Wrong Mike...

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Not a mult.

"Hey look we fired somebody, so that'll fix the power play."

"Well, actually tha-"

"Nonono, it's fixed now. That guy was fired. So power play? It's totally set now."

"..."

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Seriously when i saw a coach was fired I thought it was Kitch.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Yeah. Kitch was the power play guy. They were terrible on the power play.
Word is there's more changes coming.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

It was Q's decision, so he had to choose between somebody who's considered a very respected coach league wide or his dear friend Kitch.

Friendship > results.

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I hear that a lot.
But like to me most of the superstars underperformed in that playoff series. Once Hos was hurt that was the end of their spirit... but that being said... I'd really like to see Toews and Kane play in a consistant fucking line. Q juggled the lines like every damn day. Would your job be harder if you worked with a different guy every day? Mine would be fer sher.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

The Blackhawks will never trade Kane. That shit needs to stop.

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Eeehhh, yeah... I don't know man. We knew all along he wasn't a defensive player. But when he's got the puck there's not many better. If he'd take life a little more seriously and stopped being a shitfuck douchebag all the time dude could be a legend. He has the talent. He's just...

Sooooooo Stupid!

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Can't take a hit? What does that mean? If he gets hit 5 times in a season that's a lot. Probably the toughest guy in the league to get a bead on.

Playoffs? Guy is over a point a game in the playoffs.

Forcheck? Finished in the top 10 in the league in take aways.



Now if you said backcheck you would've had more leg to stand on.

The problem with Kane this season was quite simply the attrocious power play. He finished in the top 12 in the league in even strength scoring, but he had something like 20 less pp points than last year. If the PP does its job no one is here trying to come up with make believe reasons why Kane isn't a good hockey player. Now, obviously part of the blame for the PP has to go to him since he was on it, but I think a MUCH larger percentage of blame goes to the coaching staff.

Our PP was the same in game 1 as it was in the last game of the season, same exact set up. Kaner on the side boards, Toews down below the net, one guy in front of the net. Same shit they've been using for 4 seasons now. 3 years ago we used to get lots of back door plays, but everyone has figure that out. Didn't see a single back door play all season. You watch other PPs and you see 2 guys in front of the net causing traffic with one of them leaking into the high slot for one timers and those PPs are much more effective, yet we NEVER tried that.


The area of the game where I thought Kane did a terrible job was in regards to the defensive responsibilities of a center below the net and breaking the puck out. He's too small to battle down there and he didn't seem entirely interested in changing that perception, especially during his second stint at center.

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Gretzky couldn't bring the forecheck, was too small, and stick handled too much, so he was bad.

Right?

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Isn't that the oddest complaint you've ever heard? "He stick handles too much".

There's probably less than 50 people in the entire league who could hold onto the puck for more than 3 seconds, yet its a bad thing that we got a guy who can flat out dangle, buys time and space better than just about everyone in the league and has great vision to boot?

Yeah, lets run the guy who's a potential game changer every time he steps on the ice out of town. In the championship puzzle, THAT'S the piece that easy to replace.

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The simple fact is that the bottom 2/3rds of the roster is garbage. That's why the power play sucks and that's why there's no forecheck.

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While I'm not on the (small) "trade Kaner" bandwagon, I'm not about to call him untouchable, either.

The problem with Kaner is that he has not progressed. Granted, he had to adapt to a different position this season, but he still has two glaring issues:

1) He holds the puck TOO long - his continued hesitation to whether shoot or pass has cost many scoring chances, and

2) He is too small to be constantly trying to split or fight off defenders. IMO he operates better as a sniper - I think if he's back on the wing with a decent center that can get him the puck while Kaner's in space would make the best use of Kaner's skills.

And as far as the Gretzky forecheck comparison - not a good one. I don't expect Kaner to lay out the hits, but when the league has gotten much bigger and faster since the Gretzky era, the smaller guys cannot expect to just skate past, let alone fight off today's defensemen, especially those operating in a system.

Have Kaner on the wing, skate his ass off in the offensive zone, and have someone serve him the puck.

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Not a mult.

+1,000

The line juggling makes me hate Q. It hasn't worked.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Exactly how much power play time was allotted to the bottom 2/3 of the roster to make it suck so much?

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Wow actually criticizing your boyfriend? Well, there'll be no spitting out for you this week, he's going to make you swallow every last ounce. Your critique touched on what is my biggest complaint about him, in that he seems to have zero want to when it comes to doing the dirty work. So when his finesse game wasn't working in huge stretches of games this year, he's not very effective doing anything.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

The power play sucks because they rely on a wraparound set play that everyone knows how to beat, and a bunch of perimeter shit that never leads to anything. If the puck gets cleared out of their end and they have to gain the line again, they get intimidated and don't know whether to carry it in or dump it in, and this dithering just leads them to a misstep which results in another clearout and with that another 15 seconds off the clock. They have a few big bodies again, which they didn't have in 2011, so they could theoretically start using net presence to score power play goals, but it's not happening enough.


