Yeah he goes out of his way to say he and Sharp were besties and all. Im still gone say infidelity.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

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

I agree but not that it was Sharp.

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Elections have consequences.

Yeah, a couple of days ago B&B alluded to all the Sharp stuff again, and Berns, of course, was smugly asking why the legal action never materialized from Sharp. That douche had pretty much clammed up when Sharp made mention of legal action, and it wasn't until after he was traded that he decided to throw the shit around again.

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Not a mult.

If Bernsie was so clever he could have figured things out or had someone watch the SCF and figure it out. Keith's wife nowhere to be found and definitely no celebrating with him on ice. Only his kid (which I recall Keith flying home for birth between MN games last cup). On the other hand Sharp's wife and all those kids were everywhere on camera pregames and celebrating. Looked very happy to me and not a care in the world let alone stress in a marriage.

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Elections have consequences.

The unimpeachable Elliotte Friedman is reporting that the Hawks want to move Trevor Daley but no one else wants him because his contract runs through 2017 and no one wants to get stuck with him for more than the rest of this season. I never would have thought that Ryan Garbutt would be the better player of the two coming back in this trade, which still isn't saying all that much.

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I don't want him for this season.

Remember when we were supposed to have an embarrassment of riches at defense? Now we have to dress Michal Rozsival so as not to have to dress David Rundblad. It's come to this.

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Not really. I feel like they've always had about 2 solid lines, 1 that is eh okay maybe and then no good. It was pretty bad last year and over the last few years they lost some solid players. No team is flawless but I don't see how they keep holding up. They are amazing.

Sharp is 4th on Dallas in points so far this season--7 goals, 8 assists. The 3 Stars ahead of him are 2, 3 and 5 behind Kaner in total points so far this season.

I was talking about the pipeline having a ton of d-men in it. To review,

Stephen Johns went to Dallas to further induce the Stars into taking Patrick Sharp
Michael Paliotta went to Columbus to further induce the Beej into taking Brandon Saad
Adam Clendening went to Vancouver because Quenneville saw no immediate use for him
Klas Dahlbeck went to Phoenix along with a 1st for Antoine Vermette, who turned around and signed right back with Phoenix
T.J. Brennan went to Toronto because he was a tweener who never found himself between
Ville Pokka is still a work in progress, fingers crossed
Viktor Svedberg "successfully" graduated but turned out not to be all that good anyway

I mean, look, I'm not rending garments here because we had to trade a #6-at-best Klas Dahlbeck to get Antoine Vermette, whom I coveted for years and who helped us win a championship. The Hawks are ultimately in a good place in that defensemen Nos. 1 through 3 are rock-solid with one surefire Hall of Famer and two franchise legends, and it's only a matter of filling out the back end with guys who are good enough to take on the remaining minutes. The problem is that with Daley, Rozsival, and still for some reason Rundblad, I'm not sure we are. TVR has been having a very nice season so far, and that's great, but his ceiling is low, and losing three high defensive prospects is always going to be a setback, even if they don't come to fully meet expectations. I'm confident that out of Pokka (return for Leddy), Forsling (return for Clendening), and Gustafsson (I have no earthly idea where he came from), we'll get some help down the road, it's just that defensemen take more time than forwards. Gustafsson is probably the most ready, Forsling the least.

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Seems like what's happening with the Stars is that they're replicating their scoring from last year, only now Kari Lehtonen is merely sorta crappy instead of having one of the worst goaltending seasons of the modern era.

