biittner77

The Hawks are $500,000 over the cap. If they trade Oduya, which has been long speculated and seems even more likely to happen since they traded up for Schmaltz, that would give them all the flexibility they need for the coming season. No need to gut the roster quite yet. Where they will need to find more room is 2015-2016. That's when new paper for Toews, Kane and Saad would kick in. Which is why, from a purely business perspective, that trading Sharp now makes more sense as it would get more value when they aren't as desperate. From a hockey standpoint, they need to keep Sharp until they know who his replacement is going to be. They'll decide what to do with Leddy after this coming season. I may be in the minority but I don't believe Q hates Leddy, in fact I think he likes him a lot. Q really likes offense from the blue line and Leddy provides that better than anyone on the roster not named Keith or Seabrook. What some people see as not trusting him in key situations, I see as Q protecting him / putting him in a position to succeed.

Unless Hossa pulls a Pronger and is forced into retirement due to injury. He has a history of back problems so they might go with that in a couple years. I think Hossa will still be god enough, even at the end of his contract, to provide value even if it's in a more limited role like a 3rd line bum slayer.

they void them and take away draft picks and fine you and stuff. Are there set criteria or is it subjective? during the last CBA they included an agreement to limit contracts to seven years (8 if player stays with current team) and does something about the year-to-to structure. No clue about the specifics. My understanding is that average annual salary of the whole contract counts against the cap even if the player retires unless they get Prongered.

thanks! it is fun that several of the coin toss situations seem reasonable. germany 3 usa 0 and portugal 2 ghana 0 is pretty much what i am expecting tomorrow. Interesting that they left off the possibility that the US beats Germany which obviously puts them through but felt the need to include what happens if they draw even though that always gets them through too.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/world-cup-2014-luis-suarez-may-be-booted-from-tournament/ saw this on bookface and thought initially he was out. There will be a hearing before Saturday. Uruguay has until then to present evidence. There best chance is that everyone hates Italy so [expletive] them.

Yeah, I think they'd be asking for Saad to start. Sure. Every team that the Hawks talk to starts with Saad. But then the conversation moves to players that are actually available. The point is that Kesler has taken away the Nucks' leverage so they either have to take what the Hawks offer or hang on to a player that wants out. Doing the latter isn't nearly as onerous enough to force them to take terrible value. This reminds me of all the post-2010 talk when people were making horrible trade proposals because "The Blackhawks are in cap hell, they have no leverage!" Yeah, the 'Nucks don't have to trade Kesler. He's under contract. If the offers are Bickell and picks and Bennett and picks (for example) they can tell Kesler to start thinking about other destinations. I bet the Islanders would jump at him, for example, and they have some young talent in the minors and potentially high draft picks to offer. They can tell Kesler to start wearing women's underwear but he doesn't have to do it. He has a no trade clause. Not a "trade me to the worst team you can think of" clause. They have already been down this road very recently with Borat- Luongo- who (eventually) got traded where he wanted to go. Given a choice of staying in Van or being banished to the Isles (or any other equally undesirable location) is an easy decision. It's not like they're going to bench him until he agrees to a trade. Not that this trade is terribly likely but I think you guys are undervaluing Bickell. Around the league, power forwards are overvalued. Bickell is coming off a season where he was recovering from 2 knee surgeries. That's really the only reason he'd be available. Bickell alone would not be enough for Kesler. Bickell and Shaw plus a couple picks would be about as good as the Nucks are going to get for Kesler if they really want established NHL players in the deal.

There are so many dirty plays where this explanation would at least be plausible: elbow to the back of the head, cleats to the back of the leg, head butt, the list goes on and on. Biting has to be premeditated, doesn't it?

Germany will play to win, period. We'll see how it goes next Thursday - you can count on all of Belgium watching the early games closely. :wink: If Germany gets a goal early, because 'Murica, they'll gladly sit on that lead. It will be interesting to see how hard the US pushes for the equalizer in that scenario.

There was a rumor going around that Kane would sign a more favorable contract if he knew the money was going toward a 2C. Not sure if there's any validity to that or not. Stanbow has never done anything that big so far so getting Kesler isn't very likely at all. His MO would be to sign someone like Richards as insurance against Teuvo not being ready.

