Re: 2009 Chicago Blackhawks

[Soul]

Losing in the first round might be a stretch, but there's no doubt that goaltending remains a concern for this team. The Hawks have Cup aspirations and everything is in place for that kind of run, except the goalie play.

 

They could still do it, but that's the most likely breaking point and that's why so many people in the media and in general keep bringing it up.

 

That said, this was still a solid road trip overall.

[brinoch]

Huet/Niemi are better this year than Khabibulin/Huet last year.

 

Every time the 'Hawks lose a game, there's a ton of complaining about Huet or the goaltending. It's fine, and it certainly wasn't the reason the Hawks lost last night. Huet played well. The defense was terrible, with repeated turnovers in the zone. Focus on that, rather than the goalies.

;;

[17 Seconds]

Huet/Niemi are better this year than Khabibulin/Huet last year.

 

yeah, no. that's not true at all. you must only be looking at GAA average, which is a product of the rest of the team.

 

2009-2010 hawks save percentage- .906 (17th in NHL)

2008-2009 hawks save percentage- .911 (7th in NHL)

 

the hawks main goalie last year (khabi) was legitimately good/great. huet is the primary goalie this year, and he has not been good.

[brinoch]

Huet/Niemi are better this year than Khabibulin/Huet last year.

 

yeah, no. that's not true at all. you must only be looking at GAA average, which is a product of the rest of the team.

 

2009-2010 hawks save percentage- .906 (17th in NHL)

2008-2009 hawks save percentage- .911 (7th in NHL)

 

the hawks main goalie last year (khabi) was legitimately good/great. huet is the primary goalie this year, and he has not been good.

 

So is save percentage. There's no way to gauge the quality of chances. And, by the way, based on your metric, Khabi was terrible in the playoffs (.898 save percentage / 2.93 GAA).

 

Huet has been good. This hate against him has become absolutely ridiculous. He's struggled at a couple points this year, but calling most every goal scored on him as soft when often he has almost no chance is, frankly, meatball-ish. What could Huet have done last night on those goals?

[Butterscup1679666578]

Huet/Niemi are better this year than Khabibulin/Huet last year.

 

yeah, no. that's not true at all. you must only be looking at GAA average, which is a product of the rest of the team.

 

2009-2010 hawks save percentage- .906 (17th in NHL)

2008-2009 hawks save percentage- .911 (7th in NHL)

 

the hawks main goalie last year (khabi) was legitimately good/great. huet is the primary goalie this year, and he has not been good.

 

So is save percentage. There's no way to gauge the quality of chances. And, by the way, based on your metric, Khabi was terrible in the playoffs (.898 save percentage / 2.93 GAA).

 

Huet has been good. This hate against him has become absolutely ridiculous. He's struggled at a couple points this year, but calling most every goal scored on him as soft when often he has almost no chance is, frankly, meatball-ish. What could Huet have done last night on those goals?

 

I agree Huet has been good (though not great this year), I do feel that a lot of goals he gives up are due to him being out of position/slow getting back in position/slow moving back across the net.

[17 Seconds]

Huet/Niemi are better this year than Khabibulin/Huet last year.

 

yeah, no. that's not true at all. you must only be looking at GAA average, which is a product of the rest of the team.

 

2009-2010 hawks save percentage- .906 (17th in NHL)

2008-2009 hawks save percentage- .911 (7th in NHL)

 

the hawks main goalie last year (khabi) was legitimately good/great. huet is the primary goalie this year, and he has not been good.

 

So is save percentage. There's no way to gauge the quality of chances. And, by the way, based on your metric, Khabi was terrible in the playoffs (.898 save percentage / 2.93 GAA).

 

Huet has been good. This hate against him has become absolutely ridiculous. He's struggled at a couple points this year, but calling most every goal scored on him as soft when often he has almost no chance is, frankly, meatball-ish. What could Huet have done last night on those goals?

 

i'm not blaming him for last night, but much of the criticism is deserved. and i'm not just going ton save percentage. saying that the goaltending has been better this year than last is ridiculous though. it's not even close to being true.

 

and yes, there is a way top gauge the quality of chances. by watching the games. khabibulin was outstanding last year, and huet has not been very good. overall, the hawks have played amazing defense this season (though theyve leaked as of late) and they donbt give up a lot of good shots, yet huet's save percentage is .903 and below league average.

 

he hasn't had to make many tough stops at all this season, and he's still stopping shots at a below average rate.

 

as for khabibulin's playoff stats, im not sure why youre bringing them up. that's one of the main reasons the hawks flamed out against detroit (although they were just a better team anyways). so yeah, not sure what your point is with that. i never said khabi was good in the playoffs.

