Blackhawks Lose Strome, Game To Calgary
The Blackhawks came into Tuesday night’s game against the Flames playing well. Only the Blues (in first place) had won as many as Chicago in their last ten in the Central Division; even though the Hawks were in last place with 44 points, they were only six points out of fourth.
And Chicago beat Calgary in their barn 5-3 on New Year’s Eve.
Alex Nylander returned to the lineup for Matthew Highmore as the Blackhawks looked to continue their recent run of improved play. And the opening 20 minutes were solid from Chicago. The Hawks spent a lot of time in the Calgary end of the ice but couldn’t quite beat Cam Talbot. That changed when Dominik Kubalik set up shop in front of Talbot and Adam Boqvist unloaded from the point.
Boqvist and Patrick Kane picked up the assists for Chicago.
After the opening period the Blackhawks had a 14-6 shot advantage and a 1-0 lead on the scoreboard.
The second 20 minutes were the complete opposite of the first.
Calgary tied the game 14 seconds into the second period on Elias Lindholm’s 17th of the season.
Dylan Strome went down awkwardly and immedlately skated to the bench and went to the room. He did not return during the remainder of the period.
In the middle of the period the Blackhawks survived a 5-on-3 very well thanks to terrific work from Jonathan Toews.
However, Lindholm hit a bouncing puck clean at 16 minutes into the second period and beat Corey Crawford on the short side to give Calgary a 2-1 lead. Kirby Dach turned the puck over on the play and, for the effort, got trucked by Matthew Tkachuk after the puck was in the net.
Calgary got more physical as the second period progressed and carried the action. The visitors out-shot the Hawks 14-12 in the second period and held a 2-1 lead off two Lindholm goals after 40 minutes.
One line that was surprisingly strong through the opening two periods was Nylander with David Kampf and Zack Smith. That trio was on the ice together at even strength for almost six minutes (5:51) and generated eight shots on net while only one shot against reached the Chicago cage.
Kane had already put five shots on net in 14:06 through two periods. Duncan Keith had three shots on net and a team-high four blocked shots in 17:39 of the opening 40 minutes.
For those scoreboard watching, before the third period began the Blackhawks already got help from the Rangers (beat the Avs 5-3) and the Preds (one point ahead of the Blackhawks with a new coach) were losing at home to Boston. There was ground to be gained, but the Hawks were chasing one at home.
Strome did not return for the third period with a right ankle injury.
Chicago was called for a penalty in the opening moments of the third period as Erik Gustafsson was guilty of a trip. Calgary kept control of the puck in the offensive zone with an extra attacker on for a good 40-50 seconds before the Hawks were finally able to get a stoppage and begin the penalty kill.
With 77 seconds left on the Calgary power play, Smith put the Blackhawks down two men for the second time in the game.
Crawford made two huge saves during the two-man advantage to keep the score at 2-1. Chicago was able to kill the first penalty. And the second. And the Hawks got a good scoring chance as the second penalty ended as Dach secured a takeaway and Smith tried to feed Kampf on the doorstep.
Chicago got a power play late in the third and Jeremy Colliton opened with Toews, Kane, Dach, Boqvist and Alex DeBrincat (nice). They couldn’t convert on the advantage, however, and the score remained.
Crawford left the ice with two minutes remaining in regulation.
The Hawks got a few good looks but Talbot was good enough to hang on. Calgary out-shot the Hawks 8-6 in the final period; it took 11 minutes in the final frame for the Hawks to register their second shot on goal, however.
Kane finished with seven of Chicago’s 32 shots on net in 23:42 on the ice.
Toews won 15 of 27 faceoffs in the game without Strome for most of the final 40 minutes. He won seven of 11 in the final period.
Colliton showed more confidence in Boqvist and Dach. Boqvist skated 23:08 and Dach was on the ice for 18:33 – both were on the ice in the closing minutes with the empty net.
Keith finished with four blocked shots, three shots and two takeaways in 27:05.
After the morning skate, Stan Bowman met with the media for the first time during the regular season to discuss the first half of the 2019-20 campaign.
Nashville lost their game, leaving the Hawks one point behind the Preds.
