Re: NHL (Blackhawks included) offseason thread

[17 Seconds]

Buff's more valuable than Versteeg.

 

neither were very valuable in the regular season though

[Hairyducked Idiot]

We're talking about guys who had 44 and 34 points in the regular season.

[17 Seconds]

sad to see it start happening of course, but still very pleased with this trade considering the circumstances. really glad they sold high on byfuglien and didn't get sucked in by his play performance.

 

anyways, i'll always remember the vancouver series as "the byfuglien series"

[Banedon]

Too bad....I like Byfuglien, but it had to happen.

 

Still, some of the comments from Hawk fan newbies on other sites are quite amusing...

 

The Hawks would not have won the Stanley Cup without Buff. This ranks right up there with the Cubs trading Lou Brock. WTF were you thinking?

 

You heard it here. Byfuglien = Brock.

[gflore34]

Too bad....I like Byfuglien, but it had to happen.

 

Still, some of the comments from Hawk fan newbies on other sites are quite amusing...

 

The Hawks would not have won the Stanley Cup without Buff. This ranks right up there with the Cubs trading Lou Brock. WTF were you thinking?

 

You heard it here. Byfuglien = Brock.

 

Not even close, I may be way off here but, losing Byfuglien isn't all that big a blow. He was the beneficiary of playing on a line with Toews and Kane and was perhaps, dusted with a little playoff pixie dust. I'm thinking Beach can give you the same play maybe even more scoring.

[Old Style]

Colin Fraser traded to Edmonton for a draft pick.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/nhl/news/story?id=5322015

[Banedon]

So Kane and Keith got Hart trophy votes, but Toews didn't.

 

Not that Kane and Keith were remotely close to winning.

[17 Seconds]

Too bad....I like Byfuglien, but it had to happen.

 

Still, some of the comments from Hawk fan newbies on other sites are quite amusing...

 

The Hawks would not have won the Stanley Cup without Buff. This ranks right up there with the Cubs trading Lou Brock. WTF were you thinking?

 

You heard it here. Byfuglien = Brock.

 

yup, lou brock was overrated too

[Banedon]

Oooh...I just realized with Byfuglien in the east, he's gonna see a lot more Pronger, right?

[Flames24Rulz]

You can tell who's a new Hawks fan and who's not by the reaction over Buff being traded. I saw so many Facebook and Twitter posts yesterday saying that the Hawks were a "joke" and that they're "just another Chicago team trading away only the good players."

 

I bet these people don't even know what a salary cap is.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

A guy that everyone liked was going to get moved. Sucks that it's Buff, but I can't be opposed to it. We obviously had to do something.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but that should be the only real substantial deal that we have to make with everything now, correct? Or do we still need to trade another piece?

 

i dont think theyre close to done.

 

kyle will have to confirm, but we're still gonna lose something like versteeg, ladd, and niemi... right? and of course madden

 

By my math, we still have to lose Versteeg or Sharp, and probably 1 or two of Ladd, Niemi and Hjalmarsson, depending on how much they are all willing to sign for.

[Soul]

All you had to do is follow the Hawks through the regular season to know that Buff wasn't all that special until the playoffs came around.

 

Not that performing well in the playoffs has no value, but everyone knows the Hawks were going to need to make sacrifices, and Buff was a good candidate.

 

I'd say they aren't just new Hawks fans, but also poor sports fans in general if they don't realize this was a pretty good deal for the Hawks.

 

Of course it depends on the draft selections, but to have a shot at acquiring good young talent in the draft for Buff and Sopel? That's a sweet deal for us. I expected much less in return.

 

I'm hoping we only need to do one more deal. Not sure who it will be. Ladd maybe. Possibly Steeger. All in all, I'm pretty happy with how things are going so far.

[17 Seconds]

how much is burish going to want?

[17 Seconds]

how much is burish going to want?

[jersey cubs fan]

I've been pushing a Byfuglien trade since last year's playoff run elevated his perceived value, but I never thought they'd end up with a 1st/2nd for him and get rid of other money. I am a little sad to see him go, but it had to happen. Now I would really like to see them deal Versteeg.

[UMFan83]

Colin Fraser traded to Edmonton for a draft pick.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/nhl/news/story?id=5322015

 

He was solid for us in the regular season. He will be missed. He was an RFA so I dont think this really affects our cap number very much. They probably made this move to help this with making offers to RFAs.

[Soul]

Now I would really like to see them deal Versteeg.

 

That would seem to make the most sense.

 

What will they do with Huet? Demote him to Rockford and just eat his money? I'm not sure how all that works.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Now I would really like to see them deal Versteeg.

 

That would seem to make the most sense.

