[quote=Hawks_49]Reading through, I have seen some questions pertaining to getting rid of Murphy. I seem to remember Johnny Oduya taking a long time to acclimate to the Hawks system, and once he did he became a crucial player for Chicago. I think Murphy just needs time. He played in a completely messed up system on a really bad team going nowhere. He has to get rid of bad habits, and that isn't going to happen qu

Exactly Spot On!!!!
Everyone is so quick to OVEREACT here on this board.

Agreed. I still maintain he's a momentum killer on the PP too
- Assman22

The Hawks' PP has stunk for about 8 years and now its Seabrook's fault? At least he fires it from the point when the opportunity presents itself.

The alternative would be replacing him there with Cody Franson - but that means having to watch him get completely undressed as he waddles around on his skates trying to play defence 5 on 5, which he is completely incapable of.

Well, there is no proof that he will be. He was also bad his last season in Arizona (for the whole season, not parts of it).
- DutchSenators

Doesn't look to me like Hammer has been much of an upgrade in Arizona on poor old Connor Murphy. Maybe thats because the whole team is wretched.

I still wouldn't classify Hayden as an enforcer. I don't want him fighting goons, but he can certainly patrol the ice for the rats that will come out the woodwork.
- kwolf68

Goons are gone buddy, your gonna see more of the, as I like to reference , the Al Secord, Billy Guerin , Rick Tocchet type players return , gotta even put Bob Probert in that mix also. I like Hayden , and eventually he may be a top nine guy, right now it's a numbers game.
I would trade Schmaltz, Hinostroza, , Anthony Louis, Debrincat and ? For Duchene and Tyson Barrie, but as stated before , Montreal probably is gonna get that done sooner than later, man do they need scoring, I just don't know what Bergivan is offering.

Doesn't look to me like Hammer has been much of an upgrade in Arizona on poor old Connor Murphy. Maybe thats because the whole team is wretched.
- RickJ

I never understood the love Dave Tippette got as coach, but maybe with Bettman's stink all over the team, no one could be successful there

Murphy has looked fine as a 24 3.9 mil player that is a #4 basically. Murphy contract is 24-28 at 3.9 Hammers is 30-34 at about 4.9 AVG (guess) Murphy needs to be hammer in his early 30's not hammer in his mid 20's. this is hammer's 11th year and has played 750 games. I do this day never understood Seabs contract. Kane and Teows while slightly higher then I thought by .5. but was fine with the term all done by 34. Seabs was over paid by 1 mil and 4 years. We would have beed better just letting him walk. hogs play 2 games this weekend. If we can get seabs contract off our books and get a few young guys to take 3-4 year deals at fair AAV. We might not have to blow the team up in 3-4 years. Wish they would have got panik on another year then Craw would come off. Rutta and kempny are UFA this year as well.

Just watched the first period of the Minne game. I guess the 2nd period was better?

I say this because I was reading how Chicago 'outplayed' the Wild, and I must have missed those parts - because I sure didn't see it. I saw maybe one decent (albeit broken) zone entry with any real pressure -and that was one where Saad and Panik sorta had to improvise after Saad came over to help out on the RW boards.

Outside of that - it was a lot of bad passes, and some really bad positioning - and I was regularly seeing forwards on top of each other - with the resulting nothing happening, but a rapid exit from the offensive zone by the puck.

Forsling did pretty good though. Was pretty noticeable - although it was largely when he had to get back quickly to corral some loose pucks in the d zone. Had a couple of decent chances in traffic.

Hopefully tomorrow's game will be better -although I might not get to see it relatively live.
- steve-hist-sdc

Yeah, you should probably watch the full game if you're going to pass judgement.

That is completely my point. I stated AA with Kane can work IF the other wing is elite level (Panarin). Moving Hartman in for Panarin is a bit of a downgrade, thus I argue we need more from the center. Schmatlz is MUCH faster and a much better creater than Anisimov, thus his FIT with 38 and 88 is much better than 15s fit there. It's simple combinations. Yes, change the center if you have too. My issue with moving 15 to that line is it screwed that line up and the That's why I think AA seemed to have something working with 12 and 10. Its the styles that compliment each other.

In fact as soon as Schmatlz went down I stated on this blog I was opposed to moving 15 to Line 2. Q did it and first game out he was hitting the Line Rolodex. Kero doesn't excite me on Line 2...so that's why I didn't whine too much with AA there, but that line has been lackluster since that switch. can't wait to get 8 back so these debates go go bye bye.
- kwolf68

This is very good post.

Huge game tonight boys. A chance for a little pay back. We should see a very charged up Hawks team.

Because Duchene fits a NEED (center, fast, can win draws) although I still would rather have a Top 4 D-man. IF we got Dutch then AA could move to wing so it would not only bolster our speed and faceoff game we'd bolser our wing position by moving a big solid player out there. I am done with it, but wanted to clarify because you called into question why I was reacting a certain way in different situations. Hope I cleared it up.
- kwolf68

Duchene skates on the off side of Kane and AA rounds off the third line up the middle and him and Sharp can do savvy veteran things together until one or the other gets concussed.