Everything from SVP/GM Stan Bowman's media availability after today's morning skate. #Blackhawks https://t.co/1moqZMdTyP
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) January 7, 2020
Crawford some great saves to keep them in the game.
Bowman is a stand up guy — comes out of hiding for the first time all year upon directives from hierarchy bc the Hawks have been playing decently lately. He put the whammy on them instead.
Karma is a killer.
BOWMAN is a poser and a coward! He cannot admit he has destroyed the team with his lack of GM skills which means trades, drafting and signing free agents! All this because he still has not drafted an elite player! Funny how he was talking aboiut Toews draft year as though he drafted him!
And by the way Tab, why does JC put 88 and 19 together at the end with 2 minutes left to try and get a goal? Oh, because that’s all you have right? So why not get the gaols first and let yoiur haker dump and chaser the rest of the game. The Highmore, Carpenter, Smith, Kampf, Quenneville of the world!!! Too funny! Again, who is Jack Wise? 2nd round?
Some interesting dynamics in this game. The new look PP is a great idea. They weren’t overly impressive but changing it up is good. It was changed even before Strome went down.
Kane had some great opportunities. If Kampf or Saad had done what Kane did on those chances, the blogs would be on fire about “no finish.”
Toews was a puck possession beast.
Gilbert seemed solid again.
Strome mishandled the 2 on 1 where he got injured. That’s easy to say when we get to watch replays and he has 1/2 second to make a decision. Nonetheless, it is true.
What did Highmore do to merit a healthy scratch? Nylander was not bad but it would appear that players should “earn” healthy scratches. Maybe Highmore did some stuff I am not aware of or forgot about.
Glad to see the young guys getting put in positions of responsibility at crucial times. Not sure I understand Q on the PP.
Some very questionable hits being doled out by the Flames over the past week. The hit on Dach after the goal was a penalty. It was not an accident. It is open season on DeBrincat and Dach in the NHL.
So why does Dach merit playing with Dcat and Strome? How many goals does he have or assists? Shouldn’t this genuis coach have 88 on that line? Amazing to hear Bowman say 77 has had an impact? When? I like Dach and he deserves to grow but to say today that he has made the HAWKS win is a real JOKE (88 has made uyou win) He’s 18 and needed one more year in Junior! Or Atleast put him as your 3rd line center instead of him taking Kane’s place with Dcat and Strome? What is this? What are the chances that 88 produces with Dcat and Stfrome versus 95 and 22? What a joke! Watching poor Kane haqving to skate with those guys is sad. But hey, the coach and Gm are great! Right McDO?
Didn’t see a lot of urgency after the first – PP sucks – it’s back to being a momentum killer
Well the Hawks lived up to their model of one goal. Outstanding penalty killing. Pathetic power play.
89 Percent of the people on the pregame show said the Hawks will make the playoffs. Not happening. The injury bug alone will kill us.
Agree with Hull65.
It amazes me that the UC continues to be full.
send quenneville back nope no more no thanks experiment failed
After filtering out the superfluous stuff, great catch by Hull re Bowman singing Dach’s praises. He has one goal (it was a big goal, but still) in about 25 games. No assists.
Looks like he will be a good player down the road, but to say he has been playing great and impactful is disingenuous.
What else would we expect from Bowman. His father taught him well.
For a Pre-Allstar Break tilt,that was a huge game to lose.Had as chance to pick up points on a couple of teams and did not go get them.Calgary is a veteran team and played the Hawks very well clogging up all the passing lanes and slowing the transition chances.Again the Flames pretty much pushed the Hawks around all night.I can appreciate 19,s solid penalty killing and faceoff work but he ended the night with 1 shot on goal.You have to get some type of offensive production from your #1 Center.I also appreciate 92s backchecking and hustling to his checking responsibility most of the game but he is billed as an offensive winger.He had 1 shot on goal and was never a threat.I know 77 is 18 years old and a rookie but he has to make himself more of a threat by shooting the puck and working himself into the dangerous scoring areas of the ice.He played over 18 minutes and ended up with 1 shot on goal.95 had no impact at all zeros across the board.He only got 9 minutes of ice.12 was pushed to the outside and was not noticeable or dangerous most of the game.88 was on his own and still was a monster.He deserved a couple tonight.50 was very good in net with a couple of spectacular stops to keep them in it.Bottom line is against teams like the Flames you have to outrun them with transition or get to the hard areas for rebounds.Did not like the roulette wheel that Colliton was spinning after 17 went down as far as lines went but he is who he is.
