Everything Else

There Goes Your Manning

By Sam Fels 2392 0

I’m sure it was only a coincidence that the Hawks completed and announced a trade of perhaps their most bewildering signing in a decade during the last Bears regular season game. Wouldn’t want anyone to notice an admission of a stupefying and yet comedic mistake of this proportion.

The headline is the Hawks traded Brandon Manning and failed prospect Robin Norell to Edmonton for Jason Garrison and Drake “The A.K.” Caggiula.

The Brandon Manning signing sucked when they made it, but we tried to reassure ourselves he was only a bottom-pairing player and really couldn’t do that much damage. And then he played, and somehow the signing looked significantly worse than we thought it would. Then he blamed it on the system Joel Quenneville employed. When the coach and system changed, he still sucked. Then his GM blamed his signing on the coach he just canned. And when Manning finally played himself out of the lineup, he bitched and moaned until he got traded. Perhaps the most infuriating part of this whole thing was that nothing was ever Manning’s or Bowman’s fault for his acquisition or play.

Take a moment to consider all that.

Manning was a continuation in a war between Bowman and Quenneville that went on for far too long, and it looks like both will eventually lose. Michal Kempny was the big battlefront in it, which has caused Bowman to re-sign Jan Rutta and Manning while basically saying to Q, “Fine, you can have your type of player. Good fucking luck.” I wonder if it doesn’t go back to Trevor Daley, who is utterly terrible and always has been but the similarities are there. Bowman desperately wanted anything to show for having to give up Patrick Sharp and also Stephen Johns just to get rid of Sharp’s contract. Daley was also unhappy under Q and his system, and his play showed that. And he wasn’t shy about telling people, even though he was always a cowboy laced on meth when it came to his defensive play. And the Hawks had to give up on him barely halfway into his first season here because it was just that bad.

We’ve seen this before.

In the end, the Hawks were always going to be bad and Manning only cost them some money, and some bleeding eyeballs at his play. Maybe they could have believed in Carl Dahlstrom more and let him just start the year here, but these things aren’t always linear. At least it’s over.

They get back Drake Caggiula, a player they wanted to sign out of college and made a push for. He’s at least not a complete suckbag, though close. He did manage 13 goals last year. You’d probably rather see him take fourth-line shifts than Andreas Martinsen or John Hayden, who gets an abnormal amount of ink spilled about him for someone who can barely do anything. That’s about the ceiling for Caligula. Jason Garrison is on a minimum deal for this season and we’ll never see the light of day and will probably be waived tout suite.

While the Hawks will tell you it clears up their defensive logjam, it really doesn’t. When Henri Jokiharju comes back, they’ll have seven d-men and various arguments about why they all need to play. Certainly Dahlstrom’s play doesn’t warrant him sitting regularly. Jokiharju has to play. Murphy’s been their best d-man by miles. You’re not going to sit Keith, who seems to have found some reasonable understanding with Gustafsson, no matter how little sense it makes. Which leaves Forsling and Seabrook. Forsling is terrible and awful and bad and stupid and sucky, and if never plays again I’lll consider it a brief ray of light in an otherwise ceaselessly dark existence, but the Hawks are still under the impression he needs to develop and at least see what they have. He can’t do that from the pressbox. Which means they’re headed for their Seabrook Nexus Of Death faster than they would like, I’m sure.

All in all it sounds like a really healthy organization we’ve got here.

Everything Else

High On The Hog: Search For Offense Continues

By Jon Fromi 1480 0

The Rockford IceHogs have 34 games behind them this season. They currently sit in sixth place in the AHL’s Central Division with a 15-12-3-4 mark, good for a .544 points percentage. Truth be told, this year’s Hogs are faring about as well as they did a season ago.

Yes, before the roster was bolstered with veteran talent in the last three months, it was a young, inexperienced group that was in a similar position at this time of the 2017-18 campaign. Through 34 games, that club was 18-14-1-1 for a .558. That’s about the difference of a standings point for those of you who don’t want to do the math.

