but I doubt he will
Tortorella 23/24
Stape — its not your opinion, it’s a fact proven for three years now ongoing that Colliton is useless as an NHL coach. I’ve been stating this since the say Bowman hired him to be his puppet, oh excuse me type, coach.
The team will miss the playoffs again next season.
Day, not say. Typo, not type.
Beautiful hair is the best thing we can state re Colliton. He would do well modeling. He looks the part.
Craig, We can only hope that Colliton was listening to what everyone is saying but if that were true we would see Johnson,Entwhistle,Hardman,and Barratt in the lineup tomorrow night along with Regala,Mitchell,and Beaudin,and yes I know he can’t fill the lineup with all those players at the same time. We can dream of progress.
Just like Shawzer no need for 8? games. Get fully 100% for 77 27 and anybody else.
JR Roman, I see your Tortorella 23/24 and I raise you a Gallant 23/24 and the Hunter Brothers 23/24.
49 years good post, agree if the teams were scared to sit in the box because of the pp, they wouldn’t be taking liberties. That’s how old Scotty Bowman made the Broad street Bullies a short lived fad. He made his pp a priority and said if you want sit in the box all night that’s fine with me. Wrap not only did Colliton mess up the goalies but the pp was tops in the league until Colliton knew how make it better too.
Boqvist was out 3 times this year, once he got covid like few million others. Then got concussion like symptoms from the puck in the face, did the smart thing and made sure it wasn’t anything serious. Andrew Shaw would vouch for that. Now he has a broken wrist, unfortunate yes, but hardly a rash of injuries, good news no surgery needed and Colliton said he would be good to go for start of season.
When we gunna sign Keith to a 6 year extention?
Ivan is spot on….. AGAIN… someone “gets it”.
@Craig Nigrelli ….. I was getting ready to comment exactly on what you stated. Colliton kind of called out Boqvist on needing to find a way to be more durable.
One promising thing is that I’ve seen the video diary type thing of Boqvist talking about how he has been working out with the Blackhawks’ training staff. And it was strange to me that he pretty much said he never really worked out until now. I get it that he’s young, but, wow.
A problem with his injuries though are that one was a concussion and one was a freaky broken wrist. I don’t know if anyone finds a way to avoid the kind of head and wrist injury he specifically has had this year. He an avoid contact to try and stay away from the concussions, but he’s gonna get dinged in the head regardless of what he does or how he plays.
It’s a tough situation for a young guy like him. Plenty of potential. Trying to get better and get bigger. Having some bad luck.
I know the editor of Committed Indians will block this truth, but the Hawks get physically dominated: a) Because we mostly don’t acquire manly players; and b) Because passifist Jeremy “Ghandi” Collin won’t let even our semi-tough players be physical because he plays scared. What if we have to kill a penalty? Oh, my God, guys. Whatever you do, don’t stick up for yourselves.
Sorry about Boqvist’s wrist injury. He definitely has potential. Hopefully he recovers with a little more enthusiasm and hustle than Dach & his wrist injury has shown. Not thrilled at all with Dach’s performance. He’s a glider on the ice & only pushes himself with an offensive opportunity. He needs to stop watching how Kane does the same. A little more hustle and urgency like Hinostroza & Hagel show at all times would help everyone on the team.
@Otto, while I agree with you that Boqvist’s skating is not that great, the kid was showing more confidence and poise with the puck as the season progressed. He wasn’t just hoping that he made the right pass, he was actually seeing the ice better and making better decisions. That being said, he is still not strong enough to play in the NHL, that’s why missing this off-season really hurts his development. I would not be disappointed if Boqvist was not on the Blackhawks going forward.
Ron MCADAM, I agree with your Dach assessment. There is no explosiveness to his skating stride or overall game. Once he receives the minimal of contact along the boards he goes limp. I hope it is just the post surgery hesitancy that sometimes occurs with players that have not had serious injuries but starting next training camp it is something that should be examined very closely. Looking at it from a positive perspective,I never thought that DeBrincat would transform himself into a full ice hard to play against player so quickly. So it can be achieved but I think someone has to sit down with him and review game tapes of the top centers in the game.
IF, IF, IF…
The Blackhawks KNOW Toews is not coming back, do they:
A) Ask for an exemption like Seabrook and Shaw so they don’t have to add him to the protected list?
B) Protect him anyway for PR (e.g. season ticket sales) purposes?
Either way, we won’t know until July 18th at 4:00 p.m. CT when Bowman has to submit his list.
It is a possibility that the Hawks go 0-7. Thus there is a possibility that 7 teams may pass them in points. A good reality is 6 teams may move ahead. LA’s loss to Ana last night hurt a little. Teams need to go;
SJ 2-4-1
LA. 4-5
Det. 3-1-1
Colu 3-0-2
Cal. 2-4-1
Ott. 3-1-2
Van. 4-8-1
Columbus the only one that really reaching. Det a smaller stretch. A possible #6 pick before ping pong balls wow.
@ mcadam
totally agree with your assessment of dach and that of kane as well. lovely, isn’t it, that the hawks two best prospects are soft players? according to the hawks website boqvist and kalynuk weigh the same. seems to me that there is a lot more toughness in kalynuk’s body and willingness to physically compete in his mind.
