Toews Will Miss Shinny Game

From blackhawks.nhl.com :

Statement from Blackhawks Head Team Physician Michael Terry:

"Jonathan will not participate in the 2016 NHL All-Star Weekend in Nashville. He was pulled from Tuesday night’s third period because of an illness and remains symptomatic today. At this time, rest over the break is most important for him to properly recover and be fully healthy heading into the rest of the regular season."

Just as well that he miss the ASG although, due to skipping it, he is required to sit out the first game after the All Star Break™ which, I believe, is entirely Sidney Crosby's fault but that's not for now.

I blame Jiri Sekac, who clearly brought some weird strain of bird flu with him from Anaheim.

                   Make yourself some soup.  And wrap a hot towel around your head.

TSN = Comedy Gold

Against my better judgement I logged on to the hockey page at TSN.ca today, but I'm sure glad I did. Without clicking a single link I laughed until I stopped laughing.  
Check this trio of headlines:

• Ducks Horcoff banned 20 games for PEDS: Wow, imagine how awful he would have been without the use of banned substances.  Scary to even consider.
• Blues Seek Arena Upgrades in St. Louis: Easy - build a new arena in some other city.
• Hamhuis Most Important Player to Canucks:  I heard it was bad in Vancouver but this news is stick-your-head-in-the-oven bad.

I can't wait until tomorrow, when Gary Lawless (probably) writes Jets Are Bad at Hockey and Should Probably Move Back to Atlanta.

Gettin' Mighty Crowded

From nhl.blackhawks.com:

The Chicago Blackhawks announced today they have recalled forward Mark McNeill from the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League.

McNeill

McNeill, 22, ranks fifth on the IceHogs with 19 points (9G, 10A) in 29 games, including a six-game point streak (4G, 3A) from Jan. 12-23. The Langley, British Columbia, native has registered 100 points (50G, 50A) in 180 career AHL games across five seasons (2011-16), all with Rockford; he has also recorded four points (2G, 2A) in eight 2015 Calder Cup Playoffs games. McNeill, who was selected by Chicago in the first round (18th overall) of the 2011 NHL Draft, posted 243 points (97G, 146A) in 276 career Western Hockey League games with the Prince Albert Raiders and added nine points (3G, 6A) in 10 postseason contests. He appeared in six games with Team Canada at the 2013 World Junior Championship and tallied six assists in seven games with Team Canada at the 2011 U18 World Championship.

It would seem that something's gotta give.

Is a trade impending?  A demotion?  Is someone injured and The Hawks prefer not to mention it?

I'll note that Jiri Sekac played just one game before being shown the press box, although that could have been nothing more than Q wanting to have Mashinter around vs. St. Loomis.

Whatever the case, good for McNeill, as he's been a nearly-man for what, three seasons, maybe four?

I'm Tired and I've Lost My Phone: Hawks 2, Bottle Throwing Maniacs 0 and Sunday's Big Boy

Yeah, so I'm a bit distracted so this will be quick.
- Although The Hawks got pushed around a bit in the first this felt like a pretty even contest, with both sides getting their chances...maybe a few more quality chances for The Blues, but close, anyway.  It was gratifying to see The Hawks come back in the second and really try to push the pace 'cos, y'know, sometimes they don't.  It's a satisfying bounce-back from the 20-man brainfart that was the Florida road trip, anyway.
- What's more it was an oddly clean affair, with each side only taking one penalty.  Of course, well known Mayonnaise slurper Ryan Reaves was scratched, so there's that.
- The Blues really seemed intent on harrying Keith in his own zone and came close to chasing him down a couple of times but, in the end Duncan Keith is still Duncan Keith and "close" only counts in hand grenades and poop fights.  That last bit actually makes sense since we're talking about The Blues.
- Steve Konroyd kept called Ty Rattie "T.J. Rattie" making me wonder if he's an Oshie sympathizer or was just half in the bag tonight.
- I'll go out on a limb and say that was the best game I've seen Van Riemsdyk play.  Not only did he push the puck up ice consistently and effectively, but he made the sweet pass to Hossa that led to the Shaw goal AND on the Panarin goal he convinced the Blues' defender that he was the target of Kane's pass, let the puck pass by them and to an unmolested Panarin.
- The big difference in this game...well, I'll get to that, but the NEXT biggest difference is that the two goals The Hawks scored perfectly illustrate three guys doing what they do best.

