@ 
Game Time: 12:00PM CST
TV/Radio: NBC Sports Chicago, NHL Network, WGN-AM 720
The Gang Welshes On A Bet: Broad St. Hockey
With the first game of the Jeremy Colliton Era under the Hawks’ belt in less than thilling fashion, the team leaves for the East Coast for a two-game Metro Division swing. The Hawks find a team in the Flyers who could probably use the recently departed Joel Quenneville’s services.
You can go around to any of the four major sports and it would be nearly impossible to pick a team and position, or helplessness at said position, more identifiable than the Flyers and their goalie situation. For as long as you’ve been alive, no matter how old you are, the Flyers have had goalie issues. And that’s putting it kindly. When describing the Flyers’ crease, some might be tempted to use words like, “garbage dump,” or “wasteland,” or “Chernobyl.”
Going through the list, it’s like Bears quarterbacks. Have some penicillin on hand. The Rockies and a rotation? That’s setting-based and they may have actually solved it, finally. The Cubs and 3rd basemen was in this category for a while. That’s solved now, too (and Kris Bryant is likely to keep both of his feet!). The Browns and a QB? The Browns and everything? That’s about the closest comparable.
Did you know that the best SV% in a season for the Flyers is Roman Cechmanek’s .923 in 2003? That’s 15 years ago, where the SV% of everyone has steadily risen to the point that that mark is just about league-average now. 15 years and they haven’t bettered it. And yes, Cechmanek is now a thrower at some one-terminal airport in the Czech Republic now.
Nor have they even really come close. Once in the past 10 seasons have they had a team save-percentage over .920, and that was three years ago that saw them be a first-round out anyway. For as long as time it seems, the Flyers have been searching for anyone or anything that can make a stop. This is what the U2 song was about, as if it wasn’t bad enough being a Flyers fan.
You want to hear some names? You don’t, but here’s the list of fuckwits and shit-gibbons that have taken the starter’s role in eastern PA for the orange: Brian Elliot, Michal Neuvirth, Calvin Pickard, Petr Mrazek, Steve Mason, Ray Emery (twice), Ilya Bryzgalov, Brian Boucher, Michael Leighton, Sergei Bobrovksy (pre-Vezina form), Marin Biron, Antero Niittymaki, Robert Esche, Jeff Hackett, Shawn Burke, John Vanbiesbrouck at 107 years old, and Ron Hextall at even older. That’s 20 years worth of Flyers goalies, and our fingers just disintegrated after typing all of that.
You’d think over that span, 20 years, you’d just find a goalie by accident. On that list, who even had a passable NHL career after leaving the Flyers? Bobrovsky and….Bobrovsky. Fuck, Ray Emery is dead and he’s assuredly dead from being a Flyers goalie twice. It has to be terminal.
How do you miss this consistently, not just on one position but the most important position in the sport? Of any sport? You’d almost have to be trying to do this. You can’t do this by accident. Even the biggest dumbass GMs end up with a goalie. Somehow, someway they get there. Glen Sather was incontinent and blind as Rangers GM and he got Henrik Lundqvist. Every Canadien GM has literally been the French teacher from the Simpsons and they have Carey Price. The Leafs at least signed Curtis Joseph back in the day or whatever. Bob Pulford was throwing up 17 hours a day and thanks to Mike Keenan as well the Hawks had both Eddie Belfour and Dominik Hasek at once.
Even if you stick to the last 20 years, pretty much every team has had a goalie worth a shit. Not the Flyers, Nope, fuck you, that’s the Flyer way! It’s going to be loud and stupid and orange and then some clown is going to let in a beer-belch from the red line in and we’re going to Wawa (which also sucks)! Generations of Flyers fans have grown up staring at some jerk-ass in net and wondering how they’ve been cursed with such a thing. Or maybe that’s why they’re cursed with such a thing. They want it this way, because it gives them something to complain about.
Maybe that’s why it has to be this way. The Eagles have won a Super Bowl now. The Phillies a World Series and look to be rounding into contenders again. The Sixers are at least young and interesting. As long as the Flyers don’t have a goalie, and at this point you’d be right to conclude they never will, it give the Philly fan something he can stab himself with a fork over in front of the viewing public, because it’s that last part they care about most. They need you to know how angry and red they are, otherwise they wither and die. It’s true. If a Philly sports fan goes eight minutes without someone looking at them they fucking get Thanos-snapped.
