biittner77

Brandon Saad first 8 games- 0 goals, 0 Assists 0 total points next 30 games- 9 goals, 14 Assists 23 total points Translated to a full season, that's 20-25 goals, 35-40 assists. Just to put that into perspective: Patrick Kane's rookie year 21 Goals 51 assists--year 2 25 G 45 A Jonathon Toews rookie year 24 Goals 30 assists--year 2 34g 35 A

Before Thursday's game all the talk was that Q was setting up Crow to be the man in the playoffs. One slightly off night and the whole story is different. Emery has been the hot goalie in the playoffs before. That counts for something. But it's got to be whoever is playing best in two weeks. Looking at the last 5 games for each, they've both had Anaheim and Nash (before the game against Emery, Nash traded their leading scorer in Erat). In the other games, Crawford faced the King, Blues and Wings (all playoff teams) while Emery faced Colorado twice and the Flames once. There's no goalie controversy. Crawford has been playing against better teams. The team in front of Crawford has been disinterested at times, especially at home in the 3rd period. In 2010, Huet and Niemi took turns crapping the bed during March before Q decided to go with Niemi as the starter. Emery has been better than anyone could have expected, and he may contribute during the playoffs but when the team in front of him actually cares Crawford gives the Hawks the best chance of beating good teams.

wondering if he could make the olympic team. I've got to think he would. Leddy too. In fact Leddy might have less competition because of his position.

Did you have anyone in particular in mind? If anything, Marmol is maybe buying that guy some time to develop into something more useful.

Evidently Montador cleared waivers. I'd like to see him brought up to rest Oduya and Seabrook before the playoffs. Roszival too for that matter. Not sure of the cap ramifications but I thought the Hawks had room anyway. At the very least he could at least prove that he's recovered from injury and maybe get traded somewhere. Failing that, he might realize that it's either back to the Rock or retirement. Not sure which is worse.

Handzus didn't look out of place, speed wise. Not that he's fast but he's not Brunnette out there either. He certainly delivered at the dot - 10-3 by my count. Never put Frolik on Kane's line again, please. It's funny how quickly he reverted to gain the zone and shoot mode. Bring Morin back until Sharp is ready.

Plus Columbus unloaded Steve Mason on Philly. Quite a trade deadline I suppose there are worse places for Mason to go. Off hand I can't think of any though.

They probably find more value in keeping their playoff streak alive than the players that they could get if they were sellers. I think a lot of teams are in the same position and are willing to wait to see what talent shakes loose this summer.

Name wise, this is the best trade in team history. There's a good reason that you've never heard of either of these guys. Rob Flick is an enforcer. Sauve could be a 4th line energy guy. I'm curious about Gotovets as it seems like he wouldn't sign so they traded his rights. He might actually be something.

I don't think they rate Pirri. Danault is the guy they have their eyes on as 2C. gotcha, thanks for the info! There's also McNeil who might slot in at 2C but more likely 3C and Kevin Hayes who might leave BC. Which means that it will be tough for Pirri to stick with the Hawks long term.

Not sure what Oduya has to do with not getting Roy. The Hawks could have offered prospects over picks and won the bid had they wanted to. It seems like they're thinking that they can win the cup with what they have but they'll have some tough decisions to make after the season. They probably believe that Bolland will be a lot better in the post season since he always has been before. That probably means that he's gone though since the Hawks won't be able to pay him and keep Leddy and keep Stals and Bickell.

Until Thursday when rosters expand or the rest of Rockford's season- whichever seems in their best interest.

Before the Handzus trade, I had managed to completely forget about Morrison. Oh well. I believe this will be the only trade. There are too many teams that still think they have a chance which means no one is selling except the Avs and Flames. But it's ok since rosters expand Thursday so the good news is that they'll be able to put Pirri in one of the open center spots if Bolland's injury is bad. On the down side, if you were looking at Bollig being sent back to Rock Vegas as the silver lining in the Handzus trade, they'll probably bring him back as soon as the rosters expand.