The glaring difference in this year’s and last year’s club is the offensive numbers. The IceHogs of a season ago scored at nearly a goal per game better than this year’s crop of piglets. In 2017-18, Rockford had 105 goals scored and 101 goals allowed at this point of the season. This year, the Hogs have drawn cord 78 times while surrendering 98 goals.

Even with the Wolves putting together a 10-0-1 streak this month, the Central Division is pretty closely contested. No one has run away with the division yet. Last season, several teams put together hot stretches of hockey that had them moving up and down the division ladder. It stands to reason that the playoff spots are all up for the taking come spring.

For that to happen, Rockford is going to have to be better in the opposing zone. The IceHogs do not have a player in the top 20 scorers of the league. That’s a huge understatement, actually. Defenseman Darren Raddysh, Rockford’s top point man with 21, is currently tied for 85th in the AHL in that category.

Last season, the IceHogs were shut out just once. So far, Rockford has been already been blanked on four occasions. The lack of scoring punch is being felt all over the lineup

The Hogs potted three goals in three games this week, squeezing a point on Saturday because of a strong performance from goalie Kevin Lankinen. At 2.29 goals per game, they occupy the league basement. Like Saturday’s overtime loss, what’s keeping Rockford in contention this season is the play in the crease.

There is rarely elite scoring on the Hogs roster from year to year. Most seasons, they’ve put up points by committee. This season, Rockford again lacks top-end scoring power…and the committee has been out to lunch.

Matthew Highmore, last year’s high goal scorer, has missed all but seven games with a shoulder injury. Tyler Sikura, who put up 23 goals a season ago, has just six so far. Vikor Ejdsell is currently out with a groin injury and has just four goals in 27 games.

Jordan Schroeder has 18 points (7 G, 11 A) on the season and is putting up numbers that measure up to his past output in the AHL. However, he is a complimentary scorer. Veteran Terry Broadhurst (2 G, 4 A) hasn’t been productive from a scoring standpoint, but, like Schroeder, he isn’t a guy who should be pacing your club.

There are bright spots. Raddysh has stepped up his game in his sophomore campaign, with seven goals and 14 helpers. Rookie Lucas Carlsson (6 G, 10 A) has also come on in the last few weeks in response to increased responsibility on the blue line.

Jacob Nilsson (7 G, 8 A), who was up for one game with the Blackhawks, has five goals this month. Nilsson isn’t going to lead this team to offensive respectability single-handed. Several players need to bring more to the table. Here are but a few:

Graham Knott (2 G, 6 A in 32 games)-If this kid could find the net on the opportunities he’s had, it certainly would help. Knott has had some top-six time at center and has put himself in places to score at times. He just hasn’t shown any knack for getting a puck past a goalie in his season-plus in Rockford.

Alexandre Fortin (2 G, 3 A in 10 games)-Fortin seems to be a bit more under control after a spell in Chicago. He’s now getting top-line minutes and power play time with the Hogs. Now would be a good time for him to go on a points explosion.

William Pelletier (0 G, 2 A in five games)-Recently returned from offseason surgery, Pelletier is a player who can be used throughout the lineup. He’s capable of chipping in on the offensive end; hopefully he’ll start making a dent as he gets more games under his belt.

You can also toss Sikura and Broadhurst onto that heap. Unless the organization swings a trade that brings a blue-chip AHL goal scorer to town (not counting on it), Rockford is going to have to pick it up throughout the lineup.

 

Roster Bits

On Friday, Jacob Nilsson was sent back to Rockford by the Blackhawks. He played in both weekend games against Chicago. Defenseman Dennis Gilbert suffered a lower body injury in Wednesday’s loss in Iowa. He did not suit up for either game this weekend.

Following Sunday’s trade with Edmonton, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a player assigned to Rockford from the current Hawks roster. If Garrison, who had 28 points (8 G, 20 A) in 58 games with the Wolves last season, gets through waivers, his shot would be a welcome pickup for the IceHogs.

 

Recaps

No lines this week.

Wednesday, December 26-Iowa 4, Rockford 0

This Boxing Day effort was nothing to write home about. The Hogs went to DesMoines and got shut out by Kaapo Kahkanen. The rookie goalie stopped 39 Rockford shots to continue his impressive season.

