Tag Archives: Chicago Blackhawks

Thoughts on the Blackhawks after 3 games

Posted on by
Reply

940-couture-loganThree games are already in the books for the Hawks as they find themselves sitting at 2-0-1. Even after just three games, there are already some things sticking out at me about this team, both good and bad. Starting the year with three straight games without a regulation loss is obviously a good thing, but the Hawks play in the NHL’s toughest division and will need to continue earning points on nearly a nightly basis. With that, here’s what I’ve noticed through three games:

  • First of all, don’t get too upset over the loss to the Flames in OT the other night. The Hawks outshot Calgary 50-18 and dominated the game from start to finish. This was one of those fluke occurrences much like we saw two years ago between these same two teams in Calgary. Only that time, it was Ray Emery and the Blackhawks stealing the victory and not Jonas Hiller and the Flames.
  • The third line needs to wake up. The coaching staff moved Brad Richards from the second line to the third line shortly before the season began, and it has not worked out very well thus far to say the least. That line of Bickell, Richards and Smith has done very little in terms of generating momentum and scoring chances.
  • Speaking of Richards, he has been pretty awful through three games. He looks slow, he’s made a few horrible turnovers at the blue line on the powerplay, and he isn’t doing anything to make his line better. The best he’s looked so far has been on the back-check after turning the puck over. Not the kinds of things we were hoping to see from him. Hopefully he just needs a few games to finally get it going.
  • Special teams. The Hawks have been decent on the penalty kill, having killed 10 of the 11 penalties they’ve taken. It’s the powerplay that has not done much to impress. The Blackhawks are 3 for 16 with the man advantage, which may not look so bad on paper, but the fact that they were just 1 for 7 the other night against Calgary is not good. Had they converted just one more time in that game, they would have won. They need to quit trying to make the extra, cute passes and just shoot the damn thing. It’s that simple.
  • Why is Jeremy Morin still not getting playing time? He played a team low 5:48 against the Flames, one of the worst teams in the league. While guys like Carcillo have been playing pretty well here early on, there’s still no excuse to give Morin less than 6 minutes of ice time. Quenneville needs to get this idea out of his head that Morin is more of a liability than anything else. The guy goes 110% every time he’s on the ice, which creates scoring chances and momentum. Plus, if Q would give Morin the chance to prove he deserves more minutes (instead of providing Carcillo with ample opportunities), he’d probably show that he does deserve more ice time.

Okay now the positive stuff.

  • Corey Crawford continues to look great in net. Sure he only saw 18 shots against the Flames and still lost, but you can’t really pin either of those goals on him. The first was a crazy deflection that no one could have stopped, and the second was just a great wrist shot that beat him. He has made big save after big save so far, including multiple saves on breakaways.
  • The Saad-Shaw-Kane line has been unstoppable the past two games. There’s not much more to say about them than that. The chemistry that this line is showing will make it tough for Quenneville and the coaching staff to break them up, meaning Brad Richards might get demoted to the fourth line before he gets promoted to the second line where we all thought he’d be… Shows you how much us fans know.
  • 940-couture-loganTrevor van Riemsdyk looks to have solidified a spot on the team after the Hawks sent Kyle Cumiskey down to Rockford yesterday. When Rozsival comes back from injury, the d-pairings should look something like Keith-Seabrook, Hjalmarsson-Oduya, and Rozsival-van Riemsdyk with David Rundblad as the seventh defenseman (if it were up to me, I’d have sent him down instead of Cumiskey). TVR has shown a lot of poise, confidence, and awareness through his first three games as a pro. If he continues to improve, the Hawks may have hit the lottery with this kid.
  • Another decent surprise so far has been Dan Carcillo. I’ll be the first to admit that I did not agree with the Hawks when they signed him right before the season started. Now, it’s starting to like like somewhat of a decent move. Carcillo looks like a completely different player than the one who left town after the 2013 Stanley Cup parade. He’s added some physicality and skill (something Brandon Bollig didn’t have) to the fourth line this year, which has made that line quite effective up to this point. When Kris Versteeg comes back, the Hawks will most likely rotate Carcillo and Morin in and out of the lineup of the fourth line. Already I’m noticing more depth on this team than last year’s team, and we all know depth is a huge factor in winning the Cup.

Coming up, the Blackhawks host the Predators and Flyers before heading to Nashville and St. Louis. They really need to get two points in each of these last two home games to keep themselves in a good spot in the Central.

State of the Hawks after one game

Posted on by
Reply

940-toews-jonathan-8colAnyone who watched the Blackhawks take on the Stars the other night in what was each team’s first game of the year knows that the Hawks got manhandled for the first 40 minutes of play. Thankfully, Duncan Keith was able to score right near the end of the first period to put the Hawks on the board first, and Corey Crawford turned in one of those outings that just makes you shake your head in amazement. After a horrible second period in which the Blackhawks went down 2-1, they came out flying in the third and were able to get a powerplay goal from Patrick Sharp that eventually sent the game to overtime. No one scored in OT, a shootout commenced, Patrick Kane did his thing, and the Hawks walked away with 2 points. We’ll take it.

