Re: Chicago Blackhawks 2013 Playoffs

[biittner77]

Apparently Edzo is working the ECF, not the Hawks/Kings series.

 

He probably begged off the Hawks since he's worked so hard to not show bias toward them he's repeatedly made dumb statements against them.

 

Heh, possibly. Or it's that ever despised east coast bias. In any case:

 

Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, Pierre McGuire will call Boston-Pittsburgh. Dave Strader, Darren Pang, Brian Engblom call Los Angeles-Chicago.

 

— Steve Lepore (@stevelepore) May 30, 2013

 

So we'll have a steady diet of Darren Pang openly rooting against the Hawks. Oh well. Engblom is better than McGuire.

[Soul]

Didn't realize this but Walkom is the same ref that swallowed his whistle when Torres knocked Hossa into next season last year.

 

Seriously?

 

In that case, I don't want to hear any more talk about how he's a good ref who just made a bad call.

[jersey cubs fan]

Strader sucks, he's got a generic nasally baseball announcer voice. Sounds a bit like Josh Lewin.

[UMFan83]

Kings fans were pulling for the Red Wings based on the comments here, as you'd expect.

 

http://www.jewelsfromthecrown.com/2013/5/29/4377972/eye-on-the-enemy-blackhawks-vs-red-wings-thread

 

I found the same sentiment amongst my friends who are Kings fans.

 

Well that makes sense considering they are 7-0 at home in the playoffs and 1-5 on the road

Edited May 30, 2013 by UMFan83

[Banedon]

spoilered because naughty word:

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/Pf7cHQJ.jpg

 

[Soul]

Emrick's become the voice of hockey broadcasts in this country, pretty much. Strader's just another guy.

 

Maybe it's sacrilege, but I for one will enjoy the break from Olczyk. Just hear way too much of his voice. And his too-balanced approach for calling Hawks/Wings games annoys me.

[jersey cubs fan]

Seabrook is getting a lot of props for his goal, and rightly so. But some are raving about his defensive play as well. To my untrained eye, he was very lackadaisical with the puck last night, and off and on throughout this series. I feel like he gave up chances after poor attempts to clear the puck multiple times.

[Soul]

NHL.com has a preview of the Hawks/Kings series, and they call out Seabrook for playing poorly until the end of the series.

[biittner77]

Seabrook is getting a lot of props for his goal, and rightly so. But some are raving about his defensive play as well. To my untrained eye, he was very lackadaisical with the puck last night, and off and on throughout this series. I feel like he gave up chances after poor attempts to clear the puck multiple times.

 

You only think that because its true. He hasn't been that good all season. That's what prompted the switching of the D pairings in the first place and, ironically, also prompted switching them back. I don't really like Hjammer and Oduya on the same pair becuase of games like last nights. Oduya had some really rough stretches including but not limited to being out of position on the goal.

[Banedon]

Seabrook is getting a lot of props for his goal, and rightly so. But some are raving about his defensive play as well. To my untrained eye, he was very lackadaisical with the puck last night, and off and on throughout this series. I feel like he gave up chances after poor attempts to clear the puck multiple times.

 

You only think that because its true. He hasn't been that good all season. That's what prompted the switching of the D pairings in the first place and, ironically, also prompted switching them back. I don't really like Hjammer and Oduya on the same pair becuase of games like last nights. Oduya had some really rough stretches including but not limited to being out of position on the goal.

 

Oduya has had some really good games. Last night was not one.

[biittner77]

Seabrook is getting a lot of props for his goal, and rightly so. But some are raving about his defensive play as well. To my untrained eye, he was very lackadaisical with the puck last night, and off and on throughout this series. I feel like he gave up chances after poor attempts to clear the puck multiple times.

 

You only think that because its true. He hasn't been that good all season. That's what prompted the switching of the D pairings in the first place and, ironically, also prompted switching them back. I don't really like Hjammer and Oduya on the same pair becuase of games like last nights. Oduya had some really rough stretches including but not limited to being out of position on the goal.

 

Oduya has had some really good games. Last night was not one.

 

That's true but it seems like Oduya and Hjammer don't complement each other well enough to always make up for the other one struggling. The forwards being committed to their defensive responsibilities covers a lot of that up, as it did last night.

[kujay]

Yeah Hammer had a few shaky shifts too.

[GammonsPocketTweets]

Oduya might as well have worn a white jersey last night.

[GammonsPocketTweets]

I don't want to sound as a 'hater', but I think expectations were inflated a bit for the Hawks this postseason based on their regular season. Yes they put up historic numbers, but if you look at it, it was basically the same 'core' of players since the Cup winning team that in previous seasons had disappointing early postseason exits. This year I think was a case of Q, calling on his previous experience, working his magic with the compacted schedule. Where they a very good team, yes? Head and shoulders above the top 3-4 teams this year? I'm not so sure. I would not be surprised if the Kings take this next series.

