vs 
Game Time: 7:30PM CDT
TV/Radio: CSN, WGN-AM 720
Chasing The Dragon: Nucks Misconduct, Canucks Army, Hockey Dipshit
Tonight marks the middle frame of this late March Staycation three-game homestand wherein the tired, poor, huddled masses of the Western Conference visit Club 1901, with tonight’s guests being whatever the hell it is the Vancouver Canucks are these days.
On this week’s installment the four of us discuss the aftermath of the eastern Canadian swing and fall down the rabbit hole of the Great Sports Concussion Debate, and then proceed to defend a millionaire athlete whom none of us have ever met nor will ever meet. And more depraved listener questions as usual. Audio after the jump.
The Rockford IceHogs got an influx of new talent last week, with some of the new kids making an immediate impact. The Hogs managed three of a possible six points in three contests this past week.
The two newest faces belonged to defenseman Luc Snuggerud and forward Anthony Louis, who both signed amateur tryout contracts following their signing with Chicago. Both players got into action beginning this past weekend.
If this game didn’t serve as the perfect microcosm for the health of these two franchises, then I’m Dale Tallon’s uncle.
With just under ten minutes left and Colorado holding a 3-1 lead, Jonathan Toews tipped in a Duncan Keith point shot. Some 45 seconds earlier, it appeared Toews was still in the offensive zone by a foot when Richard Panik crossed the blue line. The Avs rightly challenged and ended up being burned by a technicality because Panik did not touch the puck while Toews was offside.
34 seconds later, the Hawks were winning 4-3.
So in one corner, there were the Chicago Blackhawks who had a similar call go against them in Minnesota about a month ago. The Hawks were able to hold on and win the game in overtime. In the other, there were the Colorado Avalanche who are playing out the string and looking for any reason to fold up the tents. And they didn’t disappoint tonight.
Other things…
–I can’t believe Ed Olczyk was actually right in a coaching analysis but I’m still befuddled how Jared Bednar didn’t call a timeout after the Hawks tied it at 3. Tanking aside, the Avs probably still had a chance to draw a result out of that game and at least feel a little good about themselves for their road effort. Instead, they got buried and only appear closer to a perennial lottery pick for the foreseeable future.
–Three games in and John Hayden has certainly established himself on this roster (Obviously subject to change at any moment with Joel Quenneville behind the bench). Appearing on the scoresheet is important, of course, and he registered another two assists tonight. However, a couple other things equally as important have jumped out.
In tonight’s game, he destroyed Erik Johnson near the end of the second period that led to a 2-on-1 for Toews and Panarin. Earlier in the second, he gained possession deep in his own end. Instead of blindly firing a pass to clear the zone, Hayden calmly circled back in his own corner to relieve the pressure of Colorado’s forecheck and then made a pass to a Hawks defenseman leading to an easy breakout.
Last night, he was able to maintain possession in the corners as he had a defender practically sitting on him. This happened on more than a few occasions.
For a guy whose biggest criticism was lack of skating skills in the NCAA, these sort of plays serve as evidence that he certainly seems to have a lot of confidence in his ability.
–Right, the offsides challenge. Look, we’ve been down this road with all four major sports and it seems like the more challengeable plays that are allowed, the quality of the product suffers. The NFL is just a game surrounded by whistles, challenges and catch rules that no longer make sense. MLB challenges take far too long and end up being wrong too many times. The NBA is still in decent shape as they only check replays for buzzer beaters and 2 vs. 3 pointers.
We’re only a couple years removed where the NHL was lauded for their replay system. It was also because the only thing they challenged were whether a goal was legal. The offsides challenge has only led to more confusion about what used to be a relatively simple rule to understand.
You can’t be in the offensive zone before the puck. Simple.
Now we have to know whether a player has the puck on his stick, has possession, if the blades of their skates are touching the ice while they’re in the offensive zone, what rotation the Earth is spinning at and whatever else. It’s just too damn much and all it ends up doing is confusing a fanbase that needs no help doing so. It also serves to turn off any new coming fans who won’t waste their time trying to comprehend a simple rule.
I guess that sort of defines most things the NHL does as a whole so maybe it makes sense.
–Minnesota continued their slide tonight as they dropped another one in regulation to Winnipeg while also holding a players only meeting afterwards. The Hawks opened their lead in the Central to 7 points and even with the Wild holding a game in hand, it’s hard to imagine the Hawks falling asleep at the wheel long enough to let them back in.
Years from now when the Hawks are scratching and clawing for 80 points a season, we’ll look back at this game fondly. Enjoy it.
vs. 
