Trade Deadline Headlines

Wow.  I'd be tempted to say that The Washingtonstone Capitals have the Eastern Conference in the bag if it weren't for the crippling fecal incontinence they exhibit anytime they make the playoffs.
Regardless, The Caps scooped the best available defenceman and have made their scary-good lineup all the more....scary...and good.
The details are:
Washington gets Shattenkirk and AHL goalie Pheonix Copley.  Yes, that's how his parents "chose" to spell his name.  It's bad enough to name your child after a city (or a mythical, flaming bird, I guess) but do try to spell it correctly.
St. Loomis gets two guys, each the epitome of "guy", a First Round pick and an extremely conditional Second Round pick.

Photos of the other players involved in this transaction are not available because no one has ever bothered to photograph them.

The obvious question here is, are they nuts in St. Louis?  Let's review the ways in which this deal looks incredibly bad for STL.
1) The Blues gave up a player who was BY FAR their best defenceman.  Alex Pietrangelo is pretty good but, beyond him, there ain't much there.
2) Washington will likely win The President's Trophy which will provide The Blues with a 30th-overall pick, firmly within the range of the "best of the rest" players.
3) I believe the message this sends to the remaining Blues players is that management has given up on them for this season.  Los Angeles is now only two points away from knocking The Blues out of a playoff spot and I'm sure that team morale is firmly in the pooper, right now. This really sucks for me 'cos I had some pretty good STL-related insults queued up that I was saving for the playoffs.

The only thing that could make this deal look sensible for STL is if Blues GM Doug Armstrong was absolutely certain that he would not be able to re-sign Shattenkirk.  They have the cap space to pay him, so rule out that as an excuse. They've had no problem significantly overpaying players, either, as they recently re-upped completely average forwards Patrik Berglund and Jori Lehtera for $4.7mil and $3.8mil per year, respectively....for what amounts to complimentary players.  You really can't get a deal done, here, Doug?  I can't wait to see what he does next: Tarasenko to Florida for Vincent Trocheck and some really cool Jaromir Jagr memorabilia?  
None of this makes any sense UNLESS Shattenkirk had clearly indicated that he was not re-signing, no matter what.  Which I would totally get, BTW.

Cocktail of Strange: Doan Weighs In on Hanzal Trade, Sort Of

THIS is absolutely priceless.

The idea, I think, is that Coyotes captain Shane Doan is unhappy that Martin Hanzal was traded yesterday to Minnesota.  We can guess as to what, specifically, Doan doesn't like about the deal...well, yeah, we can guess.
This is what Doan had to say:
It's really hard.  Obviously, Marty's a huge part of our team and somebody you get to play with for 10 years, you appreciate and you understand how valuable and how you can't really replace him.  And the fact that we just continue to seem to go - I don't know.  It's hard.  It's hard to understand exactly.  I mean, you understand people's hands are tied and you just don't get it.

Wait, does he understand or not?

TSN added another layer of strange by inserting a two-year old tweet by azcentral reporter Sarah McLellan, in which she quotes Doan:

Doan: "It was not my idea, not my ideal situation. There's no one that's 38 years old that thinks it's a good idea, let's rebuild."

1:40 PM - 3 Mar 2015

I assume this is just another super-sloppy piece by TSN...but WHAT IF The Coyotes have some kind of really crappy Time Machine, one that only let's them realize that disappointing things will happen in their future, but apparently does not allow them to avoid these disappointments?  

Actually, no one needs a Time Machine to scrye The Coyotes' future; they're gonna be awful for awhile, yet.  If this whole bit wasn't so awkwardly hilarious it would be terribly, terribly sad...

A Comedy In Three Acts: Hawks 4, Blues 2

Chapter One: The First Period
Hey, that was 15 minutes of great hockey by The Hawks. What a pity it is that a period lasts 20 minutes.
A little different lineup tonight, with Hjalmarsson healing, Crawford ill and Desjardins in for Rasmussen, but the lines that are supposed to matter remained intact.  Lacking Moose on his wing, Kruger was left to take the draws for his line, which he's not been doing much since returning from injury.  Krugs spent a lot of time on the bench late in the game, so is that his hand/wrist bugging him or was this merely fallout from Coach Q endlessly shuffling the bottom six in the late going?
Tomas Jurco made his debut as a Hawk.  He tried some things, mostly involving barging up the middle with a clumsy deke thrown in.  None of them worked.
The Hawks had two lines running rich: the Toews trio and the presumed fourth line of Kero, Hartman and Desjardins.  These units consistently had The Blues pinned in their own end and were creating chances left and right.  Fortunately, one of those lines have scoring potential, and that was realized with another fast breakout, a two-on-one and Toews cashing in to open the scoring.
The other lines were not bad but failed, really, to mount any kind of threat.  Kane scored to put The Hawks up two goals on a nice, if basic, give and go with Toews.  Everything was more or less going to plan.
That is until 57 Varieties of Bad became confused and believed he was Raymond Bourque, inevitably failing to stickhandle past...any Blues player, it doesn't matter because a fifteen-year old rec hockey player could have flipped that play on TVR.  Anyway, turnover and goal.

Chapter Two: The Second Period
Hey, that was among the worst periods The Hawks have played since 2007.  Is it good, at least, that they were following their usual script, i.e. play a strong first frame and then mail it in for the second?  Probably not.  Pietrangelo tied the game midway through the period while - guess who? - TVR was in the bin, assisted somewhat by Anisimov falling all over himself after being literally shrugged off by Patrik Berglund.  The Hawks were, at least, not a nightmare defensively, but they could not get anything real happening in The Blues zone, what little offense they conjured up arose from shots from the points that actually got through....but no one was able to pick up a rebound or get a stick on it for a tip-in.

