Blackhawks Reassign 12 Players, Cut Roster To 33
On Saturday the Blackhawks reassigned 12 players, cutting the training camp roster to 33.
Forwards Dylan Sikura, Matthew Highmore, Brandon Hagel, Philipp Kurashev, Mikael Hakkarainen, Alexandre Fortin, Reese Johnson, MacKenzie Entwistle, defensemen Nicolas Beaudin, Joni Tuulola, Lucas Carlsson and goaltender Matt Tomkins were sent down.
Just some observations.
1. Kubalik has a cannon
2. Gilbert is a force in the defensive zone
3. Dahlstrom is a liability
4. Seabrook and Matta look great together, very efficient
5. Boqvist looks great in the ozone, still 50/50 in dzone. Do we need a Gustafson and a Boqvist on the roster. Bowman figure it out!!!!
6. I would really like to see Dehaan.
7. A little surprised Hagel was sent down???
8. When do we get to see Dach???? Stupid concussions….
9. Nylander looks good not great to me, is this trade bait or is he the real deal putting him with Toews and Kane????
10. Holm looks good
11. Crow is still the best goal tending option
12. Kurashev?
13. God I miss Shaw….
14. Saarella is a goal scorer
15. Sikura should not make the team
16. Nothing impressive about Beaudin
17. Why do I always say how much are we paying for Murphy?
18. Ian Mitchell please stop going to school :). I would to see how good you are??? I think you are the best defensive prospect….
19. Jake Wise???
20. Really ready for hockey to start and stop watching Kimberly serve up meatballs in the 9th….
I don’t understand why Nylander is paired with 19/88 when Kubalik would slot right in. Maybe JC wants to recreate the 88/72 combination with the cross ice passes and one timers…I don’t know.
I think Ian Mitchell has a great attitude and a high compete level, but I don’t see him with a high ceiling. Hope he proves me wrong.
I wish Dylan Sikura all the success in the world, but I think the best hockey world for him is Europe.
Kurashev was my dark horse to challenge for a spot but I guess not. Still like him, and would like to see him earn top line status in Rockford. I still don’t know if Strome is the real deal and you can never have enough centers so looking for Kurashev to do well enough to insert himself into the conversation.
It’s seems that some guys are given an extended audition to succeed on the top lines. Sikura was given that opportunity and proved that actually he is a just a small, weak guy with good but not great speed who has a skill set and hockey IQ that may make for an ok AHL career but falls way short of being NHL caliber. Be always the weakest guy on the ice, easily horsed by the grownups means that he isn’t bottom six NHL material where grit and tenacity are important. In the Washington preseason game the Hawks lost in overtime as Sikura just watched Tom Wilson just skate by him to score. He looked like he was terrified that Wilson would run him over. Perhaps there is a European league that he could excel in.
Nylander is now the guy being given the audition treatment. He seems to have a much better set of physical attributes and skills than Sikura. Hopefully that will lead him to succeed. We all know the knocks on him but like Strome hopefully that’s in the rear view mirror.
Kane is going to play RW so ideally the LW who plays with Kane should shoot right so he’s open for one-timers. Nylander is right handed and he has a good shot so he is better suited to be the LW on Kane’s line than Kubalik because Kubalik shoots left. Kubalik’s best position is RW precisely because as a left shot he can fire off one-timers from the right side.
I think the best top-9 would be with Dach playing where Wedin played tonight:
Nylander-Toews-Kane
Cat-Strome-Shaw
Saad-Dach-Kubalik
Colliton didn’t trust Wedin to play much in a close game in the 3rd period against a team of Ahlers, so he probably doesn’t get regular 3rd line spot. After the way he talked about how much he liked that line with Kampf there after last game, likely goes back to them again. Unless he had an injury or something.
If Dach going to get a shot would like to see him get a look as right hand shot on lw with 19 and 88. Don’t think it’s in the cards for 77, 8 and 92 to all start season on Nhl roster.
