Blackhawks Recall Lankinen, Lehner Injured
Even though he finished the game in Vancouver (in spite of three instances where it appeared he was injured), Robin Lehner’s knee is apparently a problem. He missed Saturday’s practice because of the injury and the Blackhawks recalled Kevin Lankinen from Rockford on an emergency basis.
Lankinen, 24, was named a 2020 AHL All-Star for the first time on Friday. He has a 7-7-1 record with a 3.17 goals against average and a .905 save percentage this season with Rockford.
Lehner’s right knee was landed on late in the third period in Vancouver and he stayed down on the ice until the trainers came out to speak with him. Coach Jeremy Colliton could have removed Lehner because of injury twice earlier in the game after he was hit in the collarbone/neck areas with high shots, but he remained in the game. Colliton left him in the game again after the knee issue and the Canucks scored the go-ahead goal soon after. In case one needs legal help they can contact experts based in Rosemead criminal defense lawyers to help with their case.
I may sound like a broken record but something has to be done to protect the goalies in this league! Either the NHL needs better rules protecting the blue paint ( how about 5 min major for running the goalie !) and/or teams need to retaliate to some of the brutal hits on their net-minders.
Newton’s laws of physics can’t be denied when a 6’+, 200+ lb forward hits, at full tilt, a stationary object of 6’2”+, 200+ lb goalie- something’s gonna give!?
Hopefully it’s not a serious injury for him.
re: Hawk4life – so in your “must protect the goaltenders” world the appropriate response would be to hit the other goaltender if yours get hit? Got it.
Also, fwiw, Lehner is listed at 6-4 and 240 lbs. Tanner Pearson is listed at 6-1 and 201 lbs. Nothing about how Pearson landed on Lehner as “full tilt,” either.
Wondered if that would be a problem going forward. Didn’t look good at all when it happened. I was surprised when he did not exit.
Konroyd had been talking about Crawford’s exit at the trade deadline just the game before, and I have thought that is what the Blackhawks would do. Crawford is 35 now, and looking for a contract. Can’t really see the Blackhawks intending to extend an offer to him at his age, and if they could send him to a contender and get DECENT pick positions, it would seem like the smart thing to do. But if Lehner’s injury is relatively serious, this kind of gunks up the works for that.
How bout the coach removing his goalie when he knows he is hurt? Totally inexcusable…. Fire him & bring up King!
Hawks goaltending and Kane’s HOF brilliance are the only two things keeping this house of cards from collapsing: No matter how good the goaltending, it won’t hold up with highest shots per game in nhl: shots will go in and goalies will get injured due to overuse and increased exposure to this kind of hit.
Ironically, if you look at the replay, the hawk D man had some responsibility for how the F fell on Lehner, so it wasn’t a “run” as some perceived it, but there are just too many shots on net and too much net front traffic for this kind of thing not to happen.
Hawks’ goalies handle 36 shots per game. NHL average shots per game are 15-18% less. It is simple math that our goalies will get injured more and break down more. In short, it is unsustainable and frankly unfair for the goalies to have to handle a disproportionate load.
Underlying historical management and drafting and GM problems with this team are the big picture of why we are floundering but that is a much longer story. This situation is pretty simple and was predictable. Crow probably will get injured again too if this workload stays constant. Unfortunately, it will likely be his coconut again, and he is running out of curable concussions IMO. Watch out for the Malkin types who know the Hawks are very beatable without L or Crow and have no problem kneeing Crow in the head after the whistle to further that end.
Excellent post GoForFour!
I do hope Lankinen gets a game in. He most likely won’t but since his gold medal for Finland Ive been curious aboot him.
Then again Crow has been pulled from the net alot lately so he just might.
Also Detroit is next. Could be New Jersey all over again. Guhhh.