Chapter Three: The Third Period
Good thing this was The Blues and not a team with any momentum or depth.  The Hawks were better in the final period but could not replicate the excellent puck moving they displayed in the first. With five minutes remaining Panarin and Anisimov completed a play for the first time in two weeks, with Small Arthur hitting Large Arthur with the sort of pass we had taken for granted until recently, and Anisimov finishing the job with a sharp-angled shot past Jake Allen.  The Blues poured it on in the late going but men such as Kero and Hartman were up to the task when STL pulled Allen for an extra skater.  Kero would salt it away with an empty-netter with only seconds remaining.

Yes, Bits.
The NBC crew were sure to mention this was The Blues first game after their break week, as well as the poor record that teams have had in said first game back, but I thought The Blues shook the rust off  by the end of the first period.  For much of the game it was The Hawks that appeared sluggish; not so much physically but rather not fully engaged mentally, with positioning problems, weird decisions and generally poor execution too much of the time.
Scott Darling was fine, however.  Neither goal against were unsavable, but he was acrobatic in preventing The Blues, Paul Stastny in particular, from catching and passing The Hawks.
The Hawks Defence were hugely inconsistent and, no, Rozsival was hardly a concern.  Keith had another iffy game in which his passes were slow, or short, or slow and short.  Seabrook just plain gave the puck away a couple of times for reasons unknown.  TVR was....TVR, only moreso, tonight. Throughout the game The Hawks' D chose to backup, back pass and restart their breakouts, giving the STL forecheckers all the more opportunity to get after them.  That power play in the second period....what a mess...and that was ALL On The Hawks' D.
Coach Q chose to deploy Toews' line against Steen, Tarasenko and Stastny and, for the most part, it worked. Panik and Schmaltz are not exceptional defensive forwards, so it was left mainly to Toews to keep Tarasenko subdued, which he did admirably well, limiting The Blues' finest to a single shot. Stastny, as mentioned, had some glorious chances while not being adequately covered by Panik/Schmaltz but, otherwise, that top line of STL had little doing until later in the match when Q inexplicably stopped sending Toews' line out against them. 

Given the lackadaisical approach by more than half the team I reckon The Hawks were somewhat lucky to have prevailed in this one.  Fortunately, the Hawks who were good were very good: Hartman, Kane and Kero stood out, with Desjardins putting in a good effort mitigated by his limited skill.  Best of all, though, was The Captain, man of the match yet again.

Trade Deadline Postscript:

Well, Minnesota improved up the middle, adding Martin Hanzel and Ryan White from The Coyotes. It's probably not worth mentioning that they vastly overpaid 'cos that's their cross to bear, but it's clear that The Wild are all-in this year.  Hilariously, NBC Suit-behind-a-desk Jughead Jones declared Ryan White to be "a very good hockey player", confirming my suspicions that Jones was concussed out of the NHL.

I don't even know what to say about The Kings and The Lightning swapping backup goalies.  Seems like a push to me.

Pre-Trade Deadline Stream of Unconsciousness Post: Non-Event '17?

I was planning to type something about The Hawks' wants & needs early next week but, with the dominoes beginning to fall already, maybe I'll get after it now.  Before I get started allow me to state:
1) I'm winging this, so it might veer off occasionally
2) I have only the most vague notion of how much cap space The Hawks possess and have almost no understanding of the byzantine manipulations that Hawks GM Stan Bowman has employed to save / spend / create / destroy said cap space
3) I'm not convinced that The Hawks require much, if anything, so I'll talk about other stuff, mostly

The first shoe dropped earlier this week when The Penguins scooped veteran D Ron Hainsey out of Carolina for some guy who has to go play in Carolina.  This was presumably because Olli Maata is hurt again and Kris Letang is always a stern look away from being injured, so it's an insurance/depth move.  They sure didn't rush to snag Hainsey because of his vast playoff experience as he has, rather unbelievably, managed to never play a playoff game in his 14-year career.

Then today, The Ducks and The Stars cut to the chase, with Dallas dispatching one of the most talked-about pending free agents and coveted playoff rental , Patrick Eaves.  More about Dallas, shortly.

Was hoping to go to San Jose to get bulk pricing on beard wax or whisker juice or what have you.

The Hawks got in on the fun today, as well.  Sort of.  Inbound is one Tomas Jurco, formerly a top prospect for Detroit who has yet to get it together in parts of four seasons, in exchange for a third-rounder and bus ticket to Rockford for Vinnie Hinostroza.  This doesn't feel like an upgrade, as this move really just swaps in a fourth-liner, as Jurco has managed only 16 games this season due to off-season surgery and has not registered a point.  Apparently he's got some speed and, at 6'2" 190 lbs, provides a little extra size should a playoff series require that sort of thing.

What I find more interesting than who is Buying is which teams will be Selling, as the hunt for the Wild Card spots are as hotly contested as I can recall.  In the East there is really only one spot up for grabs, but there are currently five or six teams on the outside but within spitting distance of the eighth seed.  Right now, the easiest route to a playoff berth is to simply win the Atlantic Division, and there are up to five clubs in position to pull that off.  Carolina might be the first Eastern team to have identified as sellers but, then again, it's just Ron Hainsey, so far.  It's chaos over there, I tells ya, and because of all this uncertainty and the already rather thin pool of presumably available pending UFAs, this Trade Deadline Day is shaping up to a sellers' market, with a few teams possibly overpaying vastly for second-tier players.  When reports state that "teams" are inquiring about the likes of Kyle Quincey and Brendan Smith, well, the pool is shallow to say the least.

