Forsberg, Nashville Escape Chicago With OT Win
A Chicago team needed special teams for their best chance to win a game.
Sorry, too soon?
On Wednesday night at the United Center the Blackhawks hosted the Nashville Predators, who got Filip Forsberg back after a lengthy injury and are closing on Winnipeg for the division lead.
Colton Sissons got the Preds on the board at 6:49 with his ninth of the season. Nashville held onto that lead for ten minutes before things took a few crazy turns.
Our first nightly reminder that Patrick Kane is one of the all-time special talents in the NHL came with Chicago on the power play at 17:51 when he set up Alex DeBrincat for the tying goal.
The only 3 with more for the @NHLBlackhawks within their first 2 NHL seasons played: Artemi Panarin (61 from 2015-17), Denis Savard (60 from 1980-82) & teammate Jonathan Toews (58 from 2007-09) https://t.co/gzckoeYjly
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) January 10, 2019
That pass was amazing and looked easy.
The pass made by PK Subban immediately off the following faceoff to set up Viktor Arvidsson was easy, and the Blackhawks kept the game tied for a total of eight seconds.
Brendan Perlini caught Dan Hamhuis in the face with a high stick 15 seconds after the Arvidsson goal and Nashville was awarded a double-minor that would run over into the second period. Chicago successfully killed the 1:47 of short-handed time to finish the first period without allowing a goal and went to the dressing room chasing one.
Nashville held a 17-13 shot advantage after one.
The Hawks were able to kill off the rest of the Perlini penalty to open the second period but couldn’t escape Forsberg. He extended the Preds lead to 3-1 at 16:26.
Chicago further complicated things when David Kampf went to the box with 36 seconds left in the second period.
Thankfully Jonathan Toews didn’t want the second to end with the Hawks down more than one.
Toews’ short-handed goal, his 18th of the season, came off a pretty pass from Marcus Kruger.
The shots were 11 for each side in the second period and Chicago trailed by one heading to the third.
Over the course of the first 17 minutes of the third period both sides had good looks at the net but couldn’t score. Both Pekka Rinne and Collin Delia were sharp while passing left a lot to be desired from both sides.
At 17:39 Artem Anisimov scored his eighth of the season off a pass from Kane to tie the game.
With Anisimov’s goal holding up over the final 2:21 the game headed to overtime, once again thanks to terrific work from Delia. Chicago’s netminder faced 36 shots in regulation, allowing only the three goals.
The Preds got the puck to start overtime and the Hawks never had a chance. Forsberg, in his second game back from injury, beat Toews up the wall and flipped a puck past Delia on the short side to win the game exactly one minute into the extra session.
On the blue line, Brent Seabrook was a scratch because of illness but Henri Jokiharju returned from his WJC run. Jeremy Colliton relied heavily on Erik Gustafsson (24:04) and Duncan Keith (26:08), the only defensemen to skate more than 18:05. Carl Dahlstrom came up third in ice time. Brandon Davidson and Keith blocked a team-high five shots each on the night. After skating heavy minutes for his home country, Jokiharju was on the ice for 16:45 on Wednesday. Gustafsson put five shots on net.
John Hayden returned to the lineup in place of Chris Kunitz and was credited with a team-leading five hits in only 6:01 on the ice. Perlini skated only 7:31 and spent another four minutes in the penalty box.
Kane was credited with two assists and DeBrincat led Chicago with seven shots on net.
Tazer had a shot a scoring short handed on the PP before that to.
Thats another game where our PP is good/score goals.
Weve played good in 11 of 14 games, winning/tie 7 of first 9.
Most of games agasint top 5/10 teams, nice to see we can play even with the top teams, while not having a deep roster (or as deep that they have) in everyone of these games.
Keep playing good, its going to pay off for when were deeper and create a bond with the guys here now, going forward.
Cant wait until we get a full roster again. Make a big difference.
Good thing about not having it this yr/last yr, makes the younger/new/rookies learn better and try harder.
Good effort against a very good team. Kane in another dimension, can’t say enough how important he is to this team.
