I forgot about Andrew Ladd! He was on the third line too. I think Byfuglien might have been with Toews and Kane for part of the playoffs instead of Brouwer. What a loaded team that was. We were lucky.

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Toews and Kane weren't together. Kane was with Sharp in 2010.

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I distinctly remember a Kopecky-Sharp-Hossa line for a while there. I don't know, remembering lines from the Quenneville era is kind of a fool's errand.

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for whatever reason, the BN guy turned something that is objective for most, into something subjective. my take is some brown-nose action. i mean, murphy.

liking these wins more and more. getting away from unsuccessful forechecking after a dump in...to rushes, defense activating & pinching in, quick passing/movement. happy for mikheyev and allen scoring his 1st ever goal. allen can't score that goal if he's a stiff. young D looking very good on both ends. they're winning, i guess you stay with the current roster, though i'd get kaiser in.

i'd stick with soderblom on saturday in calgary, though i heard charlie R tell us that mrazek will get the start.

2025 world juniors start next week in ottawa, team usa announced it's roster and the only blackhawk is u of minnesota's FWD oliver moore. rinzel (by 6 months) too old to play, would have been a shoo-in on D. looking to next year, FWD john mustard (3rd round 2024, #67 overall) at providence and FWD a.j. spellacy (3rd round, #72 overall) at windsor (ontario hockey league) have a good shot at making the national junior team. spellacy was one of the final cuts this year.

i believe FWD nick lardis also made it to the final cuts for canada's junior team, while C sacha boisvert will probably get a long look for canada, next year.

top heavy D drafting has paid off, let's hope the next wave of FWDs can turn from prospects to legit NHLers.

in lieu of jones and martinez returning...kaiser sent down to rockford. wow. surprised, though i understand it's better that he plays and not sit.

yes, he made the obvious mistake against the devils where he couldn't clear the puck. was clearly exhausted - had to be on ice for a full 2 minutes in that patch of play. i'm not going to look for that goal again and count the number of other hawks who couldn't win nor clear the puck. at some point, the younger players may rebel when convicted and sentenced for a mistake, when crap veterans make the same mistakes and no one says anything. coach anders better be careful. kaiser is the future, not murphy nor brodie.

in the few games before the devils game, kaiser's form did dip. noticed he looked lost when manning the point on rare blackhawk sustained pressure in the o-zone - not making good decisions on when to shoot and pass. of course, the offense was helter-skelter with the failed forechecking system(s). does not have the size of nolan allen, but kaiser is a better skater and potential puck-moving d-man.

I assume that Kaiser will slot into Korchinski's former role with Rockford, and they will keep him playing until the trade deadline and see if they can move Brodie or Murphy. Not sure who they will send down when Jones comes back.

Phillips really seems to be the odd man out on defense. Upcoming RFA, can't break into the top 7. Not sure you can get anything for him in a trade, maybe a lower draft pick.

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

I watched the 1st period yesterday. They had more offensive zone time than other games, and the passing was crisp. I moved onto Wolverine/Deadpool and fell asleep.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

yeah, could boil down to simply being a LD. too many of those. it does and will show up at times at the point, as the blackhawks get better and increase puck possession time in the o-zone. chelios was a master of being able to play an off-point..ambidextrous play or a quick backhand flip and the puck was now on his forehand.

one can only hope they'll be able to trade either murphy or brodie. i believe murphy may be more doable - if they eat some of his salary. if murphy gets dealt and martinez leaves after this season, brodie can stay one more year as the wise old man of the D. i like kaiser, has a definite future, if not a current position in the nhl.

when jones and martinez come back, likely that RD crevier will get sent down. has plenty of waiver exemptions left. he's been ok. at times - still rough around the edges.

the D is the club's strength, let's not fuck that up. after 33 games last year, club had allowed 123 goals against. this year only 102 (how many empty-netters against?). 21 less goals, basically a 20% improvement. the D and improved G play showing tangible results.

saw that kaiser played last night in manitoba, as rockford lost 2-1.

with 4 current/future nhl d-men (kaiser/phillips/del mastro/levshunov), rockford held home club manitoba to only 19 shots on goal in 60 mins. rockford lost in a shootout. commesso in goal.

looks like jones in at D, crevier out. soderblom starting. kurashev still in exile.

we'll see if/how much time jones gets on the PK and PP.

tiny wolf in G for calgary. we really couldn't solve him the last time. calgary has been slumping a bit, good time to play them away. looking for bedard to get at least 2 points today. if scoreless again, staff really needs a rethink on his line mates. also think nazar will get a point or two.

mrazek gets the start.

nightmare 1st period. some great chances, wolf keeps the door shut. korchinski with a mistake, seth jones with a mistake - who will get punished?

