Everything Else

Game #32 – Hawks vs. Jets Douchebag Du Jour: Hey Did You Know Olczyk Was Traded To Winnipeg While His Wife Was Giving Birth?

By Sam Fels 1678 0

Because if you didn’t, you soon will!

Every Hawks trip to Manitoba is now guaranteed to come with Eddie Olczyk reminiscing about playing with the Jets, or more to the point trying to inflate what he meant to the Jets. If you thought it wasn’t bad enough that Olczyk did his best to co-opt the Hawks “Hockey Fights Cancer” night to be all about himself, he attempted the same a couple weeks ago when Winnipeg had theirs. But that’s fine, he can forward a lot of causes.

No, the problem is every time he arrives in Winnipeg, he makes sure everyone knows that he returns a conquering hero, with roses tossed at his feet. As if he was a legend that all 12 of the Jets fans who were alive and caring in the early 90s have pictures of in their homes, next to their portrait of the Queen.

So let’s clear that up. Olczyk spent two and a half seasons in The Peg. and then returned for another parts of two season after he did next to nothing in New York. He scored 95 goals and registered 201 points, which is fine enough. Then again, most everyone amassed a point per game back then. He ranks behind Laurie Boschman in career goals for the franchise. He’s not in the top-20 in points.

He was a nice player, and one that most wouldn’t have been able to pick out of lineup if wasn’t constantly getting in their face and telling them what a legend he was in their team’s colors.Of the 16K in the building tonight, maybe 1/16th of them would know Olczyk played there if he didn’t spend the entire pregame roaming the concourses and reminding every single one.

But that also won’t stop him from telling you what an ordeal it was to get traded there and deal with the harsh Manitoba winters, which every Jet has done. So it can’t be both.

Really what’s important for Olczyk is Olczyk, as always. You must know that he was a Jet, because if you don’t know that then the Jets are an irrelevant team. He defines them, at least according to him. Maybe they should give Pat Elynuik the same kind of treatment, as he put up the same numbers.

Who? Yes, exactly.

 

Game #32 Preview Suite

Preview

Spotlight

Q&A

Douchebag Du Jour

I Make A Lot Of Graphs

Lineups & How Teams Were Built

Everything Else

Game #32 – Hawks vs. Jets: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels 1347 0

Notes: Anisimov didn’t make the trip, which is the reason you’re getting whatever the fuck that Kahun-Kampf-Kane thing is. It’ll be Strome and Top Cat with Kane by the end of the first, you just watch… Ward starts tonight, which means Crow gets the Pens tomorrow…Murphy seemed to flatten out Gustafsson again, as they were the only pairing that Collition kept together for the most part…it’s getting near decision-day on Manning and Rutta, and no one is going to take them off the Hawks’ hands so likely Rutta is headed to Rockford…what was Martinsen doing out there with a minute left on Sunday?

Notes: Perreault is questionable tonight…the second line is one of the few where metrics don’t matter, because Laine will outshoot whatever…we kind of hope Laine ends up with over 40 goals and less than 10 assists and watch HOCKEY MEN lose their mud over it…Sami Niku could replace Kulikov…Connor’s goal against the Flyers on Sunday was his first in the last 10 games…

 

Game #32 Preview Suite

Preview

Spotlight

Q&A

Douchebag Du Jour

I Make A Lot Of Graphs

Lineups & How Teams Were Built

Everything Else

Atop The Sugar Pile – A Mountain Of Sugar Is Too Much For One Man

By Sam Fels 1651 0

It would seem a near impossible task to ferret out who should stand atop the pile in a week when the Hawks have lost every game, a couple in bad fashion and a couple in heartbreaking fashion. But that is our charge, and why you come here, dear reader. Because we run the hard miles over the tough obstacles. Or something. Anyway…

The Dizzying Highs

Jonathan Toews, I guess? – I suppose it’s symbolic in a way. At a time when we thought we’d seen the last of Jonathan Toews bending a game to his will, to take over pretty much every shift and pretty much force a win from his team, he can’t do it. Not because the effort wasn’t enough, because it was. It’s just too much to ask one person on this team to lift it above the morass it’s created for itself. I’m sure afterwards, Patrick Kane looked at him, put an arm on his shoulder and said, “Y’see?” The numbers aren’t wholly impressive, as Toews racked up two goals and three points in the four games. But if you watched the games, especially in Vegas, it was a glimpse of what Tazer used to be every night. Winning every puck battle, forcing the puck up the ice and toward the net, creating things out of sheer want-to. It’s comforting to know that it’s still in the chamber. It’s dispiriting that the final amount of bullets, however many there may be, are wasted on this outfit. Will there be any left when it matters again?

