squally1313

I guess that means Bolland is back centering the second line? I know I've said it before, and I know the ship has almost definitely sailed, but the second/third lines look so much better to me with Sharp handling the face-offs on the second line and Shaw playing the center position there, and then Bolland going between Bickell and Stalberg. Sharp/Bolland/Kane just never really clicked, and Kane pretty much had to carry that line all season. Can't afford that now.

Pittsburgh's loss last night should have pretty much wrapped up the President's Trophy. Yay? Whatever. It appears that the first round is either going to be Detroit, or Columbus. Who would you guys rather see? While I think Detroit is the better team, I see what Bobrovsky is doing in Columbus and have flashes of Mike Smith from last year. If you take the goalies out of the equation, Detroit is tougher, but I think I'd rather see 5-7 goals a game (combined) against them than a bunch of 2-1 games against Columbus. Makes luck (slash hot goaltending) less of a factor. Plus, it would be nice to knock Detroit out on this Cup run. Hopefully we get to see Leblanc at some point. I know Bolland's hurt, but we need to see if he is going to be a factor come playoff time (although I suppose we're good enough that he can still heat up in the first round). Rest whoever wants a rest....maybe even give Saad a breather. He's already coming up on 80 games played this season when you factor in the Rockford games...easily a career high. Showing no signs of slowing down, but don't him to hit a wall. Same could go for Leddy.

2011-2012 LA Kings: 17th in the NHL in Power Play percentage. 2010-2011 Boston Bruins: 20th in the NHL in Power Play percentage. 2009-2010 Chicago Blackhawks: 16th in the NHL in Power Play percentage. 2013 Chicago Blackhawks: 16th in the NHL in Power Play percentage. We have a really nice thing here. Jesus Christ, enjoy it. It could definitely end abruptly. But this team is fantastic.

Yeah this will happen. That's what, the second time in 45 games we've been clearly outplayed? It's a schedule loss. Too much strong play this season to worry about this. I didn't even think we were playing that well before tonight and I saw we had an 11 game point streak and just shook my head and laughed. It would take a lot to convince me this isn't the best team in hockey. Screwy things can happen in a 7 game series, but we've got a better chance than anyone.

Still wondering if they're just waiting to lock up the President's Trophy before slowing it down a little bit. Seems stupid to me, especially since they'd have to entirely go balls up to not get it (and also it's pretty worthless), but I'm going to be watching tonight's game just praying it doesn't get chippy. Remember, it was right around this time in the year last year that Keith took out a Sedin (doesn't matter which one) on the dirtiest non-Carcillo hit I've seen by a Hawk in the last few years.

With Anaheim's regulation loss last night, we're 5 points up with 2 games in hand. Sports Club Stats has us as 95% favorites to win the President's Cup Trophy (and I can already see the snide comments from Vancouver fans) and pretty much guaranteed to get the number 1 seed. Since I don't care about the President's Trophy at all, and hope they don't either, it will be interesting to see how Q handles giving them some rest down the stretch while also getting them ready for playoff hockey. http://www.sportsclubstats.com/NHL.html

It's hard to say what would have happened. He might have had to wait until Sharp got hurt to crack the top 6 on a consistent basis. In a saeason where they haven't been practising as much it would be hard for him to move up the ladder except by getting a chance in games. With everyone back, I'd like to see this line up for the playoffs Saad-Toews-Kane Sharp-Kruger-Hossa Bickell-Bolland-Stalberg Shaw-Handzus-Frolik The first line will draw the top defensive line of the other team, leaving the second line to wreak havoc. The 3rd and 4th lines should be pretty effective too. I read something last night (although you might have too) about Q keeping the Saad-19-88 line as his 'ace in the hole'. While the 2C issue is never going to be perfect, I'd keep the lines they way they are now (with Saad-Toews-Hossa on the top line), and maybe try Shaw out as the 2C. He's shown a serious ability to get to the net and seems to have minimized his stupid, reckless plays. Sharp took most of Kruger's faceoffs last night, so he can continue doing that with Shaw. With the lines you have above, I'm worried there isn't enough of a creator on the 2nd line, (although obviously both wings are awesome).

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. Yeah I guess the ship has sailed on Sharp being a center, regardless of the reason. I know the positions don't exactly make sense, but I think it's akin to putting 81/19/88 on the same line....they'll be able to figure something out. If we can fleece Feaster (Flames GM) and get him, we'll slot him in somewhere. Otherwise, I do think we should be targeting someone who can play 2C. They don't have to be some elite player....Kane's doing just fine dealing with Bolland's crap year. Just someone who can win faceoffs and chase down pucks.

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. I'm still holding out hope that you can move Sharp back into the 2C role. He played it the whole year the year we won the Cup. Beyond that, Iginla has taken about 240 draws this year, at pretty much a 50% clip. Sharp clearly prefers to play wing (or else I assume he would have continued at center), but maybe he could be convinced for a stretch run. When you factor in that Kane played C for a while last year with Toews out, you've got all three guys with center experience. Too much talent not to make that work. Switch Shaw and Iginla on your lines and it's a juggernaut, especially when you remember how good the Bickell/Bolland/Shaw line was at the end of last year.

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.

I think you're missing Kruger. Scratch Bollig and slot Kruger in at 4C. I agree they'll probably (unfortunately) throw Carcillo up on the second line as well, I just hope they keep the third line intact. I would have preferred Morin over Hayes, but as long as Bollig keeps sitting in the press box, I'm alright.