I've been enjoying some of the more lurid headlines on the sports news websites:

If the Habs don’t make deadline moves they’re in big trouble

Well, here's a theory: The Habs are probably in big trouble even if they make a move or two.  First, they have almost nothing to offer in exchange apart from draft picks.  Markov and Beaulieu are the only pending UFAs on the team right now and Montréal seem to like them, for some reason.  Even if they were up for grabs, what could they possibly expect that would upgrade them?  As Carey Price goes, so go Les Canadiens and, while it's not yet a death spiral, it's conceivable  almost certain that they will be battling for that aforementioned Wild Card spot in four or five weeks.

It will be interesting to see what The Maple Leafs get up to, or choose not to get up to.  

TSN and SportsNet have entire teams of freaks devoted solely to writing wildly speculative pieces on what The Leafs (and to a lesser extent, the other Canadian teams) need to do in order to ensure a playoff berth.  Sticking with The Leafs, what can they afford to give up that will actually be an upgrade?  There are nearly-daily articles pitching James Van Riemsdyk as trade bait....but for what?  JVR is a fine, if inconsistent player but, are any of the very few quality players thought to be available any better?  Even William Nylander's name keeps being brought up.  What?  Are they aware at all of Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello's general directive?  This is a franchise that tinkered endlessly, have been awful for years and now, with a bucket of bona-fide future superstars just starting to come on-song, by all means, keep doing that tinkering, 'cos it's been working great so far.  It's clear that Lamoriello, team president Brendan Shanahan and head coach Mike Babcock have studied the rise of The Blackhawks over the last decade and find their team in a remarkably similar position to that of The Hawks in 2008-on.  They're going to add players as they can while retaining what will constitute their Core for the next 5-10 seasons, just as The Hawks did.  They'll even have the benefit of hindsight, should they identify any flaws in The Hawks' franchise-building. These guys are not dummies, and I fully expect them to take a patient approach, hope to make the playoffs with what they have, but not kick themselves over any short-term deal they didn't make.  JVR can stay put, at least until The Leafs' young guns get new contracts and salary cap becomes an issue.

As fun as it is to mock The Leafs, I think they'll be the next Canadian powerhouse franchise, providing they exercise that patience and resist rising to the prodding of the fans and media.  Marc Bergevin, in Montréal, hasn't the confidence to resist and will, I think, continue to keep The Habs simmering in mediocrity for the duration of his tenure.

The Canadian sports media have also been chirping about teams such as Phoenix and Buffalo being in remedial rebuilding phases, yet they're also droning on about these same teams using their young prospects - we're talking Max Domi, Anthony Duclair and Evander Kane - as chips to assist these rebuilds.  Talking out of both sides of their mouths.

Things are a little more clear in The West, with only LA and Winnipeg within reasonable proximity of Nashville and Calgary, who are holding the seventh and eighth seeds at the moment. Even then, Winnipeg are in tough, having played 2-3 more games than the teams immediately ahead of them. Vancouver isn't necessarily out of the picture, points-wise, but are on a downward trajectory right now, with a dash of a mumps epidemic on the side.
This just in: Canucks GM Jim Benning has folded his hand.  He's canvassing his players with No-Trade clauses for lists of teams they would accept a trade to.

Next in line is Dallas who, in dealing pending UFA Eaves, have cashed in their chips for this year, so look for them to continue to sell off what the can, what they figure they don't need, and perhaps parlay those assets into a young goalie who might be less awful than the screen doors they have working there now.

SO, what about The Hawks?  What do they need?  Who is out there to fill that need?  Well, not much and even less, respectively and, given the tight confines of The Hawks' salary cap position, they probably cannot do much, anyway.  At most, The Hawks could use one more forward and possibly one more defenceman.  But who is actually up for grabs that could be slotted into the existing lineup that would improve the team, and can they afford them, anyway?
Dallas is selling and they possess a couple of  pending UFAs that are known quantities in Patrick Sharp and Johnny Oduya.  Neither are the worst idea, but Sharpie's $5.9 mil, even pro-rata'd, might be too much to bear and Oduya is currently on the DL.  There also might be some reluctance to again be raked over the coals by that particular team.
Vancouver, suddenly, appears to be selling and Jannik Hansen might be a good fit, being roughly along the lines of Richard Panik but with considerably more sense in his head.  One risks contaminating the team with mumps, however...
My totally-spitballing-make-a-wish acquisition would be Paul Byron from Montréal.  He's versatile, among the fastest skaters in the show and, with a salary of $1.6 mil, completely affordable.  He is not a UFA, however, for another year, and Montréal seem to like and trust him...
Of course, I'm the idiot who pitched for Dale Weise last year, and that was awesome.

I hope that wasn't too incoherent.  Catch ya on Sunday.

Karma's A Bitch, But Not For Me (This Time): Hawks 6, Coyotes 3

When I was reminded that The Hawks' opponents tonight would be The Arizona Coyotes, a day after I pecked out a justifiably nasty post about 'Yotes netminder Mike "The Master Thespian" Smith, I was pretty sure one of two things would occur.
1. Smith would stand on his head and steal the game for AZ
2. Smith would be like saloon doors, swinging away, with pucks and tumbleweeds passing freely

So I was relieved that it was Smith that paid for being a dumbass, this time, and not me.