 

What will they do with Huet? Demote him to Rockford and just eat his money? I'm not sure how all that works.

 

Once the season starts, they can waive him and assuming no one claims him, he'd go to the minors, where he still gets paid but he doesn't count against the cap. In the meantime, he just sits there eating up the 10% a team can exceed the cap in the offseason.

 

That's assuming that the Blackhawks are willing to pay him to play in the minors and use the cap space elsewhere. Most people are assuming they will be.

[Soul]

Now I would really like to see them deal Versteeg.

 

That would seem to make the most sense.

 

What will they do with Huet? Demote him to Rockford and just eat his money? I'm not sure how all that works.

 

Once the season starts, they can waive him and assuming no one claims him, he'd go to the minors, where he still gets paid but he doesn't count against the cap. In the meantime, he just sits there eating up the 10% a team can exceed the cap in the offseason.

 

That's assuming that the Blackhawks are willing to pay him to play in the minors and use the cap space elsewhere. Most people are assuming they will be.

 

Yeah. That doesn't sound too bad, although eating the money isn't great.

 

I heard some speculation that maybe Huet wouldn't want to go to the minors, opting instead to return to Europe.

[Butterscup1679666578]

Hawks get a 6th rounder for Fraser

[rawaction]

I've been pushing a Byfuglien trade since last year's playoff run elevated his perceived value, but I never thought they'd end up with a 1st/2nd for him and get rid of other money. I am a little sad to see him go, but it had to happen. Now I would really like to see them deal Versteeg.

 

Easily my favorite player on the team other than Toews and Kane. It sucks to see him go, but it had to be done. I do worry about trading away all our size (Buff and Eager) with one deal, though. The Hawks are designed for speed so I don't think it will be a big deal in the regular season. But when it comes to the playoffs, I think you need that size in front of the net to stuff the puck in. I think that was a huge key to the Hawks winning the Cup this year, and I think it was a huge reason why the Penguins didn't make it back there.

[SouthSideRyan]

Too bad....I like Byfuglien, but it had to happen.

 

Still, some of the comments from Hawk fan newbies on other sites are quite amusing...

 

The Hawks would not have won the Stanley Cup without Buff. This ranks right up there with the Cubs trading Lou Brock. WTF were you thinking?

 

You heard it here. Byfuglien = Brock.

 

Well, they're both horribly overrated by the common fan, and neither should be in their respective sports' hall of fames.

 

Or is this one of those things where guys can only be compared to guys of the same skin color?

[jersey cubs fan]

I've been pushing a Byfuglien trade since last year's playoff run elevated his perceived value, but I never thought they'd end up with a 1st/2nd for him and get rid of other money. I am a little sad to see him go, but it had to happen. Now I would really like to see them deal Versteeg.

 

Easily my favorite player on the team other than Toews and Kane. It sucks to see him go, but it had to be done. I do worry about trading away all our size (Buff and Eager) with one deal, though. The Hawks are designed for speed so I don't think it will be a big deal in the regular season. But when it comes to the playoffs, I think you need that size in front of the net to stuff the puck in. I think that was a huge key to the Hawks winning the Cup this year, and I think it was a huge reason why the Penguins didn't make it back there.

 

If they can keep Ladd, he, Hossa and Kopecky are pretty big guys, and so is Brouwer, though I'm not sure what his status is. I think they have a couple big kids as well. Plus, they played almost all of last year without Dave Bolland, and while he's not all that big, he's a very solid 2-way center. They aren't all just little speed guys. Kane may be the only guy who you could describe as susceptible to physical domination. The NHL generally doesn't allow that anymore. Everybody has been talking about a lack of size and toughness on this team for 3 years now, but it has not come close to being an actual issue. They probably are going to need an "Eager" type player, but they aren't desperate.

[Butterscup1679666578]

I'm pretty sure I read something from Bowman that said they might pursue some size in the FA market.

[RedFlash]

Patrick Kane was named to the NHL's first all-star team as their center, beating out Sidney Crosby.

 

It is quite an accomplishment for the 21-year-old pivot who finished the season with 30 goals and 88 points. Alex Ovechkin and Henrik Sedin joined Kane on the forward line with Mike Green and Duncan Keith on the blueline. Ryan Miller was named to the first team in net. The second team consists of Crosby, Martin St. Louis and Daniel Sedin up front, Drew Doughty and Nicklas Lidstrom on defense and Ilya Bryzgalov between the pipes.

 

Wait.........wut? :shock: I love Kane and all, but who can justify putting Kane over Crosby? Not to mention as a center? I could buy to a certain degree Jonathan Toews, but Patrick Kane? IDK.