Chicago Blackhawks 2011 Offseason

Magnetic Curses · July 16, 2011

i agree with dexter, we've certainly gained a good deal of cap flexibility, but talent-wise, we've gotten much worse.

pray for morin and kruger and beach and leddy to be stars.

ChiCubsFan · July 17, 2011

i agree with dexter, we've certainly gained a good deal of cap flexibility, but talent-wise, we've gotten much worse.

pray for morin and kruger and beach and leddy to be stars.

Why would we need them to be stars? What stars have we traded away?

biittner77 · July 18, 2011

It's tough to compare position by position because a lot of the roles are undefined. For example, if Brunette is replacing Brouwer that is a short term upgrade. But can you really say that they got Brunette to replace Brouwer's role? Campbell to Leddy is a downgrade but Montador is an upgrade over Hendry plus there's no Nick Boyton impersonating a defenseman. Carcillo is a big upgrade over Scott who should be a bad memory by the time the season starts. The 4th line should be a lot better.

Prizefight · July 18, 2011

campoli not coming back?

i don't think there's any way you can say this team has gotten better this offseason. i guess we'll just have to hope for rebound years from guys like keith/seabrook/hjalm, etc.

this is disappointing.

While I think some of Stan's thought process is definitely counting on bounce back years from the players you mentioned, I would argue that the Hawks are slightly more talented this year. They are a tougher team to play against due to their increased size. They should have more scoring from the 3rd and 4th lines (really like the Frolik/Bolland/Bickell 3rd), Brunette is a really nice piece added that not a lot of people are talking about and we have a ton of depth on the blue line.

This all goes to hell if Leddy doesn't take the next step or we have last years Keith/Hammer.

UMFan83 · July 18, 2011

campoli not coming back?

i don't think there's any way you can say this team has gotten better this offseason. i guess we'll just have to hope for rebound years from guys like keith/seabrook/hjalm, etc.

this is disappointing.

While I think some of Stan's thought process is definitely counting on bounce back years from the players you mentioned, I would argue that the Hawks are slightly more talented this year. They are a tougher team to play against due to their increased size. They should have more scoring from the 3rd and 4th lines (really like the Frolik/Bolland/Bickell 3rd), Brunette is a really nice piece added that not a lot of people are talking about and we have a ton of depth on the blue line.

This all goes to hell if Leddy doesn't take the next step or we have last years Keith/Hammer.

This is what I am counting on as to why we've improved. One of our bigger struggles last year was with depth and getting scoring outside of Toews/Kane/Sharp/Hossa. Brunette is a great veteran depth piece, you gotta think Frolik will bounce back with a full year on the Hawks, Olesz could be a good 3rd or 4th line piece to put up some offense.

The big thing is, last year we filled the back of our roster with borderline NHL talent, whose biggest attribute was that they fit under the cap. Unfortunately, we had our share of injuries and this lack of depth was exposed badly. This year we were able to clear cap space and address our offensive depth and size issues. Not only that, but we hold significant cap space for a move in the winter. I think combining all that with bounce back years from a few guys (feel very confident about this) and will will be much improved from last year. Last year only 2 points seperated us from the 4th seed, and 7 points seperated us from the Wings, so when you factor in that a lot went wrong for us last year, it doesn't necessarily be a big improvement in talent to get us to the top of the conference.

The only piece that really hurts losing IMO is Campbell, and while I am a little worried about the defense without him, especially if Leddy doesn't step up, the fact is that losing his $7 mil cap hit indirectly brought us Brunette, Olesz, Montador, and Mayers (they add up to ~7 mil), that is a pretty good tradeoff in my book.

kujay · July 18, 2011

We may well miss Campbell a lot as Dexter says. But they had to get out of that contract for the long run, and overall, I'm in the camp that thinks this team is slightly better moving forward than it was last year.

You can't discount the importance of the 4th line over the regular season. And there is no question the 4th line is going to be vastly better than it was.

The keys to me are Frolik and Stalberg. So often last year it was watching the first line dazzle and almost score, and then watching three lines of [expletive] for a few minutes. The 2nd and 3rd lines must produce.

17 Seconds · July 19, 2011

We may well miss Campbell a lot as Dexter says. But they had to get out of that contract for the long run, and overall, I'm in the camp that thinks this team is slightly better moving forward than it was last year.

