Everything Else

High On The Hog: Help!

By Jon Fromi 1581 0

The Rockford IceHogs, AHL affiliate of the Blackhawks, have a real issue with goal scoring this season. As the midway point of the 2018-19 season approaches, it’s beginning to create some separation in the AHL’s Central Division standings. For the Hogs, that’s not in a good way.

As has been the case for a while now, Rockford is in sixth place in the division. However, the gap between the IceHogs and fifth-place Milwaukee is growing. The Hogs (.514 points percentage) are closer to seventh-place San Antonio (.485) than they are the Admirals (.571).

This week, the IceHogs were on the short end of a pair of 2-1 decisions. Kevin Lankinen and Anton Forsberg kept things close. In the end, Rockford was not up to the task offensively.

The defense, surrendering just 2.83 goals per game, is ranked fifth in the league. It’s a crying shame the organization doesn’t put some goal-scorers on this team every year. Right now, the IceHogs are made up of prospects and a couple of decent complimentary scorers.

As of this morning, the Hogs are still dead last in the AHL in scoring. Their figure has dropped over the last five games to 2.22 goals per contest. RFD has scored 0, 2, 1,1 and 1 in those past five. To the surprise of no one, the piglets have lost all five of those games.

If RFD is going to pick it up in the second half, some of the kids need to start finding the net. They also are going to need some help in the form of veteran pickups.

Last year, Stan Bowman filled the scoring needs with some trade deadline acquisitions, as well as assigning some players from the bottom of the Hawks roster. The bolstered Hogs reached the conference final. Two years ago, things went sour in Rockford when the team was not shored up with needed talent.

The organization may not start making moves for a few weeks yet. That means that the IceHogs are going to have to start treading water and hope help arrives.

 

All-Star Selections

The AHL announced the rosters for the leagues All-Star Classic in Springfield, Massachusetts at the end of this month. Andrew Campbell was named a captain of the Western Conference squad back on December 20. Goalie Collin Delia, who is currently playing with the Blackhawks, was also named from the Central Division.

 

Roster Moves

On Thursday, the IceHogs brought up defensemen Josh McArdle and Neil Manning from the Indy Fuel. Though Dennis Gilbert was back in the lineup this week after missing a few games, Lucas Carlsson and Jan Rutta were out for Wednesday’s game with Milwaukee. The IceHogs were forced to go with 13 forwards and just five defensemen against the Admirals.

 

Recaps

Monday, December 31-Grand Rapids 2, Rockford 1

The scoreboard wasn’t used until the midpoint; Carter Camper converted for the Griffins on a two-man advantage at 11:19 of the second period. A goal by Graham Knott was waved off due to a goalie interference call on Luke Johnson a few minutes later.

Rockford tied the game for real after a faceoff win at the left dot by Nathan Noel. Henrik Samuelsson tapped the puck to Matheson Iacopelli, who slid it back to Lucas Carlsson just inside the Grand Rapids blueline. The long-distance shot got the best of Griffins goalie Harri Sateri and nestled into the twine to even the score at a goal apiece at 15:50 of the middle frame.

Grand Rapids took a 2-1 lead with 4:44 remaining in regulation when Chris Terry’s maneuvering created the space for Joe Hicketts to send a slap shot past Hogs goalie Kevin Lankinen. Lankinen was pulled with 2:32 to go for an extra skater, but the IceHogs weren’t able to get a shot past Sateri.

 

Wednesday, January 2, Milwaukee 2, Rockford 1

Rockford dropped its fifth-straight game, falling to the Admirals at the BMO in front of 3330 humans, several dozen canine friends and at least one pet of the porcine variety.

The Hogs dug a 2-0 hole for themselves over the first two periods. The Admirals swarmed Rockford in the opening minutes, taking a 1-0 advantage on a Yakov Trenin goal 1:45 into the contest. Connor Brickley put back a rebound of an Alexandre Carrier shot 4:21 into the second to double the Milwaukee lead.

