About Last Night: Cheese Steak Gobbling Morons 4, Hawks 1

First off, The Flyers played well.
That aside, just because The Flyers didn't stink doesn't mean The Hawks still shouldn't beat the tar out of them.  But they didn't beat and here's why.
- The lineup made even less sense than the hot mess that Quenneville conjured up for Monday's game in Carolina and that's saying something.  Yeah, we all get that Bickell was awful and looked likely to be scratched tonight, but Teravainen being sat down is mysterious.  He had been climbing the depth chart, line by line, every few games and apparently practiced with Toews and Saad this morning.  Instead, we're treated to Shaw on L1 and Desjardins AND Carcillo in the lineup.
- Yes, fucking Carcillo, who has now played two games in the last month.  Hilariously, he played 2½ minutes more than Nordstrom who has been in the lineup consistently and has done nothing particularly wrong. 
- Something is wrong with Toews.  He doesn't have his usual giddyap and has not been stellar at the dot.  What's more is that he is either puzzled an/or annoyed by Q's inane line shuffling.
- Someone has to unplug Rozsival's iron lung tonight.  Let the old boy drift off peacefully in his sleep...

About Last Night

Missed the last two games due to dealing with important stuff, but here's what I've gleaned from selective highlights and HARD DATA.

- Despite just squeaking past The Oilers and falling short vs. The Rangers a big bright spot was Corey Crawford stopping 81 of 83 shots.
- Yeah, there's the matter of 83 shots against over a weekend, and one of those teams was The Oilers.  
- I still feel that Coach Quenneville is struggling with asset management and I feel even more confident in this assertion anytime that Daniel Carcillo suits up in favour of anyone not injured or dead.  Also, Rozsival played 22 minutes in each of these weekend games.
- With two lines in constant flux The Hawks will struggle to get consistent results from those lines.  Pick your combos and stick with them for longer than two periods.  Give them a chance to succeed.  One way to avoid this line juggling chaos is to STOP dressing players that cannot be entrusted with a regular shift; Dan Carcillo, 7:29.
- Last night marked the 5th straight game that The Hawks have failed to score on the power play.  This also has to change.  Even without Patrick Kane they have the resources to excel in this department but, for whatever reason, they remain awful. 

Phoenix on Thursday and San Jose on Saturday: failing to win both of these games will not set a positive tone for next week's matches against both NY teams.  It's time to get straightened out.

Yes, By All Means!

Having been decidedly unspectacular for the last week and inconsistent at best since December, The Hawks find themselves in need of a jolt, a spark, something...anything to shake them into consciousness. During the current home stand they've managed to get by, which is far less than they need to do if they give a crap about catching either STL or NASH.  Okay, we all know they won't catch those teams, not at this rate, but an effort might be nice.  I'm not sure any of The Hawks played well today.  Some guys weren't awful, but a good many of them sure were.  The usual problems were still problems today, and Hossa, Saad and Keith kinda jumped on that underachiever's bandwagon.  It was just a bad, bad effort against a Bruins team that wasn't even that good, themselves.

But By All Means, scratch Ben Smith in favour of Carcillo, because he accomplished so much in his six minutes today.  We've already learned how well the bottom six gel when they have to play in different combos ALL DAY because Car Bomb can only be trusted to 6 minutes of "work".  Remember last week when that happened?  It was awesome!

But By All Means,  persevere with Rozsival, who was simply terrific today, -3 and caught standing still, waving his stick at Bruins players about to score.

By All Means banish Sharp to the bottom six, as well.  I cannot even say "third line" or "fourth line" or even any particular center because he was alongside different guys for almost every shift.  To succeed, Sharp needs to play with certain types of players; when he is matched with those players he excels and to do anything but that is a waste of a valuable asset.  Is Coach Q trying to punish Sharp for being a highly effective if slightly one-dimensional player?  I fully expect Sharpie to be traded in the next week - if Q won't use him properly GM Stan Bowman may as well trade him, because it's clear that Bowman has no control over any decisions Quenneville makes.  In fact, Q's roster choices make me wonder if he's being purposefully defiant.

And By All Means do this:
Blackhawks Make Roster Changes
Because, yeah, Raanta and Hartman are the problems.  First:
"Quenneville said the demotions of Hartman and Raanta were related to performance, along with giving Darling another look." 
And:

"Raanta went 7-4-1 with a 1.89 goals-against average and .936 save percentage in 14 games for the Blackhawks, including a relief appearance Sunday in which he allowed two goals on 16 shots."
Sure, let's give Darling another go - not much harm in that, but to suggest that Raanta is being demoted because of performance is ridiculous.  By that token Rozsival and Shaw should be playing for a team on the moon, or something.
But what the hell has Nordstrom accomplished in the 20 or so games he's played? Has he outplayed Teravainen?  Is he a better choice than Regin, even?  This is not rhetoric...I really want to know.


