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Game #27 – Kings vs. Hawks: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels December 3, 2017 1528 0

All analytic stats at even-strength. Info courtesy of Corsica and Hockey DB.

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This is all we got – Blackhawks 2, Stars 2 – Stars win karaoke contest

By Adam Hess December 2, 2017 2539 0

The Hawks and Stars played each other for the second time in three nights on Saturday, and they went past their allotted 60 minutes yet again. This time it went to a shootout, and the Stars grabbed the extra point again by going 2-for-2 while the Hawks went 0-for-2. Bullets:

Cody Franson made another one of those plays that no other right handed defenseman on the Blackhawks can make tonight when he one-timed a puck that was coming back to him at the point off the boards, and it resulted in the Hawks first goal of the game. Even though he got his face punched in repeatedly against Dallas on Thursday, he recovered pretty well tonight and had some nice moments.
I know I am not telling you anything you don’t know, but the power play is so, so bad. If your first exposure to a power play was the Hawks’ man advantage to start the third period, you would seriously question why it’s considered an advantage. I went back and watched it a second time and I still don’t think there was any semblance of a plan.
A few weeks ago, I wrote in a wrap that Anton Forsberg has been proving he does not belong in the NHL. Lately, he’s been proving me wrong. He was solid on Tuesday against Nashville, and looked good again tonight. I’ve never played goalie, but I do know that playing the position well requires a lot of confidence, and Forsberg looks very confident in the crease lately. I won’t be too surprised he keeps this team above water in Crow’s absence.
Heart Man and Top Cat seem to have developed a nice chemistry that makes them real fun to watch. At one point in the second period, Hartman made a nifty little backhand pass from below the goal line to ADB standing in the right slot that allowed him to get a nice shot off. It didn’t result in a goal, but it got me off my couch for a second. That’s not the only example of said chemistry, but definitely the one I remember most. The Hawks might be able to get a nice scoring line out of this partnership.
The Hawks took a lot of irresponsible penalties tonight. Keith stuck out his leg and tripped a guy below the net. Murphy got his stick tied up Radulov’s legs as he was hitting him that resulted in tripping call, and later got caught for elbowing. Obviously there are times where there’s not much you can about some penalties you take, but these ones almost all felt avoidable.
The 3-on-3 overtime remains a major gimmick, but this one between these two teams was all kinds of fun. It was constant back and forth with each team getting one or two scoring chances, then having to hustle back to eliminate an odd man rush. I had a very good time watching it. I kinda wish the NHL would just ditch the shootout and let regular season overtime be an untimed 3-on-3 contest. It’d still be gimmicky, but it’d be at least more fun than a shootout.
This one isn’t about the game itself, but this broadcast from Comcast Chicago or whatever the damn channel is called now felt so awkward. Brian Campbell clearly feels a little out of place in the studio analyst role, Steve Konroyd sucks (see the quote of the night below), and Pat Foley asked a coach, who doesn’t play the game, if the ice was okay because of the NBA game that happened in Dallas this afternoon. I really didn’t think I’d miss Edzo but here we are.

Next is LA tomorrow night. Onward.

Quote of the night: “Nice job by Brent Seabrook. He didn’t have any speed whatsoever.” – Steve “Somehow I Have Broadcast Job” Konroyd.

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

By Sam Fels December 2, 2017 1218 0

First Screen Viewing

Sharks vs. Lightning – 6pm

You probably didn’t notice, because they’re on late and it’s hard to remember who’s still left, but the Sharks have risen to the third spot in the Pacific and have multiple games in hand on both the Knights Who Don’t Say Las and the Kings. They’ll visit the East’s best in the Lightning tonight in what should be a pretty fiery affair. Both these teams create a lot, both have a fair amount of firepower on offer.

Second Screen Viewing

Oilers vs. Flames – 9pm

First Battle Of Alberta in Calgary, and if the last-minute Kris Russell own goal that is unquestionably the highlight of the year didn’t cause Edmonton to swallow itself, then a beatdown from the Flames ought to do it. The Flames are clutching to the last playoff spot in the West, and if the Oilers aren’t completely fucked they’re days away from being so. Any revival would have to start tonight. Should they lose, especially big, we’re going to get true panic stations from Peter Chiarelli and it’s going to be purely awesome. Don’t miss it.