Rockford’s starter in net, Anton Forsberg, did not allow another Admirals goal to give his club a chance to rally. The IceHogs had the game’s only four power play chances but could not convert. William Pelletier, Rockford’s most active skater all evening, redirected a Tyler Sikura shot for his first goal of the season. This cut the lead to 2-1 4:26 into the final period.

Hogs coach Derek King went with six skaters for the final two-and-a-half minutes, to no avail. Raddysh sent a shot off the left post but that’s as close as Rockford could get to the equalizer.

 

Wild Times With Iowa

The prospect of breaking Rockford’s losing streak is made tougher with a home-and-home series with the Iowa Wild this weekend. The Hogs begin the action in DesMoines Friday. The teams come to the BMO Harris Bank Center on Sunday.

Iowa sits atop the Cental Division. The Wild (19-8-4-3) won their fourth straight Wednesday night, beating Chicago 3-1. Iowa has won three of the four games against Rockford this season, outscoring the piglets 11-5 in those games.

The scoring has been spread throughout the lineup; 13 active Iowa skaters have double digit points, compared to just seven for the IceHogs. Cal O’Reilly, the Wild captain and an All-Star selection, paces his club with 25 points (5 G, 20 A). Iowa is getting goals from Gerry Fitzgerald (12), Colton Beck (10) and Justin Kloos (10).

Rookie goalie Kaapo Kahkonen has three wins over the Hogs this season. In fact, he’s shut them out twice. Rockford has just one goal against Kahkonen, who will also represent the Wild at the All-Star Classic, this season.

Of Rockford’s five goals against the Wild, Anthony Louis has three of them. Two came on November 4 in a 4-2 Hogs victory. Louis (8 G, 13 A) is tied with Darren Raddysh (7 G, 14 A) for the team lead in points with 21.

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

 

Everything Else

Game #43 – Hawks 2, Islanders 2 (Islanders win Cheetos shape finding contest) – A Rose By Any Other Name

By Adam Hess 1635 0

Box Score

Corsica

Natural Stat Trick

The Blackhawks were lucky this shitfest went to overtime. I am no Pullega so let’s just bullets it:

-The Blackhawks being beaten by a guy named Toews is kind of a hilarious cherry on top of this season, to me at least. Finally Hockey Twitter is right and a Toews was the downfall of the Hawks.

– So, Collin Delia might be an actual thing. Like I said, the Hawks were lucky they even got to overtime in this one, and it was solely on the play of Delia that they got there. He stopped 47 of 50 total shots and was locked in the whole time, save for some slight rebound control issues early on that aren’t exactly surprising given this is his fifth career NHL game. He’s been aces for them and might just end up fucking up the quasi-tank they have going on here. But given the status of Crawford, if he proves to be a franchise goalie, that’s way more important than Jack Hughes would be so it’d be fine. Moving forward there is no reason he shouldn’t be started every game that isn’t a back-to-back, and since the Hawks have just one of those in a light January before the bye week at the end of the month, he needs to be between the pipes this whole month so we really see what we have here.

– I have been very wary of giving up on Gustav Forsling, in large part because I felt like I really saw something in him that proved he could be a good defenseman in the NHL. He has the smooth skating stride, the puck control, the passing that you want to see from a mobile defenseman. The problem is he can’t for the life of him put it all together, and I don’t think they ever taught him what defense actually looks like in Sweden. He has been downright bad for a while now and I have finally come to grips with it. At this point the best case is maybe that you find a team willing to gamble on his upside.

Side note – based on the reports I’m hearing from the WJC and some of the earlier scouting reports, I might be starting to be a little worried about if Adam Boqvist is actually gonna be able to play defense, or if he’ll just be Forsling with better tools.

– The Jonathan Toews “Fuck You Tour” continued tonight, as even in a game in which the Hawks got shitpumped and skull-fucked simultaneously in the possession game with a hilariously bad “are you sure you even tried” 36.89 CF%, Toews dominated to the tune of an individual CF% of 60. Brandon Saad and Dominic Kahun were flanking him and were the only other two Hawks above 50%, with 58.64 and 54.55 respectively. That’s a dominant night from that line that basically went for naught, save for Kahun getting the opening goal of the game.