Can a team send their coach to the minors?  I'm asking for a friend...

File Under "Incomplete": Hawks 3, Devils 1 and Friday's Big Boy

Straight away, any compliments or encouraging things I might type tonight must be tempered by the fact that The Hawks were playing the dismal Devils.  Anything less than a win tonight would have been unacceptable yet, for two periods, The Hawks took their chances with losing to these oldtimers.

Good
- Ryan Hartman was not terrible.  I expect that his first-shift crushing check on Zubrus may well define whatever career he makes for himself, but he clearly has a good motor and the behind-the-net pass to Bickell was as good a set up as any tonight.  If Hartman shows any indication that he has NHL-quality hands AND he refrains from taking dumb penalties I think we may assume that Andrew Shaw will be dispatched in due time.
- Corey Crawford was solid again and, thankfully, was rewarded with a win.
- Lighter minutes for Duncan Keith for a second straight game.  It's impossible to tell if this is an effort to go easy on the lad or if Quenneville has a beef with Keith.  


Bad
-  Playing Carcillo in lieu of Smith.  What did Carcillo accomplish in his 4:03 ice time?  What did Q think Carcillo would accomplish?  By all means "send a message" if you feel you must, but it's unclear what message this maneuver conveys.
- Only 13 minutes for Sharp, partly because of, I think, the bottom six being reduced to five for most of the game.  Some of those line combos were probably pulled out of a hat.
- Marcus Kruger didn't look good at all, wandering, hesitant and not moving his feet like he usually does.

Ehhhhh
- Yeah, Seabrook had two assists (both secondary, mind) but it seemed to me that after a lot of Devils' chances I saw 7 drifting into view, not in position or being useful in any way.
- Saad was driving hard enough tonight but, boy, he and the puck were not on good terms.
- Nothing apropos of this game, but if Q isn't going to play Teuvo Teravainen the best place for him is Rockford, where he'll at least get minutes on a top line and in all situations.
- Kyle Cumiskey was not great but not a nightmare, either.

                                            Oh, come on, who else could it be?

                                              53% the last four games, bitches.

 

Not Worth Talking About

In the Good Decisions Column:
1) Teravainen sits out so that Carcillo can play ~5 minutes against the Canucks' weakest line.  Bravo.
2) Versteeg on the PP point.
3) Q started mixing his lines up before I even remembered the game was on.
4) EVERYONE bolting the zone before Sharp has obtained possession of the puck.  That's swell that they all have so much confidence in Sharpie but, y'know, give the guy a hand, maybe?

Regrettable:
1) Rundblad finally gets some serious minutes in but it's on a night when the entire team was kinda doing their own thing.  Most certainly Q will point to this as evidence that Rundy is not up to the job.

Encouraging:
1) Hossa - 6 goals from his last 9 shots.  His shooting percentage rose 2.2% over a three-game span.  HE can do whatever the hell he wants when he does it this well.
2) Crawford actually wasn't bad.  It may seem strange to read that after 5 goals against but the lad was left swinging in the breeze much of the night.

                                                                   Steely.

Finishing Strong: Hawks 4, Bloos 2 and Sunday's Big Boy

Didn't that feel good?  It looked pretty good.  Not perfect but, it shocks me to say this, I don't have much to complain about today.
Aside from the two points and, obviously, denying STL two points, I'm most encouraged by The Hawks finishing better than they started.  While the third period wasn't ALL Hawks they managed to limit the chances against really, really well, what looks The Blues did get were generated off their fierce forecheck in which they forced Seabrook and Hjalmarsson into errors.  What else....
- Not a bad effort from Oduya and I hope to hell that Tarasenko's goal won't dissuade J.O. from driving the net like he's been doing.  More of that, please.
- Teravainen did make a couple of blunders but he made things right with some tenacious backchecking.
- Hey, Carcillo was actually not too bad today.  He made a bit a mess of his tussle with Ott, and the meatheads will chirp about him not taking his helmet off, but his teammates and the coaches will like that he responded quickly to Ott's hit on Kruger.
- 10-91-88 looked a bit like individuals today, with more than a few optimistic passes and some pucks sent nowhere in particular, yet each member of the line generated some quality chances.  Richards' breakout and lateral pass to Bickell leading to Hossa's first goal was pretty special, indeed.
- Man, Rundblad can sure shoot the puck.  That 15 foot rebound onto Bickell's stick was off a wrist shot, for goodness' sake.

Even with two other forwards notching two points, as well as Crawford and Keith having outstanding games, two primary assists and a determined effort all afternoon ensure Brandon Saad the belt on this day.