Hard out of the gate, The Hawks scored on the first shift on a beautiful transition by Seabrook, feeding Panik who head-manned 'er to Toews, who then put some sauce on a perfect pass to Nick Schmaltz, who expertly found a gap in the upper left corner.  
The Coyotes would soon tie the match on a hard shot by Jacob Chychrun, assisted somewhat by Michal Rozsival screening his netminder, Corey Crawford.  The Hawks struck back quickly on another high, hard and deadly accurate shot, this time by Ryan Hartman, who continues to produce on a consistent basis.  Late in the period things got a bit sloppy; first it was Patrick Kane finding yet another gap upstairs on a shot that should never, ever go in, followed almost immediately by Ryan White bringing AZ back within one when he caught Rozsival flat-footed (what??!) and chipped one past a bewildered Crawford.  Most irritating, though, was Radim Vrbata's tying goal a minute later, made possible by Duncan Keith standing around...
The Hawks had the measure of The Coyotes in the first, despite the score, but mistakes and poor support in front of Crow suggested otherwise.
The Coyotes pressed hard in the second period but, as is the wont of a non-contending team, got caught on a lazy line change that allowed Schmaltz to nail Rozsival with a right-in-the-wheelhouse pass that even old man Rozsie couldn't gack.  Then, midway through the period, Kane struck again, brilliantly outfoxing Mike Smith by convincingly selling the pass before wiring a five-holer, barely even looking toward the net on the play.

                        "Moments like these make me feel 20 minutes younger."
Up two heading into the final frame, it was circle the wagons time for The Hawks.  The Coyotes had their chances, some of them good, but Corey Crawford rose above the bad bounces earlier and turned in a great performance, overall.  Kane completed his hat trick on a deflected shot and that was all she wrote.
Bits and bits and bits and bits
Nik Hjalmarsson, apparently, was touch-and-go to start this game, which is why Coach Q chose to dress a seventh defenceman.  Good thing, too, as Hammer managed only a few shifts before withdrawing with what is reported to be an Upper Body Injury.  Obviously, we all hope it's nothing too serious and, with two full days off before the next game, perhaps he'll be healed up & ready to go.
TVR once again made a habit of jettisoning the puck ASAP on far too many occasions, passing to guys who were in no position to take a pass, or three feet away....that sort of nonsense.  This is nothing new, really, as he's often reduced to this kind of panicky play but, tonight, Anisimov and Campbell got in this action.  There is almost always a better play than to attempt a pass to a teammate who is too close to react or in danger of being railroaded while tracking an unexpected puck and, if this crap keeps up, someone's going to get hurt.
Two of Kane's three goals came while skating apart from his usual linemates.  I mention this because, apart from a few isolated shifts, Panarin & Anisimov were nothing special, and that's four games on the trot in which that's been the case.
I suppose that if The Hawks were not up two heading into the third period we may have seen more of an effort, offensively, late in the game.  Being outshot and badly losing he possession game in the second half of the game to Arizona is not especially flattering, but I guess there's something to be said for measuring your effort, not doing too much more than you have to.  Otherwise, this would be a bit of a lucky win, given how awful Mike Smith performed in net for AZ.

NOT to take anything away from Kaner's hat trick but a) one went off a Coyotes player's stick and b) Smith absolutely should have had that second goal.  Also, I want to acknowledge what a great game Nick Schmaltz had.  He's been far better in his second stint with The Hawks and terrific this week in particular.  The biggest change, I believe, has been his willingness and confidence to hang onto the puck a little longer.  In the first couple of months of the season he could not wait to get rid of the thing, making crap passes and low percentage shots just to get it off his stick and away from him.  Now, he's taking his time, looking for an open linemate and simply maintaining control until a better situation arises.  He's had the skill to do this from the start, it would seem, but he's only recently convinced himself that he can pull it off.  It's no coincidence, I think, that Toews' resurgence coincides with Schmaltz finding his feet at his level, as his spot alongside Toews has been a rotating cast of imperfect solutions right up until the last three weeks or so.  Tonight, Stormare squints approvingly at the birthday boy, Nick Schmaltz.

Low Hanging Fruit: Mike Smith, Conspiracy Theorist

                                Omigod omigod omigod...MY MASK!

Here's the gist: Coyotes goaltender and Obie Award nominee Mike Smith is concerned that opposing teams could exploit The NHL's Concussion Protocol to force a goaltender to be excluded from the game.
In his words:
“I think there’s a lot of flaws in the system, especially with the goalie position, and it needs to get fixed,” Smith said. “What stops a fourth liner from going and bumping into a goalie? It’s just a two-minute penalty to get your starting goalie out? I don’t think it’s happened in a playoff game yet, but I’m sure it will.”

Okay, no.
1) I would be extremely shocked if this kind of strategy would cross the mind of any NHL coach.  Some of them may seem dumb as hell but this is a risky, disrespectful concept that anyone who has played the game would discard outright.
2) I suppose then that Mr. Smith would prefer to NOT have his well-being and future thinkinging ability to be safeguarded by the concussion spotters who are there to perform that task and nothing else?
If so, then
3) Maybe it would wise to not clutch your face or even your mask when the slightest contact is made.  How is the concussion spotter to tell if Mr. Smith is crying wolf or genuinely injured?  Well, there's only one way to tell for sure and you cannot have it both ways, bud.

To read the rest of Smith's idiotic whining go HERE.

Oh Captain, My Captain: Hawks 5, Wild 3

Before I get into it, I have to say that Scott Gomez may be the worst of the between-periods suits I've endured.  Yes, possibly worse than Jughead Jones and the perpetually clueless Mike Milbury.  He offers little in terms of observation, choosing instead to insert dull personal experience anecdotes. When a guy has the biggest ego in the room AND he's sitting next to J.R....well, that's special.