TAB,So if I am understanding your point correctly,you are good with landing on the goalie as long as its not “Full Tilt” and in this case Lehner is 6ft4 and 240 LBS?With that criteria,is it ok to land on or hit Crawford?The point of all of this is that the Hawks need to defend the front of their net and put their bodies on the right side of their checks.This constant barrage of shots and opposing forwards rushing unabated to the front of the net is going to get the goalies hurt.
Lehner should have taken out by JC. Ridiculous. He is a competitor so not going to ask.
This mornings rumor is the Hawks looking at Mike Hoffman from the Panthers.Also the Rangers are interested.No one seems to know why.Neither team is making the playoffs.The only benefit I could see for the Hawks is that it is a large 5.2 Million Dollar expiring contract.Maybe if Tallon threw in a couple of draft picks for Gus and Smith.The Hawks could clean out the cupboard.
Who’s going to clear the front of the net other than Gilbert? Keith sure as hell won’t. Every game teams control our crease and that’s where they need to get tougher so our goalies at least have a chance.
I hate to be the wrecker of all ill will here, but sometimes we need to deal with facts.
1. JC didn’t injure Lehner. But it’s still his fault.
2. Tanner Pearson didn’t run into Lehner. But it is still his fault too.
3. Johnny Boy Toews KNOCKED Pearson into Lehner. But it isn’t his fault.
FACT: Go rewind the tape from the game. It’s simple, obvious and unfortunate. Toews is trailing Pearson to the net (a condition well know to Hawks fan this year) and Pearson pulls up before contacting Lehner, but Toews knocks him into Lehner.
Facts have little use here in the USA anymore, but hopefully this board can still be a sanctuary for them. Even Eddie O (who has a marvelously large reputation here as many want him to coach the team) comments after the play that Toews was responsible for the contact.
Sorry about the bad news.
@TIM ….. the Panthers are actually well in the running for the playoffs. They are only one point behind TB in the Atlantic for an outright spot and currently two points out of the wildcard. They’ve had mediocre to poor goaltending this season but are still in the race. I’m interested in what they’ll do at the deadline. They are by no means out of it.
Oops, Tim. Misread your post. Apologies. I see now you’re saying Blackhawks and Rangers aren’t making playoffs.
With that said, still interested in what moves Tallon, Q, et al will make.
Is it possible to trade a coach and GM for a bag of pucks and Duncan the Walrus?
Neither of the former two have the hockey smarts of the latter two.
Shamee on Rocky and McDonough for allowing this ‘Diarrhea on Ice’ to happen.
Wasting very good years from 19 and 88….
Big Indian – I expect Duncan Keith to find his way to Florida. Q is his kind of coach and will allow him to play the way he wants. Remember his comments right after coming back from injury about how he really doesn’t want to have to play defense…
His contract isn’t bad cost wise. Not sure what we get back, but it would also open a permanent spot up here for a youngster. This shit show surely doesn’t belong in the playoffs, even if by some freak happening we get there. Unless something incredibly unforeseen happens, any playoff experience would almost certainly be short lived, and detrimental to the build. I’d much rather have a 6-9 pick than 4 games of a horrible experience for the kids. 5 if we play well.
Of course there would be 2 games of revenue for the owners. that certainly matters.
Yes, I’m sure Towes intent was to injure Lehner. Yep. He was planning that all along.
Trip lol right on, go look at the teams record when Keith was out too and see how he’s dragging them down with them.
McDonough is just as guilty as anyone in hockey ops.
His bogus marketing scheme was behind the Bickell signing and I’d suspect behind the Seabrook signing. Now I have to watch Adam Freaking Burish take “one last shift”. That’s a bigger joke than the maybe .500 team they currently ice. Who’s next from the 2010 team? Radek Smolenak? At least there one goal campaign is gone.
Let’s hope Bowman and JC get fired soon. Better GM’s and coaches available.