Another bug effort by Delia, Jokiharju is fun to watch, the poise for rookie who is just going to keep getting better.
Prospects:
Hagel 1g
Beaudin 1a
Kurashev 11-17 on fos
When were deep in a yr and a half/2yrs, going to get chills when Delia makes saves.
Just wait until Kaner has a deep roster. Same with 19 and 20 get another good two way player for a complete line. Debrincat sniping on a bum slaying 3rd line against weaker opponents lines.
We have 3 more clones of Buckaroo coming. We ll be seeing four of em out there. Wont know who to hit.
This was Delia’s worst game and he still played very well.
If Hayden is going to play all of six minutes, dress seven D men. He would likely get claimed if he gets sent to minors; package him in the next trade, he needs a change of scenery.
Maybe he isn’t a very good player, who knows, but he has never gotten to play consistent double digits minutes game after game since he has been on the team.
Lastly, I thought Bowman had an accounting background; he sounded like lawyer BS in recent interview in the Athletic. The reason the Hawks have been playing better (compared to horrendously) is the roster is better than when Q was the coach. He says it took players long time to adjust to new coach, that’s why they were so bad. If that’s the case, he shouldn’t have switched coaches. When he fired Q, he said it was a playoff team roster and they were ready to make a run.
I’m not saying Q shouldn’t have been fired one way or the other, but Bowman’s personnel moves summer and there after, and highly untimely firing of Q is why the team was so bad. They went from .500 with a poor overall roster to nine games under.
So, despite the fact he has done some positive things in his tenure, it’s time for Bowman to go. He’s not a stand up guy. He has never blamed himself the last few seasons for the team’s downfall.
Good game. Lots of mistakes, but a lot of good stuff too. Coming from two down and on the PK to get a point is a good result. There is so much more to like about the club now than there was in November.
I don’t understand why modern goalies play the entire game on their knees. I get it that the game has changed and it’s more important to be able to go post to post than it was in past, but what I don’t understand is why they can’t spend some time standing tall. On the overtime goal Delia gave away the entire top of the net even though Forsberg was at a severe angle. If he had just stood tall that puck does not go win. He is not alone, they all do it and it seems to me that more and more the shooters are going high and taking advantage of it.
Actually went from +4 to -9. (6-2-2 to 9-18-2)
Jordyhawk, if you get a chance look thru the last Hockey News issue, which is about goaltenders and how they may end up hurting themselves with current techniques and how it may be slowly changing again. It was interesting.
Not bitching, we have those different guys in from the start and we do not go 3-16. A 10-10 there at worst has us around +8 and only 4 games behind 1 seed, with the roster we have now/not full roaster yet. Were really a 4or 5 seed in conference without that/proper players off/on 23man from the start.
Nothing against any of these guys. Having these players in and these out makes the team a top mid tier team. With players to add in summer (more trades).
63/5/11 (91) and 17
23/44/14 and 8
Missed all but the end of the 3rd and OT on TV tonight but heard the 3rd on the radio coming home from my grandson’s bball game. I really like listening to John and Troy call the game. Did JC change the line combo’s for the game of was it just scrambing them late in the game? It sounded like DCat was playing with Toews from what I could tell on the radio call.
Picked up another loser point tonight – would have preferred to either win the game or not get the loser point.
Saw the replay of Kane’s pass to DCat – nice look off and then no look pass – beauty.
Very solid effort against a top team. Forsberg is a beast – the Predators stealing him from the Caps is one of the best trades ever.
Holy shit Debrincat just going about your own business, didn’t think once about being in that kind of company. Panarin should come back to keep him company. What a pair of LW that would be. Need that young 20 two way player for the Tazer Hoss jr. line.
ER that’s how I felt after the 3on3 sideshow on ice. We got robbed of the win or taking a hit. Still felt good to play even with a top 3 team, again. Been doing this since we adjusted the 23man.
time to ride Ward; we need the points (or lack of) to get to the basement and like to see Ward pulled after two fast ones; give Delia a real challenge for a win. Delia should be doing the most work during practice. Just my two cents.