While the Blackhawks did somehow manage to get 2 points out their first game, the fact that they looked so awful through the first 40 minutes cannot be overlooked. Aside from Crawford, Sharp, and probably Hjalmarsson, no one else really showed up to play. As a result, the Stars were practically skating circles around the Hawks for much of the night doing whatever they wanted, except scoring. Besides that, here’s what else I took away from opening night:

  • Clearly the coaching staff has very little confidence in the young defensemen. Duncan Keith was forced to play a game high 29 minutes, while Hjalmarsson and Oduya played over 25, and Seabrook 23. Trevor van Riemsdyk turned in 11 minutes, and David Rundblad just 6. This cannot continue to happen for much longer. At some point, Quenneville has got to let the young guys prove themselves and let them learn to play NHL hockey. Using them for 6-10 minutes a game does not do that, and it certainly does not ready them for playoff minutes. Personally, I didn’t think TVR looked all that bad in his first career NHL game the other night. I’d try and get him around 13-15 minutes tonight against the rebuilding Sabres.
  • Going off of that first point, it is somewhat obvious that the Blackhawks can’t really afford to lose one of their top four defensemen to injury for very long this year. Seeing as how reluctant the coaches are to play the young blue liners, I don’t even want to imagine what might happen if a Keith or Hjalmarsson gets injured and needs a replacement. Granted, there’s a chance that Q will become more comfortable with a guy like TVR as the year progresses (and we haven’t seen Cumiskey yet), but who knows.. Michal Rozsival should be returning to the lineup sometime next week on the third d-pairing, which will probably increase the playing time of whoever his partner is.
  • The Blackhawks better not make a habit of coming out slow an unenthused to start games this year. We’ve seen them do it before in the past, and they did it again against Dallas.
  • I thought the powerplay looked rather decent the other night. They were moving the puck around pretty well and put some nice pressure on Lehtonen. They still have the tendency to pass up shot attempts and try to force bad passes instead, but overall I was please. It was Sharp’s PP goal that tied the game up with just over 8 minutes left to play.
  • The penalty kill wasn’t bad either.
  • Corey Crawford was ridiculously good. Let’s see if he has a “bounce back” year.
  • Other than the Sharp-Toews-Hossa line, none of the other three lines were real productive. Quenneville hoped that reuniting Saad, Shaw and Kane would result like it did last May, but it didn’t. I’d try Richards with Saad and Kane tonight and do everything possible to make that trio work.

All in all, not a good start for the Blackhawks, but great teams find ways to win the tough games. I’d expect their play to pick up over the next week or so once they get their legs back under them and once some chemistry begins to redevelop. They’ll need to pick it up because they are playing in the toughest division in the NHL, and the last thing anyone in the Central wants to do is fall too far behind early in the year. There’s no coming back from that.

Tonight it’s the Sabres who will take the ice against the Hawks in their home opener. I’m anticipating another 2 points tonight in what should be a game in which the Hawks start to figure things out.

Blackhawks-Stars preview

Posted on by
Reply

940-toews-jonathan-8colThursday night the Blackhawks will officially open their 2014-15 season in Dallas when they take on the much improved Stars. Already, there are story lines heading this game. Injuries, line juggling, and new faces in the lineup will all have an impact on the Hawks’ season opener.

Let’s start with the injuries. First off, Joel Quenneville said today that it looks like Kris Versteeg will be out around three weeks with a lower body injury. He suffered the injury in practice the other day, but the Blackhawks won’t specify as to how or what happened, per the usual. That stuff is “secretive” in the NHL these days. This is really unfortunate for both Versteeg and the Blackhawks because it appeared during training camp and preseason that Versteeg finally had his legs back under him. Many coaches and players said that he looked like his old self again (the guy from 2010). If that Versteeg is the one that shows up this year, he’ll be a big asset on the team’s third line.

Aside from Kris Versteeg, Michal Rozsival also will be out of the lineup in Dallas it would appear. He suffered an upper body injury during the preseason, but has been skating well in practice and may only miss a couple games. His absence from the lineup is not as crucial as Versteeg’s, but he’s out nonetheless.

In place of Versteeg and Rozsival, expect to see Dan Carcillo and Trevor van Riemsdyk (TVR) in the lineup Thursday. TVR (the younger brother of James of the Toronto Maple Leafs and U.S. Olympic team) unexpectedly made the Blackhawks’ opening night roster and figures to be the Hawks’ sixth/seventh defenseman until Rozsival returns from his injury. He was practicing with Hjalmarsson as his partner this week, while Oduya and Rundbald were the third d-pairing. Once Rozsival comes back, I’d expect van Riemsdyk to be sent back to Rockford. The Hawks likely won’t carry eight healthy defensemen.