Back to it. The first period was a fast-paced and exciting frame, but it wasn't so much end-to-end hockey as it was a series of three or four minute spells in which each team pressed hard and created chances over several shifts.  In one such sequence The Hawks rolled four lines without Minnesota getting the puck into The Hawks zone.  No goals, though, so on to the second.
And that frame, apart from an irritating miscue by Duncan Keith, was all Hawks, getting goals by Toews off a rebound and Panik, courtesy of a sharp feed from Toews.  Once The Hawks went up 2-1 they weren't really troubled...until the third.
And even that looks flattering on paper for The Wild.  A missed assignment by TVR plus a legit PPG got Minnesota close but, in response, Nick Schmaltz and Jonathan Toews put together their best period all season.
First, it was Schmaltz, scoring on a floater from the left circle for the third time this year ("floater" is a relative term when we're discussing NHL players, BTW) and, midway through the period he hit Toews with a diabolical pass from behind the net that The Captain expertly backhanded past Devan Dubnyk.  An empty-netter to complete Toews' hat trick rounded out the scoring.  

Before I fall asleep, some Bits:
- While The Wild did enjoy some periods of sustained pressure The Hawks outshot and outskated them comprehensively.  The Wild had two opportunistic goals, which still count of course, and may serve as vivid reminders for The Hawks to continue to apply themselves at all times, even when everything appears to be going as planned.  Chicago was only one more error or cheap penalty away from the game being tied, after all.
- Corey Crawford had a good outing, giving up nothing truly soft.  At the other end Dubnyk was actually very good, as well, so all credit to The Hawks for touching him up for four goals against, something that's only occurred four other times this season.
- Keith had a night worth forgetting, having gift-wrapped The Wild's first goal as well as committing a number of bobbles and poor passes.
- Three of The Hawks' four lines had several excellent shifts, the Kruger line being less of a factor tonight.  Kane & Co. put together some typical shifts in which MN struggled to touch the puck but, on the flip, found themselves pinned in their own end a few times, also.  The fourth line were exciting and effective, especially in the first half of the game, only undone by their lack of polish.
Which then brings us to

Toews, Panik and Schmaltz had themselves a time.  Schmaltz played with more confidence than I've ever seen, hanging onto the puck a little longer than usual, working the half wall effectively and keeping his feet moving when he didn't have the puck.  Panik brought his usual chaotic tenacity, which doesn't always amount to anything but was just fine tonight.  Toews, however, was a demon, particularly behind the net, flashing those crazy eyes throughout the game and notching a career best five points to boot.

So, another two points and Minnesota denied two in the bargain. I don't know if these two victories over The Wild will have enabled The Hawks to truly get inside their collective head, as The Wild were in this thing until the end, but it can't have hurt.  I expect their final regular season tilt to be a doozy.

Our Guys Are Better Than Your Guys: Hawks 5, Sabres 1

The Hawks trundled into Western New York for the second half of a back-to-back after a decent yet unproductive outing last night.  After yesterday's loss I felt like The Hawks needed only to make a few adjustments and the world would be their oyster.  

With only a few small exceptions, that was pretty much true.  Of course it helped that they were facing the not-ready-for-prime-time Sabres who, despite half of their lineup consisting of really very unexceptional players, find themselves within spitting distance of the last Wildcard spot in The East. The Sabres shouldn't be as bad as they are, as they possess a handful of above-average NHLers in Okposo, Reinhart, O'Rielly and Evander Kane, when he feels like it, as well as the Truly Special Jack Eichel, but the supporting cast is deplorable, consisting of a few used-up veterans and a rotating cast of AHL-quality players.  Their defense is possibly worse, the highlight there being Rasmus Ristolainen who serves as an outstanding power play QB....but little else.  Bogosian and Franson are average, at best and, beyond them, the abyss.  The NBC broadcast team (who the hell was the colour man, anyway, and did he win his job in a raffle?) plumped up Robin Lehner rather comprehensively, only for the young Swedish netminder to cough up a furball in this one.  Anyway, it's not a complete group, by any means, and I'll get back to some of that in a bit.

As for The Hawks, it was a good effort, made to look even better by their opponents, in which I found only a few faults:
- The Toews and Anisimov lines went entire shifts in the first half of the game in which they could not break out of their own zone.  I'm putting this down to their timing still coming back to them after their week off, as well as the fact that The Sabres pitched their two top lines against their Hawks counterparts for much of the game.  On the surface this seems incredibly foolhardy, particularly at home with the last change but, just as it was for Colorado a few weeks ago, that's the best plan The Sabres have right now.  While that was happening The Hawks' bottom-six were having their way with The Sabres bottom-six and, if that's the way it was gonna be, imagine what a nightmare it would have been if those lines were deployed against The Hawks top-six?  Oh, wait - they were, in the third period, and it was a shit-show.  What's more is, even after getting their top two lines out there vs.The Hawks third and fourth units....they still didn't manage to generate a ton of chances, possibly due to being worn out from chasing Panarin & Kane around for the first 40 minutes, as well as having endured a busy couple of weeks with nine games in the last fourteen days.
- Panarin was again not great.  Better, but still not firing on all cylinders.
- Apart from a handful of botched assignments The Hawks D played a fine game, EXCEPT for one shift in the first period in which 57-Varieties-of-Bad insisted on dispatching the puck to teammates who were going the wrong way, three feet away from him, about to be struck by a Sabres player, etc.  Sometimes I just wonder what the hell goes on in his head.

Tough one tonight, as no Hawks player really ran away with the thing.  Toews had some inspired shifts but had only a junk goal to show for it.  Ditto for Hossa and, despite the result, Darling wasn't really tested much at all after the first period.  So for this one, The Surly Swede "smiles" upon hometown boy Patrick Kane who, after a slow start to the game, went a bit nuts on the aforementioned Sabres bottom-six.

