I don't know if I agree with you on Reichel or not yet, but I see where you are coming from. Raddysh was the one killing me today.

They aren't good. The defense is terrible. The goal tending is odd. The young players look lost, like they aren't sure where they should be or they aren't in the right spot. The old players are...old and slow. All of it is a bad combinations of things. I hope Bedard doesn't get too frustrated. I don't expect much this year.

No shot at the playoffs.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

when it was the clear the staff didn't want reichel to 'contaminate' bedard & kurashev, you knew this would be the next step. i don't think he needs a total reset, i think playing on the 3rd/4th line isn't a punishment, but it should make it a bit easier for him to get going offensively. to go against other 3rd/4th lines and lower opponents' D-pairings. not a skill factor, but a softness issue. soft on the puck in all zones. hawks at a 5x4.5 deficit when the opponent has the puck and reichel on the ice. his confidence is damaged, needs to get that back and then go from strength to strength. speed and skill.

i compared him to the blues' jake neighbours. neighbours was taken 9 spots after reichel in 2020. neighbors now has 9 goals on the year, reichel with only 1 goal for the season - and that on PP. all this after 22 games. the stats tell us that reichel weighs 30 lbs. less than neighbours and reichel certainly plays like it.

after the same amount of games - hawks have 4 points less than last year.

Despite the fact that I'm hockey stupid, don't watch the games for more than a few minutes at a time and don't know any of the players except for Bedard, I still think they'll get the 8th seed.

You don't have to be a hockey expert to look at the standings, see they are the 2nd worst team in hockey(by wide margin) and deduce they are not getting the 8th seed.

yea if anything they're looking worse and worse each game.

The early season addrenaline has worn off for most of the young guys and they are now starting to struggle. All except Bedard who still looks great even though he's basically playing on an island with no help.

The vets are either injured, kicked off the team or just suck like Seth Jones. Only vets playing well are Foligno and Donato.


Some 3rd and 4th liners are playing well, but that doesn't move the needle or the win column.



The real question is can they drop beneath San Jose for worst record in the league. i was offered tickets and had to pick from a bunch of games. I took Hawks vs San Jose. Seems like the perfect game if all you want to do is see Bedard hopefully light it up. SJ gave up 20 goals in 2 games a few weeks back.


The big name in the 2024 draft is Celebrini at Boston U. Would love to be watching him and Bedard on the same line next year.

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I agree. They have lost some of the new season energy. I hope some of the forwards can still keep learning but seems hard. I wonder how much the vets add to the dip. Murphy and Tinordi were terrible yesterday. I read that for 3 of the MN goals they were both on the ice and they had each played something like 7 minutes to that point, it's so demoralizing. I think yesterday's game was the 3rd in 4 days and you kind of knew going in they wouldn't do anything anyway. They are still pretty much meeting what I expected but all in all it's still been better than watching the last few years.

It is way better than the last few years. There is hope and potential.

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

yep just having Bedard makes it worth watching.

It will only get better next year when we bring in even more young guys and maybe start signing some useful vets.

Gonna be a long process. The team is starting from ground zero. It's not like when they got Kane and Toews and they already had a few of the future mainstays on the team including Keith, Sharp, Buff and several others. That team finished 10th in the conference and had two supestar rookies in K&T.


This team will be a much slower burn unless the free agent market it tapped.


Think about it, it normally takes a few years for a rookie to get acclimated and start producing. The Hawks have several young guys who haven't even started that clock yet cause they are still in college and juniors.


Enjoy the ride, I know I am. As long as #98 is out there.

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nhl hard cap to go to $87.7 million next year, 2024-25 - the hawks will have some $50+ million to wheel and deal with. the more important number to the hawks may be the floor, which would be in the mid $60s million.

we'll see.

going forward....at the world juniors in sweden, C nazar with 6 points (all assists) in 3 games for the usa. gavin hayes 1 point (assist), no points for oliver moore, while D rinzel is a '0' at even strength for a usa side that is +11 in goal differential. moore and rinzel did score in a pre-tournie warm-up game with canada's juniors last week.

seen some of nazar's highlites. smallish. some assists came from hard corner work, one was a classy backhand vs. the swiss.

tough stretch...the club is basically a collection of 4th liners and we get 2 goals in last 3 games, shit defense...goalies making great saves, 2 minutes later give up a softie.

bedard is slumping in all facets. i'm of the opinion to put beauvillier on his line. by the end of the season, club should have evidence on whether to keep beauvillier or not. reese johnson tries, but...sad to see him fail to lift a puck over a goalie's pads when given 3 seconds to do so - 3 feet out. club has too many reese johnsons on the roster. katchouk is back...etc.

hawks only 3 points ahead of san jose.

the problem now is the IR list is almost longer than the list of active players. All these vets they brought in? Only a couple of them are left. You want Bedard with Beauvillier? Too bad, he just went on the IR.

I wouldn't even call them a collection of 4th liners. It's more like one superstar, a few 4th liners and then mostly AHL level players.

Hopefully we catch San Jose soon and take the lead for the Cellebrini sweepstakes.