The Terrifying Lows

Corey Crawford – It hurts more and more to keep doing this. But we can’t run from it. .901 is .901. And while he has no defense in front of him, there are other goalies in the league facing almost as many good chances as Crow is and doing more with them. David Rittich, for example, as the same xSV% at evens as Crow. His ES SV% is .943. Crow’s is .903.

It is a herculean task, what Crawford has been asked to do, of course. Step in from 10 months out in THE GREY and then stabilize a Hawks team that essentially looks like kindergarten recess in its own zone. Where was Andreas Martinsen going last night and what was he doing out there with a minute to go? Another time for that question.

Crow let the Hawks down in Vegas when they had actually fought well and played better and deservedly had taken the lead. Same in Anaheim. It’s not good enough. And maybe this was always going to be part of the process, that his recovery would be longer and uglier than we anticipated, and more to the point, hoped. Maybe the new pad restrictions are also combining with everything else to make for hard adjustments. The rebound control would suggest.  But the Hawks simply aren’t getting a save right now. And against the Ducks and Canadiens last night, he wasn’t tasked with an abnormal load.

Thankfully, there’s basically nothing riding on this season now, and the Hawks can spend it finding out if Crow can be saved (he almost certainly will round out again sometime) or whether they start have to plan for a transition of influence to Collin Delia (who’s seeing a similar workload in Rockford so at least they’re training him well).

The Creamy Middles

Patrick Kane – I’m not sure he cares. I’m not sure he’s got the patience to see out whatever this is (I know his dad doesn’t and he’s calling the shots). And there are still shifts where you can tell the give-a-shit meter has collected at the bottom. But he still makes goals happen, as he racked up points all three games this week and had two goals last night to bring the Hawks back into it. While we weren’t looking he’s back up over a point-per-game, which is mightily impressive considering some of the linemates he’s been dragging around at times. Some think this could be the end of his time here. or we’re starting that path. I’m not so sure. And there will be a lot of writing to be done if it is.

Everything Else

High On The Hog: Spit and Polish…Or Not?

By Jon Fromi 1331 0

The Rockford IceHogs split a weekend set at the BMO Harris Bank Center, besting Grand Rapids in overtime Friday night before a lackluster performance the next evening against the Chicago Wolves.

The scuffling piglets (11-10-1-4) are still looking for some offensive spark and sit in sixth place in the AHL’s Central Division standings with a .519 points percentage. With plenty of home games left this month, Rockford will attempt to improve upon its 5-5-0-2 mark when playing host.

 

Roster Moves

On Friday night, the Hogs announced that they were releasing Justin Auger from his PTO. Auger played nine games with Rockford, contributing a pair of goals to the cause.

 

A Look At Development

With the Blackhawks so thin in terms of depth this season, I got to thinking about Rockford’s role in the current downturn in the organization. In order to maintain long-term success, you have to replace a certain amount of a winning roster. The IceHogs have sent scores of players on to the next level. Looking at little closer at the pipeline, however, it becomes apparent that few quality replacement parts have been developed in Rockford.

Here are the players from the Blackhawks current roster who have seen time at the BMO with the IceHogs. The bold type names are the players I believe to have been true products of Chicago’s minor league system.

Forwards: Alexandre Fortin, John Hayden, David Kampf, Marcus Kruger, Andreas Martinsen, Brandon Saad.

Saad and Kruger only were in Rockford because of the NHL work stoppage in 2012-13. Martinsen came to the organization with a couple of seasons of NHL experience. Kampf and Fortin are free-agent signings; Kampf was in Rockford for just 33 games and Fortin was unproductive and missed time last year to injury in his rookie season with the IceHogs.

Defensemen: Eric Gustafsson, Gustav Forsling.

Gustafsson cut his teeth in Rockford, with 120 Rockford appearances over three seasons. Forsling isn’t a finished product by any means. He may never be. Either way, he has just 48 games with the Hogs.

Goalie: Corey Crawford.

As I’ve mentioned quite a bit in the past, Crawford spent five seasons in the minors. Three of those seasons were in Rockford.

You can pick through the above list and come to your own conclusions.

