Is Stan heading back to genius status? His course corrections look really solid.

Kane is a potential mvp.

The Captain appears healthy for the first time in a couple years.

Keith and Seabrook teamed back up and looking youthful.

Thank God for Delia. Ward seems to be knocking the rust off.

This team is rolling and a really fun watch. Debrincat/Strome/Kahun...rolls right off the tongue.

With the expiring contracts, existing cap space, upcoming cap bump, potential ltir for Crawford...the Hawks could be looking at $20+ million in cap space.

Rather than wait until after the season, could they pull off a trade for Panarin then sign him to a new contract? Can you imagine adding the Bread Man back onto this team?

They'd still have room to add another big name defenseman and keep 2 and 7.

This team could be positioning to be a force for the next 3-4+ years.

Feel free to tell me I'm a giddy idiot.

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Def some things to be excited about.

Keith and Seabrook looking youthful? Not sure on that. Hopefully they can be serviceable for a little while.

They have to solidify the goalie position. I have really liked what I have seen from Delia....but is he the answer long term? Ward definitely isn't and you just cannot count on Crawford going forward.

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

Panarin, even by Russian standards, is very unassimilated, and is probably going somewhere with a large Russian community, i.e., New York or Miami. I guess he already summers in Miami as it is, so he could just live there year-round and commute to Lauderdale for work. Either one would be a perfect fit for him: he can rack up empty numbers on teams that will never win anything and chill out doing cool stuff. You'll forgive me if I'm a little bearish on Panarin after his disappearing acts in the playoffs.

Delia, who came into the league undrafted and was playing in the E as recently as last January, is probably not going to be a bona-fide #1 goalie. His ceiling is probably as a strong 1B like all of Crawford's backups were until last year. That's fine if there's still a Crawford for him to back up.

I'm not sure if I'm ready to say the future is bright, but at least it might not be completely bleak.

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Which equates to "bright" for most other Hawk fans.

It's not like Chicago isn't one of the top three in Russian population or anything. Even if it's not Panarin, the Hawks are positioning to be buyers, not sellers.

Who else might they be looking at?

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I wouldn’t say bright yet but it’s definitely no longer the outright disaster it was looking to be.

Before the season we had:
Crawford: TBD
Murphy: 6’5 - back injury - plus is he even good?
Seabrook: Overpaid, 3rd pairing, rapidly deteriorating game
Keith: No longer Norris caliber
Toews - overpaid, Canadian Chris Drury
No scoring or defensive depth

I’m forgetting other obvious questions/issues. I’m just happy to see competence. The boys are still giving up a shit ton of shots against. The up down at least makes for entertaining games

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Well, as a Blackhawks fan, I really am not sure if I want Panarin at the price he's gonna command (unless they move another scorer...Saad?), plus Cat has pretty much made up for losing Panarin's goal totals. I guess Wayne Simmonds would look pretty good as a vet with some toughness. I would much rather the Hawk stick with building the defense back up, but I'm not sure who's out there FA-wise they can go after that would be a substantial long-term upgrade.

The city of CBus is begging Panarin to sign long-term, but they collectively know he's not coming back. They are more amenable to saying bye-bye to Bobrovsky, who can't seem to put it together when it counts.

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Not a mult.

Yeah, the few times I've been able to catch them recently, they have been fun to watch, and the pp has greatly improved, but when playoff time comes around, it's all about goaltending and defense.

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Not a mult.

I think if you sign Panarin, you can say goodbye to resigning Debrincat.

DSK line, and I don’t mean the hotel room cocaine lines offered to maids by Dominic Strauss Kahn.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

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The good news is that out of the 16 FAs on the Hawks roster, only perhaps two or three (Delia, maybe Perlini and/or Dahlstrom) are worth keeping, and should come at a reasonable price. If they can get rid of another one or two chunks of salary, they could be players in the market.

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Not a mult.

The problem is that quite a few teams have a lot of cap space. We talk about Stone and Panarin but I think Stone will resign in Ottawa and Panarin is likely headed to Florida unless you pay him well over 10 M per season. Everyone is rightfully guarded about Simmonds. Dzingel is having a nice season but do you really want to pay him 6-7 Mil per year? I have always liked Silfverberg and felt that Anaheim has not gotten enough out of him.