I was at the game and here are my notes.
1. I’m not sure what Kind of offense even Kane is going to do on a line with Carpenter and Sikura. Sikura skates in circles a lot….. Can we just stick with Kane and Toews playing together till they are done playing?
2. I finally understand Boqvist a lot better seeing him live. His vision and sees plays offensively no problem. Defensively he does not see plays well. He jumbles the puck when backing in trying to win those 50/50 pucks and also doesn’t engage well. He needs to be taught gap control better and cutting down angles and also how to strip pucks and play a more controlled game defensively. He seemed very tentative at times on using any physical play because he was going to take contact. I understand he doesn’t want another concussion but your a defenseman. The things he is so good at offensively he is not good at defensively. Duncan Keith is by far the best player to learn from so I like the coaching move here.
3. Kubalik is a goal scorer, definitely a piece of the future.
4. Nylander has very high end skill. He can stick handle in a phone booth and has good vision on the boards. However, having high end skill on the boards doesn’t do much because you score in between the rings. Kid needs to understand how to get to high percentage areas and shoot instead of using that skill on the boards. This is another one of those players we acquired for his offensive skill and not his two way play…..Will he get to the middle of the ice?
5. Gilbert seems he has lost a little of his edge as far as physicality. I’m not sure if he got his bell rung or what the deal is but only 3 hits? He had an ok game….
6. Kirby Dach….6’4 197 pounds…. he got thrown around a lot tonight. Kid needs to be taken to Gibson’s on a nightly basis and eat some 48 oz porterhouses and hit the weight room…..
Here is my review of the game, means nothing, but…
1.) Sikura should not be playing on a line with Kane, he doesn’t win any battles to get Kane opportunities. In fact, Sikura was so out of place on the ice that he was the worst player out there for both teams.
2.) You could tell that Nylander was focusing on giving better effort, but at times he lapsed, but then remembered that he will get a press box seat and gave effort again. I know that effort is ingrained in a player, and this kid’s tendency is to coast and be a finesse player, and not give max effort. However, his skill-set is not that elite that he can coast. IMHO – he will not be an elite player in the NHL.
3.) Too many dumb giveaways in the defensive zone. We had ample time to clear or pass a puck out of the zone, but guys are waiting for the perfect pass, and then the play quickly closed down. Those are mental mistakes, but they have been making them all year, and are now predictable. The only thing that will break that habit is a trip to the press box. I say call a guy out for making dumb mental mistakes and punish them the next game.
4.) Last night, I was impressed with Crawford, Toews, Kubalik, Kane, Gilbert, Boqvist, Quenneville, Keith, Gustafson, Smith, and Maata.
Oh, Stan should not do any more state of the union addresses, because his credibility is now further eroded. Just shut up Stan!
Quennville isn’t the problem. He looks ok and has done pretty well. Is he a top line guy? Not really but hardly a failed experiment-he is playing up to expectations, perhaps exceeding them. Not many are.
You don’t score by simply moving the puck around the perimeter, you also have to shoot at the net! Five guys standing around like fence posts isn’t and hasn’t worked. Someone on this great coaching staff should be able to figure this out. But wait they were all never was as players so I guess we see why they can’t coach.
Every team makes a “Box” when playing defense.. As do the Hawks as well. Opponents playing Hawks Always have somone IN THE BOX (in front of the Net stationed)… The Hawk on offense Never do— they Always think the initial shoot will be blasted past the goalie. Goalie sees it.. good Luck. Time to DESIGNATE one person per line to be the man in front of net based on players size… Then no excuses on ,” I thought you were gunna be in front, but I thought you were…”
Really not that hard on concept… just watch other team your playing EVERY NIGHT.