Getting elite veterans like Patrick Sharp and Jason Spezza to single out Dallas as a destination certainly helps build a winning roster, too. I've read here and there that to say nothing of whatever the hell was going on last year with dicks going where they weren't supposed to go, the workplace environment in Chicago is one of constant pressure and misery: combine the "you hate him for 364 days and on the 365th you pick up your championship ring" mood of Scotty Bowman's Red Wings with John McDonough's nonstop Indian-committing and I can see where the whole thing could wear someone out. Not to say it's torture, just work. Meanwhile, no one gives a fuck who you are in Dallas, it's usually warm outside, Lindy Ruff won't banish you to the gates of hell for one lousy fly-by, and the tax code is favorable. Hockey players have this reputation as unflappable stoics on the ice, but when it comes to quality-of-life stuff, they're just a bunch of hothouse flowers who throw a bitchfit if you try to trade them somewhere cold and socialist. We saw it here with Vermette as he was being sent from the second-worst team in the league to a title contender (and again, went right back the first chance he got). Spezza made the Sens trade him and it had to be to a non-Canadian team. Ryan Kesler was even more specific with the Canucks, saying he would only accept a trade to Anaheim. So all that helps.

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I like TVR and have higher hopes for him than you do. It's not really based on anything tangible. I do not like Rosival, Runblad, or Daley. I think they are brutal.

I like him too. I was pumping his tires in training camp/preseason last year.

You're pretty much playing with house money when it comes to undrafted NCAA grads. If you get anything at the NHL level out of a guy who didn't cost you a pick, you did well. He's already done more than most second-round picks will ever do, let alone undrafteds, which is awesome, but I don't see him getting second-pairing minutes on a regular basis and thriving. With his effort level and hockey IQ, he's an above-average third-pairing guy, which, again, for a guy who had 21 rounds to be drafted and never was, I cannot stress enough what a coup that is.

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Can you tell me what happened to Dejardins and Kruger? I didn't love them or hate them but they are poopy this year. I kinda want shaw on that line. I think he'd make them better.

I think Shaw has been on that line.

Desjardins is a replacement-level lunkhead who played his ass off for us last year in exchange for liberating him from the go-nowhere Sharks, where he had been one of many bottom-six guys no one cares about for a few years. He took a big paycut to stay here. To paraphrase Mad Men, he's been worth every penny they're paying him. I don't know what the hell has been up with Kruger but he's gotta get it together. Having a high-level defensive specialist at fourth-line center is a major necessity for a team that aspires to have three scoring lines. Of course, right now we don't even have two.

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Do you have an objective opinion why the first line isn't producing?

Toews is banged up, Hossa is old, and people who have at one point been the third player have also at one point been healthy scratches.

I'm glumly resigned to Hossa aging gracefully into a bottom-six shutdown role, but I cannot watch Toews turn into a John Madden who makes $10,500,000 a year.

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I've never been a fan of toews and hossa together. The 3rd person should be young and new on that line if anything.

When do you think hossa will retire?

Are you sure about that first part? Toews and Hossa with Sharp and Saad rotating on the left side was a raging hellbeast of a line. If there was a drawback, it was that it relegated Kane to a second line with a revolving-door center (Handzus, Brad Richards, I think at one point even Kane himself), but Sharp-Toews-Kane really only worked as a last-ditch effort or power-play unit (even then, Sharp wasn't up front), and the wet dream of Hossa-Toews-Kane was scrapped early into Hossa's first season here when it became clear that to play him out of position was a disservice to everyone.

It's probably going to be Dano on the first line going forward. I think I last saw Viktor Tikhonov on a milk carton.

Hossa will retire when his contract expires and not a day sooner lest the Blackhawks be sodomized with recapture penalties. When the day comes, he'll be so banged up with this-and-that that no one will challenge his permanent LTIR status, certainly not after the league not only let Chris Pronger hang out on LTIR forever but let him work for the league office and enter the Hall of Fame while still under contract, the very contract that the Flyers traded to the Coyotes so they could hit the salary floor.

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yeah I'm sure. I don't know if they worry too much about defense but I have a tough time believing Saad or Sharp is the difference in offensive production. Look at the issues on the power play. Something is a miss, but I don't know what.

I'm not a Kane fan but there were times I thought he was in a doghouse last year because of his line.

I know Hossa is a RW but he's special. Like you'd defer to him if you played with him. I can't tell if toews and him know what to do with each other.

I think it is literally the price you have to pay, to win championships.

