brinoch

Another good win tonight by the Blackhawks. They are playing much, much better hockey.

Looking briefly through Rockford's stats, I'm not seeing a whole lot of immediate help. It seems like the best statistical players are all the equivalent of AAAA players (Jeff Taffe leads the team in points for forwards, and he's 28 years old). Most of the guys we got in the trades are still a couple years away (Morin, Vishnevskiy), and we've seen how much the Blackhawks value controlling their contracts. And obviously we'll have to wait a few years to see the impact of all the draft picks we received. The only guy down in Rockford that I can really see having potential is Brian Connelly, a 24 year old defender who leads the entire team in points and has one of the better plus/minuses of the team at -3 (ugh). But outside of trading Seabrook, I really don't see any of our defensemen going anywhere. Morin will definitely be with the Hawks next season. I think Potulny could be helpful, though with Johnson getting signed, I don't think we'll see him. I could see the Hawks making a deal for a defenseman to replace the Boynton/Cullimore/Hendry 3rd pairing. Heck, Cullimore has cleared waivers. They could also work to break in a d-man later in the season -- maybe Vishnievsky, Connelly or Lalonde -- like they did with Hjallmarson (I can easily see Lalonde getting some time). They won't want to burn entry deal years for Leddy and Morin. I'm also pretty high on Makarov and Olimb, but I don't know what the organization thinks of them. I know they like Makarov, but there are questions about his backchecking and defensive play. If he is starting to get that... well, I can see him getting the call this season. The Icehogs are very young, and the growth is probably good for them. I wouldn't worry about the +/- so much. It's a useful stat, but not that critical in evaluating prospects. Here's a good article from Hockey's Future on the Hawks and how they stand. HF ranks the Hawks' system 11th in their organizational rankings (which is basically about prospect depth).

It's a nice field. It looked good. They shouldn't have played there, though, because it's not designed for these temperatures.

I agree.

Excellent. Love it.

That one's totally on the officials for giving the Vikes the ball down there. What a horrid, horrid call.

That. Is. A. Terrible. Call.

Yep. Take no chances with Cutler. I want a bunch of runs to Taylor.

If all goes well, he won't get another chance tonight. The punter might miss-hit it. Boo-yah! Called that.

If all goes well, he won't get another chance tonight. The punter might miss-hit it.

Yes, and have been for a long time. I don't know what it is... they just stink at it.

Points are points. There will be more of them.

Favre's still on the sideline. Jennings wasn't far off there... but you're right.

Pick 6 here.

Yep. Early whistles for wrapped up Vikes QBs, nothing for Cutler.

Call a hold on the Vikings, please. Both ways, refs.

And he makes $3.375M per until 2013-2014.

doubtful, they have their 50th anniversary fiesta. Plus 15 minutes is not enough time to get tarps out there. Huh, so maybe this field was a bad idea.

That field is now treacherous. They should bring the heaters and tarp back over halftime.

WOW! LMAO! Yeah... that was pretty damn funny.

Yes!

If you'd rather, we'd be happy to muzzle Jaws and Gruden so we don't have to listen to them constantly fellate Favre.

It was Favre, so they blew it quickly, which they shouldn't have done since he was clearly bobbling the ball. A terrible decision by the ref back there.

Really irritating watching the Bears not wrap up Gerhardt.

Wow. Great, and I mean great, stop by Harris.