So…how has the gang in Rockford done in developing Stan Bowman’s draft picks?

Well, let’s look at the last Dale Tallon draft in 2009 and Bowman’s subsequent picks spanning the last nine years. Which players were developed in the minor league system and became long-term productive players? The 64,000-dollar question, of course-which players developed in Rockford have made big-time contributions for the Blackhawks?

The answer may not agree with your stomach, so sit down.

Here’s the rundown, starting with Tallon’s 2009 draft picks that have appeared in the NHL:

 

2009-Dylan Olsen, Brandon Pirri, Byron Froese, Marcus Kruger

Olsen, the Hawks first-rounder that season, has to be labeled a bust. After a brief stint in Chicago, Olsen spent some time in Florida with limited success. He’s currently playing in England.

Pompous Madcap (Froese) didn’t get much of a look in Rockford after being taken in the fourth round, but did reach the NHL in the Leafs organization.

Brandon Pirri played 238 games with the IceHogs before being traded out of the organization. Chicago’s second-round pick in 2009 has 228 NHL games under his belt but has spent most of the last two seasons with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. He is currently leading the AHL in scoring and dropped a hat trick on the IceHogs Saturday night.

Marcus Kruger came over from Sweden after being drafted in the fifth round. His 34 games in Rockford came in 2013, when the NHL was on strike. I don’t consider him to be a product of the minor-league system.

None of Chicago’s other four picks reached the NHL.

Hogs Developed: Pirri, a capable offensive forward but a one-dimensional player in NHL terms.

 

2010-Kevin Hayes, Justin Holl, Kent Simpson, Stephen Johns, Joakim Nordstrom

Simpson, one of Chicago’s second-round picks, played 20 minutes of NHL hockey. Nuff said. The other second-rounder, Johns, played 59 games with Rockford over parts of two seasons. He may or may not realize his potential at defense. However, that won’t be happening for the Hawks.

Nordstrom, a third round pick, has several seasons of NHL experience and is currently with the Bruins. He appeared in 92 games with the IceHogs over three seasons.

Kevin Hayes, Bowman’s first-round selection, is a solid NHL player. However, he never spent a day in the Hawks organization.

Justin Holl, a defenseman the Hawks quickly gave up on after drafting him in the second round, has been a solid AHL player with the Toronto Marlies. Last season, he appeared in two games with the Maple Leafs.

None of the other six Bowman selections made the NHL.

Hogs Developed: Nordstrom, a bottom-six player who briefly played for the Hawks. To a lesser extent, Johns, who is also in another organization.

 

2011-Mark McNeill, Phillip Danault, Adam Clendening, Brandon Saad, Michael Paliotta, Klas Dahlbeck, Andrew Shaw, Alex Broadhurst

Saad and Shaw are the big names in terms of players contributing to the success of the Blackhawks. Saad’s 31 games in Rockford came only because of the NHL strike. Shaw also played in Rockford before the NHL got their business settled with the players in that 2012-13 season. He had 38 games with the Hogs in his rookie season before his meteoric rise to the NHL.

McNeill was in Rockford for several seasons. Aside from a couple of NHL starts, Bowman’s top pick hasn’t made it out of the minors. Danault, the other first-round selection, spent 160 games in Rockford and has developed into a decent player…for the Canadiens.

Clendening is a very good AHL defenseman who hasn’t been able to secure steady work in the NHL. He has 223 games in two stints with the Hogs. Dahlbeck was in Rockford for three seasons and played 170 NHL contests, though just four for the Hawks. He is currently in the KHL.

Alex Broadhurst played 104 games for the IceHogs and did reach the NHL for a cup of coffee with the Blue Jackets. He has spent most of his career in Cleveland of the AHL. Paliotta played one game for Chicago after the third-round pick was signed. He’s bounced around the AHL but never played in Rockford.

None of the other three Bowman selections have made the NHL. Maxim Shulanov and Sam Jardine were briefly with the IceHogs.

Hogs Developed: Shaw, because the IceHogs were his proving ground for the Blackhawks. Danault, a solid NHL contributor. Dahlbeck and Clendening as fringe defensemen.

 

2012-Teuvo Teravainen, Vinnie Hinostroza

Both Teravainen and Hinostroza, Bowman’s first and sixth-round picks, are smallish, speedy playmakers who will were traded out of the organization to entice other clubs to take on unwanted contracts. Sorry I had to bring this up.

