2017-2018 Blackhawks

[philosophizer75]

It's a question, the current answer is neither.

 

But if they went head to head for a series that gave one them their 4th of the era it could change the answer, no?

[biittner77]

Seabrook's deal was bad when he signed it but, at the time they didn't really have much of a choice. I still think they could trade him for some salary relief but it will still suck paying a once great player a lot of money to go away. Perhaps it was unrealistic to expect the kids to develop quickly enough to not miss a beat but there's plenty of reasons for optimism past this season. DeBrincat is good. Forsling made progress. Oesterle was a nice surprise. Kampf will be a pretty serviceable guy and Schmaltz has star potential.

 

Haha, guessing you read the same Faxes From Uncle Dale that I did. Was going to post it, but it's behind a soft paywall.

 

The cap staying relatively flat the last few years hurt a lot. They just weren't anticipating the Kane/Toews deals to be taking up such a large percentage.

 

Seabrook deal, I get it. He was a hero in 2015, and I don't know what the market was back then, but I'm guessing it was around what we signed him for. Bickell deal was obviously terrible, but as good as he is, Teuvo isn't bringing this team to the top of the standings. Same thing with giving up Johns with Sharp. Danault would be a nice piece, but you can't fault them too much for making a deadline trade in 2016 after how well it worked in 2015 (though i guess you could blame the disconnect between Q and Stan on who they were acquiring, as neither player contributed much of anything).

 

At the end of the day what you're seeing is a dynasty ten years in. The current team is nowhere near a top team, but with Crawford I'd say they would have comfortably been a playoff team (Crawford: 16-9-2, Others: 8-12-6). Over an 82 game grind, it's tough to rely on Keith/Seabrook/Toews. In the playoffs, I wouldn't have counted them out.

 

At this point, it's not worth rushing Crawford back for a, best case scenario, sprint to a 7 or 8 seed. Hope the kids keep developing...DeBrincat/Toews/Duclair has looked good, Saad/Schmaltz/Kane can be really good, figure out a Kruger-esque line around Kampf, and then find more scoring to fill out that last line. Hopefully whatever Crawford is dealing with, it clears up by the start of next season, and give it one more good run.

 

Got to Love the timing of taking FFUD behind a paywall just as interest in the team is about to hit a 10 year low.

 

I saw today that Kruger was put on waivers by Carolina. I wonder if they'll put in a claim.

[squally1313]

Seabrook's deal was bad when he signed it but, at the time they didn't really have much of a choice. I still think they could trade him for some salary relief but it will still suck paying a once great player a lot of money to go away. Perhaps it was unrealistic to expect the kids to develop quickly enough to not miss a beat but there's plenty of reasons for optimism past this season. DeBrincat is good. Forsling made progress. Oesterle was a nice surprise. Kampf will be a pretty serviceable guy and Schmaltz has star potential.

 

Haha, guessing you read the same Faxes From Uncle Dale that I did. Was going to post it, but it's behind a soft paywall.

 

The cap staying relatively flat the last few years hurt a lot. They just weren't anticipating the Kane/Toews deals to be taking up such a large percentage.

 

Seabrook deal, I get it. He was a hero in 2015, and I don't know what the market was back then, but I'm guessing it was around what we signed him for. Bickell deal was obviously terrible, but as good as he is, Teuvo isn't bringing this team to the top of the standings. Same thing with giving up Johns with Sharp. Danault would be a nice piece, but you can't fault them too much for making a deadline trade in 2016 after how well it worked in 2015 (though i guess you could blame the disconnect between Q and Stan on who they were acquiring, as neither player contributed much of anything).

 

At the end of the day what you're seeing is a dynasty ten years in. The current team is nowhere near a top team, but with Crawford I'd say they would have comfortably been a playoff team (Crawford: 16-9-2, Others: 8-12-6). Over an 82 game grind, it's tough to rely on Keith/Seabrook/Toews. In the playoffs, I wouldn't have counted them out.

 

At this point, it's not worth rushing Crawford back for a, best case scenario, sprint to a 7 or 8 seed. Hope the kids keep developing...DeBrincat/Toews/Duclair has looked good, Saad/Schmaltz/Kane can be really good, figure out a Kruger-esque line around Kampf, and then find more scoring to fill out that last line. Hopefully whatever Crawford is dealing with, it clears up by the start of next season, and give it one more good run.

 

Got to Love the timing of taking FFUD behind a paywall just as interest in the team is about to hit a 10 year low.

 

I saw today that Kruger was put on waivers by Carolina. I wonder if they'll put in a claim.