If it’s not one of David Rundblad or TVR in the lineup Thursday night, it’ll be Kyle Cumiskey in their place. He is quite similar to Nick Leddy in that he’s a very fast, puck-moving defensemen that likes to be involved in the offense.

As for what lines you should expect to see Thursday, look for them to be Sharp-Toews-Hossa, Saad-Shaw-Kane, Bickell-Richards-Smith, Carcillo-Kruger-Morin. As you can see, it looks like Quenneville has already decided that he doesn’t like the Saad-Richards-Kane trio and will instead start the season off with the second line that owned the Kings in last year’s Western Conference Final. I would anticipate that sometime in the very near future Q will go with Richards centering the second line, but for now we’ll have to wait for that. I don’t understand his reasoning for giving up on Richards with Saad and Kane before the regular season even starts, but it is what it is.

Now, the game itself. Dallas is coming into this season already with a ton of momentum behind them. They ended up shocking a lot of people last season by making the playoffs as a wild card team, and they really did put up a good fight against the Ducks in the first round. This summer, they acquired Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky to really bolster their offense that already consists of Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. They’re going to be a tough team to beat on a nightly basis.

940-toews-jonathan-8colI’m expecting the Stars to give the Hawks all they can handle in the season opener, and there’s a good chance that they win the game in front of what should be a very lively, sold-out crowd in Dallas. Remember, these two teams developed some bad blood for one another over the course of last year, thanks to Antoine Roussel and his aggravating style of play. This will be a great test for the Blackhawks right off the bat.

Leddy dealt; Another round of Carcillo

Posted on by
Reply

130107_gq_trout_aI’m a little late to the party on this one, but better late than never. On Saturday, the Blackhawks traded Nick Leddy to the New York Islanders in exchange for three prospects: T.J. Brennan, Ville Pokka, and Anders Nilsson. Both Brennan and Pokka are defensemen, while Nilsson is a goalie. This was a trade that we had all been holding our breath on for seemingly the last four months, but it finally happened. The Hawks needed to move someone off their NHL roster to get themselves under the salary cap, and that someone ended up being Nick Leddy, which wasn’t much of a surprise. The Leddy trade wasn’t the only news on Saturday, however. The Blackhawks also signed Dan Carcillo to a one-year contract, a move that has most Hawks fans scratching our heads.

Back to the Leddy trade. It appeared that one of Oduya or Leddy would end up being the player traded away to get the Hawks back under the NHL’s salary cap, and sure enough it ended up being Leddy. Leddy was first brought up to the NHL to begin the 2010-11 season, and he never left the scene. He never appeared in an AHL game prior to being brought up to the NHL, so his first few seasons with the Hawks were basically an example of learning on the job. While he did progress in certain areas each year while here in Chicago, Leddy never seemed to take that big next step towards becoming a top four, reliable NHL defenseman. Don’t get me wrong, his speed, puck moving, and offensive talents are elite for a d-man, but his ability to be an effective player in his own is what has held him back a bit. Joel Quenneville regularly sat Leddy late in close games because he simply couldn’t trust him to be on the ice during those times. That’s where Leddy has never shown much progression, and that’s a huge reason why he’s the one who got moved.

As for the players the Blackhawks received in return for Leddy, T.J. Brennan, 25, is the most valuable. Last year in the AHL he recorded 25 goals and 47 assists from the back end, and he was named the AHL’s most outstanding defenseman. Brennan has appeared in 40 NHL games in his career with the Sabres and Panthers, and he registered 4 goals and 7 assists in those 40 games. As you can tell from his numbers in the minors, Brennan is an offensive-defenseman who looks to be active in the offensive zone. I wouldn’t expect Brennan to make an appearance in the NHL this season, but you never know. He’s definitely deserving of it, but the Hawks appear to be set with Kyle Cumiskey and David Rundblad as their sixth and seventh defensemen.

940-toews-jonathan-8colNow to Carcillo. In case your memory is very limited and you have already forgotten, Carcillo was with the Hawks from 2011 to 2013 and was a part of the team that defeated Boston to win their second Cup in four years. His role ever since entering the NHL has been that of an agitator. He runs around looking to drill guys through the glass (despite his 6’0″, 200 lb. stature) and is always willing to drop the gloves. His biggest problem is taking dumb penalties and making illegal hits, something he’s been either fined or suspended for 10 times in his career. His job is basically going to be to take over at Brandon Bollig’s spot on the Hawks’ roster this year. He’s a very similar player to Bollig, only he has more skill and can play with better forwards. Still, I don’t like this move.

The Blackhawks have preached over recent years that their mission is to draft, develop, and deliver their prospects to the NHL, much like they did with Brandon Saad. Signing Dan Carcillo completely goes against that plan. When you have guys like Jeremy Morin, Teuvo Teravainen, and even Phillip Danault who look to be NHL-ready (especially Morin), why take away their potential playing time in the NHL by dressing Dan Carcillo in their place who has much less talent and is a far worse hockey player? I understand that Joel Quenneville likes to have that “enforcer” in his lineup, but at some point you just have to use your head and realize that the NHL has changed in recent years, and the role of the enforcer has all but evaporated. One of the keys to being an elite team in the NHL and to winning the Stanley Cup is having great depth on your team. Dan Carcillo is not the worst player you could have on your fourth line, but guys like Morin are better all-around hockey players who can put together more valuable minutes than Carcillo.

