Three years ago today I was in Vegas wanting Stan to sign this guy: SunTimes
Well they did for a perfect stopgap: Chicago Tribune
The Dane returns! ESPN
Big D could once again be a big problem: DMN
My contract sucks: TSN
No Paul, anywhere else….Sportsnet.ca
The beats will all have columns when the Hawks play the Panthers: MH
Today Stan Bowman took further steps in Quenneville proofing his forward group by bringing back step-child Peter Regin for one year and $650K, and Brad Richards, in a career reclamation move predicted on this very site about 24 hours ago.
Probably best to just let the mess settle and comment afterward. Have at it here.
After a mostly silent draft from a trade standpoint, even if Stan Bowman and Doug Wilson made a lot of teal and red clad sphincters audibly clench when they approached the registry table, it appears that Bowman is going one of two directions. The first option is that he’s going to allow this group, which for all of their faults were a goal away from another Cup Final berth against an inferior opponent, another crack at the Chalice minus some deadweight and augment as the deadline approaches. Or he’s going to let the market get set tomorrow in a barren UFA market place and parlay some of his cost-controlled assets into greater return and/or cap space.
This ran in the March 4th print edition for the game against Colorado, right after Bollig had signed his inexplicable three year extension. So it’s with no small amount of glee that he was traded to the outpost of Calgary over the weekend, where the new braintrust will appreciate what he brings to the table, and he will have a new batch of high school girls and jock sniffing misogynists to impress. And that he recently bought a condo in River North just makes it extra hilarious.
(credit also must be given to the inimitable mightymikeD for the above image)
We think so too! Suntimes
Its pronounced Cal-Gary: Chicago Tribune
So the field is narrowed: TSN
We have seen it already: Globe and Mail
Draft recap: Hockeenight
Pretty glorious day, no?
Sure, we’re making too much of a deal of barely a fourth-liner (or barely an NHL-er). But at least we now know that Stan sees what all of us sees, or saw. And Stan is at least making attempts to re-jigger this team how he sees fit, with more speed and skill (thus the pumping and re-signing of Morin). And the fact that some team was dumb enough to give up not just a draft pick, but a 3rd rounder which could be somewhat valuable, I nearly plotzed! Watch what a difference actually having a 4th line could make next spring.
As for the picks today, well, who knows if any of these guys will come up for air. But we’ll do what we can to see what the Hawks have picked up.
It didn’t come with the fireworks we thought tonight. We all held out breath when it was reported that Hawks’ and Sharks’ reps were at the NHL table filing a trade, but in the end it just ended up being a swap of picks so the Hawks could move up. Which leads you to believe that Nick Schmaltz was a target of theirs and they went out of their way to get him.
What Schmaltz sounds like is basically a slightly bigger, American version of Teuvo Teravainen, with perhaps more finish. But Schmaltz’s game is definitely pass-first, and everyone raves about his vision and hands. He doesn’t have the size you might like, but is very strong on his skates and squirts out of traffic well.
Schmaltz has a rep for tacking a shift off or even a game off here and there, but I’m not going to dismiss a 17-year-old because his focus might waver at times. We’ll see what he does at North Dakota. He has to work on his defensive game, but who doesn’t at that age? Once again the Hawks have drafted for serious skill, which seems to be a habit of theirs. As we said, past Teuvo and Danault the Hawks looked a little short down the middle in the system. They addressed that tonight.
Tomorrow should be more interesting, as if they’re going to dump Oduya for picks and cap space it will be then.
Shit’s about to get really wacky, if it hasn’t already.