Other Games

Blues vs. Wild – 5pm

Leafs vs. Canucks – 6pm

Wings vs. Canadiens – 6pm

Sabres vs. Penguins – 6pm

Blue Jackets vs. Capitals

Panthers vs. Hurricanes – 6pm

Devils vs. Coyotes – 7pm

Ducks vs. Predators – 7pm

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Game #26 – Hawks vs. Stars Preview

By Sam Fels December 2, 2017 1858 0

vs.

RECORDS: Hawks 12-9-4 Stars 14-10-1

PUCK DROP: 8pm

TV: NBCS CHICAGO

WE GOIN’ HONKY TONKIN’: Defending Big D

The back half of a traditional, divisional home-and-home comes tonight in North Texas, with the Hawks looking to greatly improve on what was a pretty piss poor effort on Thursday. We knew fatigue would come into play somewhere in this hellacious five-in-seven stretch, and at least for the first two periods the Hawks looked leggy. They almost pulled it back in the 3rd, which shows you the flaws in this Dallas team, but their power play problems clipped their hopes.

Obviously, not much can change with these teams in just two days… unless it’s the Hawks and an injury to Corey Crawford puts their whole season teetering on the edge of the Great Abyss. Make no mistake, if Crow were to miss two to three weeks–as he very well might–and the Hawks have a complete balls-up during that, they could be utterly fucked without any of the customary fun before you’re singing Auld Lang Syne. Anton Forsberg has been better than his numbers suggest–that belch-with-barf in Denver skews things–but the Hawks in no way wanted to depend on him full-time this early in the season. Or at all. And J.F. Berube has a terminal case of being J.F. Berube. With his 21 games in the NHL and middling AHL numbers, the Hawks won’t want to break that glass unless it’s a total emergency. Yes, you should be uneasy.

The Stars also play tomorrow night in Denver, so there’s a chance that the Hawks could get a look at Kari Lehtonen tonight which would help the cause, or at least would be likely to. There look to be a couple lineup changes for the Stars as well. Curtis McKenzie was called up to write a sermon that no one will hear as Antoine Roussel has apparently picked up something, and I’m just going to go ahead and say some combo of syphilis and plague because I want to. Martin Hanzal will still miss out, and Julius HONKA! HONKA! won’t get in the lineup so they can keep trained ox Jamie Oleksiak in.

What’s a little worrisome is that with the matchup-advantage at home, the Hawks were still unable to keep Tyler Seguin’s line under control at all. So Hitch can be confident of throwing them out against Toews again and getting chances, or throwing them at the bottom six and having battle station alarms going off in the Hawks zone all night. Expect to see the Seguin line out against Forsling and Rutta at every chance, and don’t expect Q to chase matchups too much because he just doesn’t do it much in the regular season.

Even with Faksa’s and Janmark’s scratching the sheet on Thursday, with Spezza’s wrong-chalice-like decay and Hanzal’s injury, this is still pretty much a one-line team. The Hawks did keep them from scoring at least on Thursday… and lost anyway. So… not encouraging.

With Forsberg in net the Hawks might be tempted to play it a little safer on the road, keeping the third forward as high as possible and dropping their d-men back at the first hint of trouble. Hitch won’t take the foot off the gas too much at home and with the Hawks on the their back up ‘tender. He also won’t stand for the Stars racking up seven penalties again.

Not to keep beating a dead horse–and I don’t know why you keep bringing me down–but given how jammed up things are in the West wildcard picture and given how the strata in the Central have separated, the Hawks can’t afford to drop too many points to teams that are joining them in this mud-covered rabble. They got a point against the Stars last out but really can’t give them more than the two they already did. It’ll be hard to lose touch, but it’ll also be even harder to make up ground. Getting to overtime is something of a loss. Need a regulation win here.

Game #26 Preview

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Game #26 – Hawks vs. Stars: Spotlight – Russian Circle

By Sam Fels December 2, 2017 2033 0

We know that the coverage and view of Russian players in the NHL can get a tad skewed due to some very outdated and quite simply jingoistic feelings. Due to some bad actors, much more than should have have had to deal with suspicion and being labeled lazy, greedy, uncaring, and weak, or all of the above. And really, there are no more players from Russia who exhibit these characteristics than those who come from Canadian backwaters. But none of them are named “Gordie,” nor do they know what “Timbo’s” is, so they get treated differently

Alex Radulov has had a strange odyssey of a career, and he has been labeled with all of the above during it. Some of it may be warranted, maybe some of it not. Let’s go back through it.