– Speaking of “Fuck You” tours, this time of a different variety, Duncan Keith was ass again tonight with a 37.14 CF%. I’m sad but also tired of it.

– I had the national NBCSN feed streaming on my computer, because for some reason NBCSN wanted to subject the nation to this monstrosity, but in the end it turned out that the real monstrosity was the broadcast. I don’t know who the announcers were for the broadcast, but they were boring as hell. One of them was a woman who’s analysis was good for the most part save for a few cheap praises of a Hawks team that played like utter garbage, but even with that they were not exciting at all. It also sounded like Nassau Coliseum was dead. And then in the intermission reports, Kathryn Tappen (who is normally very good) butchered Delia’s name to an extent that I did not think could be possible, though I can’t exactly blame her because he’s a relative unknown and she’s on the national level so she probably learned his name today. Then Roenick had the audacity in the postgame to say the Hawks played “good tight defense” and that’s why Delia was able to keep them in it, and I was done. I need to go back to the Mute Lounge.

– GO BEARS BITCH.

Everything Else

Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight – January 3rd

By Sam Fels 1138 0

First Screen Viewing

Flames vs. Bruins – 6pm

The surprise package of the West, the Calgary Flames, continue an Eastern swing by stopping in to Boston to face the clearly indestructible Bruins. By all rights the Bruins should be buried by the injuries they’ve had, but David Pastrnak, David Krejci, and their goaltending have somehow kept them afloat. The Sharks and Knights are rounding into gear, seemingly, so the Flames are going to have to maintain their start throughout the rest of the season if they don’t want to go through both of them in the playoffs.

Second Screen Viewing

Wrestle Kingdom – 2am

The rest of the games blow tonight. So if you want a hilarious Twitter follow and you don’t have anywhere to be tomorrow, watch a bunch of freaks like me stay up all night to watch Japanese wrestling. It’s their Wrestlemania at the Tokyo Dome, and we’ll all be losing our shit in the middle of the night while we frighten our neighbors. Enjoy the psychosis.

Other Games

Wild vs. Maple Leafs – 1pm

Panthers vs. Sabres – 6pm

Hurricanes vs. Flyers – 6pm

Canucks vs. Canadiens – 6:30

Capitals vs. Blues – 7pm

Lightning vs Kings – 9:30

Everything Else

Game #43 – Hawks vs. Islanders Preview/Spin Class For The Bewildered: No One Leaves The Island

By Sam Fels 2193 0

 vs. 

RECORDS: Hawks 15-21-6   Islanders 21-13-4

PUCK DROP: 6:30

TV: NBCSN Chicago locally, NBCSN elsewhere

FUTURE ISLANDS IS A TERRIBLE BAND: Lighthouse Hockey

The Hawks are back on Long Island for the first time in four seasons, as while waiting for their new arena the New York Islanders are trying to make it up to their fans who never took to Brooklyn because they didn’t want to stay in New York after work for one extra second, unless it was the three times a year they bother Rangers fans at MSG. Or Brooklyners never took to the team because Jay-Z’s playhouse sucks for hockey. Or because those stuck on the Island didn’t want to come into the city for fear of meeting a minority. Whatever the reason, the Isles are splitting their home schedule between Brooklyn and the revamped Nassau Coliseum (where they come to see ’em), and the Hawks get the latter trip tonight.

What they’ll find is one of the bigger surprises in the league. The Isles were supposed to be left for dead after they made up for John Tavares‘s departure by hiring Toronto’s decrepit GM and letting him pick up Toronto’s trash. While they did poach a Stanley Cup winning coach in something of a coup, this roster was supposed to be in the first step of a rebuild. It hasn’t quite worked out that way.

But don’t fool yourself. Lou Lamoriello and Barry Trotz haven’t found some magic formula in their metamucil and oatmeal to turn a roster full of whatsits into a fine oiled machine. What they have is two goalies playing bonkers and some luck. The Isles have the third-best SV% at evens in the league, and the third-best PDO at a kind of unsustainable 103.5 (hey, remember The Blaze?). The Isles are not a good possession or defensive team, they’re just getting two guys stopping just about everything

For Thomas Greiss, it’s not a huge surprise as he’s put up more than competent split-seasons before with the Islanders. He was simply woeful last year, ceded the job to Jaroslav Halak, but has rebounded this season. Robin Lehner, who is nominally the starter at the moment, has done this before as well, with some excellent cameos in Ottawa and Buffalo. Because neither is being asked to shoulder the load alone, and it has benefitted both of them. And they are the reason that the Islanders are one point out of a playoff spot no one saw coming.