• Patrick Kane can lay a dirty pass when he gets a mind to
• Artemi Panarin can get the puck off his stick quicker and harder than any other "small" forward
• Andrew Shaw is the undisputed tip-in King.  Why is this never mentioned anywhere?  His hand-eye skills are incredible.

However...

He wasn't asked to make a ton of tough saves but he was there, as so often this season, when they needed him.  With his league leading seventh shutout, yer Big Boy is Corey Crawford.

                                                   Not tonight guys, not tonight.

Blessings from Jonathan Drouin

Whether he's an underachieving malcontent or a bona fide star-in-waiting is still yet to be seen. Whatever the case, we can thank Jonathan Drouin and his agent for two things.

1. After refusing to report to AHL Syracuse, and now under indefinite suspension, it's pretty clear that The Hawks should take a pass on the guy.  Who needs the drama, along with having to give up The Sun, The Moon and The Stars for a player who might someday be as good as, I don't know...Alexandre Daigle?  As an aside, I've been to Syracuse and I can't say I blame him.
2. This dispute between The Lightning and Drouin's camp have distracted the gang of fatsos at TSN from spending literally hours debating who Steven Stamko's wingers will be when (not if) he dresses for The Maple Leafs next season.

Oh, just shut your big fat mouths and, while you're at it, stop touching yourselves under the desk.

So, thank you, Jonathan Drouin, I really do appreciate what you're doing.

Blockbuster! (Or: This is What We Got For Patrick Sharp?)

This morning, The Hawks traded Ryan Garbutt to Anaheim for Jiri Sekac.
Just to get it out of the way, The Hawks have now netted Jiri Sekac and Rob Scuderi in exchange for one of the most dynamic players to wear The Indian Head.  Yeah, yeah, salary cap, bla bla bla... it still bugs me.  Were there that few GMs interested in Sharp?  

Anyway...
What We Lose:
Very little, as it turns out. Garbutt had the lowest shooting percentage of any Hawks player who has bothered to score a goal this season, despite having hurled more shots on net than Panarin or Anisimov, among others, and possessed the worst plus/minus rating on the club. He had a look on the Toews line and spent a very short period in the PK rotation.  He was a healthy scratch a handful of times, as well.  Garbutt had another year on his current contract which is now Anaheim's millstone.

What We Gain:
Hard to say. Sekac put up okay numbers while with Montreal last season (7G, 9A in 50 games) considering the ice time (not much) and the quality of his usual linemates (rarely good).  It appears that Sekac was unable to infiltrate Bruce Boudreau's Inner Circle (or possibly even his Outer Circle, if that's a thing), even after a brief audition on The Ducks' second line.  He missed about six weeks with an ankle injury and has been a healthy scratch off and on during the last week+.
Sekac is smallish "skill" player who is believed to have considerable offensive potential.  As he will likely enter The Hawks' lineup alongside Rasmussen and Panik he's not going to be lining up with premier talent but, that said, it's certain that Ras and Panik just got a better linemate.  Did that make sense?  I wouldn't be shocked, either, if Sekac gets deployed in Desjardin's spot on the third line, but that seems less likely due to the Des/Danault/Teravainen trio playing rather well together.
Money-wise it's a push, with Sekac earning a few bucks more than Garbutt, but that contract expires this spring, so Stan Bowman gets to Try Before he Buys.

                                                Drinks....drinks for all my friends...