PFFFFFF …
With the injury situation at Rockford it looks like Bowman is going to be forced to make a deal for an NHL Center or forward.This organization is going to have to take a hard look at the physicality of their players at all levels.Got to get bigger and stronger skaters.
As great as Kane is he was also the difference in a close, hard fought game. He had a horrible turnover and missed several grade A chances, including a breakaway. It happens to the best of players every now and then. Losing Strome also hurt and these weren’t the Red Wings we were playing. I’ll be happy with that effort night in and night out.
Robs – I’m a Highmore fan but he had a bad d-zone turnover last game and was not as effective. My guess after last night is that he is back in on Thursday and Sikura sits.
Pleased with the effort. We looked undermanned. The better team won. We didn’t make enough breaks for ourselves. At times we look like we are moving forward, and then….
Crow looked good. Hope he can stay healthy, for his sake as much as ours.
Can’t argue with the 5 on 3 kills. Bad penalties yes. But great effort from everyone to get them killed off. Hard work is fun to watch, and it got rewarded.
Undermanned and more so than in quite awhile out manned physically-the Calgary forwards punished the D and some of the forwards.
I like Quenneville. His forecheck is noticeable and creates opportunities. These big and fast teams (Calgary, St. Louis, Washington, Colorado) will always give the Hawks issues. This is a constant then when it comes to playoffs – lots of board-battle style games. It’s sickening that Stan is playing with fire as teams tee off on Boqvist, Dach, Sikura. Those teams know the Hawks lack players who will give retribution. Someone is going to get hurt, and its because we lack the size to counter.
Tim – completely agree that the lack of any physicality is an organization wide issue. I’d love to know the stats on 50/50 pucks last night but it had to be ugly.
Lots of pissing on the Cheerios on here.
A quick reminder for those who a) like Hull, don’t read the injury report, of b) forget what Colliton’s got to use every night right now:
In last night’s 3rd period the Blackhawks were without:
Dylan Strome
Brandon Saad
Andrew Shaw
Brent Seabrook
Calvin de Haan
That’s three of your top 9 forwards and two regular defensemen missing.
In their places (w/ the exception of Strome, who put the Hawks down a man because of injury):
John Quenneville
Dylan Sikura
Alex Nylander
Dennis Gilbert
If you swap out a healthy Saad & Shaw for Quenneville and/or Nylander/Sikura, do you think the Blackhawks’ offense is deeper? More effective? Has better balance?
We can complain all we want – and many of us have – about the roster Bowman constructed for this season. But to whine daily (Hull) about the lines and lacking depth when those key guys are missing is ignoring reality: the Blackhawks are banged up right now. The most important part of any night’s lineup is HEALTH. The Hawks don’t have that right now.
knox,
Dach is only 18 years old and was the right pick in the draft. Boqv looks really good and his D will improve just like Keith and Brents did.
Nylander has so much talent yet to your point he does not know how to get to the net. It is baffling me.
Tab, yes injuries have hurt us as I would include Robin #1 as well. It is hard to win with Nylander, Highmore, and Skiura playing. The Hawks have a good team that only needs a few pieces especially if they resign Robin which would fill a huge hole from last year. I like our DEF without GUS and DeHaan is in. Gilbert and Seabrook can rotate with Maata as the third pair.
The injury problem can be placed on Bowman.Shaw,s Concussion issues have been well documented.Montreal was relieved to trade him.Dehaan 4 Shoulder surgeries were no secret to the Hawks.Seabrooks multiple issues with hips,shoulders,etc.was also well known before the season.Cagula,s concussion history was also known.Bowman knew he had no physical centers to play against the horses in his division and did nothing.Jesus,you have eyes!You know that you are being pushed around and physically dominated yet you keep throwing undeveloped players out there praying that they dont get killed and can compete.Please spare us from the whoa is me look at all the injuries nonsense.Completely healthy this team is still far behind the rest of the division.
Probert- your scheme sounds VERY complicated!!
I like it… “put ONE man in front of the net!”
It’s clearly NOT “Science Rockets”!
Go Hawks….
Hang in there HULL.Some hockey fans choose to reside in fantasy land and dont want to hear the plain truth.Its always excuses for losing organizations.
Q has caught my eye a few times. How many games has he played? Not bad so far.