Unfortunately, that argument will probably never be a winning argument as long as Quenneville is in charge. He likes his enforcers, and that’s that. After all, the guy does have the third highest win total of any coach in NHL history, and he has led the Hawks to two Stanley Cups in the last five years, so he probably knows better than me. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t disagree with him on this matter.

Thanks for reading.

Five questions surrounding the Blackhawks

Posted on by
Reply

940-toews-jonathan-8colHeading into this season, the Blackhawks have major expectations placed on them not only from the fans, but from themselves as well. This is a team that looks poised to finish as a top team in the NHL standings yet again and make another deep run in the playoffs. There are, however, a few questions about the Hawks as they prepare for another long season. Here are five questions I have for this team:

  1. Who will get traded? Training camp just started the other day for the Blackhawks, and they are still 2.2 million dollars over the league salary cap. Someone has to go by October 9th when the Hawks start their season in Dallas. Most signs are indicating that it will be either Johnny Oduya or Nick Leddy that gets dealt. Oduya currently has a 3.375 million dollar cap hit, and Leddy has a 2.7 million dollar hit, so if either gets traded away the Blackhawks would be under the salary cap. While trading Oduya might be the more popular thing to do among the fans, the Blackhawks could get a lot more in return for Nick Leddy. Leddy is still just 23 years old and has an incredible amount of talent. I don’t think you’ll find one team in the NHL who wouldn’t take him. If it were up to me, I’d still probably try and find the best deal possible for Johnny Oduya. Trading Oduya means the Hawks will have to find a new “shut down” partner to go with Hjalmarsson, but I’m not overly concerned about that.
  2. Will the new second line work? The Blackhawks finally have what appears to be a true number two center in Brad Richards. The guy used to be one of the game’s best centers, but is coming off a few disappointing seasons in New York and now finds himself already 34 years old. He will be between Brandon Saad and Patrick Kane on the Hawks’ second line to start the season, which on paper looks like one of the league’s best second lines. The question is whether or not those three will find good chemistry between them. We know Kane and Saad can be successful on a line together, but Richards is the unknown. You wouldn’t think that there would be a problem with this line, but you never know until the real games start. If the first day on training camp was any indication, these three won’t have a problem playing together.
  3. Kris Versteeg. Versteeg is coming off a very disappointing 2013-14 campaign in which he notched 10 goals and 19 assists. In the playoffs, he managed just 1 goal 130107_gq_trout_aand 2 assists and routinely found himself either scratched from the lineup or benched for long stretches of the game. He was not the same guy that was traded away following the Hawks’ 2010 Stanley Cup parade. It could be that he was still not 100 percent after having serious knee surgery during the 2012-13 season. This is what most fans are hoping was the case. Either way, Kris Versteeg is going to have to win back the coaching staff and the fans early on this season or else he’ll probably see minimal playing time and become the subject of trade talks. Personally, I’m expecting a good bounce-back season from Versteeg. He was so awful during the postseason this past spring that it’s hard to believe he was his normal self physically. If he hasn’t shown any signs of improvement by mid to late November, then we can hit the panic button on him.
  4. Will any rookies make the NHL team? We all know who Teuvo Teravainen is by now, but what about Brandon Mashinter? Mashinter is a 26 year old winger who has played in 23 career NHL games with the Sharks and Rangers. He is known for his physical presence on the ice (6’4″, 212 lbs) and is not afraid to drop the gloves. Last season in the AHL, he scored 15 goals to go along with 20 assists and amassed 94 penalty minutes in 58 games between Hartford and Rockford. The NHL has seen that “fourth line grinder” position somewhat disappear in recent years, but if Mashinter has some offensive skill to go along with his grit, he may just make the team. Joel Quenneville has already given Mashinter high praise and has said that there will be a place for someone like him on the NHL roster this year. We saw Brandon Bollig in this role last year with the Hawks, and it was excruciating to watch. If Mashinter does make this team, he better have some skill and not just toughness.
  5. Speaking of Teravainen… Will he make the NHL team to start the season? Probably not. Will he be in the NHL at all this year? Most likely. What the 940-toews-jonathan-8colBlackhawks should and probably will do is have Teuvo start the year in Rockford with the Icehogs. This will allow him to better adjust to playing on North American ice and it will give him time to familiarize himself with the center position. In Europe Teravainen played mostly right wing, so the more time he has to improve at being a center, the better. The last thing the Blackhawks want to do is bring him up too early and have him fail as a center, ultimately killing Teravainen’s confidence. They will wait until they feel he can handle that role at the NHL level and then bring him up. When they do bring him up, they’ll probably start him off on the third or fourth line and let him work his way up. This season will be a tricky year for that to happen though, seeing as how Brad Richards will be the team’s number two center (the hopeful destination for Teravainen). If and when Teuvo gets to the NHL this year, don’t be surprised to see him play some center and wing.

