When/What will be the deciding factor for the Blackhawks this season? If they put together some sort of streak and claw back to contention...do they bother trying to scrap together another 1 year rental playoff team? if the season gets away from them, do they unload and accept missing the playoffs this season and maybe next year too? Is it even fair to blame Quenneville for any of this? Bowman's plan for the 10, 13, 15 teams were wizard, but the team is reaching the point we all knew was in the future when certain decisions were made over and again. Those draft picks that went away for poor playoff performances are really going to be missed heading into the next few seasons. not to mention wasting and wearing down what could be the best of Crawford.

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'Your AT&T Universal Card has arrived'? Oh God, Kick-fucking-ass, I got a Master Card! I don't believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes.

I would like to see the captain out for a few weeks with an injury so we an get an idea of what the team looks like without him. I doubt it looks much different.

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

I heard a caller on Murph's show I think talking about this years team.

He said they traded Panarin for Saad because they thought it would help out Towes play better.

He further went on to say Panarin is having a better year than Saad and Towes still sucks.


I don't follow the team too closely but is there any chance they can win the Stanley Cup this year?

No Cup
Toews is done
Saad is better that Pannarin. Pannarin gave zero fucks about anything once he reached his regular season incentives last year. Let him get his regular season stats. Saad is a 2 way playoff beast.

They also made that trade beause Pannarin is a free agent after this year and there is no way in hell they could resign him. Saad is signed for a long time. Saad is also younger than him if you can wrap your mind around that crazy fact.

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

Murph takes hockey calls now? Strange times we're living in.

I honestly think the Hawks shouldn't sell OR buy much. The Cup is out of reach this year, no need to trade picks or prospects for the Dale Weises of the world. But don't trade Crawford just to get rid of Seabrook's contract or anything like that either.

After next year. It was a two year extension they signed him to middle of last season. The Seabs and Toews contracts are the anchors right now. The contracts for next, oh 5 maybe years are kinda bleak might be longer than that even. Have no problem with the Saad trade back

Saad for Panarin was the right move, though it's interesting that we got Saad back to help Toews, but all that happened was Toews made Saad bad.


I think they have to keep going for it until they can't possibly go for it anymore. They have two more years of Crawford after this one and then the party's over. I get frustrated and say they need to tank but I see now that even just not being in first place is a nuclear holocaust to interest in Chicago hockey. God forbid they're actually bad again. For the sake of the sport here as a whole, the Hawks need to force themselves into longshot competition.

EDIT: the Penguins are worse off than we are right now (2 points over to our 4 over) but I doubt they're hoisting the white flag.

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The Hawks are not going to be sellers. They cannot afford the message that would send to their fans. If anything, they will only make a small move. They have a lot of cap space so they have a lot of options. The reality is this team is done and the window is closed. They have over 17 M in cap space tied to a 3rd line center and a 3rd pairing dman.

Best case scenario, Crawford plays great and they win a round or two in the playoffs. Gotta hope Rocky eats Seabrook's contract after the next lockout.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

You know what really sends a bad message to the fans? Shutting down the league to bust labor for the third time in 15 years.

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Why? I recall there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth when they let Antti Niemi go. Didn't they find Crawford soon after? I'm thinking that decent goalies can be found.

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

Well, decent, yes, but franchise goalie, less likely. And no, they found Crawford years before he made it to full-time NHL status; he was a second-round pick in an all-time great draft (2003, he was always meant to be a franchise cornerstone, it just took a while with the Khabibulin/Huet signings). Niemi was a dude Tallon found in the Finnish league to get depth in Rockford.

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True, but I just expect it now. The first couple months will be gone and we'll have a 48 game season.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

One more lockout and I'm probably done. They're charging $650MM for an expansion team in Seattle but apparently can't keep the rest of their league in business. Whatever.

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Tallon, guy was just on fire building up this franchise.

The two 48-game seasons have produced the best regular season hockey I've seen in my lifetime. Shorter season with every game played in-conference means more, plus they've kicked in when football is winding down.

But it's still not worth pissing away momentum in hot markets, giving TV partners an excuse to drop you, giving the hockey haters like Bernstein and Cowherd excuse #100000 to bash the sport on their platforms, etc. Make a fucking deal before the summer of 2019.

It amazes me that NHL fans romanticize the players to the extent they do, hailing them as the most real and down-to-earth athletes, the guys who run through a brick wall for the love of the game and even resist death in doing so, but then when the owners get booboofaced about overpaying third-line wingers and shut down the league to claw back 5% of revenue, most fans' sympathies immediately shift to the likes of liquor wholesalers, oil frackers, monopolistic telecom corporations, and purveyors of the worst chain pizza in America. Relatable!

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Yes Murph sometimes takes calls on hockey when he has an hockey expert on.

Before this last Pens run, weren't they in the same situation 2 years ago? They looked to be going nowhere, then they fired their coach, and the new coach adopted a playing style that suited the Pens stars perfectly and they go on and win 2 cups in a row.

Nothing like that for the Hawks? Catch lightning in a bottle?

Got a name in mind?

You're also neglecting the part where Jim Rutherford did the Jim Rutherford thing where he gets bad general managers to make one-sided trades with him. The Penguins acquired Phil Kessel for a bucket of tripe; do you think we can swing Erik Karlsson at 50% retained salary for Tanner Kero, Jan Rutta, and picks? and then also maybe Michael Frolik, also with salary retained, for a failed college prospect and also Logan Couture, also with salary retained, for future considerations and one of Jamal Mayers's sportcoats?

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Is there any explanation for what has happened to Toews? I heard some shit that he is vegan now and that he is also a pothead?? WTF??? The dude was on a HOF trajectory...

It seems that Toews has discovered interests beyond hockey while Kane, having leaned over the edge of the abyss, just practices all day.

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I read the same thing but the pot thing someone said was made up by one of the posters here. I never heard it outside these forums so it's probably bs.

Pot or no pot it doesn't matter.

What is obvious is Toews is not the player / Captain the hawks are paying. Kane.....he just continues to be a monster of a hockey player.

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I always figured Toews was one concussion away from being out of the league after his early issues with them and I'm stunned he's avoided another big one.