[Soul]

hater.

[biittner77]

I don't want to sound as a 'hater', but I think expectations were inflated a bit for the Hawks this postseason based on their regular season. Yes they put up historic numbers, but if you look at it, it was basically the same 'core' of players since the Cup winning team that in previous seasons had disappointing early postseason exits. This year I think was a case of Q, calling on his previous experience, working his magic with the compacted schedule. Where they a very good team, yes? Head and shoulders above the top 3-4 teams this year? I'm not so sure. I would not be surprised if the Kings take this next series.

 

The difference is in the non core players. The depth of this team is a strength where it had been a weakness when they were rolling out the likes Pisani and O'Donnell out there. Comparing the current team to the cup team is a little premature at this point but here's some things we can say with some certainty:

The core:

2013 Toews, Kane > 2010 version

2010 Keith, Seabrook> 2013 version

Sharp, Hossa and Hjammer are about the same

 

Areas where the cup team were better:

The 3rd line

depth at center behind Toews

PP

Campbell

 

Areas where the current team is better:

3rd defensive pairing

Corey Crawford

PK

 

TBD

Is Bickell better than Byfuglien?- I'd say yes

Is Saad better than Brouewer?- I'd say yes here too

[GammonsPocketTweets]

Good points. Is 2013 Crawford really better than 2010 Niemi?

[biittner77]

Good points. Is 2013 Crawford really better than 2010 Niemi?

 

So far I'd say yes. Niemi was a lot flashier due to his style but Crawford's been really good when he's had to be. At worst it's even.

[rawaction]

Good points. Is 2013 Crawford really better than 2010 Niemi?

Yes.

[Banedon]

I don't want to sound as a 'hater', but I think expectations were inflated a bit for the Hawks this postseason based on their regular season. Yes they put up historic numbers, but if you look at it, it was basically the same 'core' of players since the Cup winning team that in previous seasons had disappointing early postseason exits. This year I think was a case of Q, calling on his previous experience, working his magic with the compacted schedule. Where they a very good team, yes? Head and shoulders above the top 3-4 teams this year? I'm not so sure. I would not be surprised if the Kings take this next series.

 

The difference is in the non core players. The depth of this team is a strength where it had been a weakness when they were rolling out the likes Pisani and O'Donnell out there. Comparing the current team to the cup team is a little premature at this point but here's some things we can say with some certainty:

The core:

2013 Toews, Kane > 2010 version

2010 Keith, Seabrook> 2013 version

Sharp, Hossa and Hjammer are about the same

 

Areas where the cup team were better:

The 3rd line

depth at center behind Toews

PP

Campbell

 

Areas where the current team is better:

3rd defensive pairing

Corey Crawford

PK

 

TBD

Is Bickell better than Byfuglien?- I'd say yes

Is Saad better than Brouewer?- I'd say yes here too

 

Does the awesome PK make up for the crappy PP's?

[rawaction]

Does the awesome PK make up for the crappy PP's?

 

I think so. If the Hawks aren't going to score on PP, it's better that nobody does, because they are better than most (if not all) teams 5-on-5.

[SpongeWorthy]

Darryl Sutter looks like Ethan from Lost

 

http://mit.zenfs.com/206/2011/12/72004674.jpg

 

[biittner77]

Does the awesome PK make up for the crappy PP's?

 

I think so. If the Hawks aren't going to score on PP, it's better that nobody does, because they are better than most (if not all) teams 5-on-5.

 

conventional wisdom says that if pk %+ PP %= more than 100 you're in good shape. So far in the playoffs the PK is operating at a 97% clip so really anything good that happens on the PP is a bonus.

 

However, since this looks to be a hit fest on the part of the Kings, if they aren't at least a little afraid of taking penalties that will make them that much more aggressive. If the PP can chip in at about a 12% rate ( I think they were about that in the reg season)then they should be in good shape.

 

edit: in the playoffs they're at 16% on the PP and 97.6% on the PK

[biittner77]

Here's the stats for the playoffs so far

 

http://www.nhl.com/ice/teamstats.htm#?navid=nav-sts-teams

 

Kings are about 22% on the PP and about 86% on the PK.

 

SSS applies to all of this but the Kings come out ahead in a lot of important categories.

[kujay]

I think we are being a bit revisionist about Buff and Brouwer. Right now, for these playoffs (so not considering ages or contracts), give me those two over Bickell and Saad every day of the week.

 

We also don't have a Ladd.