Like I said before, the Blackhawks have some serious expectations on their shoulders this year. They’re going to be good, but just how good? How these five questions get answered could help determine where this team will end up. Obviously, there are many other factors that need to be considered when analyzing the Hawks, but I’m anxious to get these questions answered.

Blackhawks’ future cap problems

Posted on by
Reply

139990-330-0Now that Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews have signed identical 8-year, $84 million contracts that go into effect for the 2015-16 season, Stan Bowman and the Blackhawks can focus on continuing to build a strong roster around those two guys. The problem is, with Kane and Toews each due to make $10.5 million per year starting in 2015, the Blackhawks won’t have a whole lot of cap space to sign and re-sign certain players. This is a topic that has come up a ton over the last week and a half since both 88 and 19 signed their extensions.

As of right now, with both Kane and Toews still on their previous contracts of $6.3 million per year, the Blackhawks are just over $2 million over the salary cap. That means that between now and the beginning of this upcoming season, someone on the team has to go via a trade. All signs indicate it will be Oduya, Leddy, or Rozsival. That will take care of this year’s cap problem. Let’s move ahead to next year (2015-16).

Beginning with the ’15-’16 season, Kane and Toews will each see a $4.2 million increase in their salaries as previously mentioned. Granted, the NHL salary cap is expected to rise between now and then to possibly a bit over $70 million, but the Blackhawks will also be paying Kane and Toews roughly $8 million more (combined) than they are now. They will also have a number of players becoming either restricted or unrestricted free agents after this upcoming season. Richards, Kruger, Saad, Regin, Oduya, Leddy, Rozsival, and Rundblad will all need new contracts after this year. Count on one of Oduya, Leddy, or Rozsival to be traded soon here, shortening that list by one.

Odds are that the Blackhawks will only aggressively pursue Saad, Kruger, Oduya, and Leddy, assuming both Leddy and/or Oduya are still around at that point in time which may not be the case. Brandon Saad is going to see a big pay raise, as he should. The Blackhawks have also made it clear that he is not going anywhere, basically solidifying the fact that they’ll be giving Saad a new deal once he becomes an RFA after this season. Marcus Kruger, who will also be an RFA after the 2014-15 season, will most likely see a pay raise as well.

7327531Since the Hawks will have a very limited amount of money to spend next off-season, I would expect a “bridge-deal” for Brandon Saad, meaning they may give him a two-year extension worth $4 million per year instead of a six-year, $25 million extension. Maybe we see the same with Kruger, but I’d expect something more along the lines of a three to four year extension worth $2.5 million per year. So why give Saad a bridge-deal? Here’s the answer.

Following the 2016-17 season, both Patrick Sharp and Bryan Bickell become unrestricted free agents. Neither should see an increase in pay at that point, and maybe one doesn’t even return to the Hawks (assuming neither is traded between now and then). Between the two of them, they will be making $9.9 million/year for the next three seasons, which means once their contracts are up, the Hawks will have that much more money to give guys like Saad a much bigger contract.

As for the other players I listed earlier like Richards, Regin, and Rundblad, they probably won’t be Blackhawks at this time next year. Expect some of the Hawks’ prospects to fill the holes left by those guys. Players like Phillip Danault, Stephen Johns, Adam Clendening, and a few others will be making the jump to the NHL and can fill some of the vacancies left by departing Blackhawks. For what it’s worth, there is an extremely good chance we will see Clendening and/or Johns in the NHL this season.

So as you can see, the new contracts for Kane and Toews will create some cap problems for Stan Bowman and the Blackhawks. That does NOT mean that the new contracts for those two players are bad. They are two of the most elite players in the NHL and deserve every penny they are getting paid. If they had opted for free agency, they’d be getting even more money. Most teams would kill to have either Kane or Toews on their team, and the Hawks have both.

While trying to come up with a Stanley Cup-caliber roster with limited money to do so won’t be easy, you can count on the Blackhawks always being a contender for as long as Kane and Toews remain on the team. They are that good and make everyone around them that much better. I also trust that Stan Bowman and his staff will continue to put the Hawks in position to win the Cup on a yearly basis. It won’t be easy, but if any team can find a way to work and be successful around the cap numbers, it’s the Blackhawks.

Eight more years

Posted on by
Reply

130107_gq_trout_aToday, the Blackhawks announced that they had agreed to matching 8-year, $10.5 million extensions with both Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. The new deals won’t kick in until the start of the 2015-16 season. Assuming no one gets signed to more money between now and then, Toews and Kane will be the two highest paid players in the NHL at the time they enter into their new contracts, and rightfully so.