Teravainen had just 44 games in Rockford, mostly during the 2014-15 season before being recalled by the Hawks. Hinostroza appeared in 104 games with the IceHogs over four different seasons.

None of the other six Bowman picks have reached the NHL. Matt Tomkins, a seventh-round pick, is on an AHL contract with Rockford and has been in Indy for most of this season and last.

Hogs Developed: Hinostroza, who will apply the lessons learned in Arizona for now.

 

2013-Ryan Hartman, Carl Dahlstrom, John Hayden, Tyler Motte, Luke Johnson

Two seasons and change in an IceHogs sweater for Hartman, who figures to be a productive player for a few years. Motte, Bowman’s fourth-round pick, played 48 games in Rockford and is now playing in Vancouver with 108 NHL games under his belt.

At this point, I would say that the jury is out on Dahlstrom and Johnson as well as Anthony Louis, who has yet to appear in a Chicago sweater. All three remain in the organization. I would categorize this trio as still being works in progress. Hayden has 24 games in Rockford, but I can’t say there was a lot of development going on in his case.

Hogs Developed: Hartman, Motte. Again, neither is contributing to the Blackhawks fortunes.

There is no use going through the past five drafts, as only Nick Schmaltz (remember back when he was on the Hawks?), Alex DiBrincat and Henri Jokiharju have NHL time at this point. Schmaltz was in Rockford for a short spell, but the Hogs can’t claim to have developed these players.

Blake Hillman, a sixth-rounder from 2016, burned a year of his entry deal in Chicago last spring and is currently in Rockford. Time will tell how these more recent draft picks will develop.

Ready for the roll call of Bowman’s picks who have made lasting impressions after being polished by the IceHogs? Here it comes…

Andrew Shaw. And…

…nope, that’s pretty much it.

There are more first and second-round picks that Rockford hasn’t be able to make into productive players. Shaw was a fifth-round selection that started on an AHL contract and just kept proving people wrong (put me near the top of that list) about his NHL prospects.

If you want to make yourself feel a little better about the development process, you can widen the scope and put Hartman in that club. He did play in Chicago for 141 games.

Otherwise, Bowman’s draft trove is comprised of players who never worked out, weren’t polished in Rockford, developed and were moved out of the organization, or are on the currently roster with a not-quite-ready-for prime time status.

Would Danault, Johns, Teravainen, Hinostroza and Hartman be an upgrade on the current bottom six of the Blackhawks. Probably. Cap issues required that Bowman let these horses out of the barn. No use crying about it, at least too much.

While the IceHogs certainly have moved players to the NHL level in their time as the Hawks AHL affiliate, that talent has not made a lasting impact for the organization. Chicago’s depth has not been replaced from within. For the Blackhawks to get the arrow moving in the right direction, this is where things need to change.

 

Oh…And Here Are This Week’s Recaps

Friday, December 7-Rockford 3, Grand Rapids 2 (OT) 

Dylan Sikura put the Hogs on his back in the final 25 minutes of action, posting a two-goal effort. Those goals brought Rockford back from a goal down to beat Grand Rapids.

After a scoreless first period, the Hogs and Griffins traded goals in the opening minutes of the middle frame. The IceHogs were attempting to clear the defensive zone; Joni Tuulola got the puck up the half boards to Nick Moutrey, who lobbed it up and over the neutral zone.

Nathan Noel chased down the puck and avoided a check attempt by Libor Sulak of the Griffins. Noel’s backhand got the best of Grand Rapids goalie Harri Sateri for a 1-0 Rockford lead at the 2:54 mark of the second period.

Givani Smith evened the score 51 seconds later, beating Hogs starter Anton Forsberg to the upper right corner of the net. The score remained knotted at one at the second intermission.

A turnover behind the Hogs net resulted in Matt Puempel setting up Derek Hulak in the slot. The shot five-holed Forsberg as he tried to cut off the attempt and Grand Rapids led 2-1 4:18 into the third period.

It took until the latter stages of the final frame, but Rockford came up with the equalizer on the power play. Dylan Sikura took an entry pass from Jordan Schroeder, flew past the defense and sent a shot between Sateri’s pads at the 17:02 mark.

Rockford ended regulation on a man advantage, which carried over to Gus Macker Time. For 57 seconds, the Hogs took several whacks at Sateri but couldn’t convert. Forsberg and Sateri both bailed out their respective clubs with great saves. The Hogs prevailed when Sikura got the back of his stick on Tuulola’s shot with 37 seconds remaining in extra time.

