Thank you: Trib
Captain’s Cup day: PD
Oduya watch: PHT
Show us what ya got: Blackhawks
Hossa 2.0?: ESPN Chicago
Trade chips or depth?: CSN
Recent Posts
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Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees Stan Will Have His Picnic
Never let it be said that the Hawks aren’t completely aware of how to manipulate reaction to stuff like this, because I don’t think it’s any coincidence that they dumped the news of Patrick Sharp and Stephen Johns getting dealt to Dallas (where Johns can pound on all their forwards for the next decade five times a year) for Ryan Garbutt and Trevor Daley. Nice try Stan, but we’re always watching.
There’s so many factors in this I’m not sure where to start, so I’ll go player by player. We knew Sharp was likely to go, even after Saad had to be tossed overboard because the math didn’t work with both Sharp and Oduya. No one expected a great return on Sharp, but I can’t help but think Stan Bowman overplayed his hand a bit here. While we won’t ever know what exactly was on offer before and at the draft, we know that there were discussions with several teams while Stan reportedly chased a 1st and a prospect. What he ended up with was an aging, one-way d-man (and not the right way) and a middle aged 4th liner, and he had to toss in Stephen Johns for the privilege of that. Would a 2nd and a 3rd round pick really have been any worse?
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Friday Foofaraw: Scattershot
For those of you that joined the blog recently, during the summer on Friday’s is when I tend to just write about whatever I want, as do the others on the blog. Feather even went through a streak of reviewing video games and The Walking Dead. So prepare yourself, as I’ve got all sorts of things rattling around this bald dome of mine.
-As the Hawks sit between several rocks and a very hard place with the cap constraints, the past couple days I can’t help but cast my mind back just short of three years ago. That would be Bettman Lockout III. Or maybe even Bettman Lockout II, which got us this current system. During that lockout, most owners were under a gag order. We never got what Rocky was really thinking during all of it, and whenever he did talk he was on the party line, out of fear of massive fines from The Commish.
And owners do that during labor disputes, but those labor disputes, at least these days, aren’t really about owners vs. players. They’re owners vs. owners, and the owners take it out on the players to protect themselves from each other and themselves. They know that when back to normal business, they’re going to do everything they can to put a winning team out there and all those loopholes get closed in the next CBA.
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Morning Links 7/10/15
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All’s Quiet On The Western Front
The holding pattern arrived earlier this year. For those of you who are new to our little prison riot here, when we hit July and August most of this becomes my own stream of consciousness. So I’ve got some thoughts to spit out about the Hawks and others today, if for no other reason than I’m bored.
We had a nice little Twitter kerfluffle yesterday when I retweeted a reporter in Miami saying that the Hawks and Panthers had a deal for Patrick Sharp but ol’ Shooter nixed it. It was from CBS Miami’s David Dwork (I only just realized what an amazing name that is). Of course, any time you do this there’s a counter surge from others saying that this is all poppycock and their sources say that the teams haven’t spoken in weeks. Sometimes I wonder if this isn’t for effect more than actual reporting so everyone can cover their ass. Either way, it’s kind of impossible to know what the real truth is.
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Morning Links 7/8/15
Kruger waits: PHT
So does Johnny: ESPN Chicago
Meanwhile TVR locked in: CSN
Shaw crashes a wedding: PD
McDavid burns some bums: NHL
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Morning Links 7.7.2015
Please Marc:Lets Go Hawks
Wake up the echoes:Chicago Tribune
On to the next one:Blackhawk Up
It begins:TSN
No pressure:Sportsnet
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The Curious Case Of Patrick Sharp
It must be a pretty dizzying summer for Patrick Sharp. From Cup win to near certainty he would have been shipped at the draft, then he wasn’t, then Saad was, and then he might stay, then he might not, then a few of the possible destinations he would have had on his list dried up. The question is what happens now.
On the surface, there are legit hockey reasons to keep Sharp around. If Bickell is indeed flogged to anyone who will take him, along with Versteeg, the Hawks simply won’t have anyone to play the left side. Whichever of Dano or Teuvo doesn’t play center would be more effective on the right (seen it with both of them last season already). Viktor Tikhonov is probably going to play on the left, or at least will be tried there in camp. Panarin also plays left wing, but you would be hard pressed to think Quenneville is going to go to battle with two inexperienced kids as his only scoring left wings.
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Desjardins Returns And Other Tidbits
In a bit of positive holiday weekend news, word was released that Andrew Desjardins was brought back to the tune of $800,000 for two years. Now if only he’d change his number back to 69 to give back Jeremy Morin 11.