Up front, Mathew Barzal and his missing ‘T” have taken the #1 center responsibility and ably so. He’s kept Josh Bailey scoring, which is a trick because pretty much everyone assumed Bailey was a Tavares-product. Anders Lee and Brock Nelson have anchored the second line, and new toy Josh Ho-Sang is running with them in an exciting vision of the future…assuming Nelson and Lee are both re-signed in the summer.

That’s about it though. Anthony Beauvillier has put up 11 goals, and Marcus Kruger East Casey Cizikas has spasmed 10, but this is not a team that scores a ton. They average just about the same amount of goals per game as the Hawks. Their margins are thin.

On the back end, their top-pairing of Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk has been woeful, and constantly bailed out by Lehner and Greiss. Leddy seems to have struggled all year with all the things Trotz has asked of him, and around here we know especially how fragile his confidence can be. The Isles are waiting for the young troika of Scott Pelech, Ryan Pulock, and Scott Mayfield (not as much) to grab the brass ring. And they have at various times and definitely not at others. It’s a work in progress back there, though the Isles are pretty middling in terms of shots and chances against in the league.

For the Hawks, one should expect Collin Delia to return to the net tonight after Cam Ward got his gold-watch ceremony in South Bend. Few other changes would be likely. No word on if Drake Caggiula will make his debut in red or not, but that might be the only one you see. There aren’t any other d-men right now. Unless you are about the usual Martinsen-Hayden flip, and you shouldn’t.

A little further on down the road, peeps…

 

Game #43 Preview Suite

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Douchebag Du Jour

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Lineups & How Teams Were Built

Everything Else

Game #43 – Hawks vs. Islanders Spotlight: The NHL, Where Dinosaurs Never Die

By Sam Fels 1613 0

We suppose you can’t blame the oh-so-hip owners of the New York Islanders, Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin, for being in something of a panic. After last season ended, there was no guarantee that franchise cornerstone John Tavares would stick around. There’s always something of a scratchy hold on the fanbase, who never took to the move to Brooklyn and the promise of moving some games back to  Nassau wasn’t enough to reassure. The arena at Belmont Park is still years away. So if you squint, you could see where they wanted to make a splash, and hire someone with a name everyone knows.

The problem is that anyone who knows the name of Lou Lamoriello knows the game passed him by years ago.

While the Devils three Cups and nearly murdering the game as we know it are still lingering somewhere in the recesses of everyone’s mind, they’re yellowing and green with mold. The Devils last Cup was 15 years ago, and since then the only playoff series they’ve won were on each in ’06-’07 and ’07-’08, and then the barely sensical run to the Final in ’12. As the NHL sped up and became more and more about skill, the Devils were left behind. That Final team of ’12 was the only one of the last five Lamoriello iterations in New Jersey to even make the playoffs.

Worse yet, Lou’s drafting record, what he had built the bedrock of his Devils teams on, suddenly became salted earth. His last five drafts produced Damon Severson, Miles Wood, and Adam Larsson. And that’s basically it.

His record in Toronto is hardly better. Sure, he got to draft Auston Matthews, but you could find a lot of palookas or nitwits to not fuck up a consensus #1 pick. Mitch Marner was already there, and Matthews is the only player Lou drafted that has suited up for the Leafs. As far as what else Lou added to the Leafs, there’s Freddie Anderson and the yellow puddle he leaves around in the playoffs. There’s Matt Martin who makes everyone else feel better about their IQ. Nikita Zaitsev is fine. Patrick Marleau scores but is old and expensive and might make things tricky next summer when Marner and Matthews come calling for their money. And that’s it.