Forsberg stopped 41 shots to pick up his first win at the BMO this season. Sikura, Forsberg and Noel were the three stars of the game.

Lines (Starters in italics)

Anthony Louis-Luke Johnson (A)-Jacob Nilsson

Jordan Schroeder-Tyler Sikura-Dylan Sikura

Henrik Samuelsson-Viktor Ejdsell-Terry Broadhurst (A)

Nick Moutrey-Graham Knott-Nathan Noel

Blake Hillman-Carl Dahlstrom (A)

Andrew Campbell-Lucas Carlsson

Joni Tuulola-Darren Raddysh

Anton Forsberg

 

Saturday, December 9-Chicago 4, Rockford 0

Rockford haplessly watched former IceHogs forward and AHL scoring leader Brandon Pirri post a hat trick in this Illinois Lottery Cup matchup. Three Wolves goals subdued the impotent piglets in the opening frame and the Hogs win streak ended at two games.

Collin Delia was saddled with the loss in his return from a leg injury. Delia stopped 35 shots on the night but was no match for Pirri, who beat Rockford in transition as well as on the power play.

Lines (Starters in italics)

Nick Moutrey-Graham Knott-Nathan Noel

Anthony Louis-Luke Johnson (A)-Jacob Nilsson

Jordan Schroeder-Tyler Sikura-Dylan Sikura

Henrik Samuelsson-Viktor Ejdsell-Terry Broadhurst (A)

Joni Tuulola-Darren Raddysh

Blake Hillman-Carl Dahlstrom (A)

Andrew Campbell-Lucas Carlsson

Collin Delia

 

This Week

The Hogs travel to Grand Rapids Friday before returning to Rockford to complete a three-game in three days weekend. Texas comes a calling Saturday; the Griffins come to the BMO Sunday afternoon.

Follow me @JonFromi on twitter for thoughts on the IceHogs all season long.

 

Everything Else

Game #31 – Canadiens 3, Hawks 2 – Make a New Plan, Stan

By Rose Rankin 1971 0

Another game, another heartbreaker. The Hawks actually generated a shitload of shots. Even more surprising, they didn’t give up a shitload, but rather just a regular load. And the power plays…so, so many power plays. And yet, they still couldn’t close it out. I want to watch the Bears game as much as you do, so let’s just get to it:

Box Score

Corsica

Natural Stat Trick

–Oh, those power plays. The Hawks had a total of eight. That’s right, eight power plays, including one double minor when Jordie Benn hacked open Dylan Strome‘s face with a high stick in the third. Yes, Patrick Kane did score on the first power play, so that’s…something? But to have that many chances and not convert on more of them is just embarrassing. There were conspicuously fewer drop passes getting into the zone, but way too many Seabrook shots from the blue line that Price and everyone else could see coming a mile away. John Hayden was positioned well to screen, but the puck kept bouncing off his chest and he ended up doing Price’s job for him, rather than him deflecting it in or finding a rebound. It was absurd. Really, at this point, I don’t know how else to describe their power play.

–  Other frustrating numbers include the shots on goal. The Hawks only gave up 28, which is downright normal. Instead, THEY were the team with 39 shots. This is what they need to be doing and it would suggest their defense played better finally. The third goal wasn’t terrible but still one Crawford would of course like to have back. It was just deflating after they ostensibly did what they’re supposed to do.

– Patrick Kane had the two goals, which was good to see after a bit of a drought. Also, our Irish Son Connor Murphy played well in his first game back. He had four shots on goal and a 62 CF%. I didn’t understand why Colliton made a lot of the defensive changes that he did, but Murphy had over a 60% with both Keith and Gustafsson, so at least he may still be versatile with the blender.

– And really, what the fuck was that all about? Keith and Seabrook were paired back together in the second and third, and their possession number was 0.00. I thought that was an error, but no. Their CF% with each other was zero. Meanwhile, Keith and Jokiharju had a 55 CF%. Relatedly, Joker’s numbers with Brandon fucking Manning, who he got stuck with for far too long, was a dismal 28.6 CF% (these are in all situations, which I looked at because there was so much damn power play time it seemed disingenuous to look at only even strength). I realize Colliton is working with a lack of talent and clearly is in over his head, but using Q’s blankie of Keith and Seabrook is nonsensical at this point. And why, for the love of god, would you put your teenage talent with a useless jamoke from whom he can only learn mistakes and failure?