                                                           Future ruler of Earth.

Better Late than Never: Hawks 5, Predators 4 and Monday's Big Boy

I'm feeling bullet-y this morning.

* So The Hawks won the coin toss portion of the event, which is way better than losing, don't get me wrong, but what impressed me most is that they potted all four (proper) goals in the last 35 minutes of the match.  That does not excuse what occurred in the first half of the game, but it warms my insides to know that they have the capacity to rally like this.
* The Predators are actually pretty scary, aren't they?  A new coach, with a far different outlook than their old coach, a healthy Pekka Rinne and the emergence of Filip Forsberg have transformed The Devils of the West into arguably the most dangerous threat in The Hawks' conference.
* Why is it that human chihuahua Mike Ribeiro failed to get a look at the 2C role for The Hawks?  Sure, he's kinda douchey at times, but would he be any worse than Richards or, heaven forbid, Shaw?  I think not.
* Did Sharp play in the third period?
* Speaking of ice time, Keith played nearly 33 minutes and it could well have been more had Rundblad not inexplicably taken more shifts in the third period than in each of the first two. I'm not complaining about Rundblad, it's just surprising to see Q place that much trust in him in such a tight game. I guess with two days off before the pond hockey game he could afford to lean on Keith a little more but, man, it's only December.
* Carcillo played 5 minutes.  Why is he out there, again?
* Last thing: it was cool to see former Lakehead Thunderwolf Shandor Alphonso working the lines in this game.  I was wondering where he went....

Two points, including the game-tying goal, in fewer than 10 minutes ice time earn Big Bick the Big Boy Belt.  Say that out loud.

             I know this is a rerun but it's the best photo ever taken in the history of ever.

Saturday's Alright for Fighting: Hawks vs. Kings Big Boy

And so another Circus Trip concludes and The Hawks come home with 10 of a possible 12 points.  The forward lines have been more or less stable for the past 4 or 5 games with three of the four lines actually clicking really well offensively.  I guess Patrick Sharp will return to the lineup and screw all that up, ho ho.

There's no shortage of candidates for Big Boy Beltiness after the 4-1 win over The Kings.  Richards had two goals but one was a giveaway and the other a simple tap-in to conclude a very dirty series of passes.  Versteeg registered two assists but really only one had much to do with anything he did.  Crawford was solid for the umpteenth game in a row but does 20 shots constitute a full day's work?

Why not Dan Carcillo, then?  He swatted in a dying quail in the first period, handily won a more or less legitimate fight late in the game and maybe he gets a little extra credit for the great pass on Friday afternoon.  Also, it may never happen again.

It's a Tough Job But Somebody Has to do it: Wednesday's Big Boy

Despite sleepwalking through half the game as well some other challenges, such as Coach Q benching Clendenning which, in turn, had Rozsival on the ice waaaay too much, The Hawks walked out of Denver with another two points.  

Despite the chancy victory all indicators point to this young fella deserving The Belt, yet again.

                                            What the....are those Canucks colours?

Oops, course I meant this guy, The Hawks' own One Man Gang, on merit of three helpies in a 3-2 win.

What I really wanted to do was post some photos of Andrew Shaw's and Dan Carcillo's wretched Movember mustaches, but it would seem that no photographers have bothered recording these "efforts".  Seriously, those two look like they're planning to do bad things to a cabin boy or something.  Instead, how about a few classic Hawks Movember pics?

                                                     Live, from the Press Box!

                                The chipped tooth and single-Windsor really set this off.

                      Let's get this over with, my shift at the paper mill starts in 20 minutes.

In Case Anyone was Wondering

Yeah, Carcillo played less than five minutes.  That was totally worth doing.  At least he didn't get punched out.  I guess.

Oh, dear: Stan Bowman loses his mind, Leddy traded, Carcillo signed.

The facts are thus:
- Nick Leddy (and minor-league goaltender Kent Simpson) were traded to The Islanders for three prospects not even worth mentioning at this time.
- On the strength of one pre-season game in which he was punched out by Tanner Glass, Daniel Carcillo has been signed to a one-year contract.

