Sustained Culture of Excellence: Suntimes
Worth every penny: SBNATION
A great day in Blackhawks History: SCH
I don’t like him but what could he do? Sporting News
(Photo Credit:Chicago Tribune)
You probably have seen it by now, as the story was shared on Twitter by our compadre Fifth Feather and on NBC Chicago by friend of the program James Neveau and many others. If you haven’t I’ll do my best to recap.
About a week ago at Johnny’s Ice House West, the official practice home of the Hawks and also home to several men’s and children’s leagues, three men were mugged in the tunnel to the garage after their men’s league game. One was pistol-whipped. This was shared on Facebook by several people, and I’m not sure exactly how but it got the attention of NBC 5 who did a piece one it.
Tim O’Shea, who plays (or should add, “played”) at Johnny’s spoke to NBC 5 on the piece about the dismissive response he got from management when he raised questions about security at the facility. He was told basically to “go play in the suburbs.” After Tim appeared on the piece, he was banned by general manager Kevin Rosenquist for life. Which seems a total fair and in no way unhinged response for airing concerns that clearly weren’t being addressed. Apparently, Johnny’s public relations theory is “Snitches wind up in ditches.”
I’m loathe to go off “internet rumors” again for fear that Barstool Sports will pelt me with more of their misogynist crap because they’re real journalists, but it’s the summer and we’re left to feed on scraps. There’s been a lot of chatter the past couple days that the Kane and Toews extensions are close to being polished off. The combined number I’ve seen a few times is 21.8 million for both, or 10.9 for each. The whole debate of whether they have to get the same contract is one for another time, because they’re going to. I haven’t seen what the term would be. I’ve always thought they didn’t have too much incentive to sign a long-term deal. If they both signed for five or six years they could hit free agency in their early 30s and get another payday. But no one would complain if they sign up for life, obviously.
Lets hope he is as good as his brother: SunTimes
Kneel before his statistical growth: Second City Hockey
In an all seriousness I love this dude…Keep him in your thoughts: TSN
What once was: Sportsnet.Ca
It’s been just about a week since the Hawks signed Brad Richards, and thanks to other commitments and the holiday I haven’t really had time to get in up to the elbow on what the Hawks have taken a flier on here. We’ve got time today. So roll up the sleeves, Hondo.
What they’ve gotten is clearly a player on the decline. Richards had 91 points with Dallas the year the Hawks won the Cup the firs time. He then went to 77, 66, a 60-point pace in the lockout year, and 51 points last year. So none of that is going to be encouraging, especially when he switched to the easier Eastern Conference and continued to put up less points.
Are there some mitigating factors? A few but hardly nothing major. He was bounced around the lineup a lot by John Tortorella, and Torts was allergic to offense. But the introduction of Alain Vigneault didn’t help much either.
With the aquisition of Brad “Religion” Richards, even at the cap friendly number of $2 million dollars for this season, the Hawks are now currently around $2.2 million dollars over the cap while carrying 22 players on the active roster by opening night.
This means that someone is going to have to be voted off of the island in short order, particularly with the Convention coming up in a couple of weeks. If there’s one thing that McDonough and Blunk are conscious of it’s optics, and they’d hate to have a player kissing hands and shaking babies all weekend at the Regency just to have someone’s favorite player launched, even if they technically don’t have to until opening night in October. Add that to the cover that the long holiday weekend will bring tomorrow, as well as the tendency for media types to try to bury bad news on a Friday afternoon, and it would not be the least bit shocking to see someone go tomorrow.
Man-Child by the numbers by numbers I Mean Flippin FANCY STATS: NHL
Movement on the horizon? Chicago Tribune
Jim Nill..Heartbreaker: TSN
More central center depth: ESPN
Well it may be they just aren’t that good: PD
McClure took you through the local hockey club’s actions on the opening day of free agency, as I was too busy passing out from every Belgian attack (I passed out a lot). So I thought I’d clean up what went on around the league.
Central Matters
First, it’s probably best to look closer to home and that’s in the Central division. The big move was Jason Spezza going to the Stars for pretty much nothing. One aspect that didn’t get mentioned a whole lot is how this move slots The Ginger Ninja, Cody Eakin, down into the 3rd center role. That’s where he’s supposed to be and don’t be shocked if he becomes one of the better 3rd centers in the West.