– I will end on one last sort-of positive note: Alex DeBrincat had a good game after not doing much of anything lately. He and Dylan Strome do seem to still have some chemistry (duh), and Top Cat had multiple pretty chances (three, to be exact), including drawing one of the five million penalties. He even pulled off a nifty spin-o-rama to keep possession in the offensive zone, and finished the night with an 82.6 CF% (again, all situations). If only he’d been a little more effective with his power play minutes, then he really would have had himself a game.

It’s exhausting. It’s exhausting to decry the same problems game after game. And it’s even more difficult to do it when they’re slowly improving in fits and starts, and yet the results aren’t there. Again, there’s no rest for the wicked as they’ll be seeing the Jets twice this week along with the Penguins and Sharks. Onward and upward?

Photo credit: Chicago Tribune

Everything Else

Game #31 – Canadiens vs. Hawks Preview/Bouldering Workshop: Bleu, Blanc, et Rouge Visitent Le Baillement Technicolor

By Sam Fels 1689 0

 vs. 

RECORDS: Canadiens 14-10-5    Hawks 9-16-5

PUCK DROP: 5pm

TV: NBCSN for the locals, NHL Network for those who aren’t

CATCHING TORCHES FOR SOME REASON: Habs Eyes On The Prize

Yadda yadda yadda Original Six matchup blah blah blah. We’re contractually obligated to mention that every time the Quebecois wash up on Madison St. Whatever allure that sort of thing has, and it still has something if only a little, is probably mostly washed away by the utter incompetence of the Hawks these days. And it might sting a little more with the Canadiens, who used to be as hapless and directionless, might have turned things around a bit.

We’ll start with the main headline for the Hawks, which is the return of Connor Murphy from his back-iotomy, which is what doc said he needed. You know things are pretty dire when you greatly anticipate the return of Murphy, who simply be maintaining the form of “fine” last year was pretty much the best Hawks defenseman. He’s better than pretty much everyone aside from Jokiharju and maybe Duncan Keith though, and his return will be welcomed.

He does seem to smooth out some things. He gives Gustafsson a partner who can cover for his constant meanderings and delusions, and they dovetailed nicely at the end of last year. It keeps Keith with Jokiharju, which I’m not a huge fan of but don’t really see a way around. Maybe at some point Murphy pairs with The Har Ju, but that leaves Keith with only problematic partnerships. For now, let’s just enjoy the two second-pairings the Hawks might actually have tonight.

Also it keeps Manning and Seabrook on strict third-pairing duty, where they can still do some damage (evidenced clearly by Thursday night in Sin City), but this is what they’re barely cut out for these days. I don’t like it any more than you.

Though what Murphy is now being 6-5 and having back surgery in a job that requires a fair amount of bending over is a thought not for the weak of heart or stomach. Let’s run that kitten over when we get to it.

For the rest of the lineup, it appears Head Coach Arthur Fortune is going with the “pairs” system, where Toews and Saad, Anisimov and Kane, and Strome and Top Cat will be continually lashed together an they’ll make up the other wing as they go along. I guess this is what happens when you’re short on wingers.

Pivoting to Les Habitants. Montreal started the year on fire, with Max Domi, Jonathan Drouin, Tomas Tatar, Paul Byron, and some others shooting the lights out at a pace that was never going to be sustainable. That’s started to cool, and the Habs with it, however the underlying structure beneath that looks solid.

While Marc Bergevin may be unable to tie his shoes or spell “cat,” he has constructed a forward unit that is basically four lines of nimble, skilled forwards. They have rookie Jesperi Kotkaniemi and fellow Finn Arturi Lehkonen on the third line, which is pretty neat. Drouin and Domi anchor the top unit (even if Drouin is never going to be a center), and Brendan Gallagher, Tatar, and Phillip Danault make for quite the second unit.

Even old horse Claude Julien has changed his…well, horses don’t have stripes but just go with me here, as the Habs are playing faster and freer than previous iterations. They have a bunch of gnats up top, so why not let them roam wild? Also, the defense is still spotty, so asking them to do less is the way to go. Jeff Petry has thrived under this system, and the returning Shea Weber will benefit from being asked merely to get the puck up quickly instead of picking out precise passes or moving all that much.