So what about that record suggests Lou is in any way prepared to lead a new era of the Islanders? His first moves of trading for Martin and signing Leo Komarov don’t exactly inspire confidence so much as roiled stomachs. Neither would Valtieri Filppula.

The Isles have hung around the playoff scene thanks to the goaltending of Robin Lehner and Thomas Greiss, the former brought in by Lou, to be fair. But what’s left here? A young defense that needs augmenting, and maybe one top line player in Mathew Barzal and that’s it.

Given Lou’s constant bitching about how much players make, it would be unlikely to see him go to the free agent market to solve some of Long Island’s problems. Or when it comes to their own free agents, and Barzal is going to be looking at Nylander money at least and Lou will almost certainly pass his own colon before giving it to him.

The game simply left Lou and his style behind. Maybe he can adapt, but given his nature you don’t see it. The Isles will have plenty money to spend in the summer, as all of Anders Lee, Brock Nelson, and Jordan Eberle will be out of contract. Someone’s got to get paid though.

Lou Lamoriello is a deserved Hall of Famer. And he did change the game with his teams in New Jersey, even if it was for the worse and made it nearly unwatchable. Banners fly forever. But his time is gone, and the Islanders seemingly will continue to be stuck in hockey purgatory, as they’ve been since the 80s, until they realize it.

 

 

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Game #43 – Hawks vs Islanders Q&A: Dan Saraceni, Who Has Resisted The Hipster Charms Of Brooklyn

By Sam Fels 1688 0

Dan Saraceni is one-half of the editing team at LightHouseHockey.com. You can follow him on Twitter @CultureOfLosing. 

After losing Tavares, the Isles are somehow hanging around a playoff spot in the East. How and why? 
 I’d like to just write, “TROTZ” but it’s a little more complex than that. Yes, having a coach who actually knows what he’s doing makes a big difference. And after three straight coaches getting their feet wet in the NHL (two with AHL experience, one just as an NHL assistant), having a guy show up with a defined game plan and a crew that’s worked for 20+ years and a Stanley Cup changes a lot of things. There’s way less headless chicken action going on out there and everyone seems to be on the same page regardless of skill level (or lack thereof). The goalies have also been lights out, which can be traced back to better defensive play and – again – coaches like Mitch Korn and Piero Greco that actually have a clue. Whether they actually make the playoffs is still up in the air, but playing like an actual NHL team and not beer league walk-ons has been fun so far.
Is Jordan Eberle playing himself into being actually affordable in the summer for the Isles? Or is he still going to do one?
Eberle is hurt right now, and Josh Ho-Sang has been more than holding his own in Eberle’s spot on the second line. I don’t know if we know why he’s been so unproductive this season, but it’s not really the way you want to go into a UFA year. Between him and the Islanders’ other UFAs (steady captain Anders Lee and the suddenly awakened Brock Nelson), Eberle is easily the odd man out and could be a rental for someone at the deadline. He’ll be coming off a $6 million a year contract from the Oilers, so I don’t know if he’ll come cheap to whoever signs him. If he somehow loves Long Island, maybe he’ll stay but it’s probably not happening.
What on Earth has happened to Nick Leddy? Only 11 points and his metrics smell worse than a skunk on a hot day.
This is from October by our LHH colleague Cary: https://www.lighthousehockey.com/2018/10/23/18014512/nick-leddy-analysis-islanders-slump. Although he’s looked better lately, Leddy’s problems stretch back to the middle of last season, and no one’s sure what happened. It’s frustrating watching a guy who can skate that smoothly and carry the puck well do jack shit with it (especially on the power play. Maybe some guys just aren’t made to be quarterbacks). Maybe he’s trying to do too much or getting too caught up in the defensive aspects of Trotz’s system, but the points just aren’t coming for him and it’s a problem that (so far) the Islanders have managed to overcome. Again, he’s looked okay lately, but when you’re winning, everything looks okay.
Does Lou Lamoriello really provide any hope for Islanders fans or is he the dinosaur we think he is?
Lou provides hope that the New York Islanders can be run like an actual, adult NHL franchise for the first time in a generation. Yes, he’s old as shit and his various rules are largely stupid (ask Dom!). But after years of out-of-the-box thinking, it’s been refreshing to see the Islanders think within the box for a change. Like hiring people to do jobs that most NHL teams have and making changes when stuff isn’t working. That might be a low bar to clear, but it’s something the Islanders haven’t been able to do in quite some time. Any GM is only as good as his last deal, but so far, having Lou looking over everyone’s shoulders has been good for the franchise.