 

btw, you should know that i was one of the biggest huet defenders all last season (to a point where i'd annoy people a lot with my defending him) when people were trashing him, so i'm not a meatball fan. i defended him hard last season. i didn't think he was worth the money, but i thought he was still an above average goalie. this yeah, i feel like he's taken a step back, and that's when i stopped defending him. so yeah, i'm not a meatball. there's a reason for my criticism, and it's because i feel he has not been a good goaltender this season. it has nothing to do with anything else.

[brinoch]

Yes, and I watch every game as well. I think he's been fine and better than last season's Khabi (particularly playoff Khabi) -- thus an apt demonstration of the subjective nature of the eye. Without an objective standard measuring scoring chance quality, there's no way to say to resolve a disagreement like this. Hockey statistics are far, far behind baseball's in measuring the game (though they are making strides). Your opinion has as much weight as mine when it comes to watching a game and drawing conclusions.

 

The reason that I bring up playoff Khabi is because people (not you) were just talking about how the Hawks won't make it out of the first or second round because of the goaltending situation. Khabi was fine, but not great last season in the playoffs. The Hawks did just fine.

 

I don't really care that you defended Huet last year -- though you may recall that I did as well -- my point is that he has been a very good goalie this year. Like any other goalie, he gives up terrible, soft goals sometimes. Sometimes he makes great saves, and contrary to what you seem to think, he's made quite a few very, very good saves. Generally, the Hawks defense tends to smother an opponent and leaves them with fewer shots on goal -- they give up the least in the league. But the chances that they do give up, based on the aggressive stretch and puck possession game, tend to lead to a lot of 2 on 1's and 3 on 2's. Huet's two problems as a goalie are that he doesn't move laterally all that well, and he is inconsistent with his rebound control (though much better than Niemi). When passes get through on an odd man rush, they tend to end up in the back of the net. With respect to him losing sight of the puck, that's a direct consequence of the Hawks aggressively trying to block shots.

 

Complaining constantly about the goaltending situation, particularly after a loss in which the goalie played well and the defense didn't is meatball-ish. Huet is playing well right now, after a stretch of not playing well. Which followed an extended streak of excellent play. Which followed a really crappy stretch in October. Huet's definitely deserved criticism at points during the season, but not right now.

[17 Seconds]

i just don't see how you could possibly say that huet this year has been better than regular season khabi last year. that's just flat out insane, i'm sorry.

[gflore34]

Can Huet keep the Hawks in a game when the defense has an off night? Particularly in the playoffs? If he's hot possibly but, going into the playoffs with the hope or counting Huet to get hot has got a very Cub-like scent to it. Huet has not shown the ability to make the big momentum changing stop, look at the Minnesota game, one big save and the Hawks probably win.

[jersey cubs fan]

i just don't see how you could possibly say that huet this year has been better than regular season khabi last year. that's just flat out insane, i'm sorry.

 

Last year's Khabi played in half the games, this year's Huet has played in most of the games. Khabi had 29 games in the team's first 55, Huet has 40. It's not exactly an even comparison. Khabi was never the primary goalie last year, he split evenly with Huet.

[jersey cubs fan]

Can Huet keep the Hawks in a game when the defense has an off night? Particularly in the playoffs? If he's hot possibly but, going into the playoffs with the hope or counting Huet to get hot has got a very Cub-like scent to it. Huet has not shown the ability to make the big momentum changing stop, look at the Minnesota game, one big save and the Hawks probably win.

 

He did it the last playoff game last year.

[Soul]

Can Huet keep the Hawks in a game when the defense has an off night? Particularly in the playoffs? If he's hot possibly but, going into the playoffs with the hope or counting Huet to get hot has got a very Cub-like scent to it. Huet has not shown the ability to make the big momentum changing stop, look at the Minnesota game, one big save and the Hawks probably win.

 

He did it the last playoff game last year.

 

He did. And that's the hope I'm holding on to.

 

But when I look at Huet, I see a weakness on the team. Sorry, but unless I see something better from him I'm not changing that opinion. If he's great in the playoffs, then that's awesome. I'll love it. But right now, I don't think he's very strong.

[jersey cubs fan]

Can Huet keep the Hawks in a game when the defense has an off night? Particularly in the playoffs? If he's hot possibly but, going into the playoffs with the hope or counting Huet to get hot has got a very Cub-like scent to it. Huet has not shown the ability to make the big momentum changing stop, look at the Minnesota game, one big save and the Hawks probably win.

