kujay

I don't agree with that. Of course success as an OC doesn't translate perfectly, but we know what some of these guys are about and we know what the reward might be based on their success.

Which ones are far more qualified? He's been an OC and QB coach in the NFL, has a ton of experience working with QBs (including Cutler), and has HC (in another league, yes) experience. Any of the guys with several years of NFL success and innovation as coordinators. Do you think Trestman is hanging out in Canada by choice? He might be. Maybe he was told in previous interviews he needed to prove he could be a head coach and didn't want to go back to the collegiate level and deal with recruiting crap to do it. Just a thought. Yeah I suppose that's possible. Unlikely but possible. Just saw a tweet that the last CFL coach to land an NFL head coaching job was Marv Levy. Didn't know that. Anyway, more likely Trestman ran out of suitable options in the NFL. I don't mind a high risk/high reward move. Problem is at this point we have no idea what the reward might be.

Which ones are far more qualified? He's been an OC and QB coach in the NFL, has a ton of experience working with QBs (including Cutler), and has HC (in another league, yes) experience. Any of the guys with several years of NFL success and innovation as coordinators. Do you think Trestman is hanging out in Canada by choice?

I'm willing to give Emery the benefit of the doubt here. But I hope he's not trying to outsmart everyone by finding this cat hanging out in Quebec when there are several NFL guys who seem to be far more qualified. And I'll go ahead and say it. With the McCaskeys paying Lovie, do they like the idea of getting a guy like Trestman on the relative cheap?

Haha I subliminally forgot Oduya in my review of the defense. Even then I don't think the Hawks want to have to rely on Roszival and Brookbank with no room for injuries, especially in the short season. And actually Olsen isn't in camp. Stanton is though.

Montador didn't pass his physical due to the concussion he suffered last year. This is really important because I think it's holding up a trade of Hammer or Leddy. Without Montador, they still have Keith, Seabrook, Leddy, Hammer, Olsen, Roszival and Brookbank. Trading one of those guys would leave them pretty thin. And I have to think if Montador isn't back by now, it won't be this season. If they do decide to move a defenseman, they should look at Ottawa. They could use a 4-5-6 type defenseman and have three goalies. Robin Lehner has to be available, I'd think. Anderson is the starter and Ben Bishop is a more-than-capable backup.

I don't know if I believe this, though photos on Twitter are showing a mostly full lower bowl. Blues are saying 5,500 showed up for practice today at Scottrade.

NHL Network has completely [expletive] the bed during the lockout and continues to suck. Nothing live at all. I heard somewhere that they couldn't run anything live until the CBA was finalized, but that doesn't make sense. NHL Radio on Sirius is running circles around them.

Hahaha suck it Green Bay.

Schedule is official and tickets go on sale in about 15 minutes. Game on!

Is QB coach of the Bears better than HC of the Als? I'd say no. OC would be, but not QB coach.

Lots of road games early on the UC's calendar in February is packed.

@JimmyJohnson: Looks like 2 of my guys getting NFL jobs..Chud Cleveland and my QB coach at U Trestman to Chicago Well I guess he didn't say it was the HC job.

The king stay the king.

Hahaha no way!

Red Wings sold 100.7% of their seats last year, 98.1% the year before and 97.4% the year before that. Blues were at 98.2% last year, 100.0% the year before and 98.6% the year before that. The Blues massage their numbers quite a bit. Weekend games are packed almost regardless of opponent. Weekdays, not so much. Anyway, I don't really care except I'd like the Hawks in St. Louis three times.

They do in Detroit and St. Louis. Sellouts aren't guarantees in either city. And the Leafs continue to be clown shoes. Fired Burke. This may be why: @SportsnetSpec: Sounds like Burke did NOT want to make Luongo deal, while many in Leafs org did. Burke a principled man.

Yeah but likely we get 5 with Detroit and St. Louis, if only for ticket sales.

Apparently Datsyuk is dragging his feet too. That works.

Grrr, Ohio State would have been destroyed by Alabama too. Five teams in the final Top 10. We own college football. Wait, aren't you a Mizzou fan? You can't say that, at least not yet.

No worries man. I'm not sure there really needs to be a separate thread for non-Hawks NHL talk anyway. I sure don't mind if there's talk about other teams and players here. Case in point, it's one thing for Vishnovsky to be a bitch and stay in Russia. But apparently Kovalchuk is considering it too? What is wrong with these people?

Assuming you get NBC Sports (formerly Versus) you can still catch plenty of games on tv. If I were you I'd watch some of those and see if you are interested in teams outside your immediate area. If you do, Pittsburgh will be on all the time, not that they need any help with fans. It could also be worth it to have an interest in a Canadian team just for the fun, and overabundance of non-television coverage you can find on them. If I had to start over, perhaps because I'm a glutton for punishment, I'd take on one of the Canadian teams (other than Vancouver, or course). The Jets would probably be my choice, though if you're a Cubs fan, you might identify more with the Leafs and their fans and their legacy of futility and heartbreak. I'm not high on Nashville for the reasons others have stated. And goes without saying losing Suter will hurt them. That said, I really appreciate what ownership and management have done there to foster and grow the fan base. St. Louis does a lot of the same things and does them well. Come to think, if you want to take on a young team that has a lot of potential, St. Louis might be for you. Good goaltending, decent young defensemen. They really need an impact scorer. Problem is they can't afford to buy one in the summer and will be too good to get one high in the draft. I'm babbling at this point but so excited to have hockey back I want to talk about it all day. Been listening to NHL Radio on XM pretty much nonstop. Can't wait for next Saturday night.

Let's be honest she's [expletive] hot and is much more watchable than this game. Enjoyable as it has been.

Men against boys. Wow.

That was a pretty throw.