Given the condition of the Hawks Defense core here and in Rockford,I dont anticipate Keith being moved.There was a rumor that Hoffman and a 2nd round draft pick from Florida might be in the works but if you read Scott Powers review where he talks to some NHL Scouts-Holm would not be an improvement on anyone that the Hawks have on the ice.Carlson has some offensive upside but does not have the speed to play defense in the NHL.Mc Coshen would be a stop gap for a couple of games before being exposed at the NHL level.Beauden is at least 2 years away from NHL ready.Sort of makes the JOKI trade a real head scratcher.With the looks of this mess they might hang on to 56.God help us.
I’m with ya. The better Keith plays, the better the return when Tallon comes a calling!
Maybe we can get an NHL prospect for him. We can definitely use some.
Can’t believe all the get rid of Seabrook posts here the last couple of years, now everybodys posting theres nobody to fill in for him now that he is out for the year.
TIM, the Joki trade was a head scratcher to you and all the smart posters here, but not to the GM, who doesn’t have a clue on why his team has been getting progressively worse under his watch.
Rusty not sure on Smolenak but wouldn’t be surprised if Steve Konroyd gets a one more shift soon.
Tim couldn’t understand Joki trade or how they treated him last season after Q was fired either, never will.
When you try to go for the cup every year, the cupboard becomes bare. We are as naked as it gets. Trying to refill it on the run isn’t working.
We have 2-3 years before we really know what we have for young Dmen in our system as they try to mature. Sikura and Kneelander aren’t ready to become scorers. Not sure there are other top 6 guys around our system. Kubalik shows real promise if we can leave him with some skilled players. Kampf looks to be a serviceable bottom 6 guy, who appears to be getting the hang at the dot. Dcat is slumping a lot. Strome is inconsistent. Saad is great trade bait. Dach needs about 2 years to come into his own, but looks very promising. Time to get Manny Malhotra out here to teach the kid faceoffs. Gotta sort out goaltending. Communication – to say the least – doesn’t appear strong between the players and bench.
Did I mention the PP looks like we have one option – give it to 88?
We seem to have at least 1 Dman each night who coughs the puck up for an easy one at our own end. At least they take turns doing that.
That’s just off the top of my head at nearly 1:30 in the morning. Now I will have nightmares.
Trying to think what this coach has brought to this team.
1) an improved run at the end of last season; turned out he said he hadn’t a chance yet to implement a system and he just let them play, mostly schedule related at end of the day.
2) an improved pp that turned out to be another myth
3) pk improved mostly attributed to additions of 6 and 44 on D and 22 and 15 giving better depth up front. Except when he thinks non pk guys are good enough and they get burnt.
4) a defensive system thats been an embarassment for the players and for fans to watch but oddly enough a joy for him and the fo to watch it seems. Only justification seems to be blame and trash the heroes of the organizati9n daily and all is well.
4) disregard of assets, Lehner the latest, instead of protecting the most valuable one along with Kane so far this season, he seemed to not care about further injury, instead more concerned about his poses for pr shots of him on the bench, double shifting Kane to the point of risking serious injury from exhaustion in meaningless early season games. Ran a legitimate D prospect out of town and now injuries have the scrambling to find Nhl capable bodies on blueline.
5) fails continually to try and give his team a chance to win, questionable line combos, fails to put hot hands out when needing a goal or proper players when protecting a lead, pulling a goalie in last couple of mins, when on pp and needing a tying goal. Etc. Etc.
Final grade intstead of as Mo terms tank ufas, we now have a tank coach.
Is it possible that Peter Chiarelli is actually Stan’s real father. I mean they look alike, they act alike, could it be? It would explain a lot.
If teams are allowed to do this.
Watch out for the Malkin types who know the Hawks are very beatable without L or Crow and have no problem kneeing Crow in the head after the whistle to further that end.
Then we should be allowed to trip a guy, so he goes flying into the boards head first and end his career. I mean its basically the same thing.
So there should be massive punishment by league/change rules, for goalie interference, thats not just goalie interference wave-off goal kind of thing.