 

He did it the last playoff game last year.

 

He did. And that's the hope I'm holding on to.

 

But when I look at Huet, I see a weakness on the team. Sorry, but unless I see something better from him I'm not changing that opinion. If he's great in the playoffs, then that's awesome. I'll love it. But right now, I don't think he's very strong.

 

I don't think he's very strong right now either. But it's February, and plenty of cup winning teams have had questionable goalies as of February in the year they won. This is a salary cap sport, they cannot be like the Cubs and have a built in advantage over the competition due to financial differences. They have a ton of talent on this team. You can only spend so much.

[gflore34]

What about Marty Turco? I believe he'll be a UFA next season and the asking price could be pretty cheap.

[Old Style]

Blackhawks to acquire Pittsburgh defensemen Jay McKee?

 

http://blogs.dailyherald.com/node/3363

[NewUserName]

What about Marty Turco? I believe he'll be a UFA next season and the asking price could be pretty cheap.

 

what is his salary? wouldnt the blackhawks have to trade at least equal salary to get Turco? Is he that much better that he would be worth what the Hawks would have to trade to get him? Turco has until a couple of years ago been labeled a playoff goat.

[kujay]

Blackhawks to acquire Pittsburgh defensemen Jay McKee?

 

http://blogs.dailyherald.com/node/3363

 

Sassone doesn't speculate on who McKee would replace. I saw quite a bit of him when he played here in St. Louis, and he's decent. Probably an upgrade over Barker or Sopel. But which would sit? Not long ago I'd have thought Sopel for sure and totally agreed, but I've not seen much from Barker lately and I get the impression (totally subjective, I admit) that Q doesn't trust him.

 

In trade, I would hope this wouldn't be for anyone off our current offensive roster. I don't think any are worth the mild defensive upgrade at this point. I suppose a straight-up for Barker would be one of those trades that wouldn't do the team any harm now and would bring cap relief. But then you've got two open spots on defense going into next year (assuming Sopel and McKee didn't resign, which I'm sure they wouldn't).

 

Interesting to think about...

 

EDIT: As I think of it more, to even take on a $800,000 contract (pro-rated?) the Hawks would probably have to unload a current roster player to stay under the cap.

[sneakypower]

Ladd for McKee?

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/02/dave-bolland-back-on-line-for-blackhawks.html

 

There has been some question of who will be scratched but that was answered for Tuesday's practice, at least, as veteran winger Andrew Ladd left practice early for an unspecified reason.

[kujay]

^That is a trade Tallon would have made.

 

Please, please don't be the deal.

 

I've always had a bit of a man crush on Ladd, but he's a very solid two-way guy. And he has that scoring knack that you need out of secondary guys. As I said earlier, giving up a guy like Ladd isn't worth the mild defensive upgrade in McKee.

[brinoch]

I'm with kujay on this one. I don't want to see him moved; I'm a big fan of Ladd, and I really want to see him on a line with Madden. Ladd is an excellent fore/backchecker, and to me, is more valuable than Buff or Versteeg. In trying to see if I could find anything out, I checked the Blackhawks' site, and they have listed on the injury report with a "lower body injury. missed practice Tue.; should play vs. STL." FWIW.

 

http://blackhawks.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=47391&navid=DL|CHI|home

[NewUserName]

I dont know if Stan Bowman follows everything his father believes in. I do know as a Red Wing fan that Scotty Bowman is a huge fan of stay at home dmen and values them very highly.

[Butterscup1679666578]

As expected, Bolland will return tomorrow night.

[17 Seconds]

What about Marty Turco? I believe he'll be a UFA next season and the asking price could be pretty cheap.

 

huet is better than marty turco

[apete6]

I'm with kujay on this one. I don't want to see him moved; I'm a big fan of Ladd, and I really want to see him on a line with Madden. Ladd is an excellent fore/backchecker, and to me, is more valuable than Buff or Versteeg. In trying to see if I could find anything out, I checked the Blackhawks' site, and they have listed on the injury report with a "lower body injury. missed practice Tue.; should play vs. STL." FWIW.

 

http://blackhawks.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=47391&navid=DL|CHI|home

 

Ladd at tonight's Bulls game w/Fraser, so he's still in Chicago as of now.

[kujay]

This should chill the Ladd talk for now. Fraser will be the one to sit tonight. Can't really argue.

 

http://blogs.dailyherald.com/node/3376

 

Also of note, Niemi was to start but is sick, so it's Huet. And Joe Fallon (who?) will be called up tonight as the backup.