vs. 
FACEOFF: 7:30 PM Central
TV/RADIO: CSN, WGN Radio 720
YEE HAW!: Defending Big D
Here we go. The curtain raiser on the sometimes confusing, sometimes frustrating, sometimes slog, 82-game story of the 2014-2015 season. And while the Hawks certainly have some new parts to show and some questions to answer, the excitement will mostly be contained on the other side of the ice.
Continuing our spin around the Central, and today we’ll look at the Minnesota Wild who became a far more annoying playoff opponent than anyone thought they would. People forget just how good Crawford had to be in Games 5 and 6 to keep the Wild at bay (in those games where Peter Regin was among the best Hawks forwards and then was never heard from again). It could work out that way again.
Moving along in our look around the Central, it’s time we get to everyone’s new favorite darling (mine as well. I think it’s the jerseys), the Dallas Stars. They’ve gotten so much attention that now everyone hates them, so think of them as last year’s Avalanche. Except they’ll probably be a better possession team than last year’s, or this year’s, Avs, though probably won’t come close to that point total.
Forwards: Clearly, this is where the big splash came for the Stars, trading Alex Chiasson for Jason Spezza (essentially) while signing Ales Hemsky,. While everyone focuses the 1-2 of Seguin-Spezza, to me the real story is that it slots The Ginger Ninja Cody Eakin, who I just love to an irrational degree, onto the 3rd line which is what he really is. A checking line of Roussel-Eakin-Garbutt/Sceviour is going to be one of the most annoying around. If Peverley can return, and that’s obviously a huge if, it gets better. The Stars are one move away from having just about as good of a top 9 as there is in this division. And that one move could be as simple as calling up Brett Ritchie at some point.
Like any healthy person, you can only spend so much time looking inward. Eventually you get sick of everything in there, and it’s a good thing to take that distaste for the world and aim it at others (I think?). So with that in mind, it’s time to stop poring over our internal questions and look at the other teams in the Central. And while I could never hope to come close to replicating what Andrew Cieslak does about the Blues over at HockeeNight.com, I’ll do my best.
As Stan Bowman gets closer and closer to his meeting with the Salary Cap Bobs, by now you’ve heard most of the names that are likely to go. Oduya, Leddy, Versteeg, with the latter two being the most likely, with whispers of Rozsival and Bickell behind that.
But should Andrew Shaw be part of this discussion?
The straight numbers wouldn’t be enough like they would be with Leddy, Versteeg, and Oduya. Shaw makes an even $2 million and the Hawks would have to shed a little more, possibly also packaging him with Versteeg. And yet it’s not a name you hear much. But what is Shaw worth to the Hawks, and what might he be worth to another team?
There’s been a lot of words both written and spoken about the Hawks cap crunch, and yet there hasn’t been a lot of focus as to how we got here as once again a member of the Hawks’ brass escapes any scrutiny from the main press. That’s ok, gives me something to do!
That said, I am a Stan Bowman fan. But since the parade of 2013… well, let’s just say that Stan hasn’t done his best work.
It’s been clear to just about everyone who watches the Hawks that the team goes as Duncan Keith goes. He was the league’s best d-man in ’09-’10, and the Hawks won the Cup. He admittedly didn’t care all that much the following season, and the Hawks were much worse off. He struggled to regain that form the following season and the Hawks again went out in the first round. He’s been superlative the past two years, and the Hawks have played until June.
However, last year saw something of a change in role for Keith, who no longer took the top defensive assignments, which went to Ebenholts och Elfenben. That left Keith to beat up on lesser opponents, all the while dragging around Seabrook’s dead ass.
Today’s question comes from ExOnMS.
How long until we see Stephen John’s in the lineup, and what should we expect from him straight away?
Johns has somewhat gotten lost in all the Teuvo hysteria, but we shouldn’t think the Hawks are any less excited about the Golden Domer. The Hawks tried to pry Johns out of South Bend for at least the past two years, disappointed when Johns chose to finish out his entire college career. But they have him now, and he’s clearly the best prospect the Hawks have on the blue line.
Today’s line of discussion comes from SuperHawk27:
The Hawks addressed what many said was their biggest weakness by signing Brad Richards for the 2nd line center spot, so ….What is the Hawks biggest weakness now if Richards pans out? Which team(s) in the west is the best equipped to take advantage of this weakness?
This is a tough one, because looking over the roster there certainly aren’t any glaring holes. And while I’m heavily tempted to say the head coach is the biggest weakness because I’m a giant smartass, that almost certainly isn’t true and even if Q has faults (at times crippling ones) the things he does well help make this team the force that it is.
So, where should we look?
Moving back into our Hawks’ centric season preview, we go to Dennis Kiley who asked what the 4th line will look like this time around.
For most teams this isn’t that important a question. But it is for the Hawks for a couple reasons. One, it’s likely that the Hawks will once again use their 4th line differently than most if not all teams. Second, not all teams are staring down the Kings again and their total depth, which may have been the difference between winning and losing last year and could be again this one (not to mention the Blues, Sharks, and Ducks are going to be pretty deep at forward themselves).