How does the Seattle draft interact with unsigned RFA? Would giving Strome a one year deal work best for the Blackhawks? Just my opinion but Strome has not earned himself a big contract.
Easy to say the Blackhawks had a good penalty kill. Not to be a negative Nelly but that Calgary power play looked awful and I dont think its because the Blackhawks made it look that way for the most part. Calgary helped a lot in killing their own power play. Crow looked good. KEITH did at times too. The post game show with Steve and Jamal was really good. Jamal is a good analyst.
And there is also the 800 pound Gorilla in the room that is the Hawks #1 Center sitting at 10 Goals 21 Assists and a -6 Plus/Minus which places his as the 31st ranked Center in the league.Even on a bad team you have to get much more out of him.
A game Hawks could have won, but once again found a way to lose another home game. Hawks played hit the goalie of missed the net with quality scoring chances. As always a game of inches. Perhaps Talbot book is to shoot 5 hole on him because it seems that’s where lots of Hawks in close chances tried to find. Overall, I can’t fault the effort last night, especially the PK. Too many players not moving around when Hawks go on the man advantage.
So both recent games against Flames revealed an aggressive physical strategy against the Hawks that saw almost no push back. In both games Lucic just abused Connor Murphy. Would have loved to see Murph dish some back to that lumbering moron who seems really be struggling on his skates these days. Murphy needs to play that role more often on the back line as he is a bigger guy. Bennett of course hammered multiple Hawks in New Years eve game and again no pushback from the Hawks. Tkachuk drills (cheap shots)Dach after Calgary scored and not one player on the Hawks even went for a minimal face wash attempt at retaliation. I have seen some minor regression in Gilberts play the past few games. His physical game really toned down alot and I think he hurt his shoulder last week, and just doesn’t want to dance with anyone right now and risk a more serious injury. Hawks must play with a more physical edge, especially against teams like Calgary. Yes, I know Hawks have a growing injury list which is as large as we have seen on this team for a few years. I will quietly state the Hawks actually have been pretty lucky injury wise compared with the rest of the league, but that’s not backed up by any stats. The way Strome went down last night didn’t look good at all, so we may not see him a for a few weeks either. Saad come back soon.
Lehner is back practicing which is good news. The way Hawks keepers have played remains a big positive on this season. Preds game tomorrow should be very competitive. Big game for both teams. Peter Laviolette coaching the Hawks would work with me….
Let’s Go Hawks!
2020 your defense you want, 2, 7, 6, 27, 5, 44 and 39 ,caphit would be 26.75m. Resigning Lehner and backup be 7.5m or so. Toews, Kane, Saad, Debrincat, Shaw, Dach, Carpenter, Kampf, Quenville and Nylander are right around 42m, if Strome and Kubalik can be signed for a combined 6.5m caphit that is around 82.5 to 83m with one more forward spot to fill and 83.5 to 84m expected cap ceiling. Smith only one under contract for next year not there. Crawford could be moved too maybe to cover bonus overages ( a issue with using this seasons ltir space). That’s with 56, 91 not reupped, or counting on any ltir next season. Either need trades or ltir available all year to bring in any impact bodies or luck out on lottery pick and get a Nhl ready body again.
Honest unsigned Rfas are not exempt, they need protected like a roster player.
Bonuses earned added to final caphit at end of season on June 30th. If room isn’t available to cover them, then the remainder is pushed onto next years cap hit to be counted all season afainst daily hit, not something they would want to do.
Tommie Ivan, my sentiments exactly on the Nylander and Sikura take. When I watch Sikura, it seems like he’s almost faking it out there. Just too frail any way to be playing at the NHL level.
Cagguila back tomorrow, Strome soon and Saad due in another week or so. When healthy hope to see lines
8 19 88
12 77 17
20 64 92 see if they can spark him like 8
91 22 15 36 or 47 if 15 moved
Too many injuries and too much middle of the road depth and prospect pool.
All we can expect is honest, consistent effort and someone providing a clear, truthful vision to get better. I’m starting to shake my head and say “you’re kidding, Bowman might actually keep his job? Why?”