Playoff type intensity in the third. Extremely good game. Remarkable how fast the league has become. It’s like watching a DVD in fast forward mode. The encouraging news is the Hawks are getting there in speed and intensity. The slow down the pace, puck possession game that won the Hawks and Quenneville 3 Cups is pretty much gone. Now it’s all about transition and pushing the puck forward as quick as possible. I believe Colliton calls it “relentless “.
If Perlini and Saad could both finish their chances a bit better, this team would be so much deeper scoring wise. But sadly, both have size and speed but lack finish.
We need goal out of Caggiula to get him going.
Cudos for effort vs one of the top teams in hockey! I’m with Iceman on Hayden- play him or trade him- he deserves better than he’s getting! He is the ONLY player who comes off the bench with a “finish your check” attitude- and it showed last night.
With the Preds, it was Dejas vu of a team that in 6 years won 3 cups:
1. World class, consistent goaltending
2. Offence led by the “D”- who consistently jumped into the play, effectively used stretch passes, pressed in the “O”-zone
3. Relentlessly forechecked
4. Put lots of pucks ON the net, not just NEAR the net
5. Were more disciplined
Preds are more skilled and better coached- but the Hawks worked hard to stay in it! More lazy, sloppy, selfish penalties, but wow, a point against the Preds is decent.
Delia’s goalie coach needs to work on rebound control!
GO Hawks – 9 days off over the all star break to practice, practice, practice ?
Forsberg went thru Toews like he was tissue paper… never happens 4-5 years ago.
Kane- brilliant as usual… one negative- and I doubt it is Kane’s fault- most likely new system’s fault… during long possessions – Kane made passes to D/ on Blue line, and D guys were NOT there??? happened at least 3 times… kinda Odd- and Hawks Lost O zone pressure
I thought Hawks played well- overall – they Just are not good enough- anymore…
But some decent guys in Jrs. coming – NOT in Rockford- but in Jrs.
Lucas Carlsson- about only guy I like in Rock right now
Wall not disagreeing but as mentioned above Forsberg strong as hell and freshly on the ice. Plus this 3 on 3 hockey is really the contrast of defense-you can’t take a penalty and you can’t use up too much of your energy on one person-each team got the point and it’s now pond hockey.
Toews was just doing what players do on 3 on 3. Quasi defense and let’s go get a goal quickly and pad my point totals.
With young players coming next year, who off current 50 man roster willl be resigned.
Ufas
Kruger, Kunitz, Davidson, Ward, Rutta, Shroeder, T. Sikura, Martinsen, Campbell. Nobody there a future block.
So that open 2 fwd, 1g spot on NHL roster and 3 fwd and 2d spots in Rockford.
RFAs
Kampf, Perlini, Delia, Forsling, D. Sikura, Ejdsell, Louis, Iacopelli, Johnson, Hillman and Forsberg.
Some obviously yes, namely Delia but overall maybe some moved, qualifying offers likely for everybody except maybe Iacopelli to me. Forsberg if a goalue spot needed but doubtful right now.
Opens 1 fwd spot in Rockford
So it seems blueline will competitive for all NHL roster spots, if big fa signed a trade would be needed to open up fwd room. Alot depends on who goes at deadline and in the summer and who is brought in.
I think every pending UFA/RFA listed by Ian except Delia is a guy the Blackhawks will be listening on as we close on the deadline. If Bowman can somehow get Cagguila for Brandon f***ing Manning then who are we to think he can’t somehow move Kunitz?!?
The game last night shows the depth of talent that Nashville possesses and where it is lacking top to bottom with the Hawks. So it goes with cap salary purges over the years, which is exactly what the NHL designed. This has evolved with the Hawks now over the past 3 years
It was a good game though with lots of competitive up and down rushes, good goaltending and plenty of scoring chances for both teams. I left at the end of regulation as the OT/ shootout program does little to excite me, when I can just beat the rush out of the UC and get home and just watch the replay. I was happy to see the Hawks tie it up late. They didn’t quit.