Eleveneses: Hawks 5, Canadiens 2 and Sunday's Big Boy

So, The Hawks' remarkable win streak continues.  This game featured many of the factors that have contributed to their recent success:

• Consistent play, more or less, up and down the lineup, as well as line combos that Coach Q has resisted tampering with.
• The resurgence of the "top" line.  Toews has been a far more commanding presence of late, getting to the dirty spots and finding the puck more often than he had been.  The Hossa we've become accustomed to is back with as much determination as ever and Andrew Shaw has been playing like he's actually thinking about what he's supposed to be doing.  One feeds off the other, I expect, and that line ticking along as it is forces their opponents to consider two dangerous lines, now.
• All-Universe goaltending from Corey Crawford.  He had to make only a handful of tough saves last night but he's outright stolen a few of these last eleven wins.
• Timing: I think the schedule has helped a bit, as well, with The Hawks putting the boots to a couple of tired looking teams (Les Canadiens last night and The Penguins last week) and just happening to face the hapless Leafs on the second game of a back-to-back.

Last night:

- The Habs didn't make things very difficult.  The Mitchell line was the only Habs combo that appeared to be interested in backchecking and, as a result, we saw the backs of several Habs forwards drifting toward their net as the puck went in (hiya, Dale Weise).

- Erik Gustafsson, I believe, is going to be quite fine.  The expectation was that he would be able to drive the play up-ice, but who knew he would this competent so soon.  He appears to have outstanding vision and, just as important, the confidence to act decisively when he spots an opportunity.  It helps, too, that he's an excellent passer, as we've seen in his last few games with diabolical feeds to Hjalmarsson and Panik.  The other expectation was that he might be defensively suspect but, while he is smallish and sometimes struggles to contain forwards not willing to be denied, his successful pursuit of a rushing Pacioretty suggests that he has the desire to be more than just a puck mover.  So far, Gustafsson has done a much better job than Daley, Rundblad and TVR, all of whom were ahead of him on he depth chart a few months ago.

- That was three solid games in a row from Rozsival. Not perfect, but quite good enough.

- I kinda like that Paul Byron guy. He reminds me of Jocelyn Lemieux, but with better hands.

- A bit of an off game for the third line, I thought, with Desjardins being the most dynamic of those three guys which, and no offense to Des, should never be the case.

Yeah, his goal was a gimme, but he shoulda coulda been the scorer on Toews' goal. Hoss was a beast in this match, which is exactly the way we need him to be.

                                                       I got it, I got it...you got it.

John Scott, The NHL All-Star Game and Why The NHL Sucks

I was steeling myself for weighing in on the John Scott/All Star Game fiasco, but now I don't have to!

Pat Iverson says pretty much everything I was going to say and his wurds are purdier than mahn.

Get after it here.

Meanwhile, please enjoy this.

Catching Up: Hawks Invade Canada, Win 10th Straight, some Big Boys

Okay, I've been a bit lazy, so let's get in some quick remarks to bring this thing up to date.

- I watched the game vs. Nashville but, beyond the result, cannot remember much about it except for being gobsmacked that Crawford made 200 saves and got no love when they were handing out gold stars at the end.  Okay then, he'll just have to make 300 saves next time, right?
- The Toews line continued to look revitalized.  I know I bitch about Shaw but not so much when he's playing as he has been the last week or more.  I'm still not convinced that he's the best fit on Toews' left side but he may be the best option available at this time and, again, with the way he's been playing lately, he'll do just fine.  Let's just remember that Shawzer is always one shiny object away from losing his shit and regressing to the mess we witnessed in October/November.

On to Montréal, then, and the slumping Habs. The hacks can blame their horrible slide from dominance to irrelevance on Carey Price's injury, but those jokers have scored one or fewer goals in nine of their last nineteen games.  Mike Condon is no Carey Price, but he's not received the goal support that Price enjoyed at the beginning of the season.  How much of that is tied to the absence of Brendan Gallagher, I wonder.
- So, Crawford did make 300 saves, stole another win and won a sticker. Finally. 
- The Hawks' fourth line (Razmatazz, Garbutt and Panik, this time) all played north of ten minutes after playing 5-7 minutes most nights for the last several weeks. What was different about this game that caused Q to get all free & easy with the ice time?  All I can think is that he was limiting the icetime for the Toews & Anisimov lines to save a little for Toronto on Friday, which doesn't sound like a Q thing to do at all, but why else...?  He wasn't even deploying the Ras line in a shut down role, as they most often lined up against The Habs' fourth line.  Odd.