Anyway, things get real again on Tuesday vs. The Wild.  Hopefully The Hawks will have worked out all the kinks from the week off and be able to make the most of this four-point game.

About Last Night: Oilers 3, Hawks 1

                                           At this point we don't know.

While I had certainly hoped for better I had expected worse. Worse than a loss?  Sure - a loss in which The Hawks were utterly incompetent and made no effort whatsoever.  That was not the case, last night.
On paper, this game wasn't even close, as The Hawks trounced Edmonton in every category...except the one that matters most - the score.  For the most part, The Hawks didn't look nearly as rusty as I had expected they would. They had great legs which, against the speedy Oilers, is saying something, they won a stupid amount of face offs and demolished EDM in possession.  Yet they lost.
Well, there were a few problems. Just little things that added up to the result we got.

- Benning's goal was dumb luck and there's nothing you can do about that.
- Crawford shoulda coulda stopped Lucic's five-hole-goal.  The WGN guys tried to implicate Kempny in that but you could tell from Crawford's expression, afterward, he knew he should have had that one, too.
- Timing: not everyone was out of sync, but several key guys were just slightly...off.  Anisimov was always a step ahead....or behind where he needed to be.  Panarin didn't make a clean pass all night.  A few of the others had moments in which they hesitated or were too quick entering the zone, getting rid of the puck...whatever.  They just didn't always click like they're expected to.
- Cam Talbot had a much more representative outing than he had a week ago.

So, no joy in the standings, but last night wasn't a disaster, either.  Apart from those couple of small yet critical issues I was pretty impressed with the effort The Hawks put forth.  On to Buffalo.

That Will Do, Pig: Hawks 5, Oilers 1

Took my time getting to this since I figured I have all week to do it, what with The Hawks about to take their league-mandated five days off, soon to be known as the "Momentum Destroyer".  Not that the extra time I have to spend on this will make my thoughts any more coherent or anything...
In short, The Hawks really didn't have to strain themselves a whole lot in order to bury The Oilers because:
a) The Oilers' defence is kind of bad.  
b) Their bottom-six may potentially, one day, be okay, but they're not there yet.
c) This was Edmonton's first game after their Momentum Destroyer week (See! It's already a thing!)
d) Even with the last change, Oilers coach Todd McLellan chose to pit his top line, more often than not, against the Anisimov or Toews lines, rather than letting them prey on The Hawks' bottom-six.  I recall a playoff series against The Sharks, when McLellan worked there, in which he refused to do any line matching and, if memory serves, The Hawks swept 'em in four (don't quote me on that and I'm too effing lazy to look it up).  I dunno if he's arrogant, stubborn or really believes this kind of deployment is a good idea but, with a forward corps as thin as Edmonton's, he needs to get better value from McDavid & Co. than this particular strategy affords.  Bitch all you want about Coach Q and his infamous Line Blender, but at least he's responding when Plan A fails to work.  I'm shocked that McLellan's apparent rigidity hasn't resulted in unemployment.

At the other end of the pitch, The Hawks did just enough to bury Edmonton and not a bit more than that.  Mistakes were made, Scott Darling got pretty lucky with some missed opportunities by The Oilers and he didn't pay the piper for any of the numerous juicy rebounds he kicked out.  The Oilers simply don't have enough guys who are able to capitalize on those chances.  The Hawks were crushed in the possession dept., particularly in the third period but, by then, The Hawks had circled the wagons and were content to let The Oilers come at them, hoping to keep their shooters on the periphery and cover the forwards barging toward the net in search of a pass or a rebound.  For all the shots The Oilers took in the third frame their best chances came earlier in the game.

Aaaand a few Bits:
I slated Schmaltz for being defensively clueless and then he turns around and suddenly has this good stick on the forecheck.  Hey, I don't mind looking like an idiot (ask anyone) if I get what I want.
Forsling was in for Kempny and had a decent game, highlighted by a sequence in which he was first pantsed by Eberle (I think) but spun around and made the check on the second attempt.  Eberle overplayed it a bit but I still liked Goose's refusal to quit on the play.
After a fine game on Friday Anisimov was kind of stumbling in this one but, again, his line took a lot of shifts against two of the NHLs best. And also Patrick Maroon.
Kruger took no faceoffs, according to what little I can see on NHL.com's trash heap of a website.  If he's nursing a hand or wrist injury the winter break came at just the right time.

Because any time A Guy dressed up in top-six clothing nails a three-point night eight out of ten Stormares agree IS GOOD.  Little Ricky Panik is the man of the match.

We'll reconvene here in about a week, unless I feel a need to mock the hockey media in the interim, and we'll see if The Hawks come out of their days off with their motors running or not.

Seabrook Says No: Hawks 5, Jets 2

Well, it took five tries to nail a win against these under-.500 goofballs from Canada's Worst City*, but here we are, basking in the warming basking glow of two more points and a modest four-game winning streak.  A terrific first period was followed by a less-good-but-not-disastrous second and, finally, the third period, in which the teams traded chances until The Jets mounted a serious attempt to tie the thing.  It didn't feel like a let-down by The Hawks but, let's be real and note that this was a 3-2 game with a couple of gimmes.  Given the trouble The Jets have caused so far this season, though, I'm okay with that.
It's past my bedtime so it'll be straight to The Bits.