Not sure when the Hawks will figure out that Arvidsson will cherry pick them to death if they keep allowing him to do it. The guy is a great player though and gives 100% every shift out there. Watching Subban last night, he appeared to be skating in sand. Could be he is just is lousy shape having been injured for awhile, but he was not nimble on the skates last night to my eyes.
It would be better for the Hawks to shoot the puck a little more and when they do hit the damn net. They still tend to over pass.
While Delia was good last night I thought he was off his terrific efforts in recent weeks.
Let’s Go Hawks!
Agree that last night was Delia’s worst outing although still a good game from him – he kept the Hawks in it especially with a few good to excellent saves in the third before AA tied it up – notably another Arvidsson breakaway.
He was down early on the OT winner – Forsberg said afterwards that the short side was pretty open, he just had to get the puck up
But Delia’s doing the job of a #1 goalie and if that’s a bad game from him I’ll take because his good games are really good. Plus I wouldn’t call any goal he’s let in so far a softie – a couple he’d like to have a re-do on but no softies. That again is what you want from your #1.
I like DCat with Toews – he had a number of chances 5 vs 5 but I think I’d prefer Saad still there but at least 12 was on the first line – that was overdue
Everyone agrees that the Hawks are talent deprived and that this is a rebuilding year. We are not beating the Preds on most nights. They did battle back for a point.
I think that this is a weak and soft team. During the next game watch how many times the Hawks get knocked off their skates. They all are being thrown around like rag dolls. I question strength and conditioning. Besides being short, they all look thin except for Seabrook and D-Kat. Look at Toews at the dot and compare his girth to opposing centers. Toews is thicker than Kruger but that’s not saying much. Toews looks frail and not being able to rub out Forsburg against the boards highlights the situation. I am not just picking on Toews. Most of Hawks keep getting knock down all the time. You can not win corner battles or stand in front of the net laying on your ass.
They are also soft. I turned the game off a couple of nights ago when Tkachuk took out Delia’s legs on a fly by and the team did NOTHING in response. Slash him in the calf…let him know he should not do that. WTF, is it not bad enough that Crow is concussed due to cheap shots.
I am not saying that fighting is required to be a strong and tough team, however you do need to be strong on your skates and not allow opponents to take cheap shots at your teammates to be respected. Break out the protein shakes and get into the gym.
I thought Dcat’s effort was good last night skating with Toews. It’s a different game with 19 and 24 – more of a cycle on the boards low and keep grinding until something opens up. It isn’t Dcat’s strength, but he definitely put in the effort. It’s not a free ride playing on that line.
A few weeks back my son and I conversed about the PP and that we needed a person who could one-time the puck from the left side, a right handed shot. We had tried Seabrook and he failed. Dcat was over there at times but would swing and miss like Sammy Sosa more than he made contact. My son suggested Dcat take 50 swings every day in practice until he sorted it out. Looks like Dcat heard him! We are so much better with a righty who can one-time from the boards. It opens up the blue line and the middle of the slot as passing lanes become important when Kane gets the puck. Now lets get the puck to Toews for one timers and we will really put the scare into teams taking penalties on us.
Congrats to Johnny Toews on finding his game again. We missed him, and we need him badly! Now, if we could just find a center that can check like him (Boland, Krueger when they were younger). A lousy role, but necessary. Then JT can concentrate on scoring and our top line won’t have to be a checking line too.
Interesting line shuffle last night. Let’s see what JC has in mind next. Do we settle here for a while? I think JC is looking to find players who want to put out for the team, like our cup winners did. Maybe looking for someone to stand out amongst the kids. Lots of open high profile jobs. Who wants them?
It’s JC’s team now. We’ve finally moved on.
Silent if you listen to Collitons comments on the game, he mentioned your point. He said moving Saad with Kampf allowed him to make that line the match up line with more ice time. That allowed Toews to concentrate more on scoring, hope he continues that as it Kampf is more suited to that role and less pressure on offense and concentrate on his defensive skills.
Tab agree Delia the only untouchable there. Save for Iacopelli would have hard time letting the other rfas just walk and get no return though. Some i guess are borderline on that i guess.
