Well, as we know this has gotten all jumbled a bit, but we’re still going to hold strong with what we see the lineup shaking out as. As long as we get to everyone, we should be ok. Anyway, we’ll do this one and then later today the extra/rookie forwards who might pop up during the season. Then off to the defense and goaltending and such. Who’s excited?!
To it, then:
Leahy looks at the new deal, including the end of 12/26 at the UC: PD
Here are the 26 in camp: BH
Does Bolland to 2C feel a little like Hester to WR to anyone else?: ESPNChi
Want to make me happy, here’s an idea WIN GAMES: CSN
The farm is fairly stocked: HF
A closer look at the teams we hate: CtA
Bergevin and Les Habitants send Gomez home: PHT
hahahahhahahahah… but no really ahahahahahaha good luck with that hahahaha: NM
Well it’s all official now. The t’s are crossed, the i’s dotted (though this is the NHL so it could totally be the other way around), and the schedule it out.
Some highlights:
-The Hawks will start out with eight of their first 10 games on the road, including the Ice Show trip. So yeah, better have your story straight pretty fucking quick this year. Could be buried in a hurry.
-That’s made up with a seven-game homestand to finish out February. That stand sees the Kings and Canucks comes in, as well as the Sharks twice, and the Oilers. And we know how the Oil have done against the Hawks recently.
-For the first time I can remember, the Hawks will play back-to-backs at home. There are three of them, Feb. 24 and 25 against Columbus and Edmonton, March 5th and 6th against Minnehaha and Colorado, and March 25 and 26 against LA and Calgary.
-The Hawks have four other back-to-backs.
-At the end of April there’s a nasty little jaunt back out to Western Canada to face Vancouver and Edmo before returning home to close out the season against Calgary and then at St. Louis, which will be the first time the Hawks don’t end the season against Detroit in I don’t know how long.
-The Hawks see the Blues and Preds five times, and Scum and the Jackets four times.
-There was also a letter from Rocky and McD, which all told was pretty weak. There was no apology, no mention of the lockout, and kind of a thank you. But you know what? It’s probably not worth kicking stuff over. It would have been nice for something better, but it’s not going to change anything either way. I’ll apologize for them. They’re sorry. There.
Well it’s all official now. The t’s are crossed, the i’s dotted (though this is the NHL so it could totally be the other way around), and the schedule it out.
Some highlights:
-The Hawks will start out with eight of their first 10 games on the road, including the Ice Show trip. So yeah, better have your story straight pretty fucking quick this year. Could be buried in a hurry.
-That’s made up with a seven-game homestand to finish out February. That stand sees the Kings and Canucks comes in, as well as the Sharks twice, and the Oilers. And we know how the Oil have done against the Hawks recently.
-For the first time I can remember, the Hawks will play back-to-backs at home. There are three of them, Feb. 24 and 25 against Columbus and Edmonton, March 5th and 6th against Minnehaha and Colorado, and March 25 and 26 against LA and Calgary.
-The Hawks have four other back-to-backs.
-At the end of April there’s a nasty little jaunt back out to Western Canada to face Vancouver and Edmo before returning home to close out the season against Calgary and then at St. Louis, which will be the first time the Hawks don’t end the season against Detroit in I don’t know how long.
-The Hawks see the Blues and Preds five times, and Scum and the Jackets four times.
-There was also a letter from Rocky and McD, which all told was pretty weak. There was no apology, no mention of the lockout, and kind of a thank you. But you know what? It’s probably not worth kicking stuff over. It would have been nice for something better, but it’s not going to change anything either way. I’ll apologize for them. They’re sorry. There.
Moving right along down the depth chart we now come to perhaps the most stable unit of the post 2010 era, Dave Bolland’s third line. While Bolland has never truly become the force of nature that his numbers in junior or his paycheck would have suggested, that he has become one of the premier checking forwards in the NHL is still a victory in and of itself.However, the line he’s been a fixture on is not without its flaws, Bolland included, and it will need to find consistency in short order for this abbreviated season to be a successful one for the Hawks.
Moving right along down the depth chart we now come to perhaps the most stable unit of the post 2010 era, Dave Bolland’s third line. While Bolland has never truly become the force of nature that his numbers in junior or his paycheck would have suggested, that he has become one of the premier checking forwards in the NHL is still a victory in and of itself.However, the line he’s been a fixture on is not without its flaws, Bolland included, and it will need to find consistency in short order for this abbreviated season to be a successful one for the Hawks.
You probably missed it, they only slipped it out on Twitter. No fanfare or the like. But the Moriarty to my Holmes, the Skinner to my Bart, the Liam Gallagher to my Damon Albarn, Sean Gallagher (wow, that Gallagher analogy really works then!) of St. Louis Gametime has given up his post as head of both publication and blog.
I know a lot of you didn’t care for SLGT, either paper or blog, but they’ve been a fantastic foil for pretty much our entire existence. There is no outpost we share a bigger bond with. In their more honest moments, McClure and Killion would tell you that possibly the best night of this blog was one we spent in St. Louis drinking with the SLGT staff (a night that included GMH screaming at the top of her lungs for us to do shots with her, the look of utter shock on the bartender’s face when her question of my college roommate of how many glasses he would need with his pitcher of Bud was answered with, “glasses?”, and of course Kills and McClure slow-dancing with Killion demanding he had to lead).
Kane is back in Chicago: (Blackhawk Up)
A Fast Start? (Suntimes)
Good for the League: (Sportsnet.Ca)
Datsyuk joining Kovy: (Russia Today)
Yakupov could be special: (ESPN)
The Right Way: (CBS SPORTS)
Odds for us degenerates: (Puck Daddy)
Let’s keep this ship rolling right along. We get to the first “hole” the Hawks have, and that’s the second line center. They have wingers who fit here, Marian Hossa and Viktor Stalberg (and before you start, 21 goals without a PP one makes you a second line winger on most if not all teams). You could have Brandon Saad here as well, because I think this is where he’s ending up. We know Kane will end up here at times, and that Patrick Sharp probably should but won’t. But for now, let’s go with how it pretty much looked like last year, and that’s Stalberg-Kruger-Hossa.
Right, to it.
Let’s keep this ship rolling right along. We get to the first “hole” the Hawks have, and that’s the second line center. They have wingers who fit here, Marian Hossa and Viktor Stalberg (and before you start, 21 goals without a PP one makes you a second line winger on most if not all teams). You could have Brandon Saad here as well, because I think this is where he’s ending up. We know Kane will end up here at times, and that Patrick Sharp probably should but won’t. But for now, let’s go with how it pretty much looked like last year, and that’s Stalberg-Kruger-Hossa.
Right, to it.