gflore34

Sori swings thru the straightest of fb down the middle of the plate.

Soto morphed from one of the best catchers in baseball to one of the worst, only the Cubs.

No Sut, its the second time the idiot Cub defense has given them a run.

Seriously how stupid is he? Dumber than Bradley on the base paths.

These aren't even quality pitches they're making outs on, Soto and Fontenote both missed bp fastballs.

Yeah I've had my share of Lee and Bradley missing bp meatballs down the middle of the plate.

Anyone else just want to punch Carpenter in the face?

I was close it was 4 pitches.

K's in 6 pitches.

K's in 6 pitches.

Given he can't hit anymore I think he was lost on those bases.

Ryan you were out not...even...close.

Bradley hitting would lessen that but, it doesn't appear Bradley' going to hit ever.

Maybe, thought strike two to Lee was a hanger and of course, Lee takes it, strike 3, although not a strike, was a hanger.

Their farm system is still top-half. Zetterberg is 29, Franzen is 29, Draper is 28. I'd love for them to be bad, but unfortunately, it's going to be awhile. And they still manage to get free agents to take cheap deals to play with them and try to win a Cup. Isn't the Hawks system in the top ten? What offers me encouragement is the Wings don't have a Toews, Kane, Seabrook or Versteeg someone that young and that good, if they can keep their them together I believe they've got a good chance to surpass the Wings. The Hawks don't currently have a Lidstrom or Rafalski (Keith is close) or Datsyuk, Hossa, or Zetterberg (Havlat and the two kids are close, but Havlat is possibly gone after the season and the other two aren't there yet) either. The Wings do have some strong young talent, though. As I've mentioned, I'm a big fan of Ville Leino. They also have guys like Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm already contributing in the NHL. Then on defense they have Jakub Kindl and Jonathan Ericsson close to making an impact (or, in Ericsson's case, already in the NHL). The Wings aren't going away from the top of the West any time soon and the Hawks have a long way to go to catch up. As has been mentioned since the start of the season, the Hawks are going to run into contract issues sooner rather than later. It's going to be very interesting to see just how their finances play out over the next 3 or 4 seasons. That doesn't mean anything for the rest of the series though. The Hawks have played two very close games on the road. They can definitely come back and win the next two at home and I would not be surprised to see them do so. The Wings, as great as they are, aren't immune from contract issues either, sure plenty of their players may agreed to cap friendly deals. But, sooner or later, someone is going to go where the money is prestige, etc. be damned.

If the Cubs can manage 4 runs tonight that should be enough, can't imagine the Cardinals, with that lineup they threw out there last, scoring more than 3 runs if any.

Their farm system is still top-half. Zetterberg is 29, Franzen is 29, Draper is 28. I'd love for them to be bad, but unfortunately, it's going to be awhile. And they still manage to get free agents to take cheap deals to play with them and try to win a Cup. Isn't the Hawks system in the top ten? What offers me encouragement is the Wings don't have a Toews, Kane, Seabrook or Versteeg someone that young and that good, if they can keep their them together I believe they've got a good chance to surpass the Wings.

He isnt going to be a HOFer, but Cleary has been a 40 point a season scorer for the Wings. He has also been very good as a playoff performer. He is a top 6 forward on the defending Stanley Cup champions. Not exactly a bad player. I know but, you think once Khabibulin wouldn't look like such fool against him, it's not like it's Ovechkin, Crosby or Datsuk he's facing.

I know Campbell screwed up but, when will Khabibulin make that big save? Cleary twice? Come on. He's been ordinary from the very second the Hawks gave him that big money, regardless of how this season ends I won't shed a tear when he's shown the door. These are some of the names the Cubs and Hawks lost to last night - Pineiro, Molina, Rasmus and Cleary - yeah there's a collection of HOF'ers.

Took a glance at some of the Wings boards, many if not all of their fans seem to think that every one of the FA's will sign cap-friendly deals, is that realistic? Conversely, they believe cap issues will break up the Hawks, funny how Wings fans think they are the only team in the NHL capable of signing players to cap-friendly deals.

The Red Wings are the better team now and won, no problem with that but, it sucks when a scrub like Cleary is the one who scored the big goals.

Honestly, I can hardly tell anymore. Toews-Kane-Brouwer Sharp-Havlat-Pahlsson Byfuglien-Bolland-Versteeg Eager-Burish-Ladd It's too early, my brain isn't working. But that's my best stab at what I've seen out there, at least in the Vancouver series. But I've seen Eager out there with 19-88, and various other combinations. You think they'd split up Ladd-Bolland-Havlat? Been a damn good line... who knows with Q, though. I like that line quite a bit, especially Bolland, he plays under the radar but, here's a player, 22, who has scored 79 and 57 goals in the GTHL and OHL. Along with scoring 146 and 130 points - he's no slouch for a third line center.

What are the Hawks' lines? Though at times Quenneville appears to be mixing and matching his lines.

Go Ducks!!! I asked about the Hawks overtaking the Wings in the near future, people mentioned cap decisions. I gotta believe the Wings aren't immune to this as well, I don't have the numbers in front of me but, its probably safe to say every team will be faced with tough cap decisions. What offers me encouragement is the Wings don't have a young core such as the Hawks, they're still highly skilled and probably the best team in the NHL. Yet, many of their key players are 30+ old additionally, from what I've seen their farm system ranks amongst the lower third in NHL whereas, the Hawks' is in the top ten. In the past Illict was able to buy the best team, with the cap in place it severely limits his ability to do so which means more of reliance on the farm system where the Hawks have the edge.

i really, sincerely doubt it. they might be able to steal 2, but likely will be outplayed nearly all series. the ducks haven't a prayer either of coming back in the series. you'll see something like 5-1 tonight. Do you think the Hawks have a chance of over taking the Red Wings in the next few years?