Johns, I believe did not make the roster
I think Bowman got the better end of the Saad deal
Clendening has since been traded
Vermette won you a championship with his faceoff wins
Brennan IDK
Pokka, I was/am hoping
Svedberg needs to be more physical, perhaps he doesn't have his man body yet.

I agree that it's the price to pay.

Well, turns out that the team inquiring about Daley is good old Ottawa, or, if you're Canadian, "Awda-waw." Bowman wants a 2nd-round pick (lost ours to the Flyers for Timonen) and one of Matt Puempel and Shane Prince, who both play left wing, both appear to be about 23, and have both spent ~150 games in Binghamton with very little time in Ottawa. Daley sucks, Stan; I'd settle for one or the other.

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Forget the 2nd rd pick, ask them to take Bicks!

Good stuff...especially on vermette and faceoffs. He seemed to be in Q's doghouse and would imagine there was some reluctance to play D or buy into whatever Q was selling. We did see some scoring and a guy who absolutely kicked ass winning faceoffs.

I had hoped for better defensive depth and it still might be there, but yeah...outside of the main 4 we have some real turds. The Sharp deal was not favorable for us...seems like we held out too long. same with Bicks. Hope Stand doesn't get greedy with Daly cause he's gots to go.

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

His wife was pregnant back in Phoenix and he wasn't happy about being taken away from his family at that time. I really think he was content to play out the string in Phoenix, to just show up to work and do his job in relative obscurity. Now take all that family stress and add on top of it that now you're being asked to be the secret weapon down the stretch for a major-market team that's missing its best scorer but still intends to win the Stanley Cup. Oh, and your contract is up at the end of June and you're in your early thirties. All of a sudden there's enormous pressure on you to perform, your new coach hasn't conferred unwavering trust on you to say the very least, your new captain seems to have a steel pole up his ass, and you can't just peace out and play golf in obscurity. That's your whole life changing overnight. Did he contribute to winning the Stanley Cup? Absolutely, but not without some serious bumps along the way that certainly ended up compromising his market value. Now he's back with the Coyotes where no one can ask too much of him.

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Maybe Madden was a little severe. But he's only on pace for 55 points. Perhaps "a Brendan Morrison who makes $10,500,000 a year"?

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The annual Toews underproduces for his salary thread commences. CH, Toews has NEVER been a high points guy nor will he ever be. He's going to score 27-33 goals and have 30-45 assists. thats it. He's not scoring 40 . You know what else he does well. Im sorry the Blackhawks decided to pay him and Kane what they did. They've won 3 Cups in 6 years. Id say theyre getting a pretty good ROI. Sucks that maybe they've had to dump other guys because of what theyre paying him but they've been in the hunt every year despite that. You want 6 Cups in 6 years? They've been the most successful team of the cap era. They will continue to be long into these contracts. I don't know what else you expect out of the team and Toews.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

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

Just a good reminder that in the midst of some really good hawks thoughts you are still capable of drifting into idiot land.

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

THAT AIN'T TRUE! Pts/gm:

2007-08: .844
2008-09: .841
2009-10: .894
2010-11: .950
2011-12: .966 (season ended early with a concussion)
2012-13: 1.021 (48-game season)
2013-14: .894
2014-15: .814
2015-16: .666
Career: .889

Toews has consistently played at at least a 68-point pace and averages about 72. Figuring that scoring more or less normalized in 07-08 after those two wackadoodle power-play seasons out of the lockout, 70 points year-in-year-out for a guy who gives you as much as Toews does on defense is really good. No, it's not Ovechkin production, but X-Box controller disconnected and all that jazz. 55 points, on the other hand, is cause for concern in concert with the league's highest cap hit. I think he'll will himself to breaking 60 by the end of the year if he stays healthy, but I'm sorry, that still feels low for his salary. I'm not asking for 100 points from Toews, just his usual 72 or so, and I don't think that's an outlandish demand. I hope that his body isn't betraying him at 27; he has, after all, had some bad concussions and a lot of hard miles.

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