Since entering the league in 2007, Toews and Kane have each won two Stanley Cups and a Conn Smythe Trophy with the Blackhawks. Toews also won the 2013 Selke Trophy and has been a finalist for that award three times now, while Kane won the Calder Trophy his rookie season. Statistically, both players are climbing their way up the Blackhawks’ record books and are sure to finish their careers as two of the greatest players the franchise has ever seen, if they’re not already.

There has been some unwarranted backlash from certain fans on these deals, however. The most common argument I’ve seen today from those “fans” is that these deals put the Blackhawks in a bad situation monetarily moving forward. While it is true that the Hawks will no doubt be limited in what they can do with their money in the coming years because of the salary cap (the cap is projected to increase over the next few seasons), you can’t tell me or anyone else that the management didn’t think about that before signing the contracts with Kane and Toews… They know better than any of us what type of situation they will be in once these new contracts go into effect in another year. While it would be easy to dive into that whole discussion, I’ll save it for another time.

For now, let’s all take a minute to celebrate the fact that the two pillars of the Blackhawks’ organization aren’t going anywhere, at least for 8 more years.

Blackhawks sign Brad Richards; NHL update

Posted on by
Reply

NHL: Stanley Cup Final-New York Rangers at Los Angeles KingsIt was looking like the Blackhawks were going to let the first day of NHL free agency pass by without making any moves to upgrade their roster. Then out of the blue, they signed Brad Richards to a one-year, two million dollar contract (a great deal for the Hawks). Richards was bought out by the Rangers last week after playing just three years in New York under a nine-year, $60 million deal he signed in the summer of 2011.

The most glaring need for the Blackhawks the past few years has been that of a legitimate second line center. They simply haven’t had one. Somehow, they managed to win the Cup with Michal Handzus filling that role, but they weren’t going to get by with that formula again. Now, I think it’s safe to say they’ve found their man, at least for the time being.

Richards, 34 years old, is not the player he was a few years ago in Dallas or when he was in Tampa Bay putting up 90 points during the season and winning the Conn Smythe Trophy and Stanley Cup. He’s older now, and he’s lost a step in his game like most guys do when they age. The fact is, however, he’s still a good player and is a major upgrade from what the Hawks have been working with over the past couple seasons.

The numbers don’t lie. Brad Richards has had a pretty solid 15-year career up to this point. You don’t put up 91 points in a season twice by accident. He has some elite play-making abilities and is good for a little over 20 goals a year at this point. Placing him in-between Patrick Kane and Brandon Saad on the Blackhawks’ second line will only increase his productivity, and the potential that line possesses is somewhat scary. The bottom line: this is a big signing for the Blackhawks and Brad Richards. He needed a change in scenery from New York, and coming into a situation like this with the Hawks could be a huge lift for Richards, not to mention the team.

Here’s my projected lines with Richards now on the team (he will wear number 91):

10-19-81

20-91-88

11/28-65-29

28/11-16-12/23

Signing Richards adds a lot more depth to the Hawks’ lineup, which is something they lacked this past postseason. The signing also allows the team to let Teuvo Teravainen progress at his own pace without being pressured or rushed. It’s no secret the team sees him as their second line center of the future, but putting him into that role this upcoming season may be pushing it a bit. He needs time to develop and adjust to the NHL before placing him in such an important role. I am now anticipating him starting the year in Rockford and probably being brought up sometime during the season. He may even begin the year on the NHL roster and play wing. Who knows…

In signing Richards, the Hawks are now a little over $2 million above the salary cap limit, meaning someone will soon be one their way out. The Hawks signed d-man Kyle Cumiskey today, which may or may not be an indication that they are about to trade away one of their defensemen. It’s looking like Johnny Oduya, Michal Rozsival, and Nick Leddy are the top candidates to get traded away. As for which one Bowman deals, it’s hard to say, but trading any one of them would solve their current salary cap problem.

In other news, the Hawks re-signed Peter Regin to a one-year, $650,000 contract. A lot of people, myself included, thought he should have received a lot more playing time than he did this past postseason, and now it would appear he’ll be given the chance to prove himself yet again. Keeping him and signing Richards bolsters the Blackhawks’ depth at center, something they’ll need to compete with teams like L.A.

Also, Brandon Bollig is no longer a Blackhawk. I’m not sure why he was given a 3-year contract extension this past season, but at least he’s gone now (nothing against him as a person). Most knowledgeable Blackhawks fans couldn’t understand why Bollig was continuously in the lineup over guys like Peter Regin and Jeremy Morin (also recently re-signed) during this year’s playoffs, and now we’ve finally been granted our wish of him no longer taking away their playing time. Bollig literally was not good at much of anything, so seeing him go is more of a relief than anything.