The IceHogs out shot Iowa 15-3 in the opening period, though neither team scored. The Wild took a 1-0 lead 3:11 into the second period on a Matt Bartkowski snipe. A defensive zone turnover led to a Gerry Fitzgerald goal at the 14:41 mark put the Hogs down a pair.

A Will Bitten tip-in made it 3-0 1:25 into the final frame and pretty much sealed the fate of Rockford. Hogs coach Derek King yanked starting goalie Kevin Lankinen for an extra skater with 3:17 remaining to try and foil the shutout bid, but Matt Read intercepted a pass and threw in an empty netter to close out the scoring.

Rockford denied three Wild power plays but failed to convert on four of its own man advantage opportunities.

 

Friday, December 28-Chicago 4, Rockford 2

Rockford dropped its second straight game despite leading twice in this game. Curtis McKenzie’s two goal effort provided the winning margin at the BMO Friday night.

After skating to the tune of no goals for most of the opening period, the teams traded goals in the latter part of the frame.

Jordan Schroeder got Rockford up 1-0 at the 15:26 mark. Schroeder got to a rebound off a Darren Raddysh shot at the right post, knocking his attempt through Wolves goalie Oscar Dansk and just across the goal line. Moments later, Chicago responded with a Curtis McKenzie goal. The teams went to the first intermission all even.

Lucas Carlsson was set up by Graham Knott early in the second period to give the Hogs a 2-1 lead. At the seven minute mark, the Wolves Keegan Kolesar potted the equalizer. After a delay of game penalty on Rockford, McKenzie drew cord on the power play for his second goal of the contest. His back hand attempt slipped under the stick arm of Hogs goalie Anton Forsberg at 11:24 to give Chicago a 3-2 advantage.

Late in the second period, the Wovles man advantage struck again. Dylan Coughlin sent a hard slap shot from the slot that skidded past Forsberg for a 4-2 Chicago lead with 14 seconds to play in the period.

The IceHogs made a push to get back into the contest but found the post uncooperative on numerous occasions in the third period. The Wolves couldn’t score, but didn’t need to.

Chicago won the special teams battle, converting twice in six chances. The IceHogs came up empty on four power play attempts.

 

Saturday, December 29-Chicago 2, Rockford 1 (OT)

The Hogs salvaged a point in Rosemont solely on the strength of Kevin Lankinen’s performance on the evening. The rookie goalie stopped 43 shots and weathered a first-period assault by the Wolves to keep his team in the game.

Chicago came out smoking; Lankinen fended off 25 of the 26 shots the Wolves sent at him in the opening frame. Brooks Macek capped an extended scrum in front of the crease by knocking in his 17th of the season at the 14:18 mark, giving Chicago a 1-0 lead that they would hold through the bulk of regulation.

Rockford managed to play a more competitive game after the first intermission. However, they wouldn’t come up with the equalizer until the waning minutes. Stefan Matteau provided the opportunity after throwing an elbow at the IceHogs Blake Hillman.

Nathan Noel and Curtis McKenzie were already in the bin of sin for an earlier altercation. As they exited the box, Jordan Schroeder faked the shotand hit Jacob Nilsson at the goal line with a pass. Nilsson got Wolves goalie Max Lagace to bite on a fake, scooted around the cage and beat Max Lagace to the right post. Nilsson’s wrap-around made it 1-1 with 3:25 remaining.

An IceHogs infraction would set up the Chicago game-winner. Rockford was called for too many men on the ice three minutes into Gus Macker Time. The Hogs got caught in a partial change and Macek set up McKenzie in front of the net. Lankinen stopped the point-blank chance, but Dylan Coughlin followed up on the rebound, backhanding the puck though Lankinen’s pads and across the goal line at 3:55 of overtime.

Both teams scored once on the power play; Rockford was one of four, while the Wolves were one for six.

 

This Week

The IceHogs will be in Grand Rapids Monday night to close out the 2018 portion of the schedule. Starting Wednesday, the Hogs will don their white sweaters at the BMO. First home date of the new year is with Milwaukee. Friday, Rockford travels to Iowa before hosting the Wild on Sunday afternoon.