They’re going to throw Carter Hart into this at some point, maybe even this year. With any other team, he would probably go on to a successful NHL career. In Philadelphia, his hips will turn into a loose band of goldfish within months. It’s just that way. It’s the way they want. Well, they get it.
Game #17 Preview Suite
Like most of our friends, we don’t know where @FlyGoalScoredBy came from, and we’d rather not. Because then someone would have to be held responsible for his creation, and the penalties for that are too harsh to think about.
By the time people read this the Flyers might have fired Dave Hakstol and hired Joel Quenneville. What is the general problem with Hakstol when it’s obvious the Flyers have no goalie?
I made a note of how Coach Q would be such a perfect fit for the Flyers, yet it will never ever ever happen. The Flyers are like some inbred family that can ONLY hire someone they’re related to. I’m surprised we don’t have “Coach Dan Carcillo” yet. My biggest issue with Hakstol is his player usage. The Flyers are clearly in a long rebuild and have been for a long time, but their GM and coach always trot out these slow, old “vets” like Dale Weise, Jori Lehtera, and whatever a Christian Folin is. Play the kids Dave, it won’t matter with these goalies.
The Flyers were going to move forward as much as Konecny, Patrick, and Lindblom developed. How’s that going so far?
In short: well! I think everyone would love more consistency out of Konecny, but its a minor gripe. Patrick has started the season off very well and is putting on a solid two-way game. He looks more and more like a top pick now that he’s over a year removed from hernia surgery. Lindblom is just spicy. Feels like once he figures out the NHL game a bit more especially maneuvering around the offensive zone he’ll be lethal. These three are extremely important for the future.
Is Ghost Bear good? We know the power play numbers, but the metric suggest otherwise. Is he passed on the depth chart by Provorov and Hagg?
Ghost Bear is the best Flyers defensemen. He’s got that jackhammer of a shot, skates exceptionally well, owns three very beautiful doggos and is one of the only sources of personality on this team. Protect the Ghost at all cost. Provorov is a scoop of strawberry ice cream. Ghost is a scoop of fudge ripple with walnuts and whipped cream.
How far away are we from Carter Hart?
Ron Hextall is frustratingly the most patient man in all of professional sports. He’ll keep Hart in the AHL for as long as humanly possible. For right now, Hextall looks smart, as Hart hasn’t exactly been dominant down there. He’s been fine, but not performing like an elite prospect. Hextall clearly was punting this year when he decided to roll our Brian Elliot and Michal Neurivrth’s bloated corpse as their goalie tandem. Hextall will not be rushed. I bet we see Hart end of the season if they are out of the playoff race for a few games, or in training camp next offseason.
Where should the Flyers be finish when all is said and done?
They’ll be exactly where they always are. 90-94 points. Struggling to get a playoff spot, hoping not to get their doors blown off by Pittsburgh or Washington. It’s a team stuck in the middle because their GM didn’t blow the thing up and do a full rebuild. The Flyers right now are like the early 2000 Leafs (sorry, do Blackhawks fans know hockey existed before 2008?).
Game #17 Preview Suite
Before diving into this needlessly vitriolic piece, a few baseline things need to be established. One – there is nothing empirically wrong with Gritty as a mascot entity. It’s fine, it’s silly, it’s unique, it’s harmless, and it’s ultimately for children. Second, this may come as a shock to some readers, but my political leanings are basically just center of communist. The only thing that could have actually gotten me to the polls earlier in the week would have been if there were guillotine referenda on the ballot. And now with those two facts in place…
Fuck Gritty, and fuck the slack-tivist Left for turning him into some kind of meme-machine cultural icon for the #Resistance and Antifa. Perhaps this is a case of living inside a bubble and how I have curated my own social media experience, but there seems to be an onslaught of promotional material aimed at YOUNG PEOPLE on the left containing fan art of Gritty dedicating himself to the plight of the proletariat and bringing capitalist pigs to justice. It was so prevalent that even a publication with its finger so far up its own ass it can barely find the pulse of anything else, the New Yorker, ran a feature story on the phenomenon. But there it was one tweet in particular that simply made all of this a bridge too far and solidified the internet’s collective ability to beat something to death within mere moments:
The @NHLFlyers just crossed the Ritz-Carlton picket line in Boston.