@big indian
boqvist never really worked out until now…….. drafted almost three years ago. a 100% of this is on hawks management. why hasn’t he been on a strenuous weight training program monitored by the hawks training staff since day one?
de brincat is example #a1 of a player who made a decision to improve his hustle and physicality. and that at the age of 23. it can be done. nylander, dach, and boqvist……. perhaps others……. should be called on the carpet by management during their exit interviews at seasons end. they should be handed a strength building regimen to follow this off season and a good hour long video of highlights of the play of hagel, hinostroza, and de brincat this past season with the message that they will be expected to play with the same effort, enthusiasm, and physicality those three have played with this year.
i believe it is time for a changing of the guard in terms of leadership among the hawks players. this is a new team. if toews is back he will obviously default to captain, but there is a need for a hustle player to wear an “a” on his sweater. i have no idea if hagel, hinostroza, or de brincat have that leadership gene, but hawks management knows as do the players. if one of them is that guy then he should wear an “a’ and perhaps be groomed to move up when toews moves out. i have seen nothing from dach’s play that would indicate to me he deserves a letter on his sweater.
Ian – to be fair the Hawks early PP success had a lot to do with Shaw’s ability to win pucks and be a net front player both things in short supply on the Hawks
Hawks 29 – Kalynuk is 24 and Boquist is 20 – I would hope Kalynuk looks more physically able
And let’s slow the anti-Dach talk – it was only last year that he played very well in the playoffs bubble and then had a great junior camp – maybe the fact that he’s missed training camp plus the first 49 odd games of the season and is still getting his wrist back to 100% has something to do with his not so great play – oh and he’s also only 20
I think we’ll see big improvements from both Boquist and Dach next year as they turn 21 and their bodies mature and they get to know the NHL game better
I’m pretty sure 30 other GMs would love either player on their team
Not Buying- The Boqvist- never worked out til now.
Regarding injuries/ some guys just have crazy good genes. In Bqvist example- I think he doesn’t think the game fast enough- and puts himself in prone spots to get hurt.
He is/was known as a better skater when drafted… I think the NHL speed/is part reason he doesn’t look as good/fast skater- cuz he has slowly realized he will get killed in NHL right now- w/ lack of IQ/anticipation of the play.
Jr. Hilites- show him to be almost- Panarin-like dangling/skating- that has gone away- while he adjusts to the NHL? or forever-cuz it is far better/faster comp.?
I guess we will see in the next few years. But I think that is what Colliton is referring to- “find a way to play in this league”.
In short- He is NOT gonna get tougher. But he can learn to anticipate/think better. I fear- he is never gonna reach that High level “Risk/Reward” draft pick slot- that Hawks used. Actual phrase Mark Kelly – scout used when they picked him Risk/reward and Dynamic.
Gotta agree with Kane- playing Too much
and
Dach being somewhat behind where I want him to be. Willing to give him slack due to injury.
OOO – the BS is flying. Experts to the right of me, savants to the left of me. Bias filtered “facts” abound. Not surprising. The “everybody knows everything” bandwagon is at max capacity careening toward the ledge. If only Stan had been fired instead of Q we would surely have another 10-12 Stanley Cups by now. If only …
I hear ya ER – and if only Uncle Dale was still GM and not Scotty Bowman’s little son we’d have 20 more Cups …
I get all the frustration and the Tampa game was an embarrassment but we are in year 1 of a rebuild. Why we aren’t in year 2 or 3 is a very valid question that has never been answered. If you think year 1 is tough wait until years 2,3, etc. If you think this will be turned around overnight I have a bridge to sell you. Show me the teams who have successfully rebuilt quickly and I will show you many more that haven’t. I will also not be surprised when JC gets let go, it is an inevitable part of the rebuild. I am surprised that we have gone with so many small or soft players in year 1. There is no way that type of roster construction has a chance in today’s NHL. Just watch any of the playoff teams in action and you will see we aren’t just a few players away from competing. So it is critical that we continue to draft bigger, faster players and bring in some more experienced players with size and toughness to give the young guys a better environment to improve their games. As I have said previously I expect the opening night roster next year to have at least 7 new names. The biggest positive we have right now is our cap position in a very tight market. How we leverage this asset will determine the length and success of the rebuild.
MS, Great and accurate post my friend. I would argue that this organization is not even at year 1 of development. I am a NHL junkie so I surf and view parts of just about every game broadcast. This team as constructed is really not comparable to any other NHL team. At least at other times in the Hawks developmental history you could see a system in place and that they could be competitive. Besides Hagel,Debrincat,Hinostroza, and Kalynuk I just don’t see where this is going.
Wrap agree Shaw was playing well but Blackhawks had for first time in years 2 pp units producing good nos. when one didn’t connect the other picked up the slack. Right now there is 2 different looking units with little or no chemistry. Little bit of that is the coach’s doing me thinks.