Excellent point Ebony on Kane playing the off wing. Hence the other win has to be a right handed shot to open up options for his saucer passes. In other words, forehand pass cross ice to forehand
None of the players sent down really surprised me. Beaudin needs some seasoning and experience playing the faster game but I think he’s coming along. Better days ahead for this kid. Sicura is last year’s extended look that couldn’t find the net if he was checked into it. Enjoy the bus rides. Mitchell could one day be a bottom pairing D but the past few years we’ve had 6 too many. Boqvist can’t develop fast enough for me but time heals that. Glad they packaged Forsberg and Forsling for deHann and predictable defense. Too many shots and scoring chances given up. Crow is still the man until someone else runs him over accidentally on purpose. Like the top 9 Eb put up, hope that equals hockey into May
Knox, I agree with the majority of what you said, but not about Beaudin. He’s traditionally taken a while to blend in, but when he does, he does it like a high speed blender. Last year, he was a +60 on his Junior team. I don’t believe any eventual Blackhawk has EVER done that.
Agree on the rightshot on lw wing with 19 and 88, Colliton brought that up too in one of his post game interviews the other day.
Saw a quote the other day about Jack Hughes play and it was, his hands know what his feet are doing, his feet know what his hands are doing, and his eyes know what everybody else on the ice us doing. To me Nylander seems to be struggling in all 3 of those areas right now. No doubt he has the skill and likely gets more opportunity and hopefully he shows he is an elite player.
11 (8) 19 88
12 19 65
20 77 92
15 (91) 22 8(11)
Dylan Sikura to play the in Europe in the British league.
JC needs to explain how an AHL team from Boston took 39 shots against pratically the starting lineup in Chicago. Where’s Joel?
A show of hands … who expects Colliton’s system should be yielding good results after 1 week in training camp while at the same time the coaching staff is trying to sort through a couple dozen players to decide who makes the team and who get’s sent to Rockford?
39 shots against in a preseason game – the sky is falling ! ! ! !
This is a possible opening night line-up …
Probably 80% my preference and 20% what I think the Hawks will actually do.
Kaggiula-Toews-Kane (Kaggiula’s magic for Toews/Kane. He’s ordinary elsewhere.
DeBrincat-Strome-Kubalik (Now Strome has two apple barrels)
Smith-Dach-Shaw (Shaw & Smith do better with skill/tough combo, protect Dach
Saad-Carpenter-Perlini (Speedy line which organically morphs into PK).
Keith & Boqvist (Stay-at-home with a rover)
Maata & Seabrook (Shot blocking tandem)
Gustafsson & Murphy (Stay-at-home with a rover)
Nylander 13th forward (He’ll ascend as he logs diligent shifts)
Holm 7th D (Plain Jane D man out of nowhere, but never makes a mistake).
Crawford / Lehner (Maybe the best 1/1A Goalie tandem in the league)
Healthy Scratches and P/T Starters: Quennville (tough/skill) + Kampf (cap friend)
If Kampf wasn’t so cheap, I’d prefer Sareela – Team leading scorer on the AHL Calder Cup winner last year. Likely to be a call-up. Icehogs will be fun to watch
Kidding aside, I still believe Perlini and Zack Smith need to be in the lineup for some grit otherwise apart from Saad, this team will get pushed around again with the likes of Nylander, Dcat, Kubalik, Wedin, Kane, Cagg, etc….
But the good news is our depth this year. And hopefully DACH can stick atround to play 3rd line center.
The lack of physicality on this team is very noticeable. Could hurt us as the season wears on. Size does not equate to being physical. Example: Perlini.
To me, Gilbert is lacking in skating ability.
Don’t see Nylander being on the first line in the long run. He looks very inconsistent from shift to shift. Doesn’t seem to be a driving force out there- almost timid at times.