REST OF THE WEST

The Western Conference dominated the NHL this season, and now, they’ve only gotten better. Here’s how:

Anaheim: Traded for Ryan Kesler and Nate Thompson

Chicago: Signed Brad Richards

Colorado: Traded for Daniel Briere; signed Jarome Iginla

Dallas: Traded for Jason Spezza; signed Ales Hemsky & Anders Lindback

Minnesota: Signed Thomas Vanek

Nashville: Traded for James Neal; signed Olli Jokinen

St. Louis: Signed Paul Stastny

It’s kind of ridiculous when you think about how brutal it is going to be for all Western teams this season. The Central Division was hockey’s best division this past year, and now they’ve only strengthened with Dallas, Minnesota, St. Louis, Nashville, and Chicago all getting better. Colorado will still be a very dangerous team, but they may not get over 100 points again.

Getting out of the West in next year’s playoffs will not be easy for anyone. I’ll say it right now: Whichever team wins the conference will win the Stanley Cup.

More Blackhawks rumors

Posted on by
Reply

130107_gq_trout_aAccording to a report from the Ottawa Sun, Ryan Kesler has made it clear to the Canucks’ management that he wants to be traded to either the Blackhawks or Penguins. I’ve talked on here before about the likelihood, or lack thereof, of Kesler actually becoming a Blackhawk, and now I guess I have to do it again since these rumors and reports keep surfacing.

Vancouver is entering a rebuild mode right now. They traded away Roberto Luongo this past spring, they fired their head coach John Tortorella after just one season, and they are really focusing a lot of their attention on their younger players and prospects with the hopes to build a new, younger and better team in the near future. Ryan Kesler is a 29 year old veteran on that team who wants out. If the Canucks are to trade him, which it looks like they certainly will, Vancouver is going to want good, young talent in return. If not that, then they’ll want a star player who will be a good role model to the younger guys on that team. Enter the names Patrick Sharp, Teuvo Teravainen, and Brandon Saad.

The Canucks will almost positively be seeking one of those three players from the Hawks in return for Ryan Kesler. The question is, is Kesler worth that price?

Odds are it would have to be Patrick Sharp leaving town to get Kesler simply for the money reasons. Sharp is due $5.9 million annually for three more seasons, so trading his contract would open up the cap space for Ryan Kesler and his five million dollar contract. With Ryan Kesler, the Hawks would be getting a 20-30 goals per season center, as well as a former Selke Trophy winner as the league’s best defensive forward. Kesler is also one of the more physical forwards in the league, which makes him that much tougher to play against. He would no doubt be as good of a fit for the Blackhawks’ number two center position as anyone. As for Sharp, the Hawks would be losing probably a more talented player than Kesler (especially offensively), a proven leader, and a two-time Stanley Cup champion and one-time Olympic gold medalist. Not to mention his presence would no longer be in that Blackhawks locker room, and I don’t think it’s any secret how well liked he is among the other Hawks players.

Clearly, it’s a tough call to make if you’re Stan Bowman as to whether or not it’s worth trading Sharp for Kesler. I think one thing the Hawks like about Kesler over Sharp is the fact that Kesler is just 29 years old, while Sharp is 32. This is one of those potential trades that has it’s definite positives and it’s definite negatives.

So what about Teravinen and Saad?

Originally it was believed that the Canucks wanted Brandon Saad as part of any deal that involved Ryan Kesler coming to the Hawks. Obviously, the word on the street is that the Blackhawks said “no way” and those talks ended. The only reason the Kesler rumors have picked up again is because it would appear Brandon Saad no longer has to be part of the deal. Some people have said that in place of Saad, the Canucks now want Teuvo Teravainen, the Hawks’ top prospect. While I’m sure they do want him, there’s no way they’re getting him. Even if the Hawks were willing to part ways with Teuvo or Saad, neither of those players has a large enough contract to open the cap space for Kesler (the cap space would be there right now, but not in two years after the Hawks re-sign Kane and Toews). And there’s no way the Hawks trade Saad/Teravainen and Sharp.

So that leaves Patrick Sharp as being the only real possible candidate to get traded for Kesler. I’m sure the Hawks would gladly trade Seabrook and his contract for Kesler, but I’m not sure the Canucks would go for that. The Blackhawks are looking for ways to get their young defensemen (Clendening, Dahlbeck, and Johns) into the NHL, and trading Seabrook or Oduya would open up that door.

Another name that has really come onto the scene recently is that of Jason Spezza. He wants out of Ottawa, and the Senators appear to be trying to grant his wish. Spezza is another center that would fit perfectly on the Hawks’ second line, and he might even come at a cheaper price. Still, a big contract would have to be moved from the Hawks to get him. I’d say the Kesler thing is a bit more likely than this one.

WINTER CLASSIC

7327531TSN’s Bob McKenzie confirmed yesterday that the Blackhawks will be Washington’s opponent in next year’s Winter Classic. This will be the second time that each of these teams has taken part in a Winter Classic, with Chicago having done so in 2009 at Wrigley Field, and Washington in 2011 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

Personally, this matchup makes very little sense to me from a hockey standpoint. These two teams have zero rivalry between them, and the Capitals aren’t even a playoff team. The only reason Washington is in this game is because they have Alex Ovechkin and they’re an east coast team. The NHL always seems to need an east coast team in these big games just to be “safe” with their TV ratings.