 

Everything Else

Game #41 – Hawks 2, Avs 2, Hawks Win Spin the Bottle – Be Proud of All Your Crimes

By Rose Rankin 2228 0

OK, so it wasn’t exactly like their performance against the Avalanche last week but it was enough. The Hawks have five wins in their last six games, and even more shocking, they have seven power play goals in that time. What a world. To the bullets:

Box Score

Corsica

Natural Stat Trick

– The Hawks started strong yet again, and if there is anything that makes watching them bearable, it’s them NOT finding themselves in a 2-0 hole by the five-minute mark. In fact, the Hawks were the ones up 2-0 relatively early, thanks to the functional power play and overall good puck movement in the first 10 minutes. Alex DeBrincat scored the PPG, which brings his scoring streak to five games, and as a whole, the power play continued to be a legitimate offensive weapon for the Hawks. Not long afterwards, Kane added a goal, putting him on a seven-game scoring streak as well. Things were looking up.

– Then, Gustav Forsling went all Gustav Forsling all over everything. He took a dumbass penalty late in the first which led to Rantanen’s goal. And while Foreskin’s tripping penalty set things up, his was not the only defensive failure at this point. Keith and Seabrook were on the PK and I swear to you they stood still and watched as Gabriel ThisLandIsYourLand walked up to the net and scored. It was patently absurd.

– But he wasn’t done yet! Forsling managed to do the exact same thing at the end of the second period, although Nathan MacKinnon had already scored on…wait for it…a delayed penalty just seconds prior. Forsling repeatedly passed to no one and went around tripping people and yet, he had a 72 CF%. Hockey is weird.

– Speaking of weird, the Hawks’ power play has been, as we’ve mentioned, downright functional as of late. But in the third when they had a 5-on-3 the Hawks completely shat the bed. They went right back to everyone standing around waiting for Patrick Kane to do something. When Kane did get a shot, it was a crazy deflection off the post and into the crowd on the other side of the ice. It was impressive in its own way. But that didn’t make up for the fact that with a 2-man advantage and one defender with a broken stick—so basically a 2.5-man advantage—the Hawks receded to their bad habits of not moving themselves or the puck.

– They made up for it by scoring on a power play right at the start of OT, thanks to Connor Murphy once again getting his face demolished, this time by Landeskog. He ain’t pretty no more (he was never pretty anyway), but who cares, we’ll take whatever help we can get. Toews batted down the puck with a suspiciously high stick and fed it to Kane, exactly the quick puck movement that they needed. Luckily the refs were as done with the game as anyone, so no one bothered to review if Toews’ stick really was over the crossbar. Again, we’ll take whatever we can get.

– In other news, Collin Delia looked really good once again. Neither goal can be pinned on any mistake of his; the first one, his defenders sat on their asses and watched, and the second was in the midst of a defensive breakdown and scramble. In fact, he was the sole reason the Hawks didn’t get brained late in the first and through most of the second. His positioning and composure were both exactly what the Hawks needed, particularly with the Avs top line having their way with whoever was on the ice at the time. Delia ended the night with a .938 SV% and had better get the god damn start on New Year’s Day.

– Alex DeBrincat is not a fucking third liner. Why can’t Coach Cool Youth Pastor see this? What more must this guy do?! FUCKING SHIT

–Dylan Strome had two assists and continues to be eminently useful. Meanwhile Artem Anisimov is still 10 steps slower than Strome and Kane on their line, and it’s beyond frustrating to imagine how many goals a DeBrincat-Strome-Kane line would have. Anisimov stumbled over or lost the puck in his feet at least three chances tonight. It seems so obvious.

Another win so we’ll have to just shut up and deal with our line combination complaints, and hope that Forsling can benched or traded or teleported to the land of wind and ghosts ANYTHING JUST MAKE IT STOP. But there’s no better way to go into the Winter Classic, such as it is. Onward and upward.

Everything Else

Game #41 – Hawks vs. Avalanche Preview/Dog Park Opening: We Can Have That Effect

By Sam Fels 1508 0

 vs. 