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Hoping the current trend continues, although it is painful to watch.

How is it that they are even worse than last year?

Reddit+Twitter hockey world will melt down when the Hawks get the #1 pick for the second year in a row.

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

Lots of injuries. Edit: young defense, no one to keep up with Bedard.

Can’t wait to see it!

yes, i do like beauvillier. thought he was decent on the islanders...not that i followed them every game, but i remember him scoring goals in the playoffs for the isle. basically has 30 career playoff points in 50 career playoff games for the islanders. not too shabby playoff production for a club never being a serious contender for their conference.

the issue with beauvillier is the money. he's at $4+ million per year - contract expires at end of this season. imo, the hawks just overpaid a bit for the foligno and dickinson extensions. is beauvillier worth dickinson (9 career playoff points in 40 career playoff games) money? i'd say yes. will beauvillier be interested in a new contract, earning basically the same now? probably not - he's 26, going into the prime of his career. i hope they can get it done, if not, i can understand the hawks' reluctance - no proof either way from this small sample size of his abilities.

the hawks just beat san jose and lost out a bit on the cellebrini sweepstakes. san jose outplayed us at home - mrazek was excellent. going to watch tonight's game with the sabres - i expect to see soderblum. let's see how he does on rebound control and corralling loose pucks in the crease.

yes, it is...i guess i don't mind as much. i do cringe when scrubs score - i'm sure davidson won't get fooled. vlasic really asserting himself...thought phillips started slowly, came on. i think he'll play tonight; zaitsev out. kaiser started out fairly well, his form dipped and then was embarrassed in detroit - never seemed to recover. hope he gets more nhl opportunities this year. also like crevier, hope he also gets more chances, just getting nhl experience is gold.

not sure why tinordi (free agent after season) is getting time and megna (another free agent after this season) has played fairly well enough to deny games to phillips/crevier/kaiser. hawks have to have 1 eye looking forward as zaitsev is also in his last year - age 32 and earning $4.5 million per - will also likely be gone. play the young guys now.

poor 1st period offensively. the mighty scrubs are playing very scrubbily. i lost count of guttman's negatives after 3-4 negative plays. looks like waite has soderblum kicking out rebounds much more robustly than the prior deadening of the puck and giving fat rebound chances 10-15 feet out.

better period - helped by 3 PPs. buffalo gets a re-direct goal out front. no fault of soderblum.

Seems like every time I turn on a Hawks game it is in intermission. Then when I return 17 minutes later I am quickly treated to an ugly goal or two by the opposition.

It has been especially brutal these past few weeks. Previously my main motivator was to check on 98 (and on my futures wager for him to win ROY). But even that reason is lost for now.

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

yeah. an ugly goal..

not the best from soderblum on the sabres second goal. i've criticized crawford for similar soft goals (usually low, bundles puck into net) from similar areas (below the goal line). i was shocked at panger's reaction. that was being as critical towards a player for an individual mistake that i've ever heard panger....and that player happens to be goaltender.

as if pang and soderblum himself, don't know soderblum's scouting report. rebounds, put shots on goal. i guess panger is more forgiving towards D-men that who can't clear the puck when given 2 seconds to clear or when a forward can't handle a pass at his own blue line.

thought soderblum was good. beaten by 2 re-directed shots and the goal that saw his euro instincts take over - where he tried to head the puck away.

panger doesn't notice and criticize blackhawks that can't handle/fumble passes on potential rushes, skate into cul-du-sacs, miss wide open goals shooting wide from 15-20 feet out, cycling the puck to an area where the hawks player is outnumbered by the opponent?

Who did PBP last night? Where was Vosters?

And yes I was told I would love Panger. But so far am unimpressed.

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

islanders/tnt voice brendan burke did the game last night. vosters didn't travel to buffalo, as the original game was to be on tnt. islanders play the hawks tonight, i'm guessing burke hitched a ride with pang on the hawks charter.

not the first time around here for pang. always full of energy. loves to stand behind the glass, between the benches. i was just surprised at his reaction to buffalo's second goal. he knows what kind of blackhawks club he was coming back to. he's been positive and definitely has looked past dozens and dozens of mistakes. as an ex-goalie, he decided to take a critical stand last night.

pang mentioned that hasek's arrival to the hawks hastened his departure. pang had his shot when bannerman and skorodenski were the goalies. pang didn't impress enough and the hawks ended up getting suave from the sabres and mason from the caps, to settle the goalie issue. after a few years - still no good..hawks got flash-in-the-pan chevrier for a magical 1989 playoff run and then belfour came up. by this time, panger blew his knee out and jimmy waite was the #3, behind belfour and hasek.

new york media wasn't impressed that the hawks beat the islanders in ot and this is what the n.y. post thinks of the blackhawks:



yeah.

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

Mrazek extended for two years. I really wasn't expecting that even though the young goalies don't seem that great.

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

Hawks luckily didn’t have any of the Canadian Juniors rapists on the roster. The Devils or Flames seem to be the new trendy team to hate.