RECORDS: Avs 20-47-3 Hawks 46-20-5
PUCK DROP: 6pm Central
TV: WGN Locally, NHL Network outside the walls
THEY ACTUALLY WATCH THIS: Mile High Hockey
ADJUSTED TEAM CORSI%: Avs – 45.8 (29th) Hawks – 50.7 (13th)
ADJUSTED TEAM xGF%: Avs – 45.3 (29th) Hawks – 49.0 (18th)
POWER PLAY %: Avs – 12.9 (Dead Ass Last) Hawks – 18.8 (16th)
PENALTY KILL %: Avs – 77.8 (25th) Hawks – 78.0 (24th)
Sometimes a team comes into the United Center and they need no introduction. Tonight is not one of those nights. Then again, the Avs have been singularly bad this season, and maybe that makes them unique. They have 43 points. 43. The Hawks had 43 points on December 15th. That was three months ago.
The Hawks tried something new tonight. After getting decked on the shot-board the past three games and asking Crawford and Darling to go Barnum and Bailey to get them two points, they methodically controlled the Leafs, who of the past four opponents contained the most high-end finish and thus could have made the Hawks pay for their wayward ways. Although this time the Hawks were trailing early, and thus had to chase a bit until Hayden equalized.
A third period that saw both teams go for it early and then look at each other and say, “You good with overtime?”, gave way to an exciting if not artificial OT where Hartmania ran wild on the Leafs, faking out Andersen from the circle to beat him to the stick side. And with that, the Hawks are now five points up in the division, thanks to their best March under Joel Quenneville.
Let’s clean it up:
at 
Game Time: 6:00PM CDT
TV/Radio: CSN, CBC, CITY, WGN-AM 720
Jeff Veillette and Steve Glynn Are Terrifying: Pension Plan
Sure, the Hawks have improbably vaulted themselves into basically a game and a half lead in the central as they close out their eastern Canadian swing tonight in the Dark Center Of The Universe that is Toronto, but they haven’t done it the right way. They take on too many shots, even though that’s a result of having leads, they capitalize on power plays, and they do so while paying players more than their entry level contract. All of these things are instantly disqualifiers for actual success, which is truly indicated by how much cap space a team has at the end of the year, thrown into a pivot chart against their possession stats and 5v5 goal differential, along with some other stupid fucking stats Steve Burtch made up in a craven, desperate, and pathetic attempt to get hired. And naturally, the Leafs are succeeding by all of those measures, and all the good stuff is because of Kyle Dubas (who shielded sex criminal players on the junior team he was GM for), and all the bad stuff is because of Lou Lamoriello. This is how Maple Leafs hockey works.
Hawks fans know, or at least the ones that have been around awhile, that when your team doesn’t have much it’s easy to focus on what it isn’t and what it doesn’t have than what it does. Leafs fans have only been doing that for over a decade now, since the last time they mattered in any sense (even though they’ve always thought they mattered). That does to the players on the team, where the focus is on what they aren’t than what they might actually be, as a fanbase pines for better days.
It feels like that’s what happened to Nazem Kadri. Back when the Leafs had nothing, he basically played with nothing. Tyler Bozak got to play with the one, top-line winger they had because they lived together and Bozak went on Kessel’s hot dog runs or something. Kadri was always just too small or didn’t quite score enough or didn’t justify the hype or was just a bit too much of an asshole on the ice.
Funny how when you actually ice a representative team a player can come alive. While Matthews and Marner and Nylander have stolen all the headlines, Kadri is having a near-incredible season under the radar.
You can start to feel a lift among the fanbase these days. One that never really came last year, as the Hawks’ flaws were so easy to see and so glaring that a first round exit seemed pretty inevitable, even if a Game 7 loss to the Blues still stung. There are no such concerns these days, as the Hawks remain one of the hottest teams in the league for over a month now and have rocketed to the top of the division and conference. Elsewhere, you can feel the growing sense of dread from the rest of the hockey world, as the familiar face no one really wanted to see looks like it’ll be there when it matters most again (some would call this the “Roman Reigns Phenomena”)
In that sense, it’s been a weird week for the Hawks. Consecutively, they’ve beaten 5th, 8th, and 9th overall in the standings in terms of points and all three teams were either in first at the time or right there for it in their division. And yet, at least in terms of possession, they’ve gotten clocked in all three games. Has this been a long-standing problem and is it indicative of what might happen when all the lights come on in a month’s time or so.
Hey, we can research this! Bless!
“Some guys look at this glass and say it’s half full. Some guys would say it’s half empty. I’m bettin’ you’re one of the half-empty guys.”
“Well what would you, if every day was exactly the same, and nothing you did mattered?”
“That about sums it up for me.”
The last bit of life ennui is brought to you by Guy Boucher, who in high school was voted most likely to take lemons and make it a Chekhov play. Some coaches would look at a roster of 12, fast, and at least decently skilled forwards and think, “Hey, I can make some things happen offensively here!” Guy Boucher looks at a roster of 12 fast, decently skilled forwards and thinks, “Hey, I can use this speed to make sure they all get back to the neutral zone to trap in plenty of time and make every fan question the meaning of existence!”
