Like I said before, maybe this forces them to move Crawford instead.

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God I hope not. I haven't seen enough of Darling to hand him the starting job.

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CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

Haven't heard a peep about Kruger.

The rumor I've heard on Kruger is a contract is in place, but they need additional cap relief before they can push that through.

I still would find a way to move both Bickell and Crawford. One of the teams desperate to hit the cap floor will eventually take Bickell.

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Everyone has made the floor.

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Why would you move Crawford?

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CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

Moving Bickell is purely cap relief.
Moving Crawford gives you cap relief and young talent. He has actual value.

The Hawks need more young talent

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I think they just need Bickell gone (shitty play and cap relief). They have a lot of young talent on the roster right now. May not have a deep set of prospects, but they don't really need them right now either.

They did until they traded them all away.

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NHL wise this will be the most talented team since 2010. Chemistry and team d will take time to mesh. They have time to rebuild their AHL team though so the lack of talent there doesn't really matter.

Exactly right.

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CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

It is of the utmost importance that this team gets Kruger back though. I read some Hawks fans talk as if he's just a replaceable fourth liner. He's not. If he gets signed and the Hawks don't make any more drastic moves (I don't consider trading Bickell or Crawford drastic), then they should be fine going into next season and still a top 5 favorite for the Cup.

I completely agree on Kruger. He's very underrated and must be re-signed.

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Maybe, but will the results bear that out? The 2010 team laid waste to the league. I'm not sure this year's team finishes above fourth in the division (though don't worry, Central's sending five again).

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Too early to tell but my guess is no. The 2010 team had to go through 2009 first to completely gel plus the division is alot tougher now. I expect the regular season to be a chore to watch at times again this year.

To me, it looks like their options are to gun it all year and get bounced in the first to a superior team (Anaheim? Calgary? Nashville? Winnipeg?) or do the customary second-half blowoff, miss the playoffs, and draft high. I'd take the latter if it meant drafting in the single digits, but otherwise it's probably best to keep the momentum going and at least make a perfunctory appearance in the postseason, and I don't even know that they can sink that far down with so much crap at the bottom of the league.

There's also a third option, which is draw Minnesota in the first round, knock them out again, and see where life takes you.

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No way Calgary and Winnipeg are superior to the Hawks, god damn.

Calgary is going to be dangerous for sure. Winnipeg is contingent on a bunch of things, like Hellebuyck taking over in goal with Hutchinson and finding a place to bury Pavelec's body, or Trouba being healthy for a full season (Norris if he can), or Morrissey and Ehlers being ready to contribute. There's a lot of good stuff happening there, it's mostly just a matter of keeping everyone bought in and shedding some of the bums at the bottom of the roster now that prospects are ready. They're in kind of a weird place in terms of a window, though, because Ladd and Byfuglien are up at the end of the year and it's hard to argue long-term commitments for either one, so they basically have this year to go deep, step back again, and then really start competing in earnest.

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Not even August and he is starting up

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

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

Paille is a solid bottom-sixer whose play with the Bruins was useful, albeit over-romanticized by chowderheads. A quatrième line of Desjardins, Danault, and Paille would be cool. I'll gladly take him and put Ryan Garbutt on a bus.

I like the Jan Hejda invite as well. Back when the Avs were a regular-season spoiler in 2013 and a division champion in 2014, I remember the prevailing wisdom being "yeah that's good and all, but if your best defenseman is Jan Hejda, you're absolutely fucked," which turned out to be true when they got to the playoffs. But if he's your sixth or seventh-best defenseman, that's probably okay. In turn, put David Rundblad on a bus.

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Lubomir Visnovsky and Tomas Kopecky were invited to camp as well. I don't think Kopecky will or should do anything but be a stalking horse for prospects who could bring what he used to bring, but I wouldn't be surprised if Visnovsky got some consideration. Q loves old defensemen!

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Where we at with the cap?

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Elections have consequences.

Dry-humping it as usual. Just over $900,000 with 21 players on the active roster, which includes Morin but not Panarin, whose hit is higher by a few bucks but also includes bonuses.

Garbutt is on the active roster, but with the addition of Paille, I can see Garbutt hitting waivers unless the organization feels they need to treasure every piece that came back in the Sharp trade. At $900,000, I think we can absorb the full hit on a loan to Rockford. Out of Paille, Shaw, and Garbutt, it's clear who the worst player is, and I don't care how it makes the Sharp trade look. He's only about a year younger than Paille with over 350 fewer NHL games played. 30-year-old tweener on crappy teams. See ya.

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Rozsi is back!!!! I was quite happy for him to be gone despite how brutal his injury looked. Better than Timo I guess. The 2 other guys they brought in must have sucked if they have already given Rozsi the 1 yr deal when they all just had PTO's.

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

The devil you know, I suppose. Hejda could have wound up being just as much of a jurassic disaster as Rozsival, but at least everyone is familiar with Rozsival.

I don't think this is a very good idea, as again and again, this team keeps veterans beyond their expiration dates.

EDIT: at least the cap hit is only $600,000. If he can't play anymore, he can be loaned to Rockford with no dead cap space, or he can do the mutual-termination thing and leave with some dignity.

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Seabrook signs 8/$55M extension.

That's a bad one.

Who else is leaving or does this not go into effect until next year?

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Elections have consequences.

Next year