You may well have labeled it correctly. That wouldn’t be a terrible plan, in my opinion, to have a tank coach.
I’m certainly not going to try to defend JC. He does answer the questions after each game. He is responsible for his decisions in game. I agree entirely that the line combos thing was a huge mess at the beginning of the season, and at times even now doesn’t make sense. But then I said that a lot the previous 10 seasons too. I do think he was simply trying to get the players to move their arses on the ice by creating some discomfort on the lines, and yet seeing how some players could contribute in different situations. We did have quite a turnover from last year. It was clear what he was doing with line combos last year, but this year – not so much. Player bad attitude and lack of effort never helps a team either. That creates a chicken and egg problem, frequently resolved by a coaching change. Not this time.
The Lehner injury/pulling him is on Lehner as much as JC. Hindsight yes – pull him. How many athletes actually tell the truth about their in-game injury, or even realize the extent of the injury? From personal experience, I fully understand that Robin wanted to play and felt he was ok. Professional sports have now created concussion protocols for this very reason. The players are their own worst enemies when it comes to injuries. It’s easy to say that if Lehner got pulled and Crow comes in and gives up goals on the first 2 shots he sees that this board lights up with how bad a decision it was to pull him should Lehner not actually be injured the next day. Friendly fire caused an injury we can only hope is not that bad of a situation.
We have a source for all things wrong on the team – the head coach. He absolutely deserves some of the blame. But he isn’t alone. Player effort was horrible for the first 25 games. Way too much pouting on the ice. There was a power struggle and the coach lost. For that reason alone he needs to go. No respect – no reason to keep him. That struggle happens a lot after a long term, stable coaching situation. He simply was a poor choice for a coach based on his experience. He is a teacher, not a coach right now. The fit was poor at best.
Someone definitely screwed up getting Dcat on the ice on the PK. Toews went off with about 20 seconds to go on the PK after the puck was sent the other way. I don’t know – maybe you were near the bench or have a connection – what the player change call was at that time. If the coaching staff called for Dcat or the players changed improperly is something I can only guess on, but it absolutely is not good to have Dcat on a PK. I did notice it when it happened too, and mentioned it to others at the time. Not a good mistake to make. Carpenter stayed on the ice – who was in the box? Where they setting up the next line with that Toews for Dcat change? I don’t know.
The team is a mess. The feeder system is rather close to empty. But the building remains a sell-out. Something will change eventually. What will it be and when?
I agree. What the heck is wrong with a coach who allows or forces his goalie to keep playing through three injuries! He needs to be replaced. Too young & inexperiencved to coach an NHL team! Prayers for Robin.
Ian, that long tirade against the coach overlooks the bigger problem: LACK OF TALENT, courtesy of the front office. Yes, 88 is playing too many minutes but who else do they have other than 19 and future star 77?
In ten years, what has Bowman done to restock talent? 88, 19, 2, 7, and 50 have made him look like a big success. Any moves at the tdl must be made by a new GM.
Silent can you ever remember seeing this coach to any player on the bench after they seemed to be injured and talk to them, Dach early in year before he learned to keep his head up, Debrincat when got run a couple of times, Kane after his knee on knee the other night. Pretty important assets to have an, oh well attitude about. Remember Crawford pulling himself to hel spark comeback and Colliton saying he was already pulled to save face it seemed, I’m not making this stuff up. Late last season i mentioned after a bit of a run and playoff bar was low and in the picture, he goes with power line of 12, 19, 88 and no 2ndary scoring for 3 or 4 games, they go on a losing streak because teams shut the big line down and playoffs out of reach. We want to give him more time for what reason?
Ian – that’s pretty harsh. I am no defender of JC and have openly questioned why he hasn’t been let go but he now seems to be blamed for everything including the weather. Do you really think that JC had sole control over the decision to move Joki? Sure feels like that was a decision that likely involved many in the organization. Does he really not care about Lehner getting hurt? I don’t think so. There is plenty to be disappointed with but I don’t think we need to start adding conspiracy theories.
