2013-14 Defending Champion Blackhawks Regular Season Thread

[Banedon]

I'm disappointed, I thought he was playing well.

[kujay]

I'm disappointed, I thought he was playing well.

 

Thought so too.

 

As for Brookbank, yeah there's no reason for him to play over Kostka. Ever.

[biittner77]

I'm disappointed, I thought he was playing well.

 

He was. In fact, he showed that he can maybe be more than a 4th line energy guy. So for the sake of his development, it's better for him to play 15-18 min a night for the Hogs than not even crack 8 for the Hawks (not to mention being 1 missed play away from the press box).

[Banedon]

I'm disappointed, I thought he was playing well.

 

He was. In fact, he showed that he can maybe be more than a 4th line energy guy. So for the sake of his development, it's better for him to play 15-18 min a night for the Hogs than not even crack 8 for the Hawks (not to mention being 1 missed play away from the press box).

 

Ok, kinda unrelated, but this made me think back to a question I had the other night....

 

I'm still a relative newbie fan. I don't know as much about hockey as I'd like to. I know Quenneville is big on shuffling lines mid game, and changing what players are active and which aren't game to game. Is that pretty normal for hockey coaches to do, or is that a quirk of coach Q?

[Drew Doughty]

I'm disappointed, I thought he was playing well.

 

He was. In fact, he showed that he can maybe be more than a 4th line energy guy. So for the sake of his development, it's better for him to play 15-18 min a night for the Hogs than not even crack 8 for the Hawks (not to mention being 1 missed play away from the press box).

 

Ok, kinda unrelated, but this made me think back to a question I had the other night....

 

I'm still a relative newbie fan. I don't know as much about hockey as I'd like to. I know Quenneville is big on shuffling lines mid game, and changing what players are active and which aren't game to game. Is that pretty normal for hockey coaches to do, or is that a quirk of coach Q?

 

Depends on the coach. Some coaches match lines really hard. I don't know Quenneville's tendencies off the top of my head (though I want to say he's a match-up coach), but that could be why. I haven't followed the Hawks closely, but a lot of likes to reward perceived effort and probably scratches/dresses players -- depth players in particular -- based on that. Sometimes a line can be getting beat up by a particular match-up and the coach will change the lines up to try and create a better match-up there. It's fairly common for coaches to shake things up at least a little bit mid-game and game-to-game. After all, it's a long season and you want to keep all of your players as game-ready as possible.

 

I just wrote a little about this for the Kings/Lightning game the other day.

 

http://www.jewelsfromthecrown.com/2013/10/16/4846256/kings-lightning-grades-and-analysis

 

Look at the breakdowns for the 3rd and 4th lines to see an instance where a coach shuffled his lines to shake up a match-up that was not working for his team.

 

A lot of it is overblown, because usually the level of skill in the players you're shuffling around won't differ very much. Sometimes the particular makeup of a line might not work for a match-up that the opposing coach wants and that's often when you'll see a line change for tactical reasons. Other times and more often a coach shuffles things up because he doesn't like what he sees from a particular player. A final reason coaches could shuffle lines is to make it very hard for the opposing coach to match-up at all. Darryl Sutter likes to do this on the road against coaches that really strive to match lines. He'll start working his forwards in pairs and just throw a 3rd forward out there almost at random.

[biittner77]

I agree with what DD said above but will add that, in Hawks specific terms, there seems to be an overemphasis on trusting the veterans and having a quick trigger with the younger players. Every coach probably double shifts his better players at times but that is usually more out of necessity or desparation whereas the Hawks have a deep roster and are very rarely desparate.

 

I'll use the analogy of Dusty Baker leaving Prior in to throw 120 pitches or whatever even though they had a big lead because he didn't trust anyone in the pen to do the job. The other similarity being the paradox of young players have to earn playing time by performing but are giving very few opportunities to show what they can do.

 

What is irksome about the line blender is that, in a sport like hockey where the action flows, it's important to know where your teammate is likely to be and playing with the same linemates helps that. For example, the other night Kane threw the puck blindly toward the net expecting (or hoping) that one of his linemates would be there to finish. Someone that has played a lot with Kane (like Toews) anticipates that. Someone that hasn't (like Shaw) isn't going to learn that immediately.

[Banedon]

Thanks guys. I'm with you, biittner, in that I don't understand the benefit to making as many changes as are being made by Q. I'm willing to trust him, obviously. Two SC's earns some leeway. But it's a long season, and I'd like to get these young guys out there, getting as much playing time as possible early.

[NewUserName]

mid game line changes used to be rarer. Heck a lot of players went seasons with the same linemates. Scotty Bowman was the first coach I remember who switched up lines a lot

[Butterscup1679666578]

the ice tonight is atrocious

[kujay]

Just turned the game on. Should it be a lot more than 2-0?

[Butterscup1679666578]

Just turned the game on. Should it be a lot more than 2-0?

 

Eh, the ice is [expletive]. Kind of a boring game overall. Panthers had a penalty shot earlier that Crow made a nice save on. Panthers had a good attack going when it was 1-0 and Hawks came down and Bicks got a nice goal off his own rebound. Hopefully it remains an easy, uneventful win.

[Butterscup1679666578]

Spoke too soon.

[kujay]

Center Ice preview is over so watching Gamecenter on ps3. Again this year the video quality really sucks while my Internet is running over 30mb.

[Butterscup1679666578]

lollllllllllll this is getting real old

[Guest]

jesus keith

[kujay]

wtf Seabrook.

 

Nm was Keith.

[UMFan83]

I just had a feeling when we were up 2-0 that we were going to blow it. Probably because we have in almost every game we've led this year. No wonder our goal differential is only +4 despite only 1 regulation loss. This has gotta stop.

[Butterscup1679666578]

cant even got a shot on the cold goalie

[Guest]

i hate shootouts when they involve my team

[UMFan83]

The going super slow thing looks so cool when it works and so bad when it doesnt.

 

Hawks win but srsly guys doesnt have to be this hard.

[Guest]

worst looking 6-1-2 start ever

[Butterscup1679666578]

wow that was dirty by sharp.

[kujay]

Nice. We are the point fairy for inferior teams though.

[Soul]

3rd period comes and Chicago cringes. Come on knock it off Hawks.

[kujay]

3rd period comes and Chicago cringes. Come on knock it off Hawks.

 

Funny that we are a dumb collapse in St. Louis from another "unbeaten" streak to start the year.

 

Compared to where we were after the first cup, I'll take these problems.