squally1313

Eh, the win's nice, but Bogan's 2 point, 1 rebound, 0-4 from the field performance didn't inspire a whole lot of confidence. If he's not going to get any minutes late in games, we basically have 2 guys who can play the 2 and 3 on both ends of the court. I guess I'm fine with today's lack of moves though, especially with the minutes Asik got. He was likely going to be involved in any trade, and if he was going to be behind Thomas in the depth chart, for whatever reason, that was fine with me. But I'm glad since we're keeping him around he's going to get his 15 minutes a game. He played awesome tonight, +17 in 21 minutes.

Yeah if Asik isn't going to get minutes over Kurt Thomas, better get rid of him while his value is still high instead of having to do what we did with Johnson. Now, I'd still rather just stick Thomas on the end of the bench, keep Asik and give him 15 minutes a game. But if Thibs is going to make Thomas the back-up, Asik's only value is in a trade.

I always used to think the worst part of being born when I was was being too young to appreciate watching Jordan grow and become the greatest player ever. Derrick Rose is helping.

In my extremely amateur opinion, Frolik kinda reminds me of Kane when he first came into the league. He's largely invisible for most of the game, but once or twice he's good for keeping the puck on his stick for an extended period of time, dangling a little, and making a good shot or getting a good pass. In terms of his performance though, I think you got to give him a few more games. Apparently the offensive system in Florida is much different and much less dynamic, and I'd guess he's still adjusting. Plus, let's face it....Florida is probably the worst hockey franchise in the league. There's an adjustment to playing (somewhat) important hockey, especially for how young he is.

There's zero chance that happens before the offseason, since the Hawks are right in the thick of things. I wouldn't trade for defense. I think the defense should be good -- the players are there. I'm just not sure why they aren't firing on all cylinders. Is it the coaching? The decision-making? As for what to get from Sharp... it depends. It's hard to get value in trades. What I'd really want is a true-second line center. Yeah the thing about defensemen is that there's only 6 spots to fill. Unless you want to get rid of Seabrook (which I don't), we've got four of those spots locked up, and all four players have a history of being effective. So obviously there's no point in trading someone like Sharp for a third pairing defenseman. You mentioned getting a second line center. I think the key is to figure out what they want to do with Bolland. If they still think he can develop into a scoring threat (his minor league numbers are Kane-esque), then I think you have to give him every opportunity to succeed on the second line with Hossa. If his ceiling is going to be a third line (typically a checking line) center, then you have to decide if you want to pay him $3.4 million to play that role, or give the role to Dowell, who can give you 80% of what Bolland does at 20% of the price. Yeah, he's a great penalty killer, which we saw in the playoffs last year, but bottom line is that he is god-awful at faceoffs, which is an incredibly important part of killing penalties. If it's me, keep the team as is for this season, see if they can remember how good they can be. But in the offseason, put Sharp and Bolland on the market, together or separately, and see what you can get back. Next year's checking line can be Bickell/Dowell/someone (Stalberg, Brouwer)...Johnson and Toews can be the two PK centers.

Brinoch, any thoughts on trading sharp for, as you called it, a "kings ransom"? Obviously it's an affordable contract, so it wouldn't be for the salary relief. But really more just selling high. Not saying he isn't a very good hockey player, but with the way the season has gone, we need to shore up our defense. Maybe not get a defenseman, but I'd look for more of a two way forward than sharp.

If it comes down to Sharp or Seabs, you tell Sharpie thanks for his time, send him on hid way, and laugh at the team that inevitably overpays him. As recently as a couple weeks ago, the advanced metrics had sharp as the worst even strength player on our team. You take away all the wide open nets he's had from some sick Kane passes, and you start to look past his goals total and see his crappy +\-. Meanwhile, seabs has been our most consistent physical defenseman all year. We're like second in the league in goals per game. You don't take away the top line defenseman from that team, you take away the guy who shoots at all the open nets

That first and second period today summed up why this season has been so frustrating. They look god-awful that first period...I think they gave us 9 shots but I couldn't think of a single legitimate opportunity, just a bunch of Bickell-esque 40 foot wristers. Then they come out for the second, and play like champions. Just enough to show you that the talent is there to completely dominate a team. I've never really believed in the theory that players don't try all the time, but this year's team has really made me question what I think. I guess we'll see though, because time's running out to translate that talent into wins. Even with the victory, Leddy and Hendry looked awful. I'm not a big fan of the current pairings, simply because I know how effective Seabs/Keith and Campbell/Hammer can be together, but it's becoming increasingly clear that a Leddy/Hendry (or Boynton) pairing would be a total disaster. It'd be really nice to grab another d-man before the deadline, I just don't know if our cap situation is going to allow it.

Kind of sad that David DeJesus might end up being the best bang for the buck name on that list. I'd go with JD Drew, he always tends to be underrated for the production he provides. Obviously he'd be pretty old by then, but if he could give you a low 800s OPS for a cheap one year deal I think he'd be the best bet.

Mark Mulder? Used to be a decent pitcher, yeah, but doesn't really fit in the group that you're describing.