While this run has been fun, it hurts their future. The Hawks needed to get lucky and get a top 2 pick. That would have been the best way to get a top 6 forward. I see them missing the playoffs and getting a pick in the 8-11 range.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

Delia locked up thru 21-22, $1mil aav.

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The Hawks did kinda get lucky by landing Strome, a #3 overall. Now he's starting to play like it.

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The only way Panarin makes sense is if they can get him cheap(under $8mil?). Columbus has shown interest in Anisimov...that would make signing Panarin more feasible.

Sure they need another D-man or two. Who's it gonna be? Gardiner? No way it's Karlsson.

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I think you gotta get rid of Saad and Anisimov's salaries before you make that signing.

Where on the top 6 is Panarin going to play? The wing with Toews and Kane? I do not want to touch the second line.

So then you have a 3rd line including Anisimov AND Saad, which is way too much money for the playing time.

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

Looks like launching Q was the right move.

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1st line instead of Caggiulia.

Saad and Anisimov are banished to the 3rd line now. Though I share your sentiment in not wanting to pay the price for Panarin. He's not the "final piece" like Hossa was when the Hawks splurged.

Right, Panarin opposite Kane...set it and forget it.

I get it though, they need another D-man or two.

Here's their lines from yesterday:

Caggiula — Toews — Kane

DeBrincat — Strome — Kahun

Saad — Anisimov — Perlini

Kunitz — Kruger — Hayden

Keith — Seabrook

Dahlstrom — Murphy

Koekoek — Gustafsson

Putting Panarin on the first line and moving Caggiula into Perlini's spot and those top 3 lines are really solid.

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I hate to be the dark cloud, but you've already answered the problem and why I cannot get excited about this recent run. Come playoffs, that's a whole let of not even getting the puck out of the zone...then there's the whole goalie thing.

In 2016 and 2017, Corey Crawford was playing his best. Keith, Seabrook were younger....plus you had Hammer. Those teams couldn't get out o the first round of the playoffs. I wish I could see some optimism here....I just can't.

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Those teams couldn't score beyond Kane and Panarin.

This team is already better offensively than those.

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Is it possible, Q was holding back Stan? It always felt like Stan acquired the right players but Q never wanted them.

In the playoffs 2016 and 2017, the Blues and Predators trapped them to the point they couldn't even move the puck to be in a position to score. Guess I saw something different.

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I agree, but that's not just on Defenseman. That's on offense that can't move the puck, that can't score. Neuter Kane and Panarin and there wasn't much else. Toews was in the depths of whatever was wrong with him. Hossa was rashy. Then you were left with the likes of Schmaltz, Panik, Anisimov, Hartman, Kero, Motte, Rasmussen, Vinny. Those guys can't score!

That team couldn't score!

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We know that Q had no use for Kempny and Daley and they went on to contribute to Cup winners after leaving Chicago. A good coach uses a player's strengths rather than forcing them to play into his system. I always thought Q was a one-trick pony and when he had elite talent and depth, he won. If Q was still here do you think he would have put Gus at the point on the PP replacing Keith? Having Debrincat in the slot opposite Kane is an obvious deployment but I wonder if Q would have had him there.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

DAC, great points. I thought I heard, they actually started practicing the PP once Q was let go. Kind of mind boggling since it was sooooo bad under Q.

I am on record as not being a big Q fan. He did way too much line flipping, had no use for young players, ran through assistant coaches like crazy, and generally had a crappy power play for the level of talent.

That being said, he will go down as one of the best coaches ever. Glad we had him for a decade.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Obviously, he is a HOF coach and we all know how he guided this team to 3 Cups. However, he was an above-average, not great, coach before he came here and then he got 3 HOFers in their prime, Hossa, Seabrook, and a generally loaded roster when they won their Cups. I'll always contend that other NHL coaches would have done the same thing with the Hawks roster and I will always give more credit to the players for the Cups then the coaching. Don't get me wrong, as a Hawks fan I am appreciative of the job Q did but I don't bow down to the alter of Joel Quenneville like some fans do.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.