I am disgusted and feel betrayed. #MarriottStrike #PHIvsBOS pic.twitter.com/s4T2byTKUd
— Brett "Solidarity 2024" Banditelli (@banditelli) October 25, 2018
It’s extremely difficult to tell whether this post is ironic in tone or not, but either way there is a tremendous disconnect here between those with internet brain worms and what the reality of the situation actually is. First of all, the thought that a fucking mascot has anything to do with the logistical operations of a professional SPORTSBALL team is laughable. Not to mention the fact that the chances of an NHLer going rogue for the cause of something he’d seen and been made aware of on Leftist Twitter is so far fetched it’s insane. Nearly 99% of NHL players are in all likelihood MAGA chuds because a) they stop attending school in 8th grade b) they come from rural areas which bend heavily conservative, and c) they’re basically all rich which makes one pathologically averse to wealth redistribution or even taxation of any kind.
And even if all of this weren’t true, it makes zero sense to attribute any of these tenets to a logo owned by a team in a sport which is arguably the most racially and economically exclusive of any of the “major” North American team sports, which in and of themselves are a cesspool of rape and entitlement culture. Not to mention that the Flyers specifically, are a subsidiary of Comcast, a borderline monopoly that cannot wait for net neutrality laws to be fully repealed so that they can price gouge even further and reap even bigger profits despite the fact that internet access has reached the point of being a utility out of its necessity to modern life. What’s more, Ed Snider, the Flyers’ former chairman who sold a healthy stake in the team to Comcast (and is dead and assuredly burning in hell for all of eternity) personally donated huge portions of his substantial wealth to virulent right wing think tanks like the Ayn Rand Foundation and The Atlas Society, and tried to destroy every labor union he ever came across, including the NHL players association. And for fuck’s sake, because this is Philadelphia being discussed after all, it’s a solid bet that the guy that’s actually in the goddamn costume itself has got a Facebook page filled with Blue Lives Matter memes and routinely throws around homophobic slurs when hanging out on South Street.
The counter-argument to all of this would be that using Gritty is re-appropriating a corporate logo for a nobler purpose and that anyone who indirectly gets involved in the community because they initially found the memes with the orange googly-eyed creature amusing is a net benefit. Which, ok, sure, but the energy spent on writing Gritty revolutionary slash-fic with intricate illustrations would be better spent throwing a brick through the window of the Comcast Center.
Game #17 Preview Suite
Avalanche vs. Jets – 7pm
Look, it’s two teams in the Central better than the Hawks! Not that the Avalanche are that far ahead of the local side, but they do sport what is currently the most damaging line in hockey, with Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Ratanen, and Gabriel LaxativeLog. They certainly make a ton happen. The Jets haven’t fired fully yet, mostly due to Connor Hellebuyck going all “Jets goalie” so far this season. A slightly lower SH% than you’d expect from this band of outlaws hasn’t helped either, but this will correct itself. Should be something of a track meet.
Second Screen Viewing
Sharks vs. Blues – 7pm
There’s only one team propping up the Hawks right now, and thankfully it’s the Blues. Although they could hire Joel Quenneville any minute, because he’s aching to get a hold of this slow and dumb defense, dontcha know? The Sharks should run circles around this detention hall, and that’s always a good time for all. Then again, that could be the final nail in Mike Yeo’s coffin, which probably isn’t what we need. It’s hard being a hockey fan.
Other Games
Devils vs. Leafs – 6pm
Blue Jackets vs. Capitals – 6pm
Rangers vs. Red Wings – 6:30
Wild vs. Ducks – 9pm
I didn’t realize this as I walked in to the building last night. It had been 10 years since I arrived at the United Center seeing what a new coach had in store for the Hawks. In that time, I’ve done that at Wrigley five times. If you’re the other baseball color, you’ve done that three times in that amount of time (seriously, how was Robin Ventura manager that long?). The Bears have cycled through four coaches. Strangely, the Bulls have only gone through three. It still sounds so strange to say that in that span, the Hawks were by far the most stable Chicago sports team.
