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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

What does that mean? Did the Hawks pick up bad contracts?

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

It helps them reach the salary floor for this coming season. It was a salary dump by Vancouver.

Both should be in the lineup. Mikheyev is a solid player.

Lafferty was with the team before.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

not that mikheyev or lafferty are top 6 guys, but the club improved it's depth and got 2nd round pick for a 4th. i didn't watch enough leaf/canuck games to have a strong opinion on mikheyev - has size. seen some of his goals, good acceleration and gets to the right places to score. the question i'd ask is he truly motivated, game-in, game-out? mikheyev at $4.75 million per year is a bit steep.

lafferty tries hard, not enough skill. a younger blackwell. will the blackhawks sign lafferty?

all in all, i agree, a deal that helps the canucks (promptly resigned dakota joshua after this trade) and blackhawks (reach the cap floor and better draft pick).

i'd rather spend the money on a top 6 FWD and a top 4 RD in free agency. the draft is tonight and july 1 is free agent time. i'll give davidson more time.

so in the span of like 20 minutes the Hawks signed:

Bertuzzi
Teravinan
Maroon
Martinez
Craig Smith
Broisoit

At least that is what is being reported.

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Is Teravinan any good these days?

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

panger's northlands stick is heavy.

A comment I saw about Teravainen led with "He's not big, speedy, or physical...."

I guess he's a puck possession guy.

Are any of the other acquisitions decent...or at least breathing?

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An unjust law is no law at all--St. Augustine of Hippo

Cause tried and true
I see the light in you
Oh, can you dig in my soul?
Could you smell my whole...
life?--Gener and Deaner

i like brossoit and this move...he's 'only' 31. he may eventually get more games than mrazek. 2 year deal - could be an easy resign and be the 'bridge' to commesso/gajan.

well that's 6 guys right there who are better than at least 6 guys who played regularly this season for the Hawks. Bertuzzi and Teravinan are both top 6 wingers which is something we didn't have this year.

Martinez is a solid multi Cup winning veteran D man.

Maroon will be a great locker room guy who you can trust to be alone with your mom.

Don't know who the rest of them are TBH

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At least they'll have a more competitive team while guys like Nazar, et al, get some professional experience in the A.

i'm in the camp of 'middle 6' wingers. i don't see them as #1 guys. yes, they are better than the lot we had the last few years. not sure about smith, he's got to be over 35.

Smith will be 35 in September.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

ok, he's been around for awhile. seemed like ages.

weighing and measuring these moves in the first few hours - looks as though the club saw enough of soderblum and didn't rate stauber. zaitsev and tinordi gone, martinez in at D. i believe mikheyev is a bigger x-factor than bertuzzi. if mikheyev skates the way he can, he could get 25-30 goals.

it also seems as though lafferty needs to be signed pronto or the hawks lose all rights to him and he becomes a free agent.

Lafferty signed with Buffalo. 2 years, 2M per.

ok..to me, no big loss. pay a penalty-killer/4th-line player $2 million per. blackhawks well over the floor now, still missing a D, preferably a RD, for the 6. i have no problem if the club stands pat here. kaiser and co. still in the wings. issue here is that most are LD. i still wanted pesce...injured in the playoffs - had a fractured fibula near his ankle.

pesce signed with the devils today- 6 years/$33 million. $5.5 million per, i would have paid him more.

Defenseman TJ Brodie signed to a 2 year deal.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

yeah...6 D on the roster - not counting kaiser/allen/del mastro/phillips/crevier...etc.

murphy's deal and brodie's deal expire after 2025-26. thinking that is when (2026-27) the brass expects levshunov to start the season on the roster. forward looking - vlasic/jones/korchinski/levshunov/kaiser and either a rinzel/allen/del mastro...etc.

though not a big fan of murphy, thinking this 2024-25 D is a definite upgrade over the past few years.

i believe this D is fairly set because the club will need to pay bedard, korchinski and may need to pay kurushev (if they want him to stay), nazar (if he pans out). the club is still under the cap and will have nearly $15 million more after this season, when hall, donato, craig smith and athanasiou come off the books. i'm assuming they won't be back after next season. this is where the FWD prospect depth needs to kick in.

Checking my notes here, armed with the most cap space in the NFL, it looks like the Hawks haven't signed a single top 10 FA. Things are going great!

Might want to re-check those notes

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

one way or the other, need to keep $$ for 2 years down the road. kurashev/bedard/korchinski/nazar.

they could have signed 2 quality FAs and relied on the youngsters, or, went the path they chose, quantity - and allow the prospects to develop.

craig smith and maroon will be gone after next season along with donato/hall/athanasiou...so, guys like slaggert may get another year to develop. i do like mikheyev - may go from a middle six to a top 6 FWD.

the D is much better - older, but, better. zaitsev/magna and tinordi replaced by brodie/martinez and an assumed healthy connor murphy. kaiser seems the odd man out in 2024-25 here.

listened to one of my favorite hockey podcasts - boomer gordon and jake hahn. 2 canadians - live in toronto, i believe hahn is a leaf season ticket holder.

these guys are rating every GM's off-season and their grades were 'C' and 'B', for kyle davidson.

boomer gave kyle a C. he liked the levshunov pick and the bertuzzi move, didn't like kyle's draft trades and the t j brodie signing.

jake gave kyle a B. he also liked the bertuzzi signing and the fact that kyle wasn't 'aggressive', thinks the blackhawks were/are in no position to be aggressive right now. he also didn't understand trading the 2nd round picks to move up 3 spots in the mid 1st round and definitely doesn't like the t.j. brodie signing at all. said that "brodie will have some bad nights".

so...not the greatest reports on brodie. no mention of mikheyev, which is a bit unsettling. my take is that mikheyev could be the x-factor for bedard's line. speed, but i'm worried that his knee issue may have slowed him to a point where no one bothers talking about him anymore. i didn't watch enough canuck hockey to judge, i do remember him as a player who could beat mcdavid in a 150 ft. sprint.

when hahn tells us that brodie will have some bad nights...this guy is mr. fantasy hockey, mr. hockey gambling and i believe, a leaf season ticket holder. could be a lottery winner or a trust-fund winner, as it seems he doesn't work and is able to devote 23 hours a day to hockey. hosts a 2 hour podcast during hockey season, goes to leaf games at night, lives in the same building as other leaf players and goes to europe for a month every summer. when he tells you a former leaf player is done, you may have to believe him.