Last Night: TB/MON PIT/CBS ANA/DAL
Mr. Smith, may become less anonymous: ESPN Chi
This won’t matter, even if it does, it won’t: CSN
Tale of the tape: Blackhawks
River rat writing: Post-Dispatch
Is it weird that this makes me nervous?: NHL
The opposite of fun: PHT
For those new to our site, this is something we do on the eve of every playoffs. John Druce was a workman-like winger for the Capitals. In 1989-1990 he managed eight goals during the regular season, but then rode a 31.8% shooting percentage in 15 playoff games to score 14 goals. Basically, it’s who is going to be the surprise for the Hawks this spring?
A couple words on the candidates. Bryan Bickell is not on it because he’s put together three straight good playoff performances and really wouldn’t be a shock if he does again. Brandon Saad is on the list because last spring he only scored in Game 1 of the Final. So we still await the first dominant playoff performance from the Marquis.
The rest are pretty explainable. So who you got?
With the opening faceoff of Game 1 Thursday night inching ever closer, it’s now time to take a look at one of the more unpleasant aspects of facing the West East St. Louis River Rats: their special teams.
Week 28 of the AHL schedule was a week to forget for the IceHogs—and at this time of the year, that isn’t something that needs to happen. After falling to Milwaukee earlier in the week, the Hogs dropped 2 of their 3 contests over the weekend to set themselves very far back in the playoff race.
Its because he is Marian F’N Hossa: Daily Herald
Thank God this is back: Chicago Tribune
Also having a certain Dane and AHL POM dressed could help:ESPN
The Numbers do not lie: HockeeNight
Predictions from Down Goes Brown: Grantland
This worked out well the last time Uncle Dale had this pick: TSN
We’ll just keep rolling along with the grace from the Lord above, and finish out the Blues forwards corps.
At least, this is my guess. Morrow and Berglund are injury worries. Berglund also may play on the second line with Steve Ott here before he and Morrow get into a fight amongst themselves.
Berglund is the Blues biggest enigma. You look at the size, the hands, the smarts, and he really should be one of the better centers around. Some nights, some shifts, he looks like that. But then a lot more nights, and a lot more shifts, you don’t even know he’s there. He should be the prime source of secondary scoring for the Blues, and he just isn’t enough nights. And this is when he’s healthy, which he isn’t now.
Sometimes I forget that Derek Roy is even on this team. He was hurt for a bit there, has been a healthy scratch too. He’s got nine goals. Maybe he’s their John Druce, but I doubt it.
Five years ago I would have been terrified of playing Brenden Morrow in a playoff series. There were few players better bred for playoff hockey. Nasty, big, with a knack for scoring killer goals. Now? Slow, still nasty but in all the wrong ways, and half your skaters on the ice would have to come down with vertigo for him to score regularly. He’ll be part of their thug-squad and causing ruckuses after whistles, but I don’t see where he does much else. If Berglund isn’t on this line, the Hawks could really expose Ott and Morrow with speed.
I’ve always liked Paajarvi when he was an Oiler, but it took injuries and an age for him to crack the lineup, and he may be the first one out if Tarasenko plays. He’s a smart two-way player with some offensive flash that has been snuffed out in St. Louis either by Hitch’s ways or playing with utter garbage. The rest is more of the thug-squad. Lapierre can win a draw and that’s about it before he goes off to cross-check Patrick Kane in the back of the head or slash at his knee or whatever other cheap bullshit he’s going to pull before running away wetting himself when anyone with any size comes to confront him. Ryan Reaves… well, if Cieslak will allow me, lives in a dumpster behind the Purina factory (TM).
Wild Card – Vladimir Tarasenko: The story is that he is going to play at some point this series, but we don’t know when. How effective he can be after six weeks off with a broken hand is up for debate. He also doesn’t exactly have a playoff pedigree, because he was scratched for most of last year’s flameout against the Kings. But if healthy and not shying from the moment, Tarasenko is the only other source of inspiration that the Blues have. He can create his own shot and space, but he can also get buried along the walls. Maybe rested, maybe rusty, may be back after it’s too late.
We move on from what is probably the Blues biggest strength (the blue line) to a severely banged up forward corps. And what it was at full-strength was kind of a debate among everyone to begin with. While most of the mass media in hockey slobbers over Alex Steen, David Backes, and T.J. Oshie, we have screamed at the top of our lungs about their faults and weaknesses. Through injury or whatever else, those have started to show. And while everyone loves to talk about GRITSANDPAPERHEARTFAAARRRRT on the bottom six, even if it’s healthy it looks pretty bereft of anything useful. Which really came to the fore in the season’s last month when the top six stopped scoring and absolutely no one was there to pick up the slack. So let’s dig in, shall we?
They’d meet eventually: ESPN Chicago
19 is ready: CSN
History of the damned: Post Dispatch
I like it: PHT
Moving outward from the crease, it’s now time to take a look at arguably the Blues’ strongest group as a whole, their defensemen. From top to bottom it’s one of the deeper and more balanced groups in the league, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some soft, stupid, and ugly spots the Hawks can attack and exploit.