So in that sense, I knew what the reaction of the UC crowd would be. There wasn’t any vitriol toward Jeremy Colliton himself, because let’s be honest, most everyone doesn’t have any idea who he is. For most Hawks fans, they’re probably only barely aware that they have a minor league team, that it’s in Rockford, and that Colliton coached it. And that might be even giving them the best of it. And that’s fine. Could most Cubs and Sox fans name their Triple-A manager in Iowa or Charlotte right now (sit down, Fifth Feather!)?
I’ve thought about this a lot the past few days. It seems in these kinds of fights, fans are almost always going to side with the coach. Because the coach is the one they see every game. He’s in front of the press every day, after practice, after games, all of it. He’s the one you get a connection to. The only example I can honestly think of that goes against that is the current Cubs, and that took Theo Epstein getting here first, having the resume he does before he even took the job, and Joe Maddon’s fascination with his own voice rubbing pretty much everyone the wrong way. How many people in this town still worship Ditka? And he was unquestionably an idiot who cost the Bears championships!
And when the Hawks were rolling, even in the middle of a season, you didn’t walk out of the arena saying to yourself, “Man, Stan Bowman really has this team humming!” You walked out marveling at how well-oiled Joel Quenneville had the machine. Because he was the one running it. He was the one actually driving the car, even if he didn’t build it. Or all of it, as we know how things worked on Madison St.
And that’s what forms the stronger, emotional bond for fans. Whether you know it or not, you see the coach’s work pretty much on a daily basis. You only really see the GM set up the board. He doesn’t move the pieces. Fans were always going to be attached to Quenneville, and to whatever extent that might have skewed or blinded them to what’s going on on the ice, that’s what the Hawks now have to navigate through.
And even if we here or just me are some of the leading voices in the Q-had-to-go camp (if not more than a little surprised at how early it came), I didn’t skip into the building last night. While I was curious and excited to see how this team will respond to Colliton (and they were faster and more creative), the overwhelming emotion was sadness. That a big part of it is all over. Not just the window or the era or however else you define it. There was a feeling, one we haven’t had much as Hawks fans over the past two or three decades, that’s now officially part of history.
Because there was a six- or seven-year stretch, maybe even eight, where the Hawks were basically the control of the group. They were stable, and in that stability were a force. You knew exactly what you were getting. Sure, there were a lot of bumps in the road and drama here and there, but for the most part the Hawks didn’t only win games, they won them methodically and coldly. Winning was just this thing they did. And the joy you got from it or the buzz came not from the wins, or not just the wins, but how ingrained or efficient or systematic those wins came. The machine just kept moving on. The assuredness that the Hawks would be good, it was now the natural state of things, you drew strength from that as a fan.
Q also rode in as something of a savior. Not in the traditional sense. But when he arrived, you knew the Hawks had an abundance of talent and were capable of something special, it was just so loose then in 2008. It was barely roped together. It was winning games back then on the sheer force of its talent, not by any system. And Quenneville banded it together into one being and momentum almost instantly, so assuredly. It was calming. It was only 19 games into his tenure here that the Hawks ripped off nine in a row, outscoring their opponents in that streak 41-12. It was barely six weeks in charge, and he already had that team capable of that kind of punch.
And whatever I might have said or thought about it at the time or now, Q was at the helm of that. Maybe he wasn’t the biggest reason, but he was doing the steering. However he got there, Q put the settings in place that kept it moving smoothly and dominantly. It felt like a lot of teams lost the game before they even hit the UC ice. Sure, maybe the suspense was gone some nights, but in the best possible way. The Hawks were going to show up, do their thing, and most teams were just about powerless to stop it. They could try everything. The Hawks did what they did and barely noticed anyone else was there. It was impersonal as it was authoritative.
And that’s gone now. Perhaps Colliton gets there one day, and we’ll get that feeling again. And maybe the journey there is just as fun as it was last time. Maybe it’s longer. Maybe it never gets there.
But that sure-feeling is gone. It has been for a while. It’s just official now. And I can understand the lashing out from those who miss it. Part of me wants to, too.
The Rockford IceHogs are opening up their longest road trip of the 2018-19 campaign this weekend. The piglets are currently 6-4-1-2, good for a .577 points percentage and fourth place in the AHL’s Central Division. Of course, the big news out of Winnebago County is that Rockford has a new head coach.