If I’m a west coast team like Minnesota, Colorado, or St. Louis, I’m pretty hacked off at this point. All three of them just made the playoffs, and all three could fill up an outdoor stadium for a Winter Classic. Yet other teams are already playing in their second Winter Classic, some of them not even playoff teams. If you put them (Minnesota, Colorado, or St. Louis) up against a team like the Blackhawks, it would make for a much better game than a Hawks-Capitals one. The Hawks share a “rivalry” with all three of those teams, and the Blackhawks generate large TV ratings, which would make it a “safe” game for the NHL. But what do I know?

Thanks for reading.

Blackhawks’ trade rumors

Posted on by
Reply

130107_gq_trout_aOver the last week or so, a bunch of different names have been mentioned throughout the NHL as possible candidates for being traded. A good handful of those names are big name, superstar players, which makes the trade rumors this summer all that more intriguing. A couple of those names are current Blackhawks. It is not often that Stan Bowman looks to trade away any of his top players, and while this offseason may be no different, one cannot help but speculate as to what could potentially happen in Chicago this summer.

The past few days have been very interesting. For the first time since I can remember, I have heard the names Patrick Sharp and Brent Seabrook mentioned as possible players the Blackhawks may look to deal this offseason. Keep in mind that these are just rumors, meaning that there really isn’t any way to know whether or not the Hawks are actually looking to trade either of those guys. If those rumors are in fact accurate, then some conclusions can be drawn from them.

Patrick Sharp is due to make $5.9 million a year through the 2016-17 season. Brent Seabrook’s contract is for $5.8 million through the 2015-16 season. Trading away one of those players opens up a TON of cap space for the Blackhawks, allowing them to acquire a big name player to fill some gap on the team. The only way either Sharp or Seabrook is traded is if the Blackhawks know they will be getting a star player in return or via a separate trade.

So, who might the Blackhawks look to acquire this summer?

The names Joe Thornton and Ryan Kesler are popping up left and right in regards to the Blackhawks. Both players are supposedly being shopped by their current team, and both the Sharks and Canucks are going to want something of significance in return.

Thornton is due to make $6.75 million per year through the 2016-17 season, and Kesler is set to make $5 million for two more years. If the Hawks were to in fact go after one of these two, we would likely see Patrick Sharp going the other way, or to some other team to free up the cap space.

Will a massive trade like this actually go down for the Blackhawks? Probably not. I don’t see the Hawks parting ways with Sharp, and the only way Seabrook goes is if a big time defensemen is coming to the Hawks. As of right now, I’m unaware of any rumors involving big time d-men other than Seabrook…

A story surfaced shortly after the Olympics that Patrick Kane went to the Hawks’ management and basically said “If you can get Kesler, get him.” Again, who know’s if that actually happened. However, it is no secret that Kane and Kesler have developed some chemistry together via international play, and I would guess that Kane would welcome him with open arms to the second line on the Blackhawks, seeing as how they currently don’t have a true number two center. The bottom line is that I do believe there is some validity to the “Kesler to Chicago” rumors, but I’m not sure that the Blackhawks would be willing to part ways with what it would take to get him. AKA Patrick Sharp.

As for Joe Thornton, I don’t see the Hawks making a move at him. Obviously, he would be a huge boost to the team and would probably elevate Kane’s statistics to ridiculous numbers, but his salary and the amount it would take to get him seem to both be too high for the Hawks. That’s not to say the Blackhawks won’t inquire about him, but I don’t see them making a serious push.

Someone I haven’t mentioned yet, Johnny Oduya, could very well be dealt in the next month, however. He is entering the final season of his contract and is set to make $3.375 million this year. Trading him opens up the cap space to sign a defensemen or two, or to acquire some depth forwards via trades or free agency. I’d say the chances of Oduya being a Hawk next year are 50/50 at this point.

What will most likely happen is this: The Blackhawks will kick the tires on a couple of big names who are being shopped, but will refuse to give up what it will take to acquire such a player. They will fall back on the fact that they have Teuvo Teravainen waiting in the wings down in Rockford, and he will most likely get the best chance of anyone to occupy the Hawks’ second line center position come opening night. Johnny Oduya will be traded for a prospect or two and a draft pick, and the Blackhawks will fill his roster spot with a guy like Adam Clendening, Stephen Johns, or Klas Dahlbeck, all of whom are in Rockford and NHL-ready. The Blackhawks will also sign a depth defensemen or two, as well as a depth forward. The lack of talent on the Hawks’ fourth line was a huge reason as to why they were eliminated by the Kings. Rolling just three lines in the late stages of the NHL playoffs is not a good thing, and I am hopeful the Blackhawks will address that problem this summer.

Really, anything could theoretically happen between now and opening night of next season. Someone like me can only speculate as to what that may be.