Finally, it was off to Toronto where, in only two years, The Leafs can "celebrate" 25 consecutive Rebuilding Years.  That's a Diamond Jubilee, folks, and I look forward to seeing the commemorative coin that The Canadian Mint will produce.  
- I always appreciate a Hawks game in which they get better as the game wears on.  Yes, the level of competition may flatter to deceive, but let me enjoy it, please.
- Not a bad effort from Scott Darling, although I'm sure he had no clue where his posts were on the Rielly goal and he looked a little scrambly on a few plays, but I'll take it.
- Roman Polak is a menace, but only if you're looking the other way. Not sure why he was shuffling around with his palms up after cross-checking Shaw firmly in the numbers.  On the back of his pair of similar nasty shoves in CA last week the league should probably take a squint at this dude.
- Apart from Scuderi I cannot complain about anyone on The Hawks' roster in this one. Kane & Panarin had their psychic connection working properly, Shaw had a strong game apart from a bit of a meander-y stage in the third and Teravainen looked game to get some things going but was undone by his linemates not always picking up what he was laying down.  On the D side of things, the "Big Three" were excellent, with Hjalmarsson playing an especially solid game.  Also, Ryan Garbutt had five shots.  What the?
- Betcha didn't know that Joffrey Lupul played almost twelve minutes in this match.  When did this occur, during the intermissions?  Okay, there were four or five other Leafs players that I also failed to notice, but Lupul is the only one of that bunch earning $5mil/yr to be invisible.

                           Guys falling over and wide open nets?  We must be in Toronto.

I'll Take Quality and Quantity: Hawks 6, Avalanche 3 and Sunday's Big Boy

Outshot, somehow, and outworked for stretches here and there, but tonight was one of those nights when the puck just goes in.
- That said, it wasn't a bad effort for The Hawks at all.  Yeah, there were a few missed assignments and Crawford looked a little foolish overcommitting so badly on Duchense's second goal, which was a distraction, at least, from Rozsival and TVR wheezing away, completely paralyzed.  The Av's outshot The Hawks slightly but there were perhaps only six or seven real scoring chances there. 
- Hjalmarsson played a strong game again, with a couple of tremendous passes at key moments.  Rozsival had the stretch pass working alright, too.
- Okay, Mashinter scored and actually had another couple of looks, so look for him to get some power play time real soon. In seriousness, he's actually more poised in-close than I had given him credit for, but that lousy shot off the rush late in the first brought things back to earth in a hurry.
- Another strong game from Toews who, rather stealthily, notched three points tonight.  On his left wing though, despite collecting a pair of helpies, Andrew Shaw was a ball of confusion all evening, either a step out of sync or out of position entirely on a lot of plays.
- Two rarely-seen things occurred tonight: Semyon Varlamov gacked one against The Hawks, in The UC no less, where he's been historically stellar, and each of The Hawks' centers were north of 50% on face offs.  These revelations have me checking the lunar schedule...

Two goals, a typical hard-nosed effort and renewed hope that he may still have a chance to hit 500 career goals by the end of the year earn Hoss The Belt tonight.

When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone he already had two missed calls from                                                                  Hossa.