@Ebonyraptor, a modest proposal: Kane *can* play on the LW and Kubalik can play on the RW to take advantage of his shot. Kane is more of a playmaker than a sniper anyway. Kane rarely one-times his goals, he’s very patient with the puck, so playing on the RW isn’t necessary for him to be effective if he’s playing with a sniper. Kubalik can play on the LW too, but he has a much harder shot and one-timer that’s more dangerous than Kane’s, so I’d say why not try Kane-Toews-Kubalik, with Kane and Kubalik interchanging if needed? Kubalik has some playmaking and defensive skill too, so it should be a great line.
Sven, I think moving the best RW on the planet to LW to accomodate an unproven rookie seems like a bad idea. Kane is a great setup man and can probably be very good from the left side too – but his left handed positioning gives him the backside angles that he does as well or better than anyone – why mess with that? He has employed a one-timer into his repertoire the last few years and that is most effective from the off hand position.
Don’t mess with success.
@Ebonyraptor I guess. But in the end I don’t think it matters all that much where Kubalik plays. He seems to have played as LW in the Swiss league anyway and had great success there, so why not try it if he’s used to it?
Kane has had great success with right shot left wingers, Panarin, Debrincat on pp, Sharp etc. Colliton has indicated that’s his preference to try to find someone. Fact is though outside of Nylander and Dach options are scarce. Shaw can certainly play there and shoots right but isn’t going to fill that type of role. So if they aren’t the answer this year, unless he intends on landing a Puljujarvi or Laine type acqusition, players like Kubalik, Saad, Caggiula will get a chance there eventually unless he finds lightning in a bottle first.
@Ian Nylander doesn’t look like a top line guy to me. Colliton seems to have started realizing that, because he barely played Nylander with Kane and Toews in the third period, letting Caggiula and Saad take their turns on the first line. Nylander always seems a step behind Toews and Kane and provides very little defensively, putting an extra burden on Toews.
So unless Dach makes the team (which seems unlikely at this point), it will be a left-hand shot winger anyway. Nylander shouldn’t get the place on the top line by the virtue of his right-hand shot alone.
I think Shaw is a better option. Even Caggiula is, he was good with Toews and Kane there last season, enabling Toews to be more offensive.
I am really confused by Brian Athern’s comment. It sounds like you are making negative judgements on 2 players that didnt even play this pre season. Mitchell and DeHaan. DeHaan can not be worse than the dumpster fire the Hawks trotted out there last year, and it netted us Saarela, who looks like a capable goal scorer. All for the high price of two below average players at their respective positions
Hawks need 2 things to be successful:
1. At least one speedy forechecker on each line. Shaw, Caggiula, Perlini, Kubalik, Kampf.
2. A physical, speedy line to check opposing teams first line, leaving Toews free to create offensively.
Nilsson and Holm on waivers. That leaves 30, if as expected Boqvist, Golbert and Delia are reassigned that leaves 27. If Dach and Quenneville start year on ir that lesves 25. Thought i heard a comment last night that because they are starting year in Europe they can stay at 25 until back home. So may not need any more than those moves until back from Prague.
As everyone knows, Kane is a genius passer and if you get open he will get you the puck – it’s hardly the case that he his less effective creating chances for left hand shooting linemates. Panarin was unique (as is Debrincat) – very few guys bury chances like they do, so I think it’s a bit wishful to expect Nylander – a guy whose major credential is that he was a high pick and still a lot to prove – to slot in there. On the other hand, Kubalik is by all accounts the better player right now and scores goals. It doesn’t sound like Nylander has does enough to cement a spot with 19/88. Let’s see what Kubalik can do on the top line.
Knox, good thoughts think same on that stuff and cant wait for Mitch. I think the Horsemen are going to be good, every one of them. Moar deepness.
Funny I read somewhere that Maatta and Seabs would be a disaster pair and here they are kicking it.
I to like Kurashev a lot and theres a few guys that are, close.
It wasnt just 72 is was Sharpy for a decade doing that right hand shot from LW.