RECORDS: Hawks 14-20-6   Avalanche 19-13-6

PUCK DROP: 8pm

TV: NBCSN Chicago

HOW HIGH? SO HIGH I COULD TOUCH THE SKY: Mile High Hockey

The Hawks continue whatever this little streak of barely managed competence means by a second trip to Denver in eight days. But hey, is there anywhere else you’d rather go twice in a little over a week? Yes, yes there is. But you don’t get to decide those things. So there. Enjoy all the fucking breweries, dipshit.

Since beating the Avs right before the Christmas break, the Hawks have sent the Avalanche into something of a tailspin. Though to be fair, the Avs weren’t playing all that well before, either. They’ve lost their two games in the interim, both on the road, to the Coyotes and the Knights. That gives them an unsightly December record of 4-7-1, which has seen them drop off the pace a bit of the Jets and Predators, which they were keeping up with. Then again, no one was really expecting them to tussle with the glitterati of the Central all year.

The main problem for the Avs is that their one, gushing source of goals has dried up. They only scored once against the Knights last out. Same thing again with the Coyotes the game before that. As you remember they came up with only one goal against Collin Delia the last time these two flamenco’d. None of this is a huge shock, as when the Avs were surging to the surprise of the league in November they were shooting 13.8% as a team. That’s never going to last. December’s 7.8% is actually pretty normal, but well below what they had been doing.

Which probably means they’re getting a market correction against the Hawks, right?

When the Avs aren’t pouring in an inordinate ratio of goals to shots, their defensive shortcomings come to the fore. They are not a great possession team, or defensive team, as Samuel Girard (the big dog is always right!) and Erik Johnson are the only pair you’d trust with anything. They have gotten better goaltending of late from Phillip Grubauer, who has only given up nine goals in taking the last four starts from Semyon Varlamov. He may have permanently usurped the starter’s role, but we’ll see what they do tonight.

Obviously, with the Avs the whole story is how you deal with the top line of Gabriel ThreeYaksAndADog, Nathan MacKinnon, and Mikko Rantanen. They’re still putting up boxcar numbers, and if you can’t get them on a leash you’ll lose. The Hawks kept them off the scoresheet last time by some miracle or witchcraft, and that’s the order of the night again. Do that, and the Avs struggle with support scoring. Only J.T. Compher and Carl Soderberg have more than nine goals beyond that, and Soderberg hasn’t scored in his last 10 games. It’s not really what he does anyway.

The Avs will get really good when their kids like Tyson Jost or Alex Kerfoot start cashing in on their promise and they can beat you from various angles. Until then, it’s what the top unit can do and nothing else. So far, that’s been more than enough to secure a playoff spot.

For the Hawks, there shouldn’t be too many changes, if any. There’s utterly no point in going back to Cam Ward tonight, whether the Hawks still think they have something to play for or they’re already into their development for next season, other than some whacked “Gotta be fair to Holly, dude” nonsense. Collin Delia is the better option no matter how you’re looking at it. Don’t overthink it.

Lineup-wise, the Hawks have been better with Brandon Manning‘s and Chris Kunitz‘s ass stapled to a chair in the pressbox, so no reason to change that either. Maybe Martinsen comes in for Hayden or some such meaningless garbage, but that doesn’t matter. We’d like to see Perlini and Dylan Sikura switch back to where they were before, but again this is nit-picking.

Again, the schedule isn’t too daunting to the bye and All-Star break. Weird things happen in outdoor games, and then there’s a fair amount of New York teams on the schedule in January, who all suck. It’s also pretty light, so head coach Cool Youth Pastor will get some practice time to implement whatever it is he’s supposed to implement. If the Hawks think there’s something to be saved from this season, and they do even if it’s deluded beyond all belief, this is the stretch to do it.

Game #41 Preview Suite

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Douchebag Du Jour

I Make A Lot Of Graphs

Lineups & How Teams Were Built

Everything Else

Game #41 – Hawks vs. Avalanche Spotlight: Jared Bednar, And Sticking With Your Man

By Sam Fels 1572 0

It has not been a great year for coaches that were hired from outside the usual network of NHL coaches. David Hakstol in Philadelphia got a pink slip. He took his GM with him. Jim Montgomery in Dallas doesn’t have his team in the playoff picture, and now his owner is airing out the team in public. Jeremy Colliton here in Chicago got off to just about the worst start imaginable, and could see the GM that hired him punted into the wind by season’s end, leaving him in limbo. For new hires, the Oilers went as old boy network as you can get with Ken Hitchcock. Joel Quenneville is rumored to be heading to eastern PA. It’s rough if you’re the new guy.