Yeah, I think they'd be asking for Saad to start. Sure. Every team that the Hawks talk to starts with Saad. But then the conversation moves to players that are actually available. The point is that Kesler has taken away the Nucks' leverage so they either have to take what the Hawks offer or hang on to a player that wants out.

You did mean Kesler not Kessel, right? I'm not sure getting Kesler is so untenable, if that's what they want to do. It would mean trading Sharp either for assets to replace those traded to Vancouver or directly sending those assets as part of the trade. Some people see that as a lateral move but the reality is that the Hawks have guys they can plug in at wing. Another possibility would be to make Bickell the centerpiece of a Kesler trade. He'd fit their criteria of young and established- assuming they really mean it when they say they're not rebuilding. Given that the Pens can hardly pay the guys they already have let alone Kesler, the Hawks can low ball the Canucks. They need young defensemen and the Hawks have guys that might make a lot of other teams that don't already go 6 deep on the blue line.

In LA, they left after the 3rd float which had all the trainers and the guy that stacks up the pucks on the edge of the bench so the first guy out can knock them all on the ice.

Gaborik, Mitchell and Greene are FA's My guess is that they can't afford Gaborik. I thought Richards was a FA too. Or is that the other Richards?

I'd like to see them go to 7 vs. 7 in OT to open up more space. Anything to avoid the shoot out which is the dumbest thing in sports because it should be the best thing ever but actually sucks.

They had a professional indoor league back in the late 70s/ early '80s. The Chicago Sting had a German guy named Karl Heinz Granitza or something like that and the game scores would be like 9-7.

I really miss the stretchers. I can't say exactly how the rule was worded as I was a kid at the time but it went something like this: a player from Italy goes down and rolls around on the ground like he'd been shot, the referee then cards the offending player. The guy that was rolling around on the ground would have to come off the field on a stretcher. As soon as they got to the sidelines, the Italian player would jump off the stretcher and sprint back on to the field unharmed. The absurdity of that whole scene caused them to change that rule, which is a shame.

I like it. I think we should similarly forbid the use of the word "pitch". It's a soccer field. Yes. That is incredibly douchey. Don't you mean cheeky?

I think like most sports though, sometimes you make your own breaks. Officials tend to make calls that favor teams who are playing with a lot of confidence. Lucky bounces happen because you usually have players in the right spots. So on and So on. And I have always thought that winning the cup does take a certain amount of random luck That was a horrific no call. The Rangers got screwed but at the same time champions overcome those types of things.

Q is no different, really, than any old school coach in any sport. He's paid to win games which he's done, a lot. He has a system and he plays guys that buy into that system and do what they're supposed to do/ be there they need to be defensively. Unless you're Patrick Kane in which case whatever you bring defensively is a bonus. He actually has shown patience for young players that fit what he wants on the ice (Shaw, Saad). He's also let some players develop over time by working them in (Bickell, Kruger, Frolik, Nordstrom, Brouwer). The problem for a young guy is that they are behind a lot of talented players and also Bollig. I chalk Bollig up to what I like to call the LaRussa syndrome where a coach thinks that he can prove he's brilliant by making a dumb move work.

Sure but that's also because there are basically no questions about his offense. It's like a scouting report on Baez where they worry about him striking out. He may not stick at center but he probably can if he's flanked by strong defensive wings.

I don't claim to be a hockey expert, but I watch the games and read the reports and didn't exactly make it up out of thin air. BTW, that blurb is a year old. This year, further down on that same page, they listed him as their prospect of the year.

I don't claim to be a hockey expert, but I watch the games and read the reports and didn't exactly make it up out of thin air. I'm not saying you made it up but this scouting report contradicts everything else people have been saying about him since the Hawks drafted him. It's my understanding that the Finnish League he played in is considered stronger competition than the AHL and that he held his own defensively in that league. In the World juniors he was a force on both ends of the ice. Neither of those ncessarily translate exactly to what he would do in the NHL. It's his size that might limit him defensively not his willingness. He's 20 and can grow. He'll probably need to or he'll probably be moved to a wing.