However, the foundation is creaky, because Carey Price has been REEL BAD. November was a real disaster for him, with a .888 SV% over the month. He’s only rebounded a touch in December, with four starts amassing a .912. The Habs have some of the strongest metrics as a team in the league, thanks to their speed and Julien’s tweaks, but if Price can’t get even to league average than there’s only so far you can go. The Habs currently have a two-point gap for the last playoff spot, and three on any team that’s going to matter. They’ll need Price to come in from the woods to hold onto it.

So here’s the thing. Vegas is filled with quick forwards who play fast. The Hawks usually get their lunch handed to them by that outfit. So do they by other teams who boast that. They looked better on Thursday but were undone by Seabrook and Crawford letting them down, simply. They’ll need another effort on that level to break their duck against a Habs team still feeling itself a bit. Don’t hold your breath.

 

 

Game #31 Preview Suite

Preview

Spotlight

Q&A

Douchebag Du Jour

I Make A Lot Of Graphs

Lineups & How Teams Were Built

Everything Else

Game #31 – Canadiens vs. Hawks Spotlight: The One That Truly Hurts

By Sam Fels 1641 0

We’ll be honest, and some of you already know. The one prospect that the Hawks gave away that we thought they’d regret the most was Stephen Johns. The need on the blue line is rather obvious now, and it was obvious before Niklas Hjalmarsson and Duncan Keith starting slowing down. It felt like Johns was brought along just slowly enough to dive in with both feet when he did make it to Chicago.

Of course, he never made it to Chicago. He as a make-weight to get rid of Patrick Sharp’s bloated contract, and all the Hawks had to show for their patience, development, and extra cash they threw at Johns was a couple months of a truly bewildered Trevor Daley. That’s pretty bad. But then again, Johns has battled injury and three different coaches in Dallas, without ever really grabbing hold of a top-four spot on their defense.

Which means it’s not as bad as Phillip Danault.

Danault did make it to Chicago. More impressively, he gained Joel Quenneville’s trust. But not quite enough to be considered untouchable when it came to time to load up on veterans for 2016’s ill-fated playoff run. Danault netted just about the same nothing that Johns did, as Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann did just this side of jackshit when they were here. Weise couldn’t even gain the trust from Quenneville that Danault did.

What patience might have gotten the Hawks.

This will hurt to read. Danault currently has the eighth-best Corsi-percentage of any forward in the league. He has the 10th-best relative-CF%. He has the eighth-best xGF%, and the 15th-best relative-xGF%. Danault simply has been one of the best two-way forwards in the game. He won’t ever produce that much offensively, but he keeps the puck in the right end of the ice just about as much as anyone in the game right now.

Oh, and he does all that while getting the least amount of offensive zone starts on the Canadiens and facing the toughest competition.

Danault flashed this while on the Hawks, being dogged on the puck and responsible in his own zone. He was perfectly poised to take over from Marcus Kruger, which is exactly what the Hawks told him he would be doing when he arrived in the organization. And yet he was gone before Kruger was.

You can’t help but wonder what the Hawks might have done they had just forced Danault into the playoffs and have Q use him. Would they have felt the need in 2017 to panic and trade for Artem Anisimov if they already had another center behind Toews? Could they have moved Saad along for defensive help they so clearly needed? Perhaps a different winger?

What would it look like now? Could they have gotten Schmatlz even easier assignments with Toews and Danault around to take the harder ones? Could they do that now with Strome? You wonder

Danault isn’t breaking the bank at $3.0M for the next two years. The Hawks probably could have found a way to keep him around, especially if they weren’t tossing more at Anisimov? Where could that savings have gone?

You could go down this road with Teuvo Teravainen as well, maybe Schmaltz one day. Maybe even Ryan Hartman, though that seems a stretch. At least Hartman netted something in return. When deciding to go all-in for a Cup you better know you have a serious chance. That ’16 Hawks team was seriously flawed–it was one line and a struggling defense behind Keith and Hammer. Was it worth losing Danault’s future over?

Hindsight is 20-20, but that’s how you get in messes like this.

 

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Game #31 – Canadiens vs. Hawks Q&A: Andrew Berkshire From…Well, Everywhere

By Sam Fels 1594 0

You can catch him a lot of places, so we recommend you just follow Andrew Berkshire @AndrewBerkshire and at his tumblr andrewberkshire.tumblr.com.