Mad About the Boy: Hawks 3, Sabrays 1 and Friday's Big Boy

Back in October I made a wager with my friend Winslow, still the only Sabres fan I've ever met, that Buffalo would fail to make the playoffs.  I know, right?  Robin Lehner was injured about 10 seconds after we made the wager and I may have made some remarks about Chad Johnson, pretty much guaranteeing the lad would stand on his head tonight.  
- 45 shots is always a fine thing.  Shooting at 4.5%, not so much.  A blip, most likely, with The Sabres being staffed with perhaps two just-okay five-man units and, as mentioned, Chad Johnson having a fine game.
- Speaking of shots, the Anisimov - Kane - Panarin trio combined for over a third of the total shots for tonight, with Kane notching a whopping nine tries.  Even though these three failed to dent twine it wasn't for lack of trying.
- Was that not a sublime touch pass by Gustafsson to Hjalmarsson?  Wasn't it?  Was that also way too many esses in only two names?  Also, when was he last time Hjalmarsson scored on a wrister?  Ever?
- Anybody notice that Evander Kane played over 23 minutes, more than any other Sabre save Bogosian.  That's a lot of trust being placed in a fella with just 13 points.
- I'm far too lazy and clueless to look this up, but how many of Toews' goals this season have been empty-netters?

The more I see, the more I like.  Phillip Danault looks poised to surpass his directive to "be like Marcus Kruger" which could lead to some hard choices having to be made next summer.  Danualt is actually reminding me a bit of Dave Bolland back when he gave a shit.  Danault is the better skater and never stops moving, but Bolland had better positioning, although I expect Danault will figure that out before long.  With his first NHL goal and fifth point in ten games, here's ya Big Boy.

                                                   Can Marcus Kruger do that? 

Waaay Late on This: Hawks 3, Penguins 1 But We Won't Talk About That (much)

Yeah, so The Hawks dominated a pretty tired-looking Penguins squad, Artemi Panarin continues to deal a hot hand and more precious ground is made up on Dallas.  Despite it really being a 2-1 game with a gimme, The Hawks rarely seemed troubled in this one, although those are occasionally the types of games that don't end well, so let's take the two and move on.
Once again, though, it was essentially a three line effort, with the Rasmussen line getting only a handful of shifts.  More on this in a bit.

The chatter today largely revolved around a player yet to arrive with the team and a player yet to be obtained at all.  First, Richard Panik's Hawks debut has been delayed because of Visa issues.  The word is, though, that when he arrives he'll get a look alongside Toews and Hossa.  I'm not sure what to think about that, as it seems like a pretty high pressure introduction to the squad, one in which he just as likely to fail and, well, we know how that goes.  I guess we can all just hope for the best but it seems a longshot that Panik will make the leap from the minors to Toews' combo entirely smoothly.

The other story that keeps popping up is The Hawks making a deal for Tampa's Jonathan Drouin,  I resist this, first, because the price will be too high; if Tampa were prepared to accept any old thing for Drouin that deal would have done a month ago.  Sideways from there, if Drouin were to fail to make a near-immediate impact we end up with another Rundblad situation, in which the GM coughed up who-knows-what in exchange for a guy that Quenneville won't use.  The Hawks have to pass on this at least until the Panik experiment runs its course.  

Gettin' By, Gettin' By: Hawks 3, Penguins 2 and Tuesday's Big Boy

Well, that was a little more like a real hockey game.  A little, anyway.
- How long have The Hawks been succeeding almost entirely on the efforts of Kane, Crawford, Keith and, to a lesser extent, Panarin.  The follow up to that is how long can they continue to do this. Panarin has looked tired on a lot of nights, lately, and other guys have had brief periods of effectiveness, but...this cannot last forever.
- P. Danault is sure taking a lot of draws for a guy who can't seem to win one.  Like I said, the lad needs remedial work, there.
- Once again, did Garbutt even play?
- Erik Gustafsson will have heard by now that If You're Going to Block a Shot - Block It.  Tentatively sticking his leg out into the shooting lane on Crosby's goal did Crawford no favours and calls into question his commitment.
- On the topic of Crawford, despite a couple of wonky goals against, I thought he had a strong game, overall, reserving his best stuff for the OT with nice stops on Letang and Kessel.

Maybe or maybe not the best Hawk tonight but with two of the three goals for it would just be rude to pass on Artemi Panarin.  I never get tired of seeing this kid shoot the puck.

                  I'm working on a piss-take of a Soundgarden cover for this guy.