The success story is Jared Bednar, who has the Avs third in the Central and at least clinging to the heels of the Predators and Jets. We took at his accomplishments at the end of last year. Our conclusion then was that while he was smart/talented enough to not get in the way, he basically was riding along with Nathan MacKinnon‘s MVP-worthy season just like everyone else on the team was.

Has that changed this season?

It’s hard to look at Mikko Rantanen going from a struggling rookie, to 80 points, to the pinball numbers he’s putting up now and say that Bednar has nothing to do with it. Sure, MacKinnon is doing the work but they’re being put in position to do that. Converting Gabriel LaxativeLog back to a skilled winger from the sewer monster that Patrick Roy was intent on making him also can’t have been done without any of Bednar’s influence.

The Avs’ metrics haven’t improved that much, however. And that’s partly process. They’re below water, though just a tick, in CF% and xGF%. But it’s improved slightly from last season. At least things are arching correctly. Bednar seems like he’s ready to hand the starting goalie job to Phillip Grubauer, which can be a tricky thing for a team. It helps that Semyon Varlamov is on his way out after the season anyway.

As far as other young players that the Avs need, Tyson Jost and Alex Kerfoot haven’t really taken off as of yet. Samuel Girard looks like a piece though. J.T. Compher is headed for a career season at 23, though his 23% shooting-percentage might have more to do with it than any player-whispering from Bednar.

The Avs special teams aren’t witness to any great change either. The PK is worse, and the power play is just about the same. That’s usually an indication of coaching as well.

Still, the record is the record, and this could be the second straight season that the Avs surpass expectations. Patrick Roy wasn’t able to produce this kind of season out MacKinnon and SapsuckerFrog consistently, and Bednar has. That’s not to be discounted. Stability is always preferable. Look at the Stars, who have had three coaches in three years in the same division and can’t seem to keep their tires from spinning in the mud. There might be a lesson in there for the Hawks, whether they fire Stan Bowman or not.

 

Game #41 Preview Suite

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Game #41 – Hawks vs. Avalanche Q&A: Anthrax Jones And The Precious Juice

By Sam Fels 1608 0

It was only eight days ago that we visited the deranged warlord Anthrax Jones to consult him about the Avs and the precious juice. Not much has changed, with either the Avs or the juice. 

So Rantanen and MacKinnon were awesome last year, and MacK could have easily won the Hart. But they’re both on points for 130+ points this year? Why is this line putting a foot in the ass of the world?
If you did an Inception-style deep dive into Don Cherry’s wettest dream, MacRantaskog would be in it: open mouth-kissing policemen, playing with Blue, and wearing suits made out of the furniture in Dom DeLuise’s opium den. Mikko Rantanen has evolved from Large Baby Deer into Jaromir Jagr’s blonde, blue-eyed second cousin. Defending Nate MacKinnon is the hockey equivalent of trying to catch a fire hose with a goldfish net, and Babe Landeskog’s good looks distract from the fact that he’s morphed into a Marian Hossa/Richard Kuklinski hybrid. This line has everything all the old school shitheads like to burp up every time some weepy Canucks fan starts pissing through their butthole about what a pretty finesse game the Sedins played. They’re talented, fast, and all three of them play with varying degrees of open hostility. I love them a lot.
 
It felt like the Avs wanted to transition from Varlamov in net to Phillip Grubauer, but Grubs hasn’t really grabbed that brass ring in limited appearances this season. Are they just going to have to ride it out with Varlamov?

Sure beats riding it out with Cal Pickard or the Hamburglar. Varlamov is who he is: occasionally spectacular, occasionally a Farrelly Brothers script. When he’s hot, he’s a top 3 goalie in the league. When he’s not, he’s every goalie the Flyers have run out since Ron Hextall. Grubauer has had his moments where he looks good and his moments where he looks like he’s playing behind Patrik Nemeth and Mark Barberio, because that’s what he’s doing. If the Avs are gonna do anything in May, they’re gonna need one of them to go full 2003 JS Giguere.