EB Toews took a faceoff late for Strome and headed for bench right after and Strome came on, maybe what you heard. Only alittle bit of overlap on line changes didn’t notice Toews out with Kane save for pp
Lots of discussion about playing heavy in the NHL-not size so much but playing hard and relentless-like a Shaw or a Wilson. It’s more about ‘who you are’ then how you play a particular shift-Hayden and Martinesen play that way to get more ice time (or play at all) or not be set down to the AHL. This may or may not be in Kampf’s DNA but the Hawks lack such players.
Come playoff time even more of a must. Currently the Leafs are wondering who they can get to help them get over the hump. They probably want a forward and a defenseman who play heavy.
It was Saader on 3rd checking line with Bolly.
29-19-88
10-26-81
20-36-?
36-16-67
Checking lines guys needed by 21 season.
Thanks Ian. I didn’t see the post game as I watched the game a few hours late on my DVR. I like the idea of trying to get more out 19 offensively – we need offense badly. Not sure Dcat’s game fit well with 19 as I stated earlier, but Dcat is no dummy and will likely work to meet 19 half way at least in the way 19 plays. It is a big opportunity for Dcat.
Developing Kampf defensively makes sense as he skates well and has decent size. We have some big centers in the west as everyone knows. It’s good to see a plan coming from the coach that appears to make sense – at least to me!
Now to develop another winger or 2 for checking. We need to see some forwards develop in the next 3 months as much as Gus has in the past 3. Joki calming back down and being confident would be nice too. He seemed better last night.
Yea Forsberg got by 19 on the boards. Refs need to call the pick interference before the pucks in the zone. That’s cheating and getting away with/being allowed to get advantage and that allowed gwg/on 3on3 sideshow.
If refs let other teams cheat and that gives them the 2 pts, then like the guy said we need to whack the other teams players everytime they do stuff to us, we also need to cheat with pick plays and interference hooks holds. We deserve to win by cheating as much as the other teams get away with.
These guys are improving as a team. Getting a point out of last night’s game is not a bad thing if one is looking at this current roster getting better as the season goes along.
The compete level is there much more consistently, and the positioning is improving (although it still needs to be shored up). That goes a long way toward keeping these Blackhawks in games against very tough competition. Penalties, and penalties at very inopportune times still plague this bunch. That has to be diminished.
I agree that Delia looked like he had his worst game, yet he still played well overall. Hunkered down early when Forsberg charged toward him in OT and left a lot of space open up high.
I’m not in any camp for playing for the best draft pick, so I’m encouraged by what I’m seeing. It has been some fun hockey to watch.
Go Blackhawks!!!!!
Delia did struggle with rebounds last night, but got away with it, although it was scary at times. I found the discussion of goaltending technique above to be interesting. It seems as if modern goalies go down early and know they are leaving a bit of room up high, but have calculated that it is worth the risk and they are essentially saying, “If you can hit this small area I am giving you, you score.” We have seen Kane hit that high area a lot over his career. The goalies can’t cover every inch and they seem to be OK leaving some room up top. There aren’t too many Forsbergs or Kanes that can hit it that often.
Some of the comments above talk about our lack of “finishing.” You have to put Kampf in that category. He missed a wide open net the other night hitting the post (yeah, he might have been hooked). Then he missed the breakaway last night and Rinne made him look bad. It was not a 100% clean breakaway but it sure helps if he finishes.
The Hawks still overpass on occasion, but it is much better than a month or two ago. Dahlstrom’s pass last night was egregious, but he does not do that 3 or 4 times a game like Schmaltz used to. Of course, he’s not a forward. Eddie was convinced that Dahlstrom knew that he used bad judgment on that. His game is still good. Yes, he got victimized on the breakaway, but there are going to be very few shutouts so we live with some mistakes. He does not make too many.
This team is not that good but they are competing and are fun to watch again. They stayed with a really good Nashville team. Nashville is actually fun to watch if you don’t hate them. I liked Laviolette getting on Pierre about his red tie.
