No love for Laz's book?

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

Not to worry. I'm goin' in.

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The hawks are beginning to look like an actual pro hockey team. It is amazing how much better it id when you score early instead of allowing an early goal.

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Mulli is Howard Stern in his prime compared to Haugh.

And yet they are still almost worst team in the league. They aren't in dead last but they have also played 3 more games than almost every team.

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

It is probably too late to do anything other than hurt their draft position but it is fun to watch pro hockey. I just need to be entertained between sundays.

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Mulli is Howard Stern in his prime compared to Haugh.

They look like a team that can compete on a given night. I am good with that. For the first 3-4 weeks after Q got canned their effort was embarrassing.

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

Reasons why the Hawks are playing better:
1) Murphy and Dahlstrom have been getting the most and toughest minutes.
2) Seabrook and Keith have been pushed down to the 3rd and 2nd pairing which is where they belong.
3) Ruuta and Manning are not playing. The Hawks basically replaced their two worst defenders with arguably two that are playing the best defense of the season.
4) Gustafson has been installed as the only D man on the top PP and Debrincat has been put in the sniper role. Keith and Seabrook are both awful on the PP while Gus has proven to be competent as PP QB. Dare I say it- the Hawks PP looked good last night.
5) Strome is providing solid, top 6 production unlike the mess that was Schmaltz.
6) Ward and Delia are providing above average goaltending.
7) Kane gives a shit again.

On a side note, FUCK LANDESKOG. He just comes off as an asshole. Glad the Hawks made his penalty cost the Avs the victory. Was hoping it would happen in regulation.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

That Schmaltz trade is trending towards big.

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Yep I a situation like this tough decisions MUST be made. Q was not going to. It takes time.

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Elections have consequences.

Manning traded

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Schmaltz has been slightly more productive in Arizona than Strome in Chicago but we definitely know it wasn't working for Schmaltz here. Plus, Strome has an extra year on his ELC. While Schmaltz has all the tools, he never showed the IQ to put it all together. Strome has the vision and the IQ albeit without the wheel of Schmaltz. Overall, I am liking the trade. Once Anisimov is traded, Strome can center Kane and Debrincat or Panarin/Stone/Simmonds.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

Does Delia have what it takes to be a top goaltender in the league? That is one of the most important questions they have to answer. If he does then they are in good shape moving forward. If not, they are screwed.

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

Wait...what???

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Not a mult.

I don't think so on either count. If he could be an average goaler that would be a win. There are very few elite goalies especially ones that stay consistent. We have been spoiled by Crawford.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

LOL- I'm just throwing stuff out there. Anisimov is someone the Hawks consider trading and they'll have a lot of cap space this offseason and all those guys will be UFAs.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

We have been spoiled by Crawford, very much, but it has also shown that we do not have enough surrounding him right now with the contracts of Kane and Toews to be able to win without a top goalie. If they have any hope of winning anything in the remaining years of the dynamic duo they need a top goalie.

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

You know you guys other teams have two players with big contracts. Towed and Kane should not kill you forever. Yes it hurt a while but get over it and get to work. The Seabrook one is the one to be mad about.

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Elections have consequences.

How terrible did Caggiula become that we could get him for Brandon Manning? And Jason Garrison, I wanted Garrison seven years ago, not so much now.

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lol, Chiarelli traded Connor McDavid's friend for the guy who knocked McDavid out of his rookie season. Remember the time the NBA staged a coup of the 76ers' front office? The NHL needs to do that with the Oil, except instead of merely firing Chiarelli, they literally shoot him in the back of the head so that he can't do this to a third organization.

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Absolutely. That Seabrook contract is a top 5 worst contract in the league. 6.8 M for a 3rd pairing dman for another 5 seasons! Add in the NMC and the yearly signing bonuses and it is atrocious. Kane and to a lesser degree Toews are living up to their contract this season. I never thought the Hawks would seriously contend for a Cup once the 1988 extensions kicked in but I thought they would be a solid playoff team that might be able to reach a WCF. But the Seabrook contract has been the downfall of the team. Imagine if that cap space was actually going to a top pairing dman. Before Colliton started giving Seabrook 3rd pairing minutes, he was absolutely killing the team.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

You know Toews is living up to his contract this season when CH hasn't ripped him yet.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

Lazerus just had a player grades article in the Athletic.

Seabrook C
Ruuta D
Kunitz C-

He's such a fucking joke.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

Nobody got an F, although I guess Manning might have if not traded. The only guy with a D got sent to Rockford.

Yet the team in near the bottom of the conference, and got its coach fired. And yet the grading curve doesn't take cap hit into account?

Almost every grade is too high by a full letter, except the Finnish kid and maybe Kane.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Agreed. He made a comment about ignoring Seabrook's contract. You can't do that in a hard cap league. Seabrook is being paid to be a top 4 dman and he has to be sheltered on the 3rd pairing so he doesn't kill the team. That is failure.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

I'd be ok with Seabrook at a D.

But on a 13th place team in the conference needs to have at least three players with an F.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Hayden, Kunitz, and Manning would be those three. h-r has them at negative point shares, and not just -0.1 but -0.5. They're not just not contributing, they've actively fucking up. Luke Johnson has actually been more harmful than all three in fewer games.

The Manning signing was a disaster, and what's worse is that it was meant to be, if we're to believe that Bowman intentionally built a shitty blue line to spite Quenneville and reduce to absurdity the notion that we needed sturdy North American stay-at-homers at defense. It's a fireable offense.

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Winter Classic on the docket today.

May watch; may not.

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Not a mult.

I'm all in. Treating it like a Bears Sunday. Go Hawks!

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"This is Chicago, my friend. Anything can happen."

I wouldn't argue with a D for Seabrook.

Manning, Ruuta, and Kunitz are definitely Fs. If you are benched or demoted to the AHL, your season thus far is a failure.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

We are celebrating Christmas with my family today so the game being on is a wonderful background. My Dad will call Toews "Toes" and tell me how all great players are great skaters. He'll then tell stories about playing pond hockey in Hegwisch in the 60s and 70s with all my uncles.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.