abc trumpeting bedard in the build up to the telecast, only for their experts to rag on his defense and turnovers. some truth to it, needs to play and learn what works and what doesn't work. bertuzzi has found a nice niche in front of the net on the PP, but i believe he is too slow 5x5 and can't keep up with bedard and nazar. don't understand donato on the #1 PP, when a vlasic or nazar is available. donato is an UFA after this season and may hint at a discount to the club to keep him. no way donato gets #1 PP minutes on most other clubs, should be very, very happy with his playing time here.

unless davidson is texting sorenson with the game day 20, i believe sorenson isn't doing himself any favors with his game day selections and who plays on the PP. at this moment in time, fittingly called an 'interim' coach, with absolutely no shot at the permanent job. the club's d-zone coverage may be the worst in the nhl. club should concentrate on neutral zone play and generate rushes from that. club is a failure at forechecking/cycling....just don't have the horses for that type of game.

game is mercifully over...no mention by the overrated buccigross about crevier's mysterious absence - obvious it was concussion protocol, but then stunned the hockey world by wondering if a referee could help a blade-less player off the ice. i think this has happened maybe twice this year during blackhawk games. this guy gets paid to broadcast hockey, doesn't seem to know the nuances and nooks & crannies of the sport.

sorenson and or dean, need to have a talk with vlasic. been bad, the past 3 weeks. needs the 4 nations break.

yeah, so dallas did make a deal for a likely 3rd/4th d-man in cody ceci and one of the 'lunds' from the sharks, mikael granlund from san jose for 2 draft picks - a 1st this year and a conditional 3rd or 4th round pick this year.

san jose gets dallas' #1 pick & another later conditional pick and separates with 2 players over age 30. excellent rebuild lever pull. dallas made this deal with a club in the same conference, no cap issues/retentions for now, dallas going for it now, both players are UFAs after this season. granlund on $5 million, ceci on $3.25 million. willing to lose their 2025 #1 pick for 2 players who may walk after this season.

sanguin and marchment out for dallas, obviously looking for a proven FWD, along with an experienced d-man with d-men heiskanen and lundqvist out. granlund had 45 points this season with a lowly sharks club. only hawk point-wise near granlund is bedard, also on 45 points. blackhawks have plenty of veteran D to trade....i guess dallas took a look and said "no thanks".

impressed how san jose got rid of 2 older players for dallas' #1.

no surprise, crevier out, concussion protocol. the surprise is the blackhawks called up levshunov. not kaiser nor ahl all-star korchinski from rockford. allen and del mastro on nhl roster and both sat out the florida game. apparently, the plan is: levshunov was called up for practice with the parent club.

game against edmonton on wednesday, we'll see.

When you get a game puck for your effort in Rockford it apparently comes with a trip to Chicago for a few days. Murphy will get hurt again because he is old and sucks. Martinez will get hurt again because he is ancient. Brodie will continue to play because he sucks and they paid money for him last off season.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

analytics tell us that murphy was the worst blackhawk against florida. i hate to rag on him, but getting aggravating reading some of the media constantly defending him; "wasn't good because he was rusty". yeah, ok. the same guy who had murphy on his all-1st quarter century team.

analytics tell us the 2nd worst blackhawk against florida was vlasic. his game has really fell off a cliff the past month. the offense spigot is shut off and he's been shabby defensively. at 20+ minutes a night, he's starting to look like seth jones. maybe he didn't handle the demotion from the #1 PP unit well after jones' return? can one get complacent at age 23? he's got to get fixed. too long for just a bad patch of play. the same guy who ass-kisses murphy, was pushing vlasic for team usa defense at the 4 nations. yeah, ok.

looking for vlasic to bounce back, not so much so, with murphy. don't think martinez will be here next season and starting to think the blackhawks may buyout brodie after this season, though, i would be ok if he was on the 3rd d-pairing next season - given murphy is not here.

The Belarus Bust. Dude can't even make the AHL All Star team. How do you pass on Demidov?

If he is a bust already, Kyle needs to be fired.

i guess this is the most important issue for his development:



like, the rasputin or zhukov variety? the demidov variety? the dumbass blockhead drinking buddy variety?

i also would have taken demidov. i've accepted this pick, let's see how it pans out. lots of time left to see if he ends up an all-star or a bust.

encouraging game against edmonton - attack-wise. don't like to blame the refs for the hockey club's woes, but the blackhawks did get fucked over - the russian oiler injured (no call) jason dickinson, held (no call) martinez on the oilers' 3rd goal and finally did get an interference penalty. soderblom solid, gaa holding under 3 and save percentage over .900.

the bad is that jones is quickly getting back to the jones we know and vlasic still in an overall slump.

blackhawks with 2 games in 2 days and no doubt we'll get one game mrazek and one game soderblom. who will play C on the all-important 3rd line with dickinson out? i'm guessing nazar will C mikheyev and teuvo. kurashev likely get big minutes tonight as the C for the 2nd line, a chance for redemption.

Connor Bedard has 2 goals in his last 8 games. Generational talent?

entertaining 1st period. vlasic making the play that he hasn't been making the past month. neutral zone action, a rush and pass to nazar. jones with a bad period, a mistake at the blue line and nashville was at the races. i think the club is averaging 10 shots a period the past 4 periods against edmonton and nashville. offense has picked it up.

Jones needed to be hit with a stick after that blunder.

The rest of the period was entertaining. Del Mastro was popping people as well.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

That trade for Jones and subsequent contract.. just one last Bowman f up..