When we have a full deep roster in a yr and a half/2yrs, I donot just to outplay the other teams to win fair and square. I want to cheat like a lot of teams do and get away with. When it comes to that we’re like 0-55 because we always play clean. And I’m not talking about cheap shots.
Refs call about same amount of penalty to each team reguadless of who actually does more/how many a game. So let’s get some men on the assembly line.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g0ucgmVGtag
Big Indian I agree it’s getting harder to wish for a low finish because they are giving an honest effort.
In Canada, Saturday afternoon Boqvist will play on Sportsnet network against Ottawa. Both teams look to be loading up.
Sure it is. Other then the thre worst teams/roster wise, 4-12 or so should be very close the whole way. So we could play good like we have for 10 of last 14 games the rest of the way and still be right there, depending on last 5-12 games based on standings at that point.
We’re not tanking in any way otherwise 15 would haven’t scored that goal. Ever since 12 said after we took it to PIT in the convincing 6-3 win 14 games ago, were a good team just need to play when the game starts and not 10min I to the 1st period. At that moment your thinking yea that’s cool but after going 3-16 with roster then, then he and the team backed it up.
Let’s not forget, even though we’re more then two good players away from contender, we’re not much more then that when you consider we have three more Buckaroos already on the way, a top high end FW at this draft and a guy like 72/similar. And that doesn’t even include maybe a D ufa add next summer.
When get our roster full then we ll talk.
Agree with Tab that the Hawks should listen to offers for all UFA/RFA except Delia. Maximize opportunity to get decent picks/prospects. Nothing wrong with a 5th rounder or prospect for Kunitz.
As long as this team has a CHANCE of making the playoffs Stan will not make any trades. Remember, he TOLD John McDonough that “this is a playoff team”. If he makes any significant trades he comes off as a liar and, therefore, deserves to be fired by his boss, John McDonough.
Remember, he did NOT say “with a few deadline moves we are a playoff team”, he said, “THIS is a playoff team”. As it sits, he has his big foot in his mouth because he has sold a damaged bill of goods to his boss and the fans.
Every game that they win just delays the inevitable and that is that this team is a .500 regular season team, but a disaster in the playoffs.
Again really nice comments.
I’m no expert on goaltending technique. But it makes sense to me that goalies preferentially take away the lower part of the net. When you shoot at the top corners the shot must be accurate in three dimensions as opposed to 2 on the ice. The top of the net is a bit further away from the puck’s origin so the shot needs to be accurate over a longer distance. Also your hands are faster than your feet, and the twitch up more quickly than down. So defaulting to low as a goalie makes sense to me.
That said, the OT goal was soft. An upright butterfly would have been much better. Delia was way too low and Forsberg had half the net to look at. Oh well, live and hopefully learn. This is a good year for learning anyway.
Wasnt Quick one of the first goalies that started this get low asap thing. After so many yrs of being a top goalie now he always hurt. Does that got anything to do with what you guys are saying about its not healthy/good for goalies to do it/play that way.
I would imagine we trade anyone we can/that other teams want of the list you guys have. Every guy developing wants to play in Chicago first and if they cant still want to play somewhere in league so they wont be mad.
This is what it means that not every draft makes it. We keep the best of the best. Hopefully for the player as many as possible make it somewhere, even its on Blackhawks south carolinas or Blackhawks west coyotes.
Those teams are good trade partners. Help them out (2nd for Rundy) then help us out (Vermette to Chi not another playoff team). Keep good trade relations.
Weve started one now with EDM to. Thank you sir, may I have another.
Prospects
Entwistle 1g
Ryczek 4 hits
Wouter peeters has surfaced with a Finnish team. In 2 games 3.5 gaa .848 sv%
Wonder if Colliton is considering keeping Toews with 12 snd 24 as 2nd offensive line and redefine his role, with a high skill 3rd matchup line of 20, 64, 91. If they work out with Toews and draft a skill forward targeted to bolster that line in a year or 2. Sign a Panarin for 88 and 17.
Then a 10 min a game of a 4th line with younger developing prospects next year. Like Kurashev, Entwistle, Barrett, Sikura type players with a Perlini or Hayden for some size and experience.
