Faulk is back for the Canes. The Hawks couldn't beat them without their best player, not sure I wanna see how they do against them with him.

Hawks have played 41/82 and logged 53 points. The pace would be 106, obviously, but with the Hawks' third-quarter blues (and fourth, for that matter) it'll probably be closer to an even 100. Oddly enough, they went the whole first half without a single game against Minnesota, who has three or four games in hand and is technically ahead of the Hawks in terms of points above .500.

How would you grade everyone to this point?

A: Crawford, Panarin, Anisimov, Hossa -- they've done everything asked of them and more. Without these guys we're sixth in the division. Hossa's renaissance has probably been my favorite part of this season.

B: Kane, Keith, Darling, Hjalmarsson, Hartman -- Kane's production was never going to match last year but he still feels like he should be doing a little more. Keith has lost a step and I hope he's merely pacing himself, but he's still one of the best defensemen in the league. Darling stepped in terrifically during Crawford's injury but let's not allow ourselves to forget a few stinkers he's had along the way. Hammer remains an extremely valuable defenseman. Hartman has been a pleasant surprise though his point production is still lower than it ought to be at a 30-point pace. We need more from him but I feel good about getting it.

C: van Riemsdyk, Seabrook, Campbell, Panik, Kruger, Rasmussen, Hinostroza -- Seabs has been pretty bad on the defensive side as of late, point production notwithstanding, with the end result being incommensurate with his cap hit. TVR is neither as good as supporters want him to be nor as bad as Fels and McClure want him to be. At this point he's ideally a #7 whose mistakes and lack of speed can be mitigated simply by keeping his exposure down; it's to be hoped Kempny's emergence starts doing just that. Campbell seems to be miscast with anyone but Hjalmarsson. Kruger does what he does on defense but his offensive black hole is getting harder and harder to tolerate with our lack of secondary scoring. Rasmussen's not bad for a 13th. Hinostroza has some tools but I'm still not sold.

D: Toews -- "D" is below average and that's what Toews is. He's 12th in point shares at 1.7, less than Hartman, barely more than Panik and van Riemsdyk. He's been a pot-addled piece of shit all year and it's hard to see it ever getting better. He's become uncreative on offense, tentative on defense, and overall a huge disappointment as anything but a team mascot. Maybe his linemates haven't been ideal but that's something he and his agent should have discussed before making him the highest-paid hockey player on Earth and a burden to the people whose job it is to furnish said linemates. He's now on pace for 43 points, OOOOOOOOOOH, he'll need way more than 24 in the next 41 to keep the Hawks in first because those goals sure as shit aren't coming from our bottom six.

F: Desjardins, Tootoo -- zero points scored between them with negative point shares. Their existence does make the team worse. One or both needs to be gone.
Inc.: Forsling, Schmaltz, Motte, Kero -- they're either in or have been in Rockford, Forsling just went down today

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Very fair on all counts. Seabs just looks slow to me.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

I'm with ddman. Can't really argue with the assessment, although to pick nits, I may grade Campbell a bit lower.

Wonder if Darling gets the start tonight?

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Not a mult.

Oh, wait - you forgot Rozy

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Not a mult.

Did Toews run over your fucking cat or something?

Lump him in with the incompletes. He's been surprisingly okay when he plays but he seldom plays and that's the way it should be. Gotta keep him in bubble wrap for the most part until the playoffs, where he'll give you one or two awesome games and then turn into dust.

I wouldn't be surprised to see him go to Rockford on a dubious rehab assignment in order to get some minutes in the middle of a long healthy-scratch spell. It's a loophole worth exploring.

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The Captain will not brook your bullshit any longer !! 1-0 Blackhawk.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

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

Hurricanes with 19 shots on goal (9 on four minutes of power play), only one missed, and eight blocked through 20. This is why hockey nerds beat off to this team: they always have the puck, always have more power-play time, and they're always shooting. They just don't win often. Most importantly, they don't have blue-collar fans.

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Canes have been chucking it all night (31OG, 5M, 13B), no shock they'd get one in eventually.

Again, with all the fawning people do over their UNDERLYING NUMBERS, I thought they were an offensive powerhouse done in by poor goaltending. Turns out the goaltending must be adequate because Pat said they're 21st in goals scored. So they just fling the puck on net a lot but not necessarily well. I'm reminded of the Hawks' favorite "possession" play, the lob into the chest to take the draw. It's a shot on goal and you get an offensive-end draw, but it still feels like a waste of a shot, especially if you go on to lose the draw (as the Hawks often did).

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win small lose big

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When you are the highest paid player in a hard cap salary league, you need to be more than a 50 pt/year player. I would would him a D-/F+

I'd probably bump up Darling to an A but that is getting picky. Overall, I agree with the grades.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

Toews is looking better and better. He's "this close" to putting it all together offensively. It's weird, he's making elite level offensive plays in every game lately, but at the last moment something goes wrong and he isn't finishing. In the Buffalo game, he turned one of the best young D-men in the league into a pretzel in the OT and ended up all alone in front of the net before sailing the puck high. Last night he had a few great offensive moments, but no finish. And some bad luck too, how about the perfect play from Hino to a wide open Toews in front of the net and the puck hits an invisible ramp and hops over his stick.

At least he finally had a nice finish last night on his goal, he's going to break out in a big way sooner rather than later, all the signs are there.


As a great player (forgot who) once said to a reporter after he was asked if he was concerned about a recent slump where everything he shoots is getting saved, "I'll start getting concerned when I stop getting the shots." Toews is getting plenty of opportunities and starting to make some great plays, its only a matter of time before the goals start coming. If Hino can play like he did last night the rest of the way that line will be rolling.

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The Hawks offense is really MIA lately. Desjardins and Tootoo probably shouldn't be in the lineup together.

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I'm gonna take you to the bank, Senator Trent. To the blood bank!

Yeah, they're both still negative contributors. They shouldn't even be on the team together, let alone the same line. If you can believe it, Desjardins has actually been worse than Tootoo.

I was looking at the shot-attempt plus/minus figures. Hawks rank 14th at +18. In unblocked shot attempts they're 23rd at -98. Maybe I'll bump Hjalmarsson up to an A.

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