 
With the top line doing what they’re doing they should be gobbling up the toughest opponents every night. Yet no one has been able to really benefit yet. Is this where Tyson Jost or someone else should come in?

In theory, yes. In practice, you’re relying on the entirety of your depth scoring to come from second year pros (Jost, Kerfoot, Compher), waiver wire guys (Andrighetto), An Actual Cyclops (Soderberg), and Colin Wilson. This year is “sit tight and see what we have with the young guys”, and next year is where they go out and overpay a UFA.

 
Samuel Girard seems to have at least established himself in the top four, no?

The Duality Of Man: I love Girard and I love his game and I love his potential, yet I spent the late 90’s with a recurring grundle cramp because every time Sandis Ozolinsh touched the puck, my sphincter collapsed into itself at roughly the speed and density of a dying star. Girard may not have the offensive upside of Ozolinsh, and may not have the defensive downside of Ozolinsh, but I can foresee a scenario where he becomes Ozolinsh 2020. I’m too old for that type of gooch pain, so let’s hope he doesn’t.

 

Game #41 Preview Suite

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Game #41 – Hawks vs. Avalanche Douchebag Du Jour: Ian Cole, Bay-bay!

By Sam Fels 1527 0

Ian Cole makes $4.2M. Just ruminate on that for a second.

Ian Cole has never managed more than 25 points in a season. He averages somewhere around 11 points for his career. He’s been pretty ho-hum metrically for his entire career, basically being just below whatever his team’s averages are for possession and chances. Ian Cole is just there. And the Avs handed him $4.2M per year.

Why? Because there are still far too many GMs who go tumescent at any player that’s won a Cup, even though they were about as important to it as the attendant on the team’s charter. Cole was on both of Pittsburgh’s recent Cup wins. He wasn’t anything more than a third-pairing player, averaging 17 minutes per game between the two. But any bum get a special kind of gloss on them when riding all the way to an end, even if it’s on the coattails on Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

It’s particularly acute in GMs who used to be players, like Joe Sakic, who have spent a career not taking credit and deflecting it to . various punters and squeegee-men on their team. It’s no wonder that Sakic was the one to literally double Cole’s salary from last year, even though he barely knows which was is forward.

Here’s what you need to know about Ian Cole. He was a first-round pick for the Blues. So that tells you he’s basically a clod who can’t move but makes angry faces a lot of the time. Cole hasn’t torpedoed the Avs, because he’s gotten to play with Tyson Barrie and more importantly, spent most of his time behind MacKinnon, Landeskog, and Rantanen. If you want to pay $4M for a player who needs to be propped up by the best you have a majority of the time, then by all means, Cole is your guy.

But hey, he’s got those rings. And he’ll get to profit off them for years more.

 

Game #41 Preview Suite

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Douchebag Du Jour

I Make A Lot Of Graphs

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Game #41 – Hawks vs. Avalanche: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels 1314 0

Notes: Wouldn’t expect too many changes from a winning lineup. Maybe Martinsen comes in for Hayden…Delia starts until he drops, at least that should be the expectation…Strome is on a 55-point pace for a whole season since becoming a Hawk…hey remember when that scout said Top Cat would never be more than a 20-goal scorer? Good stuff…

Notes: Grubauer has taken the last four starts from Varlamov, and only given up nine goals in them so he might be seizing the #1 job…Wilson got hurt the last time these two met and is out week-to-week, according to the club…MacKinnon tossed seven shots at MAF in their last game and didn’t score, so he’ll be out for vengeance tonight…Compher has four points in his last three games…it’s gone a bit cold for the Avs, as they have only managed more than two goals in a game once in their last five…

 

Game #41 Preview Suite

Preview

Spotlight

Q&A

Douchebag Du Jour

I Make A Lot Of Graphs

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Halfway There, All Along I’ve Been The Traveler – The Kids

By Sam Fels 1554 0

As we continue with this mini-half-season-review, when you have a lost season on your hands the main thing you want to do is find hope for the future. That means what are your young players doing, and what does it look like they’ll be doing when the games might matter again, if anything.