Hometown Hockey, News and Stuff, Hawks Win 3-0 and Sunday's Big Boy

Exhausted.  Today, SportsNet descended on my home city, Thunder Bay, and held one of their Hometown Hockey events.  While oozing in sentimentality, cliché and that icky motormouth Ron MacLean, it was actually pretty fun.  I checked out the event site in the afternoon - very nicely done and people looked like they were having a good time - and watched the game in the evening.  Had to watch it on SportsNet, though, so I got to see all the Thunder Bay hockey culture and local lore during the breaks, but I also had to put up with MacLean some more (the Garrison Keillor of hockey?) and HOLY SHIT Glenn Healy is an idiot.  Once again, watching a game on SN makes me realize that Foley and Edzo are not so bad.
Anyway...
- The Hawks hardly seemed troubled in this one.  Crawford possibly did not require a shower after the game, his only tough saves being on a couple of rebounds.  Easy money, baby.
- I'll put this down to "as Erik Karlsson goes, so go The Senators", and Karlsson didn't really get going tonight.  He wasn't terrible, by any means (apart from allowing Desjardins to strip him of the puck in the last moments, but he had clearly had enough by then) but for Ottawa to be anything other than terrible he needs to be brilliant.  Also, The Sens are pretty bad.
- On The Hawks' side, very few standouts, really.  I thought TVR had a strong game, actually and, a few minor yips aside, so did Gustafsson.  Didn't notice Seabrook much and didn't even realize Garbutt played tonight until I saw him leave the ice after the game.  I still like what I see from Danault and I don't mind that Desjardins - Danault - Teravainen trio.  I wouldn't mind it if Danault spent some time with Yanic Perreault, though, 'cos he's not been good at the dot.
- Rozsival cracked me up in the second when it looked as if he might join the rush with Kane.  Then he realized he didn't now what "rush" meant, bailed out and nearly collided with Kane.  It's gold, Jerry, gold.
So, THE NEWS:
- During the game Jeremy Morin was sent packing, yet again, this time to Toronto where he will find himself on their second line within a few weeks, in exchange for something called Richard Panik. I know nothing about this Panik but I can read a stat sheet as well as anyone, and Panik is a 20pt/yr, biggish body kinda guy.  Hey, we happen to have a bunch of 10pt/yr biggish body kinda guys, so this counts as an upgrade.

                                I don't know Ryan Garbutt but, yes, I am better than him.

- David Rundblad was loaned to Zurich Lions in the Swiss A-League.  Now, I had read that The Hawks could bury all of Rundblad's salary if and only if he played in Rockford.  There is, as I recall, some counter-intuitive salary cap manipulation that can be performed in which a GM spends more now to gain cap relief later.  Maybe?  I admit I'm pretty hazy on a lot of the salary cap regulations and have not yet bothered to investigate this but, when I do (I won't) I'll explain it all here (won't do that either).
Back to tonight:

He scored the game winner, blocked four shots and, basically, just did what he always did.  In this sleepwalker of a game, Duncan Keith was the best player.

                                    Four Norris Trophies on a square meter of ice...

Hanging On for Grim Death: Hawks 4, Avalanche 3 and Thursday's Big Boy

Hey, check it out, The Hawks beat the Avs.  Almost didn't, but nevermind.

- In a game that was equally sloppy and inspired, kinda depending on what point of the game during the game you wanna consider indicative of the overall effort, The Hawks were finaly able to touch up Semyon Varlamov.  The Av's starter played well, but it was a solitary effort for much of the night as The Hawks struck for 43 shots.
- At the other end, Scott Darling had a forgettable game.  Or, more correctly, a game he would like to forget while I will clearly remember Cody McLeod sliding a shuffleboard shot under Darling's pads to get the Av's within one.  I'm not sure what's expected of the guy, though, when he plays only once every week or two. 
- It took four tries but Andrew Desjardins finally netted a goal that wasn't kind of embarrassing. 
- Teravainen took a brief spin on the PK - is that a first?

Once more, Patrick Kane led The Hawks on the scoresheet with 1G 2A.  When you see him start a play in his own end, make a breakout pass and then race up ice for the world's longest give-and-go to score, you know the kid is dialed in like never before.

                                               I am the straw that stirs the drink.