 

Game #43 Preview Suite

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Game #43 – Hawks vs. Islanders Douchebag Du Jour: Jordan Eberle And How Not To Be A Free Agent

By Sam Fels 1560 0

Before the season, Jordan Eberle probably had every reason to be excited. After this campaign, he would be an unrestricted free agent for the first time. And while he’s never quite proven to be the top line talent he has flashed at various times, players who consistently put up 60+ points can expect to make $6 or $7 million or more. That’s what Eberle makes now, so he was probably dreaming of a raise on what will be his last big contract.

And in 35 games he’s not even averaging a half-point per game. Whoops!

We’ve always thought Eberle was something of a luxury player. If you had everything else in place or thereabouts, you could afford to have Eberle weaving his pretty patterns on your top six without requiring him to do much dirty work. Because he’s always been on a team that has never been close to having everything, he’s always disappointed just a touch. Even with all those points.

He seems the idealized Kris Versteeg, at least in Versteeg’s mind. Though Steeger never minded doing the defensive work and could be trusted with a specific assignment. You get more skill with Eberle and the ability to produce something out of nothing, but you don’t get the defensive side. So it leads one to wonder why anyone should give a shit.

Eberle has only been in the playoffs once, and while it’s never entirely fair to blame one player for that, especially a winger, Eberle has always been in a top six. So he’s supposed to be making a difference. And you can’t really argue he ever has. And with his big chance to convince teams otherwise that will have open checkbooks in July, he’s got seven goals.

That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works.

 

Game #43 Preview Suite

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Everything Else

Game #43 – Hawks vs. Islanders: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels 1435 0

Notes: Caggiula is still having visa delays so he won’t be here tonight…Hayden is in for Martinsen, which seems to be the normal rotation…Forsling has a max of three games to show why he shouldn’t be launched west on I-90 posthaste when Jokiharju returns from the WJC…the Hawks had one of their strongest possession games against the Bruins, shame they lost…

Notes: Look at these clean-shaven hunks! The Lamoriello Influence, catch the fever!…Filppula and Eberle miss out through injury, so Kuhnhackl slots in…Ladd and Hickey are also absent…Barzal has six goals and nine points in his last five games…the second line has gotten a jump from Ho-Sang, it’s a question whether Eberle will slot back in when he’s healthy…good god Nick Leddy…

 

Game #43 Preview Suite

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Lineups & How Teams Were Built

Everything Else

Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight – January 2nd

By Sam Fels 1084 0

First Screen Viewing

Sharks vs. Avalanche – 8:30

Every time I think the Sharks are getting ready to cook, they do something like give up eight to the Flames that would have seen them move back into first, or lose to the Coyotes, or find a way to lose to the Kings. Their problems are clear, in that Martin Jones is turning into Denis Lemieux, and if this is their only season with Erik Karlsson (doubtful), then they’re going to have to have serious talks about what they’re going to do in the crease. The Avs have also sputtered of late, as if you can call losing to the Hawks twice at home in eight days anything else. When their top line isn’t motoring, this is what you get. They’re still comfortably in a playoff spot, as their four points clear of falling out of one. Both will see the turn in calendar as a chance to start anew. And both probably need to.

Second Screen Viewing

Oilers vs. Coyotes – 8:30

It really is a shame that Brandon Manning’s debut won’t happen at home, because you feel like one of his patented mistakes in a corner would send the Oilers faithful into hysteria, as they finally seem ready to turn on Peter Chiarelli full stop. But it’ll come in the outpost of Glendale, where he can make his tree-falling act in a place with no one to hear it. It’ll just be nice to watch it happen to someone else.

Other Games

Canucks vs. Senators – 6pm

Flames vs. Red Wings – 6pm

Penguins vs. Rangers – 6pm

Devils vs. Stars – 7:30