The main one for this season, or at least the most intriguing, is Henri Jokiharju. He’s not here right now because the Hawks couldn’t count and have an even harder time scouting their own talent, but we’ll leave that aside for now. Quick were the masses to heap praise on The HarJu, I assume for not shitting himself in public. I’m more tempted to give him an incomplete. That’s not to say I think he’s been bad or needs to go to Rockford or something, because I don’t. But there needs to be more and some major steps taken.

Jokiharju has been given some tough obstacles to start his NHL career. He’s on a team flailing in the wind most nights. He was put with a partner who simply refused to adjust his own game to help the rookie’s, meaning Jokiharju is cleaning up a lot of messes that he’s just not physically ready for (strangely, Keith has been content to let Erik Gustafsson play the cowboy and be the free safety for him). And the goalies haven’t bailed him out as much as you’d hope, which can only put him more on edge. He’s had to learn two different defensive systems in the first few months of his pro career.

So partly because of all that, we’ve seen very little of the offensive game we know the Finn has. In brief flashes, we’ve seen an ability to get a shot through traffic and a keen passing eye. There is a calmness with the puck at times that belies his age. When given the chance, he does make a solid first pass, and really should be given license to do that more often with passes that go out of the zone instead of just shuffling it up to a covered forward on the boards. But there hasn’t been enough of it yet.

Jokiharju also doesn’t seem to have game-breaking speed, like future teammate Adam Boqvist already possesses. He’s not slow, but he’s not getting away from anyone yet either. Again, some of this is due to the complicated situations he finds himself in, but that’s going to have to improve a touch. He gets snowed under a lot. He needs time with Paul Goodman and a squat rack. And he probably needs a new partner when he returns from the WJC.

I don’t know if we should even include Alex DeBrincat on this list anymore, given what we already know about him. Still, it’s always fun to point out that in a preseason “Scouts’ Take” piece by The Athletic’s Scott Powers, one said Top Cat would never be more than a 25-goal guy. He’s currently on pace for a 34-32-66 season, and that’s with a fair amount of time playing on a third line. If he ever gets full-time, top-six minutes, there’s no telling where this could go.

We didn’t know we’d be writing about Dylan Strome when the season started, but it is a strange old world, indeed. Strome has looked sluggish at times, but not nearly the drunken sloth the Coyotes tried to paint him out to be after giving up on him just 50 games into his NHL career. He’s been more scorer than playmaker during his time here, but that can happen when Patrick Kane is doing most of the latter. That still portends to good things when Strome is getting to the areas to score, whatever the labels of his skating. He’s helped make the power play look competent, not only by playing the role of “Annette Frontpresence,” but being able to do more than just be an obelisk there and rotating to other spots, even the point. The hope in the back half of the season is that he’ll show more of the vision that got him taken 3rd overall in the first place. If that happens, the Hawks might have a gem on their hands here.

Dominik Kahun has spent a majority of the season on the top line, which he can’t possibly have dreamed of ever happening. He hasn’t looked totally out of place there, but it’s clear his NHL future is of a bottom-six weapon. Which is a good thing to have around, of course. He’s got some skill, and instinct at both ends. You could see him being a poor man’s Michael Frolik one day, though with slightly better finish, we can hope. He’s not a team-changer, but he looks to be a nice complimentary piece. You could envision him and David Kampf combining one day soon to be a hell of a third line.

Dylan Sikura has only been up for eight games so far, but I’ll admit to being pleasantly surprised. We basically wrote him off when he didn’t make the team out of camp after all the pub the team gave him, and last year’s quick stint didn’t show much either. He’s gotten the sweetheart shifts on a third line, but hey, that’s ok at this point. Though he hasn’t scratched goal-wise yet, his metrics are very clean-looking and he’s shown the confidence to show some dash to his game at points. Having Top Cat on the other side for most of his stay certainly didn’t hurt. Don’t know if he’s a piece yet or not, but he’s certainly earned a “Want To See More Of” label in his second go-round in the big time.

Those are the ones worth talking about.