Wait, thats not the plan. I thought it was to have no identity and secretly tank. To get young wave stronger with another top 5 skill draft player. Just like last yr.
Why else we would we get good ufa players we can trade ay deadline to go along with decent and good returns on 56 or maybe 20. Some of these guys can come back in summer as ufas anyways.
I mean the last 2 yrs we got tank ufas in the summer. How did that work out. We got a top 5 skill draft player and had fun along the way winning games in the 2nd 40 games.
@O6: Totally agree on the new GM, but so far there are no signs of that happening. Ideally we go on a bad streak, the seats start to empty, and Rocky is forced to make moves. It seems we need to hit bottom though before that happens and as long as we sputter along, steal a few wins and the illusion of a playoff spot remains intact nothing will change.
I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised, if, as was suggested above, Stan re-ups Gus (e.g. he did same with Runblad who was even worse). I wouldn’t be surprised if we are actually buyers at some point (especially if we get a bit closer to a playoff postion). Put yourself in Stan’s shoes — the club is on record as saying it expects to make the playoffs this year. Despite what most of us recognize as a complete shit show that hasn’t changed (and the seats are still being filled).
MS i’m just looking at everything and seeing what he has done, it hasn’t seem to help this team win. Tell me something he did to help the team get better on the ice since his arrival, because i don’t see it.
Ian – honor roll post, valedictorian.
Thank you.
Ian – I don’t think I indicated that JC belongs behind the bench. Please show me where I am stating that. I refuse to let players who CHOOSE not to perform with maximum effort entirely off of the hook. I think that is where we differ the most.
As for seeing JC talk to players on the bench about injuries – I don’t sit behind the bench or really in a good position to see what JC talks about or to whom during the Hawks games. I get most of my viewing from my TV sets! So I cannot offer an informed opinion about how often he talks to players and what the conversation is about should they take place. My personal experience as a coach and a player is that when an injury occurs, the medical team/staff decides with the help of the player as to what the status of that player is, and then relays the information to the coach (Ed and Pat give rave reviews about the medical staff around the players). Personal conversations tend to take place during time outs (which I don’t get to see on my TVs) or in the locker rooms (which I do not have access to at this time in my life). I don’t recall ever seeing a coach walk onto the ice to talk to his goalie about an injury. So again, I am not informed as to what conversations JC has with players. As a human being, I suspect JC does inquire with those players he feels may be injured at some point in time, but I don’t know that for fact. I will allow the presumption of JC being a human being and the expectation that he would have those conversations, those I cannot state those points with 100% confidence. But it is my opinion that JC allows the in-game decisions to be delegated to people with greater experience and knowledge – the medical staff. Delegation is usually considered to be a good attribute to have as a person in charge of a group of people/staff under him.
Unfortunately for me – I see the game as a fan sees the game. I am not on the inside of the team where I am privvy to the type of information you are using to base your opinion. I wish I was – but I am not!
Only way we get top 2 pick is if Duncks gets hurt again for 10 or more games. Other way is to get the lottery and get a top 2 pick.
Without 44 20 and 2 for 10 games, and now 40 for ? games. We might get higher in the top 5 draft standings, but we still have a top 10 goalie with Crow. So back to backs.
Even if we trade some of the players at deadline, because our record is good to do so. The other bottom teams might tank worse then us.
Its almost crazy to be stuck in the middle of top 10 and not beaing bad enough to get top 5 picks every yr. Tank ufas or tank system, lets go.
If were rebuilding, lets rebuild.
People said 64 was only a 4th line center, why is he on the 3rd line. None of the young wave is here yet (game 1) until 77 got going. Hes not good at faceoffs and is new so LW/RW is fine for this yr or so.