TSN just released its top 50 nhl affiliated prospects. No one from the Hawks made the list. No depth at the NHL or AHL level. Good job Stan
Noonan – well spoken. Bowman has not provided a clear and truthful vision, publically or otherwise. Zero accountability.
Aside from personnel issues, over the last few years, Bowman is also responsible for firing a highly productive, experienced and successful (albeit filthy rich in this spectrum) employee in Queneville. And thereafter hiring an inexperienced, non productive and unsuccessful replacement.
At least when Bill Wirtz had Pulford running everything all those years we all knew what the deal was. This is disgraceful.
Phil,Very astute observations.I too saw the Tkachuk leveling of Dach,oh lets just call it what it was he got punched in the face and knocked down after the Flames 2nd goal.It happened not only in front of 2 Officials but about 4 Hawk Players.When you have the hockey package and flip around to several games there are many universal truths and reactions that you can expect when a situation like that occurs.First of all an all out line brawl,or one of your bigger players immediately dragging Tkachuk away from the pack for a true fight,and lastly the decked player rises and goes directly after Tkachuk.Phil as you well know none of those things came remotely close to occurring.As a team you have to have a response to that.I worry about the Dach lack of response also.Some of the negatives in the scouting reports on him were that he is a very laid back go along type of player who lacked an edge for a variety of reasons.Pretty sure after enjoying numerous posts from the group here that to a man or woman there would be a definitive and decisive response to this whether we were the target or just a team mate on the ice.
It’s fine to criticize Bowman for not having any players on the top 50 NHL affiliated prospects list as long as you weren’t one of those that advocated for sending Dach back to junior and for Boquist to spend more time in the AHL because they would both be on the list (and high up) if they weren’t already in the NHL and having 2 players on a 50 player list with a league of 31 teams would be above average
Just saying…
However it is disappointing that Mitchell is not on that list
However disappointing that Mitchell is not on that list – wonder why?
I will never understand Colliton. I truly think he has no clue. 36 sits for 92? Why? 36 had a really solid game. So…reward him with a scratch. Okay. Why do we see 88 & 19 when things are desperate? Why not 8-88-19 to start with? Dach is not ready for the 2nd line. I like the kid. But, he’s not ready…yet. With Strome hurt…why not call up Hagel? Put him with 12 and 77. I don’t mind 22 on that 3rd line with 47 and 95. Please, don’t mess with the 4th line of 15-64-36. Their chemistry and effectiveness is obvious. If the hawks called up Tyler Sikura…that would be okay too. The two brothers had obvious chemistry at the AHL level. Okay…I’m just looking for any kind of spark from a frustratingly average team that is equally frustrating in their inconsistent play from game to game.
I thought the Hawks played a pretty good game. Effort was good and passing wasn’t bad which are the two ingredients necessary for the Hawks to have a chance to win a game. Their goalie was just one goal better than our goalie and the Hawks have such a slim margin of error that the result was a loss.
Oh well, moving on …
when Dach and Boquist are your only two high end prospects on a team that is mediocre at best says a lot about the team development . Mitchell has yet to sign so there is no guarantee he is coming. When you have to call up Sikura or hope Nylander pans out on a team that has cap issues ( not counting ltir) says a lot about the future of the team. IMO it’s time for Stan to go.
Instead of saying Stan should be fired. My question is what has Stan done to warrant him keeping his job
I guess Mitchell is ineligible for the list because he isn’t signed?
Makes sense
Not an apologist for Bowman just stating the obvious – that Dach and Boqvist would be on that list if they weren’t already in the NHL
Lots of things to criticize Stan for – I just don’t think that list is one of them
Opinions in a vacuum. It’s easy to criticize something when juxtaposed to nothing. Expecting Stan to be better than what your opinion thinks he should be is building your case on nothing more substantial than your opinion. We’re all entitled to have opinions – but that’s all they are – opinions based on nothing more than our opinions.
Remember when Doug Wilson was the cat’s meow of NHL GM’s according to hockey message board experts – what happened? Or how about David Poile’s singularly unique ability to run the Nashville team – did he get stupid overnight? Or how about our own favorite Dale Tallon who everyone knows deserves all the credit for the Hawks 3 Cups – did he misplace his mojo when he moved to Florida?