Blackhawks struggles in a nutshell. Can't win dirty, which is the only way to win in the NHL right now unless the new CBA resets the obstruction standards again. It's funny: the Hawks are good at getting their shit pushed in, and they're good at fucking guys up and getting ejected/suspended for it, but they can't be a bunch of lumbering lunks like you're apparently supposed to be.

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your biggest complaint is far and away the least important part of his game. And it only comes into play if he's playing center and has to go down low in the defensive zone and help clear the puck.

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Why does Quenville need Bowman's authorization to make changes on the coaching staff? Reading Q's comments, it seems to me like he's wanted to make a change previously.

So you want to take one of the league's best playmakers and turn him into a sniper who only gets the puck when its time to shoot?


Meatball is a good name for you.

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yeah, that comment doesn't make any sense.

Dewskie, care to clarify?

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Well, 18 skaters, you have to use more than six of them on your PP unit, if they're garbage, so's your power play, I guess.

I feel there were more than six able skaters on the team, though.

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You can't simply say:

COACHES: "Okay stars, you guys are going to score every power play goal."
STARS: "Wait wait, what?"
COACHES: "You guys are all really famous. Toews, Hossa, Kane, Sharp. Having all you guys out on the ice at the same time will equal goals."
STARS: "But what about balance? The reason we're stars is because we make the role players around us who can pass, forecheck, and screen the goalie better and vice versa."
COACHES: "Well, according to NHL 11 if I put all you snipers/playmakers with the highest rating out there, it'll be fine, so get out there."
STARS: "Maybe you should also take into consideration that we're not particularly good at winning faceoffs and only have one true well-rounded center on the roster, and he was hurt a giant portion of last season. We routinely would lose draws and subsequently the first minute and a half of the power play was wasted on puck retrieval."
COACHES: "Maybe you should shut the hell up."

The power play, just as in full strength hockey, isn't some jape where you can flood the ice with skill players and expect results. The team had a lot of skill players who had terrible years or got hurt, role players who either didn't meet expectations in the slightest or got hurt/were too green. These last two years have taught us that you can't just say, "Kane, Toews - take all these NHL dregs and win with them." It doesn't work like that.

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im confused by this. What PPs around the league have guys in them that aren't in the top 6 for their respective teams? And I'm not talking about the 2nd unit.


We definitely need some size in front of the net, but that doesn't mean it has to be some 3rd or 4th line grinder with no hands. I would much rather have Toews and Hossa in front of the net on the PP than some 4th line depth guy. Both those guys are big and strong enough to handle the front of the net and they actually have hands as well! But, you never saw the team do that and that's ALL COACHING.

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Regarding the PP, another problem I have with Q is that he yanks the 1st unit off the ice way too quickly into a shift. 45 seconds in and he pulls the plug.

Contrast that with some of the other teams around the league...for instance look at Washington or Pitt...Ovie and Crosby never leave the ice during a PP.

PP is not very strenuous, there's no reason a player can't handle a 1:30 shift.



I'd also like to see our stars double shifted more often. You want to run 4 lines? Fine, but every once in a while double shift toews and have him out there with line 4. Pitt does it all the time with Crosby.

I'm from the crazy school of thought that says the more often you can have your best players on the ice the better.

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Yeah but fatigue on your overworked players and rust on the underworked (see: San Jose Sharks)

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Took you awhile to figure out a way to crap on my post once you took the above snippage out of context, eh?

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Not a mult.

How exactly did I take your comments out of context and/or misrepresent your thoughts?

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I'm not saying to double shift all the time, but there are games and situations where I would do it to try and get an edge.

I'm not concerned with fatigue considering half these guys miss time with injuries anyway. Get what you can out of them while you can. And in the playoffs I would've had Toews out there almost every other shift in close games.

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Took you awhile to figure out a way to crap on my post once you took the above snippage out of context, eh?[/quote]

How exactly did I take your comments out of context and/or misrepresent your thoughts?[/quote]

Ummm, maybe by only quoting the very last sentence without the previous setup???

Again, he is not progressing. He is coming off his worst season, which directly followed his previous worst season, which directly followed his best season. Not what I would call a positive trend for a #1 overall draft pick with five seasons under his belt entering what should be the start of the prime of his career.

I believe that he is trying to do more than he needs to, and to think more than he needs to. Good playmaker? Yes. One of the best playmakers in the league? The last two seasons, not even the best on his team. I have an issue when he constantly leads the charge, bringing the puck over the blue line, and continuously trying to force his way to the net when he just doesn't have the physical size or strength to do he - he is constantlygetting knocked off the puck by the first awaiting defender, or trying to make that one last pass when he should be taking the damn shot.

Does that all mean that I dislike having him on the team? Of course not, and again, I'm not clamoring to trade him, although between he, Sharp, and maybe Hossa have the biggest value on the market (Toews ain't going anywhere unless the concussions take their toll). I just wish that he would develop into the star that he should be. He is very good now, but with a little teaking, could be one of the best in the league, and I'm talking top-20 scorer.

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Not a mult.