Peoples problem with 64 was he didnt score enough, has no hands, and isint good at faceoffs.
Now after 64 first yr last yr, with the first 40 games this yr 64 has improved at faceoffs and is 52%? now. 50 would be good. 64 has also scored some goals here and there. So now people are saying 64 is a good player.
4th line center 64, is turning into a 16/Krugs 4th line center?
Thats 1 of 12 FW for the rebuild, with 19 88 12 77 as locks, were at 5/12.
64 has 6 goals in the 1st 40 games, so thats 10 for the yr. That is ecellent for a 4th line player.
How does 17 have 10 more pts then 20? That is weird for how good/better 20 was the first 10-15 games.
56 is on pace for 35 pts, with a terrible start. With a complete team/roster wise, a playoff team would imagine hes a 45/50 pt Defensemen. They will trade for him with something decent.
22 beens fine, he has 11 pts, in 10 fewer games, then Nylander does at 14 pts playing on 1st line. Wow.
I thought 15 would be better, at least what 22 has been pts wise, he hasnt.
For as much as OTT NJ LA have held there own, they have rebounded and just like that are still at 5. So would really need to to bad to catch those teams.
DET 19
NJ 5
OTT 5
LA 5
ANA 4
gap
CHI 0
NYR -1
MTL -1
BUF -2
SJ -2
MIN -3
NAS -4
So like Tab said, no matter how bad we do or good (were sucked in the tractor beam), those teams are in a group of there own/per say. Where the best we can do/looks like it, is 6th pick, as of now.
What could help us is those two divisions, where most of the bottom 10 teams are in, will play more games agasint each other and get free wins. Where CHi MIN have to play the hardest sch in the league being in hte hardest, by far, division in league. This could help is get another top 5 skill draft player and that is what it is going to take to get back to being a top 5 team.
Keep rebuilding with high end skill from the draft.
Many of the early Mock Drafts have the Hawks taking Tim Stultz from Germany at #7.The kid was compared to Draisaital but says he wants to be more like Mc David.
If we do not get top 5 pick, is that goalie make the most sense. Then getting a bunch of extra FW or D with trades picks were going to get.
Other then Bifield every top 10 draft player is small in size.
Mock draft rakings from first page google page.
Alexis Lafrenière-1
Quinton Byfield-2
Lucas Raymond-6433224
Cole Perfetti-357469435
Alexander Holtz-539648346
Jamie Drysdale-4785579
Tim Stützle-8,15,4,7748
Yaroslav Askarov-76,13,10,10,6
What I am seeingin the mocks, and now I want to go back and look at last yrs mocks-throughout the yr/maybe 12 draft yr to, is that there is 8 players above the others/thats counting this goalie.
Rebuild Schmebuild.
The Pittsburgh Penguins retooled on the fly over several years while remaining a good playoff team year in and year out, culminating in back-back Cups in 2016 and 17.
That is what Bozo Bowman tried to do, thinking his name meant he had hockey smarts.
(Dale Weisz and Fleischman for Daneault and a top pick. Or how about Hjarms for Connor Murphy?)
The best thing to happen to this franchise, if rebuilding is the path, is to 86 the GM and junior coach.
The GM has outsmarted himself too many times lately, and the junior coach is in way over his head.
One thing is for damn sure….Stan Bowman is no Jim Rutherford.
Well PIT won once the league got water downed. They could not compete with the top teams in
2010 CHI
2011 BOS
2012 LA
2013 CHI
2014 LA
2015 CHI
Those teams were really good. Once salary cap kicked in the top teams of the decade wernt as deep. Then teams like PIT and WAS won, when they couldnt during these yrs/with teams that good.
For building on the fly, we should be able to. BOS did and there core is older then ours. They have there young (4-5 good players) wave nhl ready and a good system.
We only have only two of our young wave, just starting out. When more of our young wave is ready and then established we should be really good again.