 

Yeah don't get me wrong, I credit the Committed Indian newsletters for a lot of what has made me such a big fan over the last ten years. But the last few years he's taken on a weird business approach of pretty much openly hating the team that he relies on for his income, not to mention as you said trying to monetize his site about three years too late.

 

I think they're punting on this year. Any other year claiming Kruger would totally fit their standard approach of getting the gang back together, but the last 25 games or whatever is all about bringing the kids along.

[biittner77]

I see what you're saying and don't necessarily disagree. Kruger basically replaces Wingels who has been better than expected but isn't much of a loss in the long run. They also might be able to get a 5th round pick for Wingels as he's a decent depth piece for a contending team.

[squally1313]

This is a rough comparison, but I've always linked Kruger and Hjalmarsson, and I was a really big fan of the Hammer/Murphy trade because Hammer spent his time in Chicago taking up the hardest shifts, doing the most punishing work, blocking shots, etc. I think it's fair to say both of them have more miles than what you'd guess from just looking at their career stats. Kruger was an incredible piece for what he did at the price he was getting paid. But even at just $3.1m next year, he's too expensive given our other holes. Kampf can hopefully be 90% of Kruger at 25% of the cost.

[biittner77]

This is a rough comparison, but I've always linked Kruger and Hjalmarsson, and I was a really big fan of the Hammer/Murphy trade because Hammer spent his time in Chicago taking up the hardest shifts, doing the most punishing work, blocking shots, etc. I think it's fair to say both of them have more miles than what you'd guess from just looking at their career stats. Kruger was an incredible piece for what he did at the price he was getting paid. But even at just $3.1m next year, he's too expensive given our other holes. Kampf can hopefully be 90% of Kruger at 25% of the cost.

 

But the biggest hole they have is at center. I agree that Frogger (Kruger) has taken a beating and those are hard miles. But he took so much defensive pressure off of Toews' line that it has really affected scoring.

[squally1313]

This is a rough comparison, but I've always linked Kruger and Hjalmarsson, and I was a really big fan of the Hammer/Murphy trade because Hammer spent his time in Chicago taking up the hardest shifts, doing the most punishing work, blocking shots, etc. I think it's fair to say both of them have more miles than what you'd guess from just looking at their career stats. Kruger was an incredible piece for what he did at the price he was getting paid. But even at just $3.1m next year, he's too expensive given our other holes. Kampf can hopefully be 90% of Kruger at 25% of the cost.

 

But the biggest hole they have is at center. I agree that Frogger (Kruger) has taken a beating and those are hard miles. But he took so much defensive pressure off of Toews' line that it has really affected scoring.

 

No doubt, though I think Hossa's decline and then disappearance, coupled with Saad not being future-Hossa, hasn't helped Toews. On the surface, Toews actually has pretty good metrics, his shooting percentage just plummeted a few years back and has never really recovered. I get what you're saying though...during the peak, defenses had to pick between sending their best defensive line/pairing out against Toews/Hossa or Kane. Now it's a lot easier. Between Saad, DeBBrincat, and Schmaltz, you hope that going into next year you can figure out a dangerous top line and assume/hope Kane will keep being able to produce with whoever gets thrown out there. You'll need to have a reliable checking line to make that work, but I think there are cheaper ways to do that than with a $3+m 'fourth' line center.

[Banedon]

Ok guys, it's mid Feb...seems like a good time to start paying attention to hockey now...how many points ahead of everyone are the Blackha....

 

 

[UMFan83]

Obviously this team has given up. Losing 6-1 to the worst team in hockey by far is a new low

[Brian707]

Ok guys, it's mid Feb...seems like a good time to start paying attention to hockey now...how many points ahead of everyone are the Blackha....

 

 

 

 

Tonight they play the lowly Vegas Golden Knights an expansion team with a record of 36-15-4

[Garwilly]

In Vegas for work, not quite the 1st Place vs Last Place matchup I was expecting to see.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

They are currently 8th worst by point percentage. A top-5 pick isn't completely out of reach.

 

I guess their goal differential is "only" -3 so they've been a little unlucky, and we always knew this day would come, but it's definitely still a weird feeling.

[squally1313]

In the last four games, they've outshot opponents 157-94, are 0-4, and have gotten outscored 16-5. Obviously shot totals aren't an end all be all, but it seems clear to me that the rest of the team has realized just how bad the goaltending is, and that no amount of offense is going to be enough to claw back into the playoffs (0.9% chance at this point). There was obviously no chance I was watching last night, but go back and watch the third and fourth goal against. Just terrible goals, and the Hawks didn't do much of anything past that, other than falling apart even more.