Following Jeremy Colliton’s ascension to the head post in Chicago, The IceHogs named assistant Derek King Rockford’s interim head coach. King has been in the organization for two years prior to this one. He served on Ted Dent’s staff in 2016-17 as well on Colliton’s staff last season.
A more than capable offensive forward with a 14-year NHL career as a player, King was an assistant for the Toronto Marlies for six seasons before coming to Rockford. This is his first shot at helming an AHL club.
How will King fare with the piglets for the remainder of the season? At the moment, he inherits a banged-up group that may be getting some key players back in the coming days. There are several new faces coming in, with Rockford signing a couple of skaters to tryouts this week.
If Hawks GM Stan Bowman fortifies his squad like he did for Colliton in the second half last season, he should do just fine. If they don’t, the organization will have to assess how far King has progressed a young team before talk of a permanent position can commence.
For all the talk of Colliton’s magic touch with Chicago’s prospects, one must not forget that it was the influx of veterans and NHL players late in the season that propelled the IceHogs to the Western Conference Final. Without the nudge from management, Rockford is a fifth or sixth-place team in the Central last season.
This isn’t a knock on Colliton, who had the youngsters playing hard. However, don’t expect King to get this current roster deep into the playoffs without similar help from above. Check out last season’s year in review to see how the roster transformation affected Rockford’s fortunes.
The IceHogs brought up forward Connor Moynihan on Wednesday. They also signed Hunter Fejes to a Player Try Out agreement. Thursday, the Hogs inked former Kings farmhand Justin Auger to a similar pact, then sent Radovan Bondra, Josh McArdle and Neil Manning back to Indy Thursday afternoon.
It appears that King wants to foster an atmosphere of competition among his players. Even with several injuries throughout the lineup, there are plenty of options for the new boss.
McArdle and Manning returning to the Fuel likely means that some of the injured defensemen are ready to come back. Andrew Campbell, Carl Dahlstrom, Gustav Forsling and Luc Snuggerud all have missed time of late. I’d guess one or two of those players crack the lineup this weekend.
A school-aged audience came out to the BMO Harris Bank Center for a 10:30 puck drop. Unfortunately, the Hogs were blanked in Derek King’s debut as top man on the Rockford bench.
The Wild power play struck late in the opening period, with Cal O’Reilly finding Sam Anas skating to the right post. Hogs goalie Collin Delia left the back door open and Anas gave Iowa a 1-0 lead at 17:17 of the first.
Colton Beck used a second, and then a third effort, to knock a puck past Delia 2:47 into the middle frame for a two-goal Wild advantage. O’Reilly converted on an empty net late in the game to complete the scoring for Iowa.
The IceHogs had no solution for Kappo Kahkonen, who made 28 saves while picking up his second win over Rockford in five days. Kahkonen was voted the game’s first star.
The IceHogs pulled out an overtime decision over the Admirals in Milwaukee just last Friday. Darren Raddysh was good for a pair of goals in Rockford’s 3-2 win at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
Milwaukee is now in third place in the Central Division. The Ads dropped games in Grand Rapids and at home to the Wolves since falling to the IceHogs.
Zach Magwood accounted for both Admirals goals last week against Rockford. The rookie has four points (2 G, 2 A) in six appearances.
In a far-away land of magic, rainbows and quality deep-dish pizza, a grail was forged from the fires of vulcanized rubber. An ethereal chalice to be sought after by those that glide on ice in search of excellence. Unfortunately, no one knows where this emblem of pure victory is currently located. In its stead, these Interstate 90 rivals will be battling for the Illinois Lottery Cup.
I’m pretty sure the Wolves are in possession of the ILC at the moment, having won the tie-breaker in last season’s series with the IceHogs. As a small measure of vengance, the Hogs swept Chicago in the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs last spring.
The Wolves are tied with Iowa for the Central Division lead. They’re 8-3-0-1, on a two-game win steak and the Western Conference’s most potent offensive team. Chicago is putting up 4.17 goals per contest and are doing a lot of that damage at even strength.
European import Brooks Macek is tied with Cleveland’s Zac Dalpe for the AHL lead in goals (12) and points (19). Bolstered by five power-play goals, Daniel Carr (8 G, 10 A) is right behind Macek and Dalpe in scoring. Both Macek and Carr are plus-18 just 12 games into the season, which also tops the AHL. Center Gage Quinney (7 G, 5 A) is merely a plus-16 so far.