Annnnnnd, between Toews, Schmaltz, AA, Crawford, Sharp and Seabrook there are quite a few dudes on that roster who have missed a fair amount of time or suffered multiple concussions and are probably a nasty hit away from derailing this teams chances.

OK, call me a meatball (would be the second time today, Gatekeeper got me earlier LOL), but IMO when a Raffi Torres runs a guy like he did Hossa, someone takes the instigator and preferably someone like Hayden or gorilla salad or Brouwer who can send the message. Even Seabrook who can take care of things if pushed.

Problem is guys like Torres and especially Kronwall would always turtle when challenged. Bickell gave Kronwall some payback in 2013 though.
- John Jaeckel

Or you just take money out of their pockets via significant suspensions and discontinue satiating the bloodlust of fans who are unimportant in terms of growing the game in a meaningful way.

Murphy out and Franson in tonight.

I'm not loving this 8 headed monster on D. I think CHI needs #5 to play and improve to solidify the top 4.

Also, the Hawks D got walked around last spring by the Preds forwards. Osterle would make more sense than Franson if Murphy is coming out.

That's just me though.

Murphy out and Franson in tonight.

I'm not loving this 8 headed monster on D. I think CHI needs #5 to play and improve to solidify the top 4.

Also, the Hawks D got walked around last spring by the Preds forwards. Osterle would make more sense than Franson if Murphy is coming out.

That's just me though.
- TyCamScore

NM... the above was from Laz... Powers thinks Oesterle may be making his debut tonight.

Is Josi playing tonight for the Preds?

Is Josi playing tonight for the Preds?
- SimpleJack

Don't know...
But I'm sure that idiot VopatsRash will be stopping by to enlighten us with his stupidity

Is Josi playing tonight for the Preds?
- SimpleJack

This is all we know so far.

@TomAWillis
Calle Jarnkrok (who missed yesterday's practice) and Roman Josi are taking part in the #Preds morning skate. No Yannick Weber. #NSHvsCHI

Hammer is in the second pairing on his left side tonight.

Huge game tonight boys. A chance for a little pay back. We should see a very charged up Hawks team.
- z1990z

I wouldn't mind seeing the Hawks putting up another 10 spot on these guys like they did in the Pens game.

Why didn't the Hawks do a paper transaction and send Schmaltz to Rockford while he was injured and call up Hino or Kampf?
- tvetter

I would like to think that it sends a bad signal to send an injured player down not to mention the financial hit he would take.Nick makes 70000 when in the A as opposed to 950000 up on the parent club,the union would lose it.

Per Tracy Meyers - Schmaltz out again tonight...

Kero centering 2nd line this evening...

https://twitter.com/Tramy...status/919243819190808577

Per Tracy Meyers - Schmaltz out again tonight...

Kero centering 2nd line this evening...

https://twitter.com/Tramy...status/919243819190808577
- DK002

the NS injury shows us that we do not have a team that can overcome injuries especially at C. With him and slotting everyone else where they should be top 5 team without him middle of the pack.

the NS injury shows us that we do not have a team that can overcome injuries especially at C. With him and slotting everyone else where they should be top 5 team without him middle of the pack.
- kmw4631

Schmaltz being out for 4 games is way too small of a sample to really know how the Hawks would do without him. The coaches are making adjustments to the lineup.

Edit: I should say more so changes to the line combinations to be more specific.

Good to see Kero centering that 2nd line. FINALLY Q figured out the obvious. This way the 1st and 3rd lines stay the same, I wanna see 10-15-12 start to build some chemistry.

Duchene skates on the off side of Kane and AA rounds off the third line up the middle and him and Sharp can do savvy veteran things together until one or the other gets concussed.

Annnnnnd, between Toews, Schmaltz, AA, Crawford, Sharp and Seabrook there are quite a few dudes on that roster who have missed a fair amount of time or suffered multiple concussions and are probably a nasty hit away from derailing this teams chances.
- fattybeef

You are correct about everything you say about the concussion issues. I have mentioned this previously but have been largely ignored. Maybe saying it short and sweet, concise like you did....hits home.

The whole thing about concussions is that in retrospect trading your #1 choice can come back to hurt you. Bowman won three Cups and trading a #1 was part of his equation for success in some Cup runs.

Going forward it is the nature of this roster to come up with more top young players by using their #1 to draft well. One is delusional often when suffering a concussion. One is delusional if you think this group has any serious Cup aspiration. Instead just hope to make playoffs. Q has to play kids if he hopes team will be better in long run.

The loss of players to concussion is a very real concern around the league. If the Blackhawks have a major player felled by a concussion, both Stan and Q will have to worry about making playoffs. But if I am McDonough I would not judge them as failing should concussions be a reality check point. No, I look at how players develop, coaching of players through how they respond to coaching strategy and instruction is what McDonough should consider.

The pp is a head scratcher. These guys are all stars but there is no urgency. No Dusty Bufly in front of the net. IMO this is why they lost last game. Not the goofy coaches call. The coaches call worked exactly as the league wanted it to.

I hate watching the wild. Boring!!!

Tonight should be high flying. GO HOCKS!!!