Allen, those are some good lines and I always like the bottom 6 when it has 20 and 65. We just have so many guys this yr like 15 65 and good 4th liners. Man are we fukking deep.
Allen, you what 91 reminds me of is 82 when we had 82 19 81.
When we had 4 lines this deep in 2010 we had 82 on 1st LW and that is like Caggiula.
Missed the game last night – how did Wedin look at 3C?
Mo, I like your Caggiula/Kopecky comparison from the perspective of the role each plays – they both play an aggressive “wild hare” forechecking style which works well with skill players as it disrupts the opponent and allows the skilled line mates to be creative. Size wise though – not close – Kopecky was 5 inches taller and 30 pounds heavier than Caggiula.
Powers wrote a piece after his interview with Bowman re: Dach
It’s clear from Bowman that they’re going to get Dach healthy and give him a real look at the NHL level before deciding on whether to keep him up or send him back.
He said it might take 9 games to decide or less but that they’ll know if he’s ready or not – no decision has been made nor will it be made until Dach has had a chance
Music to my ears!
Wrap, yea when I mentioned something very similar to that the other day. I was thinking thats what makes the most sense and we should be doing that exactly.
Don’t carve anything in stone, re line combinations. The added depth will push them into the playoffs. The best they have looked in September for a few years.
Many players will move up and down the lineup depending on their performance. All of them are going to be needed for the Hawks to become a contender again. Rolling four lines is the best recipe for success.
Also Crawford/ Lehner, ie 1a and 1b will help stabilize an average defense core.
Looks for great seasons from Kane Toews, Strome, DeBrincat, and Kubalik, Crawford, Lehner and Keith.
Can’t wait for the real season to start.
GO HAWKS…
Also think Saad might have a great season as well
Yea having a full roster those guys wil be able, to play, as good as they really are. When they are double teamed like last two or so yrs its harder, even though certain guys had career numbers. Career numbers and career yrs are two different things to me. The top players could have a better yr this yr and the coming yrs and not put up as many points, stats wise.
Roll 4 lines baybaaaay!
The benefish, to those fukking fans, you know, has returned.
Knox, in general, I am humbled by your hockey knowledge. Typically, I learn from you even though I’m 62. However, when you ask the question (and I’m paraphrasing) “Do we really need Gustaffson and Boqvist on the same roster?” My answer is, “Hell, yeah! Even if Colliton’s vaunted defensive system develops like the Star Wars “Force” you still have to score goals to win games. We ain’t gonna win 0 to minus 1 EVER! I love the idea that, many nights, opponents will need to score 5 goals instead of 4 to beat us. Colliton just needs to stress to his players that somebody always has to replace Gustaffson/Boqvist at the point whenever they opt to rove – which is often.
JordyHawk, I like Kubalik on the DeBrincat, Strome line. Can you imagine? Every game will be two barrels of apples for Strome. Every shift, he’ll be blessed with this option … “Do I want the Cat to score from the goalies right side or do I want Kubalik with his 100 mpg wrist shot scoring from the goalies left side. Even if Strome himself only nets 20 goals, he’ll finish the season with a minimum 80 points. I’ve done tons of research. This line-up is better offensively, faceoff-wise, hit-wise, fighting-wise, blocking shots, etc. One thing I think the coaching staff is missing though is Kagguila usage. Keep him with Tazer and Kane and he deepens your core with his puck getting attributes (see last years stats). Separate him from Toews and Kane, and you have just a warm body. Still, many more fun possibilities with this group. Can’t wait for Zach, Quennville, Carpenter, Shaw and Gilbert to be in the vanguard of a good old-fashioned brawl of a game. Nothwithstanding … cough … PC … cough … I don’t approve of fighting. Sneeze … Bettman hasn’t injected enough estrogen into this era’s NHL. After all the diminished fighting appealed to causal dainty fans and eliminated the need for a tight salary cap, right? RIGHT? BS! I got into a number of hockey fights back in the day. At this point, I couldn’t even tell you where I got hit, it was so inconsequential.