It makes sense, given what the Pens have been doing so far.

Somebody on CI recently suggested that it is Q that doesn't want Sharp at C. That person showed the stats that made it look like Sharp wasn't all that great as the 2c during the cup year. Having really strong linemates could mask some of those shortcomings but, whatever the reason, it doesn't seem like Sharp at C is going to happen. If it was he would have played there last year instead of Kane. Would Iginla be willing to play LW? He'd have to unless they want to either move Kane to LW or to C. If they put Iginla on the 3rd line, he'd be able to play at his natural position and could take some of Bolland's draws. He'd still have better linemates than he does now and everyone knows how Q likes to move people around.

Apparently that was the original offer. Hawks blog guys (Committed Indian) seem fairly confident we can offer Stalberg, a good but not top prospect (no Danault or Teuvo, maybe McNeill), and a second or third rounder and be fairly close. It's tough because of the list of teams he's willing to go to (Chicago, LA, Boston, Pittsburgh). It keeps it from becoming an all out bidding war, but we need to be careful because him going to LA would make them even scarier than they already are. I think we should pull the trigger if the deal is reasonable. One of the reasons is that Iginla needs a top 6 spot, which would hopefully mean dropping Bolland back down into the 3C spot where he belongs. Shift Shaw over to take Stalbergs role, and drop Hayes down to the fourth line, and it's a scary, complete team. Of course Q would probably just drop Saad idiotically to ruin those plans. Who's your 2nd line center if you drop Bolland to 3c? Not saying that's a bad idea, just wondering. How about this lineup, assuming it's Stalberg as part of the package for Iginla: Saad-Toews-Hossa Sharp-Shaw-Kane Bickell-Bolland-Iginla Hayes/Morin/Smith/ Mayers-Kruger-Frolik All of those lines are pretty scary. Shaw is not the ideal 2nd line C but he will chase the puck, hang around the net and draw attention from Kane. If you want more defensive balance on the top 2 lines, switch Saad and Sharp.

Having to compensate for bad drafting/developing with free agent signings are part of why Hendry failed. As well as the fact that he got the worst possible outcome on two of his three playoff teams. Then bad drafting/developing is the reason Hendry failed, not that he signed free agents to what were pretty damn reasonable deals. (Soriano and Zambrano kind of excluded.) All of the non pitchers on that list have actually played in MLB (not positive about Donaldson) Doesn't excuse anything Hendry did, just thought that when the philosophy changed from stockpiling pitching to BPA the success rate sort of went up.

Yeah I had one of those. At this point Seabrook is a combination of one of those and a turnstile. Like a pitching machine laying on it's side

The legs would always collapse

That John Scott would be a better offensive guard than any kind of hockey player.

Any of you guys old enough to remember the "pitch-Back"? It was this springy net thing that when you threw a ball at it it would spring back- basically allowing you to practice throwing and catching by yourself. Seabrook lately is the hockey version of the pitch-back. He's a turnover machine. After watching that game, I don't see why the Kings would *need* Iginla.

Too bad one of the 16s couldn't pull it off this year because every other possible "upset" happened at least once. Not that 10 beating 7 or 9 over 8 are really upsets but I can't remember that ever happening before.

Rust-eze is playing for a new contract once the Hawks buy him out. Good luck to him. With last night's pole-axing of the Ducks, Scum moves past Scum Jr. into 2nd place. Or more accurately distant second place.

The Maryland State Senate voted to decriminalize marijuana. Unless you're caught with intent to sell, it becomes a civil crime subject to fine rather than a criminal misdameanor. IIRC, there were about 24,000 arrests in MD last year that would now result only in fines up to $500. This is probably what most states will eventually wind up doing. It's still illegal and if you're under 21 still a crime but it will save the state a lot of money in court costs, etc.

wait, there's a NEW Mexico?