You don’t remember, because it was so long ago and it took place before the Hawks got good which as we know was before hockey existed, but ten years ago Radulov put up 58 points at the age of 21 with the Predators. He was one of the most exciting prospects in the game. With Radulov, Suter, Weber, Rinne, Hamhuis, and Legwand it was thought that the Preds would be challenging for the Central for years to come.

It never worked out that way, partly because Radulov immediately fucked off back to Russia after that season. He still had one year on his entry-level deal, but clearly didn’t feel that as an RFA he was going to make what he could back in the KHL And that wasn’t wrong, but that didn’t stop the Preds and the NHL from putting up a fight to keep him here. It didn’t work, Radulov was suspended by Nashville and he spent the next four seasons in Russia.

Radulov didn’t help his cause much after that fourth seasons in Russia, when he came back to the help the Preds in the ’12 playoffs, but also didn’t make it much of a secret that he was just running out the last year of his entry-level deal. That was the spring he and a couple teammates were caught in a Glendale bar at 5am the night before Game 2 against the Coyotes, which didn’t make it seem like he was all that invested. Of course, the hockey media was all to ready to pounce on what appeared to be a carpetbagger, and one from the Motherland. Give them an inch…

Radulov again returned to Russia after that spring, as no one was terribly too interested in signing him after that whole ruckus. Radulov spent another four years with CSKA.

But after those four years Radulov could return to the NHL as a free agent, which again, didn’t look all that good. Still, no one in Montreal was complaining about his 54-point-season last year, nor are the Stars complaining about his point-per-game pace so far this one after he cashed in for a five-year deal at a cool $6 million per.

Certainly Habs fans didn’t think Radulov wasn’t committed, showing great passion on and off the ice. There were some who would claim it was all a show, and there was no way to know after what came before.

Perhaps the way young players are viewed is simply impossible for them, especially those from Europe. Every player is expected to have come over and dreamt of winning the Stanley Cup and put that over all, but is that realistic? Some do, some probably don’t. After all, to a lot of players the World Championships every year are a really big deal, and here they’re barely a ripple on the hockey calendar.

Secondly, even though it was negotiated and collectively bargained, young players are still put to the screws financially in the NHL. Only a select few make a ton of money after their entry-level deals, and thanks to what is in no way “collusion” we’re sure that prevents offer sheets, they have no leverage. Those that can at least threaten to take the serious money on offer across the pond have different leverage than others who don’t even think about it.

It a system that made sense, players would make what they’re worth basically as soon as possible. Given the money attached to the game, it isn’t a wonder or wrong that it becomes a major motivation for a player.

So is, or was, Radulov just a mercenary who took the highest paycheck he could find? Or did he just play the system that was on offer to him and do the best he could? We know what the view was from those who pen the articles. Given Radulov’s renaissance, that might not be the truth. Maybe it’s just a player who didn’t love the game here at a young age, went back to where he was comfortable and more rightly rewarded, and with age and maturity came back to accomplish more over here.

Or he just came back because it was time to make serious money here. We’ll never know.

Game #26 Preview

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Game #26 – Hawks vs. Stars: Q&A With Kate Morrison

By Sam Fels December 2, 2017 1967 0

Little bit of a departure for us this time, as we visit the baseball world for this one. Kate Morrison is one of the best baseball writers going, and you can find her work at Baseball Prospectus, FanRag Sports, and Brooks Baseball. She also happens to be a pretty rabid Stars fan, so we thought she might want to moonlight in our stupid little hockey world for a bit. Follow her on Twitter @unlikelyfanatic.

The Stars have had something of the same wonky start that the Hawks have. Why hasn’t Hitchcock’s charms worked miracles yet (we’re not exactly Hitch fans, if you can’t tell)?

I mean, there’s a set of Stars fans who aren’t exactly Hitch fans, either. I was une petite infante when Hitch was last the Stars coach, so I can’t really tell you if this is more of the same. What I can tell you is that from my seat in the 300s in the American Airlines Center, I’ve seen both good and bad. Hitch said the right things to Tyler Seguin when Lindy Ruff wasn’t willing to, but Hitch also is addicted to playing Jamie Oleksiak, who isn’t even the best athlete with that last name. Hitch seems to have a willingness to test new lines when there’s chemistry (see the two-game pairing of Antoine Roussel and Alexander Radulov), but there’ve also been times when the team hasn’t seemed as able to run-and-gun as they used to. This is a young, fast team, and they need to be able to play young and fast.