This play by play guy on TNT is god awful

Yeah I think these next 12 hours are huge. As long as we can avoid a contract getting figured out, or something like a deadline extension, I think the chances of him leaving are really pretty good. You have to wonder if La Russa's comments could really come back to hurt the Cardinals. He basically came out and said the only reason the contract isn't done is because he is asking for too much money. Now, obviously he blamed it on the union. But if it's Pujols alone who is holding out for what he thinks he deserves, suddenly he looks at La Russa's comments and thinks that he (Pujols) is being called selfish, or too greedy, or whatever. If there's no contract by tomorrow, you got a whole season of them sharing the dugout, which, given La Russa's history (control freak, the whole Rasmus situation, etc)....I can see it not playing out well. Add in some of the Cardinals fans who believe it's the world's greatest honor to wear the Cardinal uniform turning on him for being greedy (anyone see that Dispatch article talking about how he would be making more money than anyone else in St. Louis?), and it could be a really interesting season.

Looks like according to this we still should have wished we got Redick instead of Brewer. That said, I am not going to scoff at having the 17th best bench player in terms of WP82. I included JR Smith there because he's another trade target. I wish we got Redick instead of Bogans. Same but considering Brewer is making nearly $5 mil and Bogans $1.6, I'm guessing a Bogans was always an option. What I wish is that we signed Eddie House instead of Bogans. In terms of skill sets and what they provide to the team, shouldn't we be wishing we got Redick instead of Korver?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2011/news/story?id=6124272 I believe that's what they call "panic" from the Cardinal's camp. Also, I hate Tony La Russa.

For a little bit there, both games (this and Bos/Mia) were the exact same score with pretty much the exact amount of time played (4:40 left in this game, 1:15 left in the third in the NBA game).

God I hate Garnett. Literally half a second after he gives a shoulder to the head to Mike Miller he flops back about 15 feet on a Wade push. What a bitch.

OJ Mayo suspended 10 games for steroid use. Get him. Now.

Easy, complete win. Dex?

http://www.secondcityhockey.com/2011/1/13/1933768/the-balcony-is-open Real good article about (among other things), the pros and cons of Bolland possibly being shipped, which was something I mentioned a couple pages ago. Apparently there were a bunch of scouts at the game last night, and Bolland was the name that kept getting thrown around. If that's the case, they picked a good game to go to, as it was probably his best of the year. Originally, I was for trading him, not because he isn't a valuable player, but because he's getting paid too much to be a third line center. This article goes the other way though...focusing mainly on his skillset which is typically very important in the playoffs, and the lack of available players out there currently that would suit our needs. Personally, I'd leave the offense alone, and if you're going to trade him, look for an established defensive D-man so that between him and Hammer, we wouldn't have to worry about the third pairing nearly as much as we do now. Being able to roll out all three pairings without worry would keep us all from closing our eyes during Boynton/Cullimore/Leddy/Hendry time, and it would relieve the pressure on 72, who I think are being way overworked anyways.

you can look back in the thread and see for yourself. the boston game i didn't post because i wasnt home (although i did post after the game saying how good of a win it was) I don't know, I just get the feeling that if the Bulls won by 20, and the Hawks got beat 4-0, you would have ignored this thread and posted a bunch of complaints in that one. Like people said, these games are largely worthless, and without Noah we aren't going to learn much. On the flip side, the Hawks shut out a quality conference rival for their third straight win. So basically....do you just watch the games you can complain about?

Duke in trouble late.

For the PK, the main thing I've seen is just a lack of shot blocking. Seems like the only guy I consistently see do it is Hammer. Most of the goals given up on the PK have been shots from the defensemen that get on Corey, and then there's a scramble that eventually gets stuffed in. Either step up and block the shot, or stay back and clear the rebounds. Keith has been finally starting to pick it up. Not last year version of him, but even 80% of that is a bonafide first pairing defenseman. He just needs to slow down, and stop shooting everything into the other team's shinpads and he'll be fine. I think you can put a lot of Seabrook's +/- is on him, since everything I've seen from Seabs has been pretty good. Bolland....agreed. That's why I'm hoping we stick with these lines, and just have him focus on negating the top line of the other team. When they get a couple points like tonight, all the better. Agreed again on Boynton/Cullimore. Cullimore was more than we expected, but god Boynton was awful. We'll see what happens with Leddy after this game, but I've liked what I've seen. Another good win tonight...Crawford sneaking up the goalie leaderboards in save percentage/GAA. We'll need it until the defense gets figured out.

Let's see how much dexter posts the next time we win.

Just to make it easier for everyone. I know it's easy to say now, but seeing what I've seen from him in the last six months, he would have been incredibly hard to root for if he had come to Chicago.

It's times like this when I wish we had a FanGraphs for hockey because I've been wondering about stuff like that. In terms of goal differential, the part that always got me was empty netters. Obviously, they are going to increase the goals scored, but they only come in close (ie Not Dominating) performances. Whereas if there's a game like tonight, you don't get one, but you still have a great goal differential. I don't know, maybe I'm overthinking it. From what I know though (which 99% comes from Second City Hockey), I think whatever advanced metrics there are favor shot totals as opposed to goal totals in terms of determining true skill. I guess it's kinda like BABIP and strike out rates, to make a baseball comparison. Put shots on net, and keep shots away from your goalie....over a large amount of data, shooting percentage tends to be fairly equal across the board. FWIW, the Hawk's are averaging 32.0 shots/game and giving up 28.6 shots/game, which is a differential of +3.3, which is good for 6th in the league. Then again, New Jersey is +2.5, and they are historically bad, so who knows.