[biittner77]

Ok guys, it's mid Feb...seems like a good time to start paying attention to hockey now...how many points ahead of everyone are the Blackha....

 

 

 

 

Tonight they play the lowly Vegas Golden Knights an expansion team with a record of 36-15-4

 

The way this season has gone, The Hawks might win or lose 5-0 and neither would surprise me all that much. Their last win came against a very good Predators team.

[Brian707]

Hawks lost their 8th straight last night. Why even bother bringing back Crawford this season?

[biittner77]

Hawks lost their 8th straight last night. Why even bother bringing back Crawford this season?

 

No need to rush him back but if he got to the point where he felt ready and wanted to play, I wouldn't mind them letting him play in a meaningless game so that he can go into the off season without having doubts about the future.

[biittner77]

Hawks dump Kempney for a 3rd round pick. Not too bad since he probably was going to walk in the off season anyway. Please trade Wingels and Bouma next. Unless there's some sort of "integrity of the game" issue where they want to pretend to not tank, they ought to get rid of these guys and play somebody that has a future.

[WrigleyField 22]

So I'm getting a bunch of ads on here for really cheap Hawks sweaters. Is there a new uniform supplier or is it related to them being a bunch of sucky sucks?

 

Also, which should I bite on? Kane kinda rapey Toews kinda sucky. Crawford maybe dead?. Just go blank sweater?

[minnesotacubsfan]

So I'm getting a bunch of ads on here for really cheap Hawks sweaters. Is there a new uniform supplier or is it related to them being a bunch of sucky sucks?

 

Also, which should I bite on? Kane kinda rapey Toews kinda sucky. Crawford maybe dead?. Just go blank sweater?

 

Griswold

[UMFan83]

So I'm getting a bunch of ads on here for really cheap Hawks sweaters. Is there a new uniform supplier or is it related to them being a bunch of sucky sucks?

 

Also, which should I bite on? Kane kinda rapey Toews kinda sucky. Crawford maybe dead?. Just go blank sweater?

 

I'd say DeBrincat but the shelf life of young talent in Chicago tends to be short.

[WrigleyField 22]

So I'm getting a bunch of ads on here for really cheap Hawks sweaters. Is there a new uniform supplier or is it related to them being a bunch of sucky sucks?

 

Also, which should I bite on? Kane kinda rapey Toews kinda sucky. Crawford maybe dead?. Just go blank sweater?

 

I'd say DeBrincat but the shelf life of young talent in Chicago tends to be short.

That's not one of the cheap ones. Kane, Toews, Keith, or Crawford all showing NHL.com shop discounts, particularly on home uniforms.

[squally1313]

So I'm getting a bunch of ads on here for really cheap Hawks sweaters. Is there a new uniform supplier or is it related to them being a bunch of sucky sucks?

 

Also, which should I bite on? Kane kinda rapey Toews kinda sucky. Crawford maybe dead?. Just go blank sweater?

 

I'd say DeBrincat but the shelf life of young talent in Chicago tends to be short.

That's not one of the cheap ones. Kane, Toews, Keith, or Crawford all showing NHL.com shop discounts, particularly on home uniforms.

 

Toews is obviously the safe pick. Current skill level aside, he's accomplished enough that I expect to see his jersey at the UC for the rest of my life. As a Kane jersey guy...don't do it. For me it'd definitely be Crawford...given the way this season has gone, if he's healthy going into next year it's probably fair to say he's our best player. And that's before his two Cups.

[biittner77]

 

I'd say DeBrincat but the shelf life of young talent in Chicago tends to be short.

That's not one of the cheap ones. Kane, Toews, Keith, or Crawford all showing NHL.com shop discounts, particularly on home uniforms.

 

Toews is obviously the safe pick. Current skill level aside, he's accomplished enough that I expect to see his jersey at the UC for the rest of my life. As a Kane jersey guy...don't do it. For me it'd definitely be Crawford...given the way this season has gone, if he's healthy going into next year it's probably fair to say he's our best player. And that's before his two Cups.

 

Also, it's hard to see Crawford or Toews playing for someone else or ever being remembered for anything but being Hawks. That's why I bought a Hossa jersey right before they traded Saad. Turns out I would have been fine either way but that Hossa jersey will always be great.

[jersey cubs fan]

https://twitter.com/friedgehnic/status/968170893229740032

[minnesotacubsfan]

https://twitter.com/friedgehnic/status/968170893229740032

 

 

Yes plz