Kane and The Arthurs had themselves a bit of a time, finishing up with a goal apiece and a bag of assists.  Kane and Panarin have been reasonably good as late with Anisimov just sort of there a lot of the time; not so tonight, as Arthur The Larger was positionally solid, had a great stick and just appeared more active than he's been for the last week +.
The Toews line was okay, but that was 84% on Toews.  Panik is Panik, and he did his Panik things and that's fine, but you're almost always left wanting something more. Schmaltz had a few decent shifts, all in the Jets' zone, but was haphazard on breakouts and defensively inconsistent.  Toews, again, was a dynamo, but like Wednesday night, just couldn't quite keep the handle, get the shot or find a hole. He's had some good games recently, and I think he's on the verge of breaking out in a big way very soon.
A little less good for the fourth line after three pretty good games leading up to tonight. Not terrible, not at all, but Jets coach Paul Maurice was tossing the Little-Ehlers-Laine trio out against them for much of the game which put them on the defensive more than they've been lately and unable to cobble together much offense.
Crow played well enough, with both goals against being honest ones.  He did spend a LOT of time on his knees, peering through legs, though, which I'm putting down to The Jets often having no better plan than to storm the slot and crease with everyone at hand.
The Hawks' defence were generally solid apart from a couple of glaringly yippy moments: TVR being absolutely pantsed early in the second period, his head still spinning when Little scored on The Jets' next rush.  Hjalmarsson had two uncharacteristically lazy clearing attempts fail in the third period, and Kempny needs to hold onto his stick a little tighter. Campbell had a great game, easily his best since the New Year.

Despite getting no love from the Winnipeg media, I thought Seabrook was outstanding tonight, with confident breakouts, six blocked shots and a vital save on a puck that had squeezed through Crawford's gear.  

* Truro and Merritt are actually worse than Winnipeg.  Are they cities?  They have no NHL teams - do they even matter?

Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Something-Somethings: Hawks 4, Wild 3

The NBC crew were eager to pitch this match up as "The Hawks' most important game of the year" which, at first, sounded pretty hyperbolic to me.  Given the outcome, it was an important game, but more important for Minnesota than for The Hawks.
Much was said about The Wild having caught and passed The Hawks in the divisional standings, as well as their eight-game winning streak vs, Chicago so, yeah, on the surface it could appear like a must-win situation.  The truth of the matter, I believe, is that having failed this test will have greater impact than a Wild win would have had on either team.
Hawks lose: it's another midwinter game where they didn't give enough of a shit.  Business as usual, really.
Wild lose: their eight game streak of dominance ends and, with playoffs only two months away, The Wild receive a reminder that, when it really matters, The Hawks have their number.

Anyway, here are The Bits.
The Hawks had a little trouble with the officiating tonight. It's not on purpose, of course, and it's just going to happen, sometimes, but they could not get a break from those guys until the final moments. Parise's goal...I don't know.  I understand the explanation in relation to how the rules on goal reviews work, but come on - they peered at this play for nine minutes and still declare it "inconclusive"?  I wish they would just have the stones to make a decision and not have this "inconclusive" option.  Or, better yet, trust the on-ice officials to make the call and stand by it.  It was good enough for the first 90 years of the league, after all.
Additionlly, the call on Rasmussen was soft, as was the lack of a call when Staal fouled Hjalmarsson just prior to Haula's goal (without mentioning Keith and Anisimov making a mess of their coverage).  Only the call on Suter in OT went The Hawks' way, and they probably wouldn't have made that call had Suter not gone overboard with his molestation of Hossa, 'cos you know the officials really aren't too keen on calling penalties during the bonus round.
I complained about Schmaltz's positioning in the last game but, tonight, if only just for an instant, he was exactly where he needed to be.  It's possible that Kempny's deep pinch had some Wild players thinking that he was one of the forwards, 'cos there were no green sweaters anywhere near Nicky-Boy while he slipped downrange to redirect Toews' pass.
Coach Q pretty much rolled four lines when he didn't have a spot wasted by Tootoo, so no line juggling to worry about.  It helped, also, that The Hawks didn't take many penalties and therefore did not upset the line rotation much at all.
That said, Hinostroza wasn't great.  His pass to set up the first goal was excellent but, apart from that, he played like he always seems to after he's been a healthy scratch - frantically and desperately - which is usually not productive.  
Kempny was his usual mixed bag of very good with a dash or two of WTF?  Still a better choice than Forsling at this time, though.
Anisimov struggled, gacking passes, turning the wrong way at the wrong time and seemed to have the puck in his feet a lot.  He posted 34% Corsi at ES which is about how it looked, but what's weird is that Kane and Panarin had 53% and 62% Corsi, respectively.  They couldn't have been playing apart from Anisimov that much, to end up with a 20-30% spread, could they?  I would gladly inspect the shift chart to confirm on deny this but NHL.com is still a piece of crap.  He seemed to be up against Koivu a lot of the time but NHL.com is still a piece of crap.

At the end of it, The Hawks played alright - not perfect by any means, and they got slapped around a bit in the possession game, but they had roughly the same number of quality chances that The Wild did.  Similarly, the best Hawk tonight didn't have a perfect game either, sometimes not quite having the hands to finish what he started, but he never stopped digging, never stopped trying.  Tonight, Stormare's steely glare falls upon Johnny Toews.