Oh, it was definitely a great move. I'm not complaining about it. I'm just saying that in the short term, it is going to hurt us, just because Campbell is a good player.

As far as long term, this offseason was great. We got out of Campbell's contract and only gave out small contracts.

I was just disappointed that we didn't come away with more quality depth, but like others have said.... there wasn't much out there, so they were probably smart to sign all the cheap one year deals and save assets to improve the team when better opportunities arrive.

Prizefight · July 19, 2011

Let's play guess the opening night lines! It'll be fun you'll see

Brunette-Toews-Kane

Hossa-Sharp-Stalberg

Frolik-Bolland-Bickell

Carcillo-Smith-Mayers

Keith Seabs

Hammer Leddy

Montador Lepisto

Pretty hard to do. The lack of a true #2 center will continue to be an issue as it would be nice to have Hossa and Sharp on opposite wings.

I have Stalberg on the 2nd since that's really the only place his skill set makes sense, but he certainly didn't earn it last year. Maybe Olesz? Not feeling confident about this spot at all.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Kruger in there with the fanfare Stan gave last year. Seems to be his spot to lose in training camp. I can't imagine he'd get 2nd line minutes so maybe he would take Mayers spot on the 4th?

Tough to do for sure

kujay · July 19, 2011

Let's play guess the opening night lines! It'll be fun you'll see

Brunette-Toews-Kane
Hossa-Sharp-Stalberg
Frolik-Bolland-Bickell
Carcillo-Smith-Mayers

Keith Seabs
Hammer Leddy
Montador Lepisto

Pretty hard to do. The lack of a true #2 center will continue to be an issue as it would be nice to have Hossa and Sharp on opposite wings.

I have Stalberg on the 2nd since that's really the only place his skill set makes sense, but he certainly didn't earn it last year. Maybe Olesz? Not feeling confident about this spot at all.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Kruger in there with the fanfare Stan gave last year. Seems to be his spot to lose in training camp. I can't imagine he'd get 2nd line minutes so maybe he would take Mayers spot on the 4th?

Tough to do for sure

We could do a lot worse than Montador-Lepisto for the last D pairing. I think you have those nailed, with O'Donnell as the 7th.

I also agree on Kruger. I'd be shocked if he doesn't crack the opening roster on the one hand. But on the other, which of those 12 sits? The easy answer is Mayers, but he serves a purpose, regardless of whether or not some of you think it's a valid one. This is why they need to buy out Olesz. They already have too many forwards.

This reminds me of managing my fantasy baseball team. I have a whole bunch of guys who if I dropped any would immediately be one of the top FAs on the waiver wire. But none of them are good enough to win me the championship. That's how I feel about Frolik, Stalberg, Bickell...

UMFan83 · July 19, 2011

I do kind of like Carcillo-Smith-Mayers a lot for our checking line. Not sure how many goals they will score but obviously 4th lines aren't supposed to score a lot. I really think that having a physical line like that is going to really help us next year.

UMFan83 · July 19, 2011

Let's play guess the opening night lines! It'll be fun you'll see

Brunette-Toews-Kane
Hossa-Sharp-Stalberg
Frolik-Bolland-Bickell
Carcillo-Smith-Mayers

Keith Seabs
Hammer Leddy
Montador Lepisto

Pretty hard to do. The lack of a true #2 center will continue to be an issue as it would be nice to have Hossa and Sharp on opposite wings.

I have Stalberg on the 2nd since that's really the only place his skill set makes sense, but he certainly didn't earn it last year. Maybe Olesz? Not feeling confident about this spot at all.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Kruger in there with the fanfare Stan gave last year. Seems to be his spot to lose in training camp. I can't imagine he'd get 2nd line minutes so maybe he would take Mayers spot on the 4th?

Tough to do for sure

We could do a lot worse than Montador-Lepisto for the last D pairing. I think you have those nailed, with O'Donnell as the 7th.

I also agree on Kruger. I'd be shocked if he doesn't crack the opening roster on the one hand. But on the other, which of those 12 sits? The easy answer is Mayers, but he serves a purpose, regardless of whether or not some of you think it's a valid one. This is why they need to buy out Olesz. They already have too many forwards.

This reminds me of managing my fantasy baseball team. I have a whole bunch of guys who if I dropped any would immediately be one of the top FAs on the waiver wire. But none of them are good enough to win me the championship. That's how I feel about Frolik, Stalberg, Bickell...