Tim – I think you raise a good point about even knowing who we are trying to be. I believe SB has always valued skill above everything else but he ate too much at that buffet. I cringe reading about our interest in another 5’7 European player. We badly need more (and bigger) Hagel’s not one more Pius Suter. I continue to maintain that there is no way we go forward very long with a roster that includes Kane, Dcat, Hino, Suter, Boquist, Mitchell and Beaudin. You may win a game on any given night but it has zero chance of long term success. The off season will be very interesting.
Ian – maybe so but Janmark and Soderberg are also gone who both contributed to the PPs success at different times at one unit or the other
I’m not saying JC is blameless but Q also ran a pretty pathetic PP at the end of his Hawks tenure with arguably better players and he’s a HOF coach so it makes you wonder how much is really on the coach and how much on the players and the type of players you have on your roster
Someone noted that the play by play crew in the TB mentioned that the Hawks had tried the same PP entry multiple times in a row and failed at all of them – I don’t think JC is telling them to run the same entry every time even if it doesn’t work – there are other options for the players if they want to use them – players should be smart enough to adjust on the fly and there needs to be at least 2 players who can go get a puck in the corner on a dump in or win a board battle – I don’t think JC is telling them to lose the 50/50 pucks
Right now there’s no one to fill Shaw’s role (except maybe Hagel who they tried on the PP) or Soderberg’s (when he was the net front guy) – Strome and Dach aren’t nearly as good at that right now
Granted the buck stops with coach so he gets his share of blame but for me I see a lot of bad decisions by the players and too much deferring to Kane and waiting for Kane to do something and not enough ‘puck pursuit win a board battle’ type of players – you can blame JC for not having the right players out there and you can blame Stan for not having more power forwards and you can blame the players for making bad decisions in the moment
I think Kane, DCat and Boquist are a good trio on PP1 but they’re not going to win many pucks (partly because they’re generally bringing the puck up ice but also because it’s not really their game) so it’s the other two spots that they need that type of player – that’s why Shaw was so important and Janmark and Soderberg as well
Also someone who can win a frickin faceoff (not named Kampf) would help as well
Wrap I thank you for saving me the time with your last post. Well said and kinder than I would have said it. Our pp went downhill dramatically when Shaw, then Soderberg and Janmark left. We don’t have the talent to fill those holes right now.
Currently out strategy is for Dcat and Kane to play catch across the ice and have Keith fire from the blue line. We have far more turnovers than quality chances.
I also see a development problem in the fact that any forward with a hint of a physical game or any type of size is automatically placed on the 4th line and relegated to his obligatory 6 to 8 minutes of ice time and 1 game tryout by Colliton. It doesn’t lend itself to developing any players that possess a complete game.
Ian i never said boqvist is a bust and yes defenseman rarely shine in thier first couple seasons….in fact i always fond it funny how teams will give some goalies chance after chance if they once had a hot streak while never giving others to get off the ground.
Are we really blaming keith for boqvist development? Okay lets say keith is a turniver machine…then the argument could be made its a good learning experience for boqvist to learn from experience of teammates turning picks over. Who knows maybe its part of the development plan but i dounbt it. Either way blaming duncan for boqvist development and now injury(?) you gotta be kidding me. Oh…and again lets keep blaming keith here….whos idea is it to pair him with keith? Ridiculous
Zadarov bad play is usually more mental mistakes. I feel such ia correctable
..also hes a big guy and we have a lack of size up fromt. If the team has really and seriously given up on him just put him on wing for goodness sakes..who cares why not? Yes its a ridiculous idea but so is the idea of losing him for basically nothing as rumored . This talk of him fighting is ridiculous. If you expected zadarov to be a fighter i hate to be the bearer of bad news but a history of a broken jaw and surgery thereof may lessen someones desire to be any kind of cinsistent fighter.
Im surprised hes fought at all course i dont know the extent of the jaw injury. Im not even sure what qualifies as a hit in the leageanymore (not that stat keeping was wvwr perfect) but hes among the league leaders in hits….and his missed attempts at his is no doubt a factor in him being out of position now and again and again. His puck play is far more concering though.
Safe to say kanes mvp consideration is gone unless he really hits a stride in these final games. My Canadian friends tell me teams north of the border play terrible defense if they even do at all.
Even with…hiw many rookies this season?…will any finish in the top three in voting for rookie of the year? Doesnt look like it.
@BLUTO
Boqvist himself has said he never worked out until this year. There’s part of the Blackhawks All-Access (or a similar feature) where he is talking specifically about that fact. Acts like he’s amazed at the weights and training equipment that are available to him. It’s not speculation …. it’s his own words as part of a television feature on his attempts to improve.
I will humbly correct myself. Boqvist stated he didn’t grow up working out because he was in a small town. Here is the link where Boqvist and the Blackhawks’ trainer discuss him working out, starting a couple of years ago.
https://www.nhl.com/blackhawks/video/training-ground-adam-boqvist/t-277437096/c-7154102
This is from Blackhawks.com. So Boqvist is described as having been under the tutelage of the trainers for a couple of years in some capacity, and the trainer is saying that Boqvist is now learning what it takes to train, take care of the body, etc.
Very sorry for the error in my previous posts. Take from the video clip what you will.