Regarding Leddy, sure, something had to give, it just seems weird that it was Leddy to be sent packing and not Johnny Oduya.  This does solve the Cap Crisis but still only leaves $500K cap space.  Perhaps there were no takers for Oduya, or maybe Coach Quenneville made it clear he wanted Oduya to remain; Q had not shown much confidence in Leddy during the last two playoff runs and there certainly some merit in keeping the Oduya/Hjalmarsson pair intact, if only to soak up the hardest minutes and therefore allow Duncan Keith to worry about other things.  I had kind of hoped that Leddy would someday be paired up with Hjalmarsson, which would have allowed Leddy a little more rope to move the puck and, maybe, just maybe, some of Hjalmarsson's good habits would rub off on Leddy.  All academic now, I'm afraid.
Of immediate concern is what now becomes of the third defense pairing?  This move practically forces The Hawks to carry eight defenseman; does anyone think that Michal Rozsival is up to playing any more than 50 games? Three candidates remain in camp; Kyle Cumiskey, David Rundblad and Trevor Van Riemsdyk.  TVR has been, apparently, the surprise of training camp, and that he's still around whilst the likes of Clendenning, Dahlbeck and Johns have been reassigned to Rockford speaks volumes.  Probably.  It appears that GM Stan Bowman is convinced that Rundblad is a sure thing, while Cumiskey is a player known to Coach Q from their days in Colorado.  As good as he has reportedly been, TVR may well be on the outside looking in.  Any way it shakes out (and I picture the coaching staff having a hotel room-key raffle to decide which two suckers will make up the third pairing) the opening night third pairing will be a nightmare.  On the road, in Dallas, The Stars have last change and will have their way with whoever draws this assignment.
Until Rundblad or TVR (the Cumiskey experiment will fail, one hopes) emerges as the go-to guy and the other adopts the role of propping up Rozsie The Hawks are committed to an eight-man rotation. (EDIT: what the hell was I thinking about eight defensemen?  That'll teach me to write these when I'm tired and/or drunk.  Seven.  Seven defensemen.)

As for Carcillo...how stupid is this?  I'm not prepared to condemn Brandon Mashinter as he's done nothing to disgrace himself, yet, and I cannot hold him responsible for sucking up a roster spot, but I was prepared for him to get a chance to fail, at least.  Parachuting Carcillo in, ostensibly to fill the role Mashinter had presumably squared away makes absolutely no sense to me.  If one takes Mashinter and Carcillo out of the equation, and The Hawks instead ice the best lineup hey have available, they would easily have the best fourth line in the entire NHL.  Marcus Kruger and Ben Smith are givens, of course, and whether they're trotted out with Jeremy Morin or Peter Regin it's an undeniable winning combination.  Morin has above average hands and an almost reckless willingness toward physical play, while Regin lacks the scoring touch that Morin possesses he does have excellent defensive instincts and never, ever takes a shift off.  Inserting slow, out-of-position and on his way to the penalty box Carcillo is a colossal step backward.
Worst of all, they have to pay this idiot.  Details of Carcillo's contract have not yet been revealed, but chances are good that he'll earn enough to still push The Hawks above the salary cap.  Is another move necessary?  Will Morin and/or Regin be criminally assigned to Rockford?
However it shakes out, GM Stan Bowman had the solution to his cap issues within his grasp, and then let it slip away.  One can only hope there's a Part II to this misadventure.

In the End it Won't Matter: Some NHL Preseason Notes

Frustratingly, The Black Hawks have added former Hawk and ersatz tough guy Daniel Carcillo to their training camp roster.  I actually did a fist pump when I learned that Car Bomb had been traded for an opened pack of stick tape to LA prior to the beginning of last season.  In the fifty-or-so games he participated in with The Hawks he may have played a handful of shifts in which he was not a liability, a nuisance or an embarrassment.  And now they've brought him back into the fold, even after he failed to make the Pittsburgh Penquins.  Remember when this clown skating on The Hawks' top line was a thing?  Those were the days!

Seriously, I cannot divine the point of this.  Is there an outside chance that Carcillo could usurp Brandon Mashinter's death grip on the team enforcer/waste of space role?  Is this a maneuver to ensure that Mashinter doesn't get complacent, even after he recently bested titans no less than Cody Bass and Pierre-Cedric Labrie to "earn" his job?  It's probably not as elaborate or as sinister as I suspect but if Car Bomb in the lineup on opening night I might find myself wishing for an Antoine Roussel sneak attack, as awful as that sounds.

I feel bad for Stéphane Robidas.  Not because he broke his leg eight times in the last year, or because his nose fails to point in any discernible direction, but because the Toronto Sports Network continues to lionize him as a possible cure for The Maple Leafs' perennial defensive woes.  Robidas seems like a nice guy and has certainly been a capable defender over the years but, at age 37, how much is he likely able to provide?  Look for the lynch mob to assemble the first night Robidas ends up a minus, which will almost certainly be opening night.  Of course, this is the team that allowed the likes of Mark Fraser and Mike Kostka to have regular spots in the d-rotation...and Fraser couldn't even stick with The Oilers last season.  I wasn't paying attention at the time, but I'll bet those guys played alongside (or slightly ahead of...*huff *puff*) Dion Phaneuf, making their own shortcomings less apparent.  Anyway, I feel bad, Robidas will feel bad and might even find himself longing for another compound fracture of the fibula very soon.