In my opinion Frolik, Stalberg, and Bickell (and Kreuger) all have upside offensively. If just one of those guys blossoms a bit this year, things are looking really good. I think that's what the Hawks are banking on. I don't think its unreasonable to think Frolik could have a season closer to his 43 point output 2 years ago (45 the year before). He's a great fit on the 3rd line if he's getting 20+ goals. I really liked what Bickell did at times last year, and at other times I didn't. Stalberg is Stalberg, what can you say.

July 21, 2011

Campoli is now officially a unrestricted FA. No surprise there.

kujay · July 21, 2011

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/hockey/blackhawks/chi-exhawk-campoli-awarded-25m-in-arbitration-hearing-20110720,0,7462999.story

On its face $2.5M isn't that bad for a guy like Campoli, but we don't need him at that price.

Plus he wrecked our pwnage of Vancouver, and that would have been hard to forget.

Prizefight · July 21, 2011

It's less than his agent was reportedly asking in 3+per. Oh well I suppose. There seems to be some uproar that Stan badly mishandled this situation, but ultimately I'm fine with it. He was going to be the 5th/6th defender with all the faith they are putting in Leddy's development.

Plus I completely irrationally blame him for Vancouver. :D He was a nice pickup for us during the season last year, but nothing to wring our hands about.

kujay · July 21, 2011

It's less than his agent was reportedly asking in 3+per. Oh well I suppose. There seems to be some uproar that Stan badly mishandled this situation, but ultimately I'm fine with it. He was going to be the 5th/6th defender with all the faith they are putting in Leddy's development.

Plus I completely irrationally blame him for Vancouver. :D He was a nice pickup for us during the season last year, but nothing to wring our hands about.

Agreed. I blame him too, though we really ought to be blaming Sharp for missing that (mostly) wide open net. Of everything that happened last season, that's probably the single moment I'll remember the longest.

BCVM22 · July 26, 2011

http://lobshots.com/2011/07/24/jonathan-toews-killing-it-a-the-cubs-game/

Well played, captain. Well played.

SpongeWorthy · July 26, 2011

Toews should do better than that. Her head is enormous.

BCVM22 · July 26, 2011

Toews should do better than that. Her head is enormous.

Lightly NSFW:

http://www.barstoolsports.com/boston/super-page/jonathans-toews-girlfriend-is-kind-of-hot/

I think he's doing alright.

SpongeWorthy · July 26, 2011

Thanks for that.

I take back my original statement. Just a weird angle on that first picture from the Cubs game.

TruffleShuffle · July 27, 2011

i wonder if toews paid for her [expletive] or if she bought them herself.

cubbyvirus00 · July 27, 2011

Super skinny chick with big fake boobs = ehhh.

He could do better IMO

biittner77 · July 27, 2011

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Looking-ahead-to-2011-12-Ranking-the-NHL-8217-;_ylt=AqScYOnTY86s0Lu45Q0JOqN7vLYF?urn=nhl-wp9636

Puck Daddy ranked the top 25 in the league. Captain serious #3- no real surprise there. Dave Bolland at #24 ahead of guys like Joe Pavelski and Krecji!

This got me thinking about a 2nd line with Bolland between Sharp and Hossa. I know a lot of people like Bolland on the 3rd line it would be fun to see what Bolland could do with some actual finishers on his line. The real question: is Kruger as good as the Hawks seem to think he is and would a line of Kruger with Bickell and Frolik be able to hold up.

kujay · July 27, 2011

Super skinny chick with big fake boobs = ehhh.

He could do better IMO

Sort of what I'm thinking. I didn't figure him for being with a girl who has semi-dirty pictures of herself all over the internet.

Not that I blame him for a minute.

kujay · July 28, 2011

If he's healthy, this is a great move:

http://espn.go.com/chicago/nhl/story/_/id/6809583/ray-emery-attend-chicago-blackhawks-training-camp-tryout-basis

Loved that fight he had with a Buffalo guy (Shelley?) a few years ago. Smiling the whole time he was getting his ass kicked.

Okay, okay, mouthbreather mode off. He also played great in the net for a stretch last year.

Butterscup1679666578 · July 28, 2011

Crawford/Emery? Yes please.

Chicago Blackhawks 2011 Offseason

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