jones on the PP and immediately, a shortie against. so, now vlasic is off the PP?

asshole posposil with the targeted hit - seems like bedard checked out of the game for a few shifts after that. if i remember correctly, posposil is on record as saying he will not fight, under any circumstance. foligno tried to play cop - after the fact- posposil not interested in fighting. one inch either way, concussion or broken jaw again.

i have to admit, flames playing the 'hot' blackhawks the right way. getting tough and heavy with them. hawks are a soft club. del mastro is supposed add toughness, if he ever gets the call.

once bedard scored, the flames turned to more heavy play and the dam broke.

again with pospisil, this time on nazar. this time donato played cop and the flames will take that all day.

is it a coincidence? jones back, mrazek back. some soft goals from mrazek and jones will always, always have a low hockey iq. the burning question is will murphy end up with more minutes than vlasic.

when murphy gets as many minutes as vlasic, it's considered a wasted afternoon watching the chicago hockey club. either we have a mini comeback or the game deteriorates into the blackhawks looking for pospisil/flames scoring goals. this club is a bad, bad match-up for the 2024-25 blackhawks. thought we'd figure out wolf today.

It's no coincidence. Why the fuck is Jones getting major minutes? I was hoping we would be done with that with the new staff.

Mrazek and Jones, along with Murphy, all blow.

Wake up the GM to add some toughness so the BS cheap shots on the young kids stop. If the Ranger want to move Rempe, trade for him. He'll pop that punk Pospisil.

mini comeback, not enough juice.

setting themselves up for a beating on monday in minnesota. the staff made a decision to go with jones on the #1 PP. made a typical dumb play at the blue line for the flames SH goal. went back to vlasic on the 5x3 PP in the 3rd period. scored right away - they couldn't wait to get jones back out and the PP sputtered. similar to foligno, where he's made the C, and his skills are diminishing every month at the age of 37. should a 4th line talent play 18+ minutes a game? should the C be playing 8 minutes a game? the club itself, put itself in that trick bag.

had 1 chance to tie the game. pulled mrazek, donato on the ice, hall on the bench. donato fanned on a shot in the slot and game over, 13th empty-net goal against. donato is playing extremely motivated in his contract season, always looks to shoot...at $2 million per, a very good deal. if he wants $4 million per, see you later.

yeah, i remember some other clubs went after him last year and he turtled. he's a big boy, but says that he doesn't believe in fighting. i guess he believes in maiming.

i was wrong. looked it up, pospisil has gotten into a few fights this year. one turtle and another where he had to throw punches.

thought i had remembered differently - where he said he will definitely never fight again. regardless, the guy is menace to hockey society, lots of clips of hits - some inside and others outside the rules. i watched the flames feed highlites and kelly hrudey was complimenting donato on what he did after the nazar hit.

here's a clip of him taking out 2 different kraken and the video telling us that pospisil doesn't want to fight anyone, due to having 6 concussions. lots of other incidents - elbows to morrisey of the jets and marchand of the bruins, the hits into the boards...guy is a menace, though i suspect bertuzzi will get fined for his slash on huberdeau.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6WvaOV5PJE

watched the CHGO blackhawk podcast concerning the flames game. the same CHGO reeling from recent layoffs - team blackhawks just lost greg boysen.

anyways, some heavy jabs being thrown between some fans who send them DMs and the hosts. all over seth jones. i'm not a fan. i realize GM kyle didn't acquire him and maybe until next year (2 successive years of raising the cap ceiling) - it's almost impossible to deal him. until then, i'm always willing to give him a chance to star....still waiting and fairly certain we'll be waiting and waiting. against calgary, jones made a mistake at the right point on the blackhawks first PP. he made a disastrous decision to pinch, when the puck and the opponent, had all the momentum - the other way. he's age 30, many years in the league. he couldn't read the play and make the correct decision. it's not the first time.

i go back to the 4 nations and team usa. the BN guy was pushing and rooting for vlasic. no chance.

here's team usa's D and contracts:

werenski (columbus) - $9,580,000 per. age 27
slavin (carolina) - $6,4000,000 per. age 30
mcavoy (boston) - $9,500,000 per. age 27.
hughes (vancouver) - $7,850,000 per. age 25.
hanifin (las vegas) - $7,350,000 per. age 27.
fox (ny rangers) - $9,500,000 per. age 26.
faber (minnesota) - $8,500,000 per. age 22.

seth jones earns $9,500,000 per, is age 30 and was never considered as a selection. there's a reason or two as to why he isn't rated by usa hockey and many blackhawk fans. also, based on the salaries - vlasic is an absolute steal for the blackhawks. very club-friendly contract ($4.6 million per). definitely more dynamic than faber or slavin.