Somebody Please Tell 'em When The Games Starts: Hawks 5, Stars 3

Just watched this one this afternoon so, yeah, a bit late on the draw, so I plan to keep this brief.  Let's see how that goes.  Straight to The Bits:
First, I thought The Hawks played pretty well.  Not perfect, which you can bet I'll break down below, as all three Dallas goals can be pinned as least partly on bad or lazy play by The Hawks.  Take those away (you can't!) and The Hawks dominated in a thoroughly enjoyable, fast-paced affair.  Hey, maybe they won't sleepwalk until mid-March like they sometimes do.
Kane was named First Star by the Dallas Media, which isn't totally unexpected.  When the home team loses they often seem to just mail in their picks, frequently pinning a medal on the opposing goalie, maybe to suggest that "if it wasn't for THAT guy we woulda had 'em, yup". Sure couldn't say that in this game as, while Crow wasn't awful, a couple of the goals against were soft-ish, so they were left with pin-the-tail-on-the-first-star to make their choice. Anyway, Kane scored a delightful goal and, while he wasn't awful by any means, he wasn't great, either with a few bobbles and a brace of crappy pass attempts.
The Hawks actually got better as the game progressed, something that can only be said for a handful of games this season.  When this occurs it suggests to me that they're actually invested in the game and paying attention, which is great, but...
...two goals against in the opening moments of the second & third periods is unacceptable.  The first was a combo of Seabrook still warming up his motor, apparently, and one of the aforementioned soft goals to get past Crawford.  The second goal was down to lackadaisical coverage by Anisimov & Hjalmarsson.  Keep doing that stuff and you're going to get jumped, especially by a motivated team that probably feels they're better than their record suggests.
Gustav Forsling was bad.  Yeah, I saw his goal, but I also witnessed him being muscled off the puck numerous times and everyone saw his gaffe that set up Seguin's score.  I'm quite used to TVR getting all the rope he wants no matter what shenanigans he perpetrates, but Forsling not paying for such a dumb mistake is a new one.  If Kempny did what Goose got away with his night would have been done, son.

Speaking of 57 Varieties of Whatever, he wasn't a nightmare in this one, scored a goal and was +2. Since I've already started to flatter him I'll add this: his reversals are actually rather good.  Against all logic & expectation they're tight, quick and have gotten him out of trouble more times than I can count.  It's a little thing that he does well, although I would still prefer that he would do at least one BIG thing well, like skate, or think.
Jordin Tootoo: Possession Beast.  All kidding aside, this was probably his strongest game, all 5:40 of it, in which he at least tried to do something other than plod up and down the wing.  Sure, his passes were poor and his timing was bad, but he wasn't straight-up giving the puck away, either.

The Other Fourth Liners, Kero and Hartman were excellent, sporting 79% and 83% Corsi, respectively, even while lugging Tootoo along half the time.  It might be time to reactivate Hinostroza who, even on a bad night, will provide a ton more drive than Tootoo or Dez.  I was pretty hard on Kero those first couple of weeks after his call up but, in his role, he's been incredibly good as of late.  I stand corrected.

Anyway, I rambled on about Kane and the first star, so I'll sort of finish that thought.  It's a tough call as to who the strongest Hawk was in this match since no one was obviously THE difference-maker.  TVR scored a heads-up and very timely goal, and both Hossa and Anisimov  notched a pair of assists, but I liked Hartman, with a goal, consistent forward momentum and, best of all, that diving stick-check in the last couple of minutes.  Great stuff.

One Period Does Not A Game Make (Unless You Happen to be in Arizona): Hawks 4, Coyotes 3

Aaaand we're back after taking the last three games off which, as it turns out, appears to have been just as well since The Hawks took those games off, too.  Bygones - there's plenty to complain about tonight, even with the W.
The Hawks limped into PHX, licking their wounds from three straight losses, their longest streak without a point this season, with an opportunity to regain some confidence and maintain their place in the standings.  The Coyotes are woeful, really, really bad, with what amounts to a second a line and three fourth lines.  The last time these teams met it was a landslide for The Hawks, so another slamdunk game could have been the necessary tonic for the guys to get their mojo back.
Yet, the only success I can see is that The Hawks came away with two points.

The first period was wonderful, but it's just a memory, now.  The Hawks rolled four lines and all four units generated great chances.  Goals by Kane, Hartman and Hossa staked Chicago to a 3-0 lead after the first,  outshooting PHX 14-6 along the way.
Then the wheels fell off.

Being shorthanded consecutively on three delay of game calls was a bit fluky, as were the two of the three goals The Hawks surrendered in the second period, I'll grant them that, but the lack of response to the tide turning as it did was pretty pathetic.  Only a couple of nifty plays by Kane and Anisimov enabled Panarin to score the eventual game winner, and even that was made possible by the eternally feckless Ryan White.  The spate of penalties completely upset The Hawks' rhythm, as they were no longer rolling all four lines and, with the game as close as it had then become, Coach Q shortened the bench, anyway, seemingly forgetting the handful of excellent shifts that the Dez - Kero - Hartman trio turned in during the first period.  And to what effect?  The players that did play generated fewer shots in two periods than they did in the first.

A Few Bits:
While Nick Schmaltz is not lacking skill he simply has no idea where he needs to be.  His positional play is abysmal and, aside from a couple of occasions in which he was carrying the puck, really set back his linemates.  As it was, he, Toews and Panik were buried possession-wise.  I hope and expect that this experiment is nearing its end.
TVR was a disaster, yet again.  My "favourite" TVR moment was when a linesman waved off an icing call, probably under the impression that TVR wasn't making enough of an effort to chase down the puck when, in reality, Mr. 57-Varieties-of-Awful was moving at what is, for him, pretty much full chat.  Sickening.
Kruger, at least, had an inspired night, with a great stick on the forecheck and I loved his unexpected shot on net after he won a faceoff by pushing the puck forward.

I guess I have to do this, eh?  Alright, by dint of scoring the game winner and for his sharp pass to spring Hossa for his excellent PPG, Small Arthur gets the grudging nod.

Despite the victory I cannot help but feel this was a missed opportunity, as I'm not sure that The Hawks got that injection of confidence that they so desperately require right now.  Let's just hope that such a close-run game against the league's worst team doesn't have the opposite effect.