Oh, and also, #FreeHonka or something.

On the plus side, John Klingberg is nearly a point-per-game, and his metrics have bounced back to where they were two seasons ago. He definitely had a dip last year, what’s been different this campaign?

He’s off the sophomore slump? Klingberg does seem to have some good chemistry with both the currently-injured Marc Methot and current partner Esa Lindell, but I think it’s mainly just confidence and being a year older. Having a steady partner can’t hurt, either. He’s really stepped up to becoming one of the team’s young leaders, though.

The Stars have a secondary scoring problem. Radulov, Seguin, Benn, and Klingberg all have over 20 points, but no one else has over 11. Who needs to pick it up?

We’re beginning to see some of the promised secondary scoring right now, but we’ve been teased before. Devin Shore and/or Brett Ritchie were supposed to be those secondary guys, but it’s been some surprises like Radek Faksa and Mattias Janmark who have really stepped up. No way of knowing that they’ll keep that up, or if they’ll pass the magical baton of scoring off to Shore or, heck, Roussel, but there might be some sparks of life.

We like to ask about our lost boy Stephen Johns. It felt like Lindy Ruff completely underrated him even while giving him human shield starts and competition. What does he look like under Hitch?

Um…better than Jamie Oleksiak? Better with Julius Honka? Better now than in the first few games of the season?

Ben Bishop has disappointed since coming over in the summer. What’s been his problem? Is the Dallas crease just cursed?

Like Taylor said, Bishop’s been visually better than his numbers. He’s also been let down by his defense quite a bit – we saw that just this Thursday, on the DeBrincat goal that Oleksiak is really more responsible for than Bishop. I think the numbers and the visuals will even out over time, but the Stars definitely aren’t where they are right now without Bishop.

Game #26 Preview

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Game #26 – Hawks vs. Stars: Douchebag Du Jour – Who Hurt You, Jamie?

By Sam Fels December 2, 2017 1973 0

It’s hard to find an angrier player than Jamie Benn. He skates angry. He hits angry. He scores angry. Even when he’s happy, he’s angry. Maybe he’s just got that face. Or maybe there’s something sinister under there.

So what is it, Jamie? Is it that you’ve been stuck in Texas for eight seasons now? Does it not jibe with your Canadian sensibilities? Did you dream of something else? Did you want to go home?

Or is it home that bothers you? That your hometown Canucks have become such a joke that you don’t even want to go home again? Does it poison your attitude that they’ve take that dream away from you? That must hurt. You’ll never be a Canuck, Jamie. We’re sorry, and you’re better off that way. Do you really want those people throwing trash at you after another playoff exit?

Or is the sting too much that you’ve only played 19 playoff games? Never in the conference final? You’ve never even sniffed the ultimate prize. You very well might not. That’s ok, it happens to a lot of players. But hey, Ken Hitchcock will give great quotes to the press about it. Maybe you can find solace in that.

Something more, Jamie? Maybe we don’t want to know, then. There’s clearly something bubbling underneath the surface here. Just try and remember you’ve got a Gold Medal. You scored the winner against the US in Sochi. That’s cool, right? The BBQ in Dallas is really out of this world. Remember that.And it doesn’t get cold. You don’t have to worry about winter. That’s a thing. It’ll add years to your life.

Or you can just keep knocking people over like they were balloons. That’s cool, too. But does it really make you happy, Jamie?

Game #26 Preview

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Game #26 – Hawks vs. Stars: I Make A Lot Of Graphs

By Sam Fels December 2, 2017 1487 0

All stats at even-strength unless noted, and adjusted for score and venue.

Key: CF/60 – shot attempts for per 60 minutes

CA/60 – shot attempts against per 60

CF% – ratio of shot attempts for and against

G/60, GA/60, GF% – goals scored, allowed, and ratio of per 60 minutes

xGF/60, xGA/60, xGF% – “expected goals” i.e. goals team “should” have scored and allowed based on amount and types of chances and attempts created and allowed given neutral goaltending.

PDO – shooting percentage plus save percentage, used to measure luck. 100 is average.

Time On Ice Percentage – amount of even-strength time player skates

Off. Zone Start Ratio – percentage of shifts started in offensive zone

TOI% of Competition: percentage of even-strength time opponent takes of his team player skates against

Game #26 Preview