listened to mike keenan's interview with scott laughlin. talked about what happened at his end with the blackhawks.

said he had GM managed/coached for 11 months out of the last 12 months in 91-92. gm/coach of stanley cup finalist blackhawks and coach of team canada during the 1991 canada cup (won). was tired...told wirtz he was being unfair about making a career decision in 2 weeks. did he want to coach? want more power as GM? both?

bill wirtz asked/told him to make a decision on GMing/coaching because the blackhawks didn't want to lose darryl sutter. shortly after...keenan went to a meeting called by wirtz.

as he walks in - no bill wirtz, no bob pulford, no rocky wirtz. only peter wirtz and wirtz family attorney gene gozdecki showed up and they promptly fired him.

timeline makes sense. sutter new coach and pulford reinstated as full-time GM.

at the time, some of that hazy, i thought i remembered that keenan said he had quit.

lots of health issues in recent years. says he fine, his voice didn't sound strong.

Worked out for the NYR.

for sure.

former leaf GM and tv broadcaster gord stellick was also involved with the interview. brought up the big debate in the lobby of a pittsburgh hotel between keenan and pat burns about chelios. who had the 'better' chelios?

keenan said chelios was one the best opponents he ever faced and one of the best hockey hall of famers he ever coached. told wirtz in late 89/90 into the summer of 1990 that the hawks should consider trading away savard (emergence of roenick) for either: bourque/coffey/chelios - if the club had serious stanley cup aspirations. keenan said he knew that no way would the bruins trade bourque and concentrated on chelios, since he knew the canadiens were always interested in french-canadians. keenan said after lots of prodding, GM serge savard finally accepted a deal...only to have bill wirtz nearly fuck it up at the very end, demanding a #1 pick from montreal. keenan said he had to scramble and made a private agreement with GM savard over some 2nd round picks.

2 years later, he was fired. keenan thought he had a gentleman's agreement with wirtz, $2 million for 4 years, i believe. no contract signing, he got fired.

interview was rather short and keenan was obviously trying to plug his book. wish he'd do an hour about his time here. he said tom watt taught him hockey, roger neilson taught him how to break down film and scotty bowman taught him everything else.

nazar looking more and more like damone from fast times:

club in buffalo and the chicago club may just be what the dr. ordered for the sabres. kurashev back from exile, anderson out. looks like mrazek gets the start. this could be the countdown for kurashev's chances to remain here. a few more disappearing acts and he has playing in the swiss league for $1.3 million per year, written all over him.

sabres with a some very good offensive D talent, but, similar to the blackhawks D, softer than baby poo. the blackhawks D rarely take the body, rarely stand-up at the blue line and can't clear the crease.

haven't been impressed with mrazek since returning from his injury and soderblom has also been so-so. these guys need to turn it up a notch. thought allen had a poor game in minnesota. hopefully, will bounce back. vlasic also quiet on this mini-losing streak.

https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/chicago-blackhawks/latest-news/3-realistic-trade-packages-that-land-blackhawks-dylan-cozens

this is out there today. not sure what it would take to get him, or, even if buffalo is willing to part with him. $7+ million per? if buffalo wants to tear the house down, good start to cut salary and go from there.

big C, ok face-off %. regarding the trade packages, don't want to give them any 1st round picks...to me, too early to give up colton dach. hayes isn't looking too good. i have no issue with trade hypothesis #2. phillips and 2 second rounders.

Kind of wish this was not on ESPN 2. Put it on that channel no one has.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

yeah, too much buffoonery to single out. 1st goal, won't blame brodie because vlasic got back late, but brodie should have sensed the unmarked sabre behind him. mrazek under siege - 2nd goal was soft. 3rd goal, korchinski with soft play for a D-man - but, we are accustomed to squirrely defensive play from him. too fucking soft on the puck for a d-man. he might be taking a westbound ride on the 90 very soon.

maybe, if nazar's shot goes in...too many maybes and what ifs and whatever for this club.

no excuses. team got in early this am. bruins played an OT game and got in the AM of a game at the united center and won.

terrible. worst game all season...this and the home columbus loss.

guys like donato and murphy...yeah. guys like bedard and vlasic need to take a long look in the mirror. trending towards bedard being a 4 star NHLer, nowhere near the 5 star generational talent. korchinski, trending towards what? maybe he should have joined the ice capades. i don't see any defensive improvement from him. really, really disappointing.

goaltenders taking us back to the start of the season and hope for brossoit. they're giving up too many softies for a club that can't afford to give up any softies.

Kurashev banned 1 yr.

What?

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Elections have consequences.