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Hawks Draft Nick Schmaltz

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It didn’t come with the fireworks we thought tonight. We all held out breath when it was reported that Hawks’ and Sharks’ reps were at the NHL table filing a trade, but in the end it just ended up being a swap of picks so the Hawks could move up. Which leads you to believe that Nick Schmaltz was a target of theirs and they went out of their way to get him.

What Schmaltz sounds like is basically a slightly bigger, American version of Teuvo Teravainen, with perhaps more finish. But Schmaltz’s game is definitely pass-first, and everyone raves about his vision and hands. He doesn’t have the size you might like, but is very strong on his skates and squirts out of traffic well.

Schmaltz has a rep for tacking a shift off or even a game off here and there, but I’m not going to dismiss a 17-year-old because his focus might waver at times. We’ll see what he does at North Dakota. He has to work on his defensive game, but who doesn’t at that age? Once again the Hawks have drafted for serious skill, which seems to be a habit of theirs. As we said, past Teuvo and Danault the Hawks looked a little short down the middle in the system. They addressed that tonight.

Tomorrow should be more interesting, as if they’re going to dump Oduya for picks and cap space it will be then.

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Boys For Sale – Draft Preview: The Forwards

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Just as we did last night, we’ll give you a few names that should, or could, be around when the Hawks pick at #27. Though today Stan Bowman said he’s not averse to losing that pick for something else, so this all might be moot anyway.

Not that the Hawks tend to draft for need, they generally take the best player available, but the system is short on centers. Right now it’s only Teuvo and Danault, so I’m assuming all things being equal they’ll take a center. That said, they’ll probably just take the best player that’s on the board when it gets to them.

Let’s get to it, then:

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Exit Interviews: Andrew Shaw And Bryan Bickell

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They were ostensibly on the third line, at least when the season started, though neither ended up there when the season was over. They shouldn’t be any higher than the third line when next season starts either. But we’ll get to that.

Andrew Shaw

Regular Season: 80 games, 20 goals, 19 assists, 39 points, +12, 0.55 Behind The Net Rating, 16.51 Corsi per 60 (+5.7 Corsi Relative per 60)

Playoffs: 12 games, 2 goals, 6 assists, 8 points, +5, 2.44 Behind the Net Rating, 10.99 Corsi per 60 (+17.9 Corsi Relative per 60)

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Boys For Sale: Draft Preview – The Blue Line

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The Hawks will do other things besides swing some trades this week. They’re also going to pick some kids (unless Stan trades the entire draft for some player because he temporarily switches brains with Mike Ditka. Because that went so well. Lesson, kids: Don’t switch brains with Mike Ditka).

Looking at the Hawks system, they are short on centers. Big shock, I know. But once you get past Teuvo Teravainen, really the only center prospect is Phillip Danault (and who knows if he’s involved in any of these trades). Mark McNeill has been moved to wing, whichever Broadhurst it is that plays center doesn’t project to be an impact player, Tyler Motte is a couple years away, and so on.

They’re better stocked on the blue line. We know Stephen Johns will most likely make the Hawks next year, and behind him there’s Adam Clendening, Klas Dahlbeck, David Rundblad could all make appearances for the Hawks next year. They’re all ready for sure. There’s a couple in a wave behind that as well. But today we’ll focus on the d-men, and tomorrow will look at some forwards. Maybe. Depending on my sobriety level after the US match.

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Exit Interviews: Patrick Sharp

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I’m going to jump out of turn here, and instead of crawling up the depth chart sequentially we’ll jump ahead  to a player who is very much in the news and very likely is going to be much more in the news in the coming days. And that’s Patrick Sharp.

Regular Season: 82 games, 34 goals, 44 assists, 78 points, +13, 0.53 Behind The Net Rating, 17.62 Corsi per 60, (+7.9 Corsi Relative per 60)

Playoffs: 19 games, 5 goals, 5 assists, 10 points, -2, -0.91 Behind The Net Rating, -8.6 Corsi per 60 (-9.1 Corsi Relative per 60)

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Exit Interviews: Jeremy Morin and Joakim Nordstrom

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Let’s keep rolling on here, and we’ll go with a couple of the spare parts that might have a bigger role to play next year. Maybe. We’ll start with the apple of my eye:

Note: This is also where I would have stuck Peter Regin, but as I think there’s utterly no chance he’ll be brought back, we’re going to skip him for now.

Jeremy Morin

Regular Season: 24 games, 5 goals, 6 assists, 11 points, +5, 1.29 Behind The Net Rating, 28.26 Corsi per 60 (+23.7 Corsi Relative per 60)

I’ll skip the playoffs as he barely played in two games.