I agree I am ready for the Wirtz reset, so by the time the young wave is ready, were ready to go with an identity and a good system like BOS has.
I would say that due to Bowman giving away picks that the Hawks are going to have to move Saad,Gus,Maata,and possibly 1 of the goalies to acquire some draft capital so they dont have to burn a 1st round pick on a Defenseman.
Pitt was in the ECF a couple times (vs Bos in 2013? Not sure.), and did not miss the playoffs while retooling.
Yeah the salary cap played a role in the current Demise of Chicago.
But the salary cap did not replace an HOF coach with a junior cadet.
The salary cap did not trade for Trevor Daley, a puck rushing d man not suited for the quick, first pass d man that Q’s system required.
The salary cap did not sign Brandon Manning or Jan Rutta to 2 million dollar a year contracts.
The salary cap did not flush a promising D man (Jokiharu) for a lazy, inconsistent winger with a notable last name.
Hanging your hat on the salary cap for the Hawks going South is the easy way out.
Right?
Sure PIT was there in East conference and got shutout 4 games to 0. All I meant was they couldnt compete with the big boy teams during those yrs because those teams were way better then PIT ever was. It wasnt until those teams got salary capped and the league pretty much was then finally watered down by salary cap.
To me they couldnt compete againt the top teams all those yrs. Sure teams can win against other teams in playoffs/to get there.
Not trying to disagree on other things, just PIT would not have won in either of those two yrs if the top 5 teams didnt get nuttered by cap.
Thats just how good the CHI was, and BOS and LA for that matter.
I agree with you on everything else.
Tim, only see 2 D in top 10 of this draft.
Looks like we got the D when the draft were D heavy/at the right time-draft wise.
Just look at this team and Rockford and tell me why Bowman shouldn’t be fired
Regarding Pitts.
They stayed playoff relevant while retooling.
The Hawks have not and will not.
You guys know how the playoffs work.
A couple of fluke goals here or there and the next thing you know,
You won the series.
It’s hockey not the NBA. The best team does not always win.
Getting to play hockey in the Spring always gives you a shot.
(See: 8th seed 2012 LA Kings.)
“so they dont have to burn a 1st round pick on a defenseman.”
Apparently the fact that the Blackhawks have stocked up on the blue line to the point they have too many bodies for the open positions still hasn’t sunk in with everyone in teh fan base.
Chicago needs highly skilled, top-tier offensive forwards. They’re going to be OK on the blue line. I believe if/when Ian Mitchell signs the next generation should be ready to emerge in the next year or so. They just need to get some of the dead weight out of the way so there’s ice time available for the kids to make their mistakes and learn at the highest level.
Again, not trying to disagree, but LS was not the 8th best team in 2012, even in 214 they were what 4 seed/maybe that was another yr. Thing with LA was they wernt realy ever a top seed.
Same thing with NAS, they were not the 8th best team in 2017, they were top3 team in conference, just not regular season record kind of team.
Those teams were build for playoffs, per say, regular season standings wise.
Aslo during those yrs I was referring to, the East conference was weak. PIT would not have made the playoffs in the West those yrs, most likely.
Now I will say the teams LA got to play to win Cup were the two worst teams in the finals in the last 15 yrs? Since the first couple yrs of cap era.
2012 NJ
2014 NYR
The worst teams since 2006 or 7?
Doesn’t matter Morrison.
You make the playoffs, you always got a shot.
Philly was the last teamn in for 2010.
They took the Hawks to OT in 6 games.
Fluke goal off Hossa skate got them to OT.
EDM was 8th seed in 2006.
They took CAR to 7 games.
The fact remains Pitt retooled on the fly and have yet to miss the playoffs, no matter what conf they are in.
Hawks?
Not so much.
Both teams contradict the Salary Cap argument, pro or con.
Bottom line: We are not having this conversation if the Hawks are consistently making the playoffs, not bottom feeding.
Hence, the GM issue in Chicago.