The second pairing being this good shouldn't really be that much of a surprise. From a statistical standpoint, last season Hjammer was a lot better than the eye test would suggest. Oduya has been nothing but solid during the regular season. The big difference is that they are getting a lot more help from the forwards in their own zone than they did last year. Are you talking about the 3rd pairing making you nervous Leddy- Roszival/Brookbank or the 3rd line of Shaw Bickell and Stahlberg? The 3rd line has been good to very good all year. As far as the 3rd pairing goes, they're probably among the league's best. I'm not sure how or where to verify but the Hawks might be the only team where Leddy is a 3rd pairing guy. The only thing that worries me about the third pairing is that both Roszival and Leddy are offensive oriented players. Roszival's numbers are pretty amazing for the amount of games he's played, but he's been caught out of position on defense way too much for my liking. I still look at the lines and think moving Kruger up to 2C, Bolland back down to 3C, and Shaw to 4C would perform better, but at this point it's pretty foolish to argue with the results.

:lol: If Eager or Yakupov could hit an open net from 10 feet away they would have won. That's what they do: use their talent to almost win. Interesting fact: if they were in the NASCAR, the Oil would be in 2nd place and have a pretty decent shot at winning that division. That game felt like I was watching it in fast forward. That pace would have to work against the team playing their 3rd in 4 days. You can play that game both ways though. Hossa biffed on a goal crease pass that should have been an easy goal. All the advanced statistics show that this was a pretty dominant effort from the Hawks. They played the way they needed to play. Edmonton can skate with them on a normal night, and probably had a little more gas last night with the Hawks recent schedule. So the Hawks chipped it in deep, and cycled them to death. A few questionable offensive zone penalties and a blow out from our #1 D-man is the only reason they got on the board. Here's a good link on the advanced stats from last night, if you're into that sort of thing: http://www.boysonthebus.com/2013/02/25/game-notes-oilershawks-feb-25/

Leave Saad on the top line -- if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I've never been sold on Carcillo on the top line with Toews and Hossa. Saad's speed is deadly -- he's drawing an average of two penalties a game, second only to Sharp. Slight nitpick, but just to make sure no one gets confused....Saad isn't drawing 2 penalties per game, he's drawing 2 penalties per 60 minutes of ice time. Given his roughly 15 minutes of ice game per game, it's one every two games. Still really good, as you can tell by the fact that he's second on the team (and would be second on the Ducks too), but 2 per game would be other-worldly. As for Carcillo....basically a combination of what was said above. Put him in Mayers slot, send Bollig down and try to teach him how to play hockey, and use the depth to give the stars a break if we start running away with this thing. Plus, this is hockey....I'm sure someone else is going to end up getting hurt sooner rather than later.

That's why they give you 18 minute breaks.

Wasn't planning on getting drunk but....Jesus....

I think it will eventually. I am sure they will always have at least one full OT period though. Maybe another 5 min 4 on 4 then a shootout. I think there will be some fluke year with 3 or more triple OT games and TV will demand that they do something. I don't think TV hates it all that much, and I think they are much more likely to do something like breakdown the 2nd/3rd OTs into short duration than have a shootout. We're talking about a program that airs in the middle of the summer, when there's virtually nothing else on. And most games are on cable stations and not networks, so I don't see the issue. Could be right. They do not have any TV timeouts in OT, so it seems that the powers to be would just as soon that it finished as soon as possible than get ads on, so I just assumed they wanted them over. Of course NHLN and NBCSN are different animals than ESPN. Couldn't they just come to an agreement that they have normal commercial breaks during the OT? While it would take away from some of the drama, I think there would be upside in giving the players a bit of a breather. Some of those games get so sloppy once you get into 3rd overtimes.

I'm going to assume that since that was that account's only tweet, Te'o accidentally tweeted to a non-existent account a long time ago, somebody found it and created the account? Not an expert at Twitter, but you would think she would have more than one tweet.

That doesn't really say anything. It says that they've been the best defensive players outside of three guys that have considerations for defensive player of the year. That's something. No, still nothing. Outside of Marshall and Jeffrey, Earl Bennett has been the best receiver on this year's team. Does this say anything about how good he is compared to the rest of the league?

Need to start 2 of Cobb, Wallace, Decker, Vincent Jackson, and Dez Bryant (have Rashad Jennings in my flex spot, so that could be a third spot too). No PPR. And yes, I would definitely do the RG3 trade.

Maybe this goes in the "Orioles are the luckiest team ever" thread, but I'm putting this here as a perfect example of why baseball is awesome. http://deadspin.com/5942850/manny-machado-faked-out-the-orioles-announcers-camera-crew-26076-fans-and-one-tampa-bay-ray

He really isn't getting the pub he deserves. We've got our catcher. Love him. Needs to cut down on the strikeouts a little bit. Probably unrealistic to assume a 382 BAPIP going forward, so getting more balls in play would be great. But I agree....a definite bright spot from this season.

Cutler (vs IND) or Romo (@ NYG) Mike Wallace (@ DEN), Eric Decker (vs PIT), or Vincent Jackson (vs CAR)

Annnnnd it's gone! Hinshaw DFA'd, Blake Parker activated per Bruce Tweet.

There's a lot of ways to get to a 750 OPS.