Stan isn’t perfect – none of them are. Stan has made mistakes – all of them do.
Didnt see much of game. Saw that we were up 22-12? in shots. Then watched us kill a 5 on3 for 1 full min and then the 5 on 4. Watch us get some good shots, still outplaying them. Then they get a goal, when we should have cleared the zone ro something, uh.
With the injuries we have played good in 9 of 12 games here. We deserve to be 9-3 playing good in 9 and were 7-5. Not what we deserve for the hard work and effort. That happens though.
Rememeber it was better to be 12? or what ever we were at the lottery draft, then what we could have been like 8 or 9th or something because of winning last couple games of 82 games. Then we got rewarded. So this 7-5 instead of a 9-3 that we deserve based on hard work and effort, might be blessing in disguise.
Sometimes the long shot pays off the most.
These opinions that posters are offering are not generated out of thin air or reading a beat writers column.These opinions are based on watching hours upon hours of NHL Hockey which includes the Hawks competition.Hockey fans are not casual about their interest in the game.They are passionate and have a bad taste in their mouth when the team that they are fans of continue to lag behind.Most of us here have been watching NHL Hockey our entire lives,in most cases on this site well over 40 years,so when someone dares criticize Stan Bowman it is for good reason.We know when a team is lacking the base talent year after year.For years we have watched this organization clinging on to the past.This organization is in a shambles compared to the competition.They need bigger physical players that play with an edge and they need them yesterday.Thats my juxtaposed opinion that I believe is based on some observational knowledge of the game.
And yes Wilson and Poile made dumb moves handing out large contracts to questionable players.You dont put together championship teams by going out and obtaining other teams high priced and underperforming problems in hopes that your organization will motivate them to greatness.You develop your own and are sly enough to know where those hidden gems are and when to grab them.
Maybe Kane plays with #22 due to rotting on defense & coach looking to keep puck somewhat out of our net due to our High powered Offense ? Kane dis fine playing with Anisimov who who slow as fk too… js
LETS GO HAWKS!
Wake up!
Tim
Although I agree that hockey fans are more tuned in than they are in some other sports. I totally agree with that Bowman hasn’t done a good job. I could write a thesis on this.
Side note there are a lot of hawk fans that for a variety of reasons haven’t been hawks fans for over the last 40 years hawks went out their way limited access to the team for a long time to a lot of people
My father in law lives in Indiana and has been a Sox, bears, illini fan for about 50 years. has only been a Hwaks fan over the last decade since he lived in Indiana.
I don’t care if Stan gets fired or not. It won’t make one iota of difference in my life. What I care about regarding my almost 50+ year passionate love for the Hawks is that they provide me with real life problem escaping entertainment and win as often as possible. Winning is cyclical – the system is set up to be so. We were on top for a while and now were not. It’s the way it goes regardless who the GM is and whether or not he passes muster with the fans.
Sounds like you subscribe to the old Bobby Knight theory on dealing with an inevitability.I dont.There is no reason not to be competitive and successful by making the proper personell choices and having a vision that goes beyond just making the playoffs or selling out the United Center for the next few years.Winning Stanley Cups is Cyclical,winning hockey is not.
Amazing to me that San Jose fired DeBoer and Nashville fired Laviolette. Two teams that have been to the Stanley Cup Final and the Conference Final since the Hawks won the Cup in 2015.
In fact you could make the argument that the Laviolette led north-south predators Hockey in the 2017 sweep of the Hawks was the straw that broke the camels back.
Rash decisions followed in the trades of Panerin and Nik. H.
Now in 2020, with their teams struggling 41 games into the season, both are fired.
Meantime Bowman tells the media on Tuesday we are only “a couple “ points out.
Not really ! A couple means 2. We are 5 points back with a bunch of teams in front of us to get to 8th. So the new bar is finish 8th in the Conference? Wow. No thanks.
Admit this is a rebuild. Sell Gustafson, Crawford at the deadline. Off load Maatta and Smith to contenders looking for veterans with the Hawks picking up some salary.
We won’t miss any of those guys at the June draft or July 1 free agency.