The Canadiens started out hot, but have cooled off of late. What fueled the former and what’s the cause of the latter?
Hot starts from everyone new really helped the Habs this year. Tomas Tatar has been amazing through two months of the season, and so has Max Domi to an even greater degree, at least offensively. Couple that with Jeff Petry and Brendan Gallagher starting off the season the same way they played last year and it’s a good recipe for success. Claude Julien was able to run four scoring lines of various quality early in the year before injuries began to hit, and the Canadiens have started to come back down to earth where their true talent level is of late.
Max Domi has 30 points in 28 games. Is it more than just the 19% shooting-percentage for the little turd?
The high shooting percentage is absolutely a huge part of it, but it seems like the Canadiens’ system is tailor made to make Domi look good this year. When the Canadiens play with speed and attack the offensive zone with control, Domi looks like an elite player, but when the Canadiens have trouble attacking off the rush, he’s much more neutralized.
Is this finally the Jonathan Drouin “awakening?”
For the first month of the season, Drouin was riding Domi’s coattails quite a lot, I thought he looked pretty lost and was constantly making junior hockey moves and getting caught. The last month he’s been playing what Pierre LeBrun would call ‘Big Boy hockey.” Whether it’s a permanent awakening for him is up for debate, but the effort level is there.
How do the Habs plan to turn over what is still a pretty hilarious blue line? Kids we should know about?
On the right side the blue line isn’t too bad, with Shea Weber and Jeff Petry leading the way and Noah Juulsen being the young kid that’s not known enough around the league for how good he is. The left side is an absolute mess, even more so now with Victor Mete losing the coach’s confidence and being sent to the AHL. Eventually Mete will establish himself as the team’s top left handed defenseman. Until then, there’s no one in the organization that’s immediately available to solve this.
How long did it take before you could spell “Kotkaniemi” without looking?
Surprisingly, it wasn’t that long. Niemi helped with the latter half, and then it was just Kotka, which is pretty simple to remember. It’s nowhere near as tough as Vasilevskiy, for example.

 

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Game #31 – Canadiens vs. Hawks Douchebag Du Jour: The Worst Of The Q Tree?

By Sam Fels 1595 0

Hey, even Bill Belichick has a shit coaching tree. So maybe it’s just a thing that happens.

While the Hawks spiral more and more toward the seventh level of hell, the idea that Joel Quenneville is a hockey genius continues to grow. And maybe he is, though he wasn’t getting much more out of this team than Jeremy Colliton is. But an argument against that is that seemingly anyone who has worked for or with him, by his choice, ends up being an idiot.

Mike Kitchen hasn’t even been whispered for a head coaching job, even though he was Q’s right hand guy for years, because his tenure in St. Louis went so badly and pretty much everyone knows he’s a moron. Jamie Kompon got a coaching job in the WHL, fucked that up hard, and now is nowhere. We’ll see where Kevin Dineen and Ulf Samuelsson end up. Wouldn’t hold out much hope. Even Mike Haviland, who wasn’t Q’s guy but worked under him for the first Cup win, only managed a college head coaching job.

Marc Bergevin was actually with the Hawks before Q was, but had a major hand in bringing him to Chicago and might have been part of the plan all along. He has worked with him in the past. Bergevin was hired as an assistant for Denis Savard, who was fired mere weeks later. Hmmm…

And he’s been accidentally face-fucking the Canadiens as GM for years now.

We don’t have to go much deeper than Shea Weber for PK Subban. Trading Pacioretty for peanuts might get there as well. The Karl Alzner signing. Sergachev-for-Drouin. Two draft picks for Andrew Shaw, one of which just happened to be Alex Debrincat. There’s more, but we don’t want to be rude because French-Canadians are so considerate.

Bergevin might be saving himself by turning over the team to a bunch of fast, young forwards, but the blue line is still a mess (recurring theme, it seems). And he was the first Q guy to get his own job from the Hawks. But in six season at the helm in La Belle Province, he’s seen the Habs win all of three playoff series. They have won the division three times, though one of those was with essentially someone else’s roster.

Maybe that makes Q a genius, in a strange way, because he’s had to overcome the idiocy that he surrounds himself with. Not one of Belichick’s assistants has ever risen above the level of “chucklehead” when given their own head coaching job. Or maybe Bergevin is more off the Stan Bowman tree, as he served as assistant GM longer than he did as assistant coach. Either way, it’s been great television.

 

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