That's not totally true. Teuvo is very defensively responsible, and in his short time with the Hawks, he demonstrated that. Still, if you think he's too small or light, put him with defensively responsible wingers, then -- like Hossa, who is among the best defensive wingers in the NHL. Alternatively, if you think Teuvo needs a year of seasoning in the AHL, get someone on an expiring contract. Or sign someone and trade them away after a season. It is true that in some respects, Kane acts like a C on offense when he carries the puck -- but he really doesn't on defense. Kane needs a good C with him, as we saw this year. Saad-Toews-Kane Sharp-Teuvo-Hossa Bickell-Kruger-Shaw Morin-Regin-Smith Done and done. Notice who is gone? Handzus, Versteeg, and Bollig. All are totally unnecessary for this team. Crawford is fine. I like him and think he's worth the money. He wasn't the problem against LA. The problem was that we didn't/couldn't roll four lines and LA is a great team. And that's deficit is directly attributable to the above three, and Q's weirdness regarding Morin/Regin and some younger players. Structuring the team so that there are 4 strong lines is absolutely necessary -- both years we won the Cup, that's what set the Hawks apart. Likewise, pairing puck-moving defensemen with stay-at-home defensemen is also crucial. I like those lines and if everything goes right that would be the way it looks going into the playoffs next year. However, I think, at least to start the season, we'll see Teuvo centering a bumslaying/ energy line. Sharp Toews Hossa aka the Red Wedding line Saad Shaw Kane - The KiSS Army Bickell Tuevo Morin/ Versteeg Bollig/ Nordstrom/ Regin Kruger Smith I dislike Bollig as much as anyone but I still think he'll play during the regular season. Though I believe Bollig can and likely will play himself out of more TOI as the season prgresses. It seems as though Bollig, who did work hard to get better, became complacent after signing the contract extension. I admit I might be projecting that but it seemed like he wasn't as bad earlier in the season.

I guess that's still useful for trades. It's more useful for what they really need which is cheap players to add depth. Teuvo, who is in no way a defenive liability to anyone that has seen him play more than twice, lacks size and experience on NA ice. I wouldn't rule out his making the team and skipping the AHL completely. Denault is basically a replacement for Kruger. He's a defensive minded center that can kill penalties. He didn't have a great season but he could be ready for a 4th line role which would free Kruger up to center the 3rd line with more offensively minded forwards. Johns is sort of the heir apparent to Seabrook. At ND he became known for big, crushing hits- many of which you can see on youtube. I don't believe we'll see him in Chicago for at least 1 year as defensemen are sort of like catchers in baseball in that they tend to take longer to develop. McNeil is sort of a poor man's Bickell. He didn't have a great season either but he brings a little more size than some of the other depth wings (like Nordstrom). One guy not on this list that could be a factor is Mashinter. The Hawks got him from the Rangers for somebody. Mashinter is basically Bollig but with enough ability to kill penalties as well as earn some time on the PP. He's also willing to punch faces when necessary. He could be considered an upgrade over Bollig if they have radically changed their minds about him after giving him that baffling 3 year contract.

I think there are two parts to this 1) they honestly want him to work on some things before they bring him up. If they want him to be a 3B long term, he still has some work to do to clean up his defense. If they want him to play OF, then they'll need to make that move sooner or later. He still has too much swing and miss in his game. I'm sure they'd like him to make some more strides in closing some of those holes in his swing before exposing him to big league pitching. 2) They'd really prefer not to bring him up until at least 4/15/15 to get the extra year of control. If they promote him to AAA now and he mashes there will be huge pressure to promote him during the summer. I understand the logic of all that but, in Bryant's case, I'm not so sure it's worth the extra year of team control for a couple reasons: 1) Bryant will likely have at least some growing pains. Better for him to get experience now in a season that's already lost 2) If Bryant is as good as we hope he'll be, the Cubs will wind up buying out his first few years of FA anyway. Does it really save them enough money vs. the excitement he could potentially bring to the big club at a time when fans are become increasingly bitter about the lack of progress? I'm not saying they rush him to Chicago. I'm saying send him to AAA and if he rakes there then let him try to breathe some life into a pathetic Cubs offense.