As if the Wolves didn’t have enough offensive firepower, they return Brandon Pirri (4 G, 9 A) and T.J. Tynan (4 G, 8 A) from last year’s club. Curtis McKenzie (2 G, 9 A), captain of the Texas Stars last season, comes to Chicago to add to the veteran talent.
The Wolves picked up former Milwaukee defenseman Jimmy Oligny this summer. Zac Leslie came over last season from Ontario and adds experience. Rookie Erik Brannstrom leads the blueline with three goals and seven apples.
The goal tending is in the capable hands of Max Legace (2.26 GAA, .919 save percentage) and Oscar Dansk, who is 5-1-1 so far this season despite a 3.14 goals against average and an .896 save percentage.
Follow me @JonFromi on twitter for updates on this weekend’s action, as well as Hogs-related thought all season long.
And the Jeremy Colliton era begins! So much hope, so much excitement, so much resentment by large numbers of people and…we got reminded how much the defense sucks regardless of the coach. Let’s get to it:
– Let’s set aside all of the wailing and teeth-gnashing over Quenneville’s firing because we’re going to hear about it again everywhere, from Twitter to the Score to the Metra platform tomorrow. The first period was really the awful one where their defense dug them into the hole from which light could not escape. And you know that the giardiniera-soaked masses will take this performance as proof that DEY SHOULDN’A GOTTEN RIDDA Q MY FRENT. In the reality in which we live, however, the Hawks are still dealing with the same amount of talent that they had as of Monday afternoon, and that was made clear tonight. Far too often in the first (and to a lesser degree, the second period), the Hawks avoided the front of their own net as if they had a life-threatening allergy to providing Crawford with some support. By the time Calvin de Haan waltzed in for the fourth goal early in the second on a power play, Crow was so pissed he destroyed his stick on the net like Pete Townsend smashing a guitar.
– Beyond just hanging their goalie out to dry, the Hawks’ defense did other dumb shit such as Erik Gustafsson making multiple bad turnovers early on, and Henri Jokiharju taking a needless penalty, with Keith kind of contributing to it, which led directly the second goal. I’m sure Jeremy Colliton knew what he was getting with this defense—particularly since he sat Brandon Manning so this guy’s already OK in my book—but it was the harshest possible welcoming to the defense that is now his albatross.
– Alright, the defense sucks, we know that. Time for some positives. The Hawks were down by four goals and actually made a game of this, which tells you how shitty Carolina’s defense is, but also that not all is lost with our offense. Saad scored a pretty one (technically Kampf got credit for it but it was his ass being in front that scored, Saad did the actual work), Schmaltz did too (SEE DUMMY, SHOOT SOMETIMES), and Kane lifted TVR’s stick just enough to knock the puck in from the crease.
– On a related note, guess what guys? Trevor van Riemsdyk still sucks! In addition to Kane’s maneuver, Schmaltz also burned him in the third on his goal. Same as it ever was.
– Speaking of Patrick Kane, Colliton rode him like a rented mule tonight. Can’t really blame him either. Kane was out there for an entire power play (fine, cool, whatever), and had just over 22 minutes of ice time. The power play didn’t make huge strides but at least Kane was out there with some right-handed shots. As Sam said earlier, baby steps.
–Marcus Kruger got his knee disemboweled by Clark Bishop basically taking his feet out from under him. Kruger hasn’t exactly been lighting the world on fire lately but the last thing this team needs is LESS depth, or for the defensive-zone-starting stalwart to be out for any length of time. It looked incredibly painful and shitty though when he hit that post.
– Back to the giardiniera-soaked masses, they’ll surely be rabid about how well Scott Darling played while Crawford gave up four goals in barely more than one period. Nevermind the fact that, as discussed, the Hawks defense completely screwed Crawford over, or that he had multiple fantastic saves after the Pete Townsend impression. If you come across one of these people tomorrow, ignore them and move on.
So it wasn’t exactly the strongest start to this brave new world, but we all knew the defense blows, and seriously Colliton has had barely 48 hours with this team. Remember, he benched Brandon Manning so there’s GOT to be hope. Onward and upward.
Photo credit: Chicago Tribune