Well I know Nashville is a crappy team, but that second period was one of the Hawks' better ones this season.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

jones making up for the 1st period with good PP work and i have to hand it to donato. not his biggest fan, his play this season has exceeded all expectations and he's been real good today on PP. the guys are moving into open ice, not standing still. good on all of them.

not sure if slaggert learned a lesson. i'm thinking the message he's trying to send throughout the league is don't try to punk me after the whistle.

they remind me of the cubs of recent vintage - everyone chipping in for their unacceptable record by under-performing. they are all collectively playing 1.5-2 notches below their norms.

a tough decision on donato...resign or sell high (at the moment)?

on $2 million per. can make a fairly good argument that he should make dickinson money at $4.25 million per. no way would i pay him that, does have a history of going pointless in 5-6-7 game stretches.

selling him high? what exactly is 'high' with him? a #2 pick from a contender? a contender, make that a low #2 pick. i don't believe a #1 pick is in the cards unless another blackhawk player is included in any deal.

the blackhawks have a list of players whose entry level deals will expire after this and next season. if they are also to be active in getting a name UFA, they can't be giving $4 million per year deals to bottom 6 FWDs.

heard quinn hughes out for 'weeks' with an oblique injury. a canuck scout was at the blackhawks game last night - prob also scouted nashville D in anticipation of a nashville sell-off. at the moment, the biggest D deadline 'prize' is the islanders' noah dobson ($4 million per, this is his last contract year). issue with dobson is that he's also currently injured.

takes us back to a donato and/or jones in a package deal to vancouver? the canucks are currently $7 million under the cap and i believe the blackhawks have one salary retention left. the canucks have all of their #1 picks for the next 3 drafts.

all the various scouts at last night's game, some hopeful clubs had 2 scouts in attendance:

rollercoaster game last night in st. louis. up 2 goals, down a goal, back and forth. club looked lost during 3x3 in o.t., and then couldn't score in the shoot-out to save it's life.

club ends up getting a losers' point...starting to get a bit of separation between themselves and san jose for the worst record in the nhl.

more of the same old bug-a-boos. the club isn't getting burned by quick entries and goals, they are getting killed by their inability to clear pucks out of their d-zone and prolonged shifts of tired players bent over in exhaustion, needing a save or a goal against to grab some air on the bench. doesn't help when the 2nd period long change occurs and the second period stats bear that out.

some of the players with key mistakes also played fairly well; soderblom on 2 goals, del mastro. other players were just poor; jones and nazar, in particular. no games for 2 weeks and the 4 nations take over.

that shootout vs the blues had about as much skill as a WNBA game. Pathetic.

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yeah, is binnington that intimidating? they pumped home 5 against him at 5x5 play. i believe he'll be canada's #1 at the 4 nations...no shootouts if canada makes the final.

I just want to see 2 of the 4 veteran defenseman gone as soon as possible. I don't really care which 2.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

I don't mind Dono on a team capable of going to the playoffs as a bottom 6 guy but I hope they are just saying they might extend him just to drive the price up. If the Big Rig is their prize item for sale then they arent going to get shit accomplished this deadline. At least there was a rash of injuries in the last week across the league. Get rid of Jones....almost whatever it takes.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

yeah, i see that just before his injury against the oilers, jason dickinson was whining again.



if that isn't encouraging bedard and vlasic, not sure what would.

ok, you play your hardest and you have 16 points over 53 games. he got rewarded for his play last year - on $4.25 million per until 2025-26. i understand his forte is defense and taking key face-offs (not as good as his overall defense). too bad he's injured, otherwise i'd try to package him with donato to toronto. the leafs would be a great fit for all involved. the leafs seem willing to trade 20 y/o 6'2" C fraser minten (#38 overall 2022 draft), who's forte is 2-way play and face-offs. ceiling is a #2 C, is a natural as D-orientated #3 C - that's exactly what dickinson is. he has some nhl experience and has tallied goals and points in the nhl.

bleacher nation guy has a 'list' of potential blackhawk trade chips....reading his build-up on the potential trade chips, one would think that blackhawks are 31-17-7 and have a chance to make the conference finals.

this 4 nations break after 55 games sees the blackhawks' record at: 17-31-7 for 41 points. after 55 games last year, the blackhawks' record was: 15-37-3 for 33 points.

through the 55 games, a few things stick out comparing goal differentials for last season and this current season; the blackhawks are 36 goals better (goal differential) than last year. the blackhawks have scored 34 goals more this year, the blackhawks have allowed 2 goals less this year.

i'd give mrazek 3 out of 5 stars for this year and give soderblom 3.5/4 out of 5 stars. yet, they've allowed only 2 less goals than last year's disaster season. 16 empty net goals against doesn't help. the club has been much more competitive late in games....not enough juice to get a game-tieing goal late and frustrating empty-net goals against occur.

the goal numbers and eye test tell us the club is better. there have been a few stinkers, not as many as last year.

reports are that seth jones and the blackhawks:



talk about a get out of jail card.

The stretches I have watched, they always seem to be getting outshot and a lot more zone time for their opponents. Even when they are winning, they usually have less shots. I have not looked at the aggregate stats, but I can remember a single third period where the total shots on goal favored the Blackhawks this year.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Just looked, rounded 25 per for 32 per game against. Close to the worst margin in the league….

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Hawaii (fuck) You

agreed. same perception, i'm sure the stats would confirm.

there's a laundry list of reasons: poor face-off % is at the top. losing a face-off in your d-zone is on page 1 of the manual of how to give up goals. slow d-men (murphy/brodie/martinez) not getting on time to the dasher to disrupt/take away the puck on the goal line. poor C defending the slot...bedard.

bedard uses a super flexible, long stick. it's not optimal for face-offs. not practical to change sticks prior to a face-off. crosby is one of the all-time greats in the face-off dot, his stick is shorter than billy barty.