Thats funny you mention 20-19-91 as a checking line because that other guy a day ago was saying Who is going to play on 1st line with 20 and 19 because its a top tier head to head line that requires defense. Who else other then 24. I thought of 91 with size and speed and ok at D.
Here you guys have a checking line with him on it.
20-64-91
Oops. Thinking of 11 for size and speed.
I like that 3rd line though.
is now a good time to point out Kempy is #2 in the league in plus/minus?
https://coub.com/view/1ctrgv
Not saying Kempny sucks. Plus minus is more of a team stat. He on a top 10 team that might score a lot/have good gfga. Thats like saying Leddy was a top Defensemen because he had a top plus minus playing with Keith when the Blackhawks had a deep roster/top team/good gfga.
Unless Kenpny scores goals like Karlsson, hes not the 2nd best Defensemen in the league.
Good A.M. Recliner, wow, you’re correct. Kempny is as solid as they come; he plays a steady, smart game. His offensive game is picking up as well. Good observation.
By the way, on a relevant aside, Kempny was +13 (the highest by far) for the Hawks last season on a dog breath team w/ mostly minus players.
Can’t blame Bowman on this one, he plucked Kempny out of Europe, re-signed him as well. This was a Q jobber.
Personally, I never get tired of hearing the good stuff about Kempny. As I always said, he is good at getting puck through to the net. HJ is too. It’s a needed skill these days with shooting lanes so hard to come by. I always thought why not give Kempny a shot on the PP, but I guess Q didn’t want to risk the 14% conversion rate or whatever it was.
I imagine the inability of Quenneville to use guys like Kempny effectively to stall the decline the blue-line lead to his dismissal. The team looks much better (more competitive) playing in the new scheme; Murphy being a prime example of a guy who looks completely different now than under Q. Not saying Q couldn’t or wouldn’t have done the same if they stuck with him, just that Stan can use this to justify his decision to replace him (and it might be hard to argue against.)
As far as the fate of Bowman is concerned, I believe there is no way he loses his job this season. If the criteria for keeping Stan is making the playoffs, the Hawks have ample justification to not wait until years end to make that call. If someone has only a 4% chance of keeping his job (roughly the Hawks chance of making the playoffs according to The Athletic,) what do you gain by seeing if the team beats the odds? Is that really an indication of the job the GM did? The fact that it hasn’t happened coupled with the knowledge that this team isn’t going to make the playoffs seems to indicate that the Hawks believe enough in Stan to let him guide them through free agency and the draft at least. Stan isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
I posted this on another Hawks message board and post it here for discussion.
Making the case for the Keith for Kapanen proposal from both sides.
Toronto’s interest in acquiring Keith before the TDL is it would be a net plus in gaining him and losing Kapanen (it wouldn’t be a net plus to lose both Kapanen and Kadri). The Leafs have enough scoring on the Wings to replace Kapanen’s scoring (14 goals through 40 games). They have enough cap space this season but can’t afford Keith’s $5.5M for the next 4 seasons because they need to re-sign Matthews, Marner and others – one of which is Kapanen. From a Cap perspective, if the Hawks retain $2M of Keith’s cap hit, the Leafs would be on the hook for $3.5M, which is a good deal for Keith, plus the $3.5M would be less than what they would need to pay to keep Kapanen which would be in the $4M range. So essentially they get Keith for Kapanen and save a little in cap space.
The Hawks interest in making the trade is to acquire a top-6 winger who has decent size, skates very well, can score goals and is only 22 and would be under contract control for the next few years. If he gets $4M on a 3-4 year bridge deal, he would essentially be a $6M cap hit because Keith’s retained $2M would be due to acquiring him. The hope would be that by the end of his 3-4 deal he would be scoring like a legitimate $6M player and that hope isn’t far fetched. Losing Keith would hurt the current team defense but would open up a spot for a prospect to get ice time while also signaling others on the team this is in fact a rebuild (are you paying attention Anisimov and Seabrook) AND would help contribute to less points in the standings which would help draft position.