ER-I get your sentiment and it makes a lot of sense. Most of my reason for wanting a new GM has nothing to do with good moves vs. mistakes of even the standings. Like all GMs he has had highs and lows.
What I think about is that now is the time to look to a new person, with the passion, patience and critical awareness to do the heavy lifting needed to make the Hawks relevant again. I would think it would be hard to reach the pinnacle so many times and then slug away to reach back up, all while having to weigh saving your own job, keeping the seats filled and putting the best team on the ice and keeping the future prospect pool stocked to help. Every good hockey person has his day-and a side note, some humility would go a long way right now.
(the fact that the building is full to this day is amazing and the Hawk fans and the city of Chicago should be proud of their dedication, but it masks the simple fact that this team isn’t ready to win now and there are cracks/obstacles in the ability to win in the years to come.)
Filled stadium for Hawks because they at one point put a product out of championship caliber, and results. Think Cubs – and how long as fans we supported that team without much fuss. The Sox didn’t get the same love as the Cubs (and yes, I am a Cubs fan first).
I wrote last spring or so that this season is now completely a team build of Bowman. While I understand what he did to bolster the defense (I must be one of the loudest critics here of not having a legitimate top pair guy, let alone 2), I still don’t like the direction of the personnel in our system. We simply don’t have any forwards that look to be pretty sure things as top 6 players, and we have to pray that one or more of our young Dmen can make top 4, let alone top pair. Hype them all you want – it is still a crap shoot, and we likely won’t know for another 2 years who the real prospects to be good are down there.
I like that we got grittier players like Smith and Carpenter that are legitimate players for the roles they were in (now line juggling kinda messes with that). Shaw was a risk as was deHaan. Not the endings we hoped for. Lehner obvious a big plus and a great signing.
I firmly believe that we cannot get near the top again on this path. It is going to take some bigger moves to get the quality of players we need – a top pair Dman that is such before 3 years from now, and a top line scorer that also can play inside his own defensive zone. We currently are hoping the Dman is in our system. Go get one please.
I like Dach – but let the kid grow up too right now. He needs to physically mature or we will get him killed. He doesn’t need 20 minutes a night yet. That should be for his safety and our security.
For me, this TDL is a time when we will really see what Bowman is planning. If we don’t move some of these players and get some more QUALITY into our system – or higher draft picks – then I am done with Bowman as I stated previously. He has assets now that can be moved. Missing the playoffs is likely, so quit playing games and fix the mess.
Kubalik – big win. Panarin – big win. But we can only get lucky like that so many times. I get the Panarin trade. I get the Hammer trade (and actually like that one a lot). Hammer had a lot of miles, HARD miles. He has broken down several times since going to the desert. Murphy struggled to get in Q’s graces – first player to ever have that problem. Dcat – great job. Now someone tell him he isn’t Pat KAne and needs to play at the other end too, and be FAR more responsible with the puck. And selfish in good scoring areas. The guy can shoot! Get offensive please!
Contracts are a big problem – Seabrook mainly. But Keith (not so much the cost, but the length) is also in the way right now, in my opinion. If he is teaching – that is a GREAT thing. Otherwise – please find a way to get him out of the way.
Morrison talks about trades and then re-signing the same player. I like that for Lehner, but not sure it can work with the quality of team we currently have. I do think he needs to be sacrificed for the greater good of the team come TDL. He’s our best chip.
Get it done Stanley, or get gone.
Noonan – you make a sound argument that I don’t disagree with.
Noonan, I want the Wirtz reset for those reasons. Why we didnt keep Q, fine. Then when whoever whatever system were doing isint working and then working well. Then get another system like SJ/NAS.
Keep at it. If were not keeping Q, then we shouldnt be keeping gm/crew/coaches after awhile/ Kaap at it, in terms of finding the right system that is going to work really good and get the roster proper. Its not right for other teams to target or get away with stuff, just because.
They should be worried because right now we have nothing to loose and should knock there heads off with some bad as players. Not the other way around. Then when we have good system again and proper roster, have enough guys to keep it balanced with enough defending our guys when we are hit.
Dunks did it well. Because the refs and league arnt doing shit.