Reality is that the Hawks can’t afford Panarin or Stone or Skinner or the other top free agent forwards without a salary cap restructure – simply offloading Anisimov isn’t going to open up enough cap space to sign one of those guys. Kapanen would be an affordable option to fill the top-6 winger role the Hawks need to add along with a high draft pick going into the 2019/20 season.
ER – Powers article in The Athletic yesterday suggests the Hawks will have plenty of cap room to sign not only Panarin for example but if they move on from AA someone like Stralman too.
I think the time is right to trade Keith for the reasons you state above and I like your trade scenario but not sure the Leafs would want to trade a player (Kapanen) off their roster just before a playoff run so the return is more likely a 1st round pick and a prospect IMO. But if TOR would trade Kapanen I’d be all over that trade.
Wrap, there’s lots or variables, but this is how I see it:
The Hawks have 9 forwards under contract for the 2019/20 season (Toews, Kane, Saad, Anisimov, Caggiula, Kahun, Strome, DeBrincat, Hayden) which adds up to $36.3M.
The Hawks have 5 d-men under contract for the 2019/20 season (Seabrook, Keith, Murphy, Gustafsson, Jokiharju) which adds up to $18.3M.
The only goalie under contract for 2019/20 is Crawford and his cap hit is $6M.
The total for all players under contract is $36.3M + $18.3M + $6M = $60.6M
The RFAs the Hawk will probably re-sign with an estimate of cap hit:
Kampf ($1.25M)
Perlini ($1.25M)
Dahlstrom ($1.0M)
Forsling ($1.0M)
Delia ($2.5M)
Total RFA’s = $7M, added to players under contract = $67.6M
2019/20 cap ceiling is projected to be $82M-$83M – let’s be optimistic and say $83M. Subtracting $67.6M leaves $14.4M to sign 2 more forwards and either a 14th forward of an 8th d-man. However, If Crawford can’t play but doesn’t retire, then his $6M will still count against the cap but the Hawks would be able to add up to $6M after the season starts via LTIR. But let’s continue being optimistic and assume Crawford is back sharing the net with Delia. The Hawks can add 2 ELC prospects at forward for $1M per leaving $12.4M cap space to sign a high priced free agent,
However … the cap space piper comes back to town the following summer when DeBrincat, Strome, Kahun, Perlini, and Caggiula all need a raise at DeBrincat is going to get a hefty raise from his current $900K. In other words if the Hawks sign Panarin for $9M+ they will be in cap hell again and hard pressed to squeeze enough cap space from who knows where when they have to pony up for DeBrincat and others and next season.
See what happens when you type the word Kempny. Pop ups and a virus.
Wrap, thats the thing we have loads of cap space to add Bread Man. So much that we can easily fit another good player like Stralman and still have enough for elc raises.
Like Tab posted, were not keeping everyone when it comes to the 23man, in 2yrs, when were deep again.
People thought we were stuck with Manning, enormous, caphit for another yr after this yr. Bowman will make the necessary moves to be able to add Who we want.
Debrincat is a lock but I am not saving, when we add Panarin/similiar and Stralman/similiar because we have to give Schmaltz a raise to 6m.
Theres no holding back this summer and next summer, to get ‘the’ guys we want and have been waitting for. We ll make it work.
Way to go Tab. Now how to tell the guys know hes gone.
Prospects:
Chl
Entwistle 1g
Beaudin 2a
Boqvist 1a
Hagel 1a
Kurashev 10 of 13 fos
Ncaa
Starrett 2g
Coughlin 1g
Barrett 1a
Mitchell vs Olafsson early 2nd period
Ushl
Slavin 1g
Lots of cap space for Panarin, with a few years of elc before alot of prospects need resigned. No big rfa this year, Debrincat next year will need a sizeable raise. Strome an unknown may not be to much. Then summer of 20 Mitchell and Jokiharju.
Boqvist, Kurashev, Entwistle and any high draft picks this year or most other elc signings be in 21. Too ufa many signings biggest concern as Tab mentioned in another post is filling up the expansion draft spots. A short term deal work better but harder to land impact players.