Gonna be a Wild night:CB
It sucks getting old:TSN
Future earnings:ST
Too close for comfort:SI
Don’t screw this up:PD
Seems like a bit of overkill:SN
Over the past year or two a few different statisticians have been exploring ways to measure a player’s possession skills independent of his team. Team effects on a player’s possession numbers often have a heavy influence on a player’s stats. For example, early in the season, Dan Carcillo had the highest CF% at 5 on 5 of any other forward in the league. It should be obvious to anyone who has ever watched hockey that Carcillo is not the best player in the league and illustrates how important it is to understand that usage and team strength have a lot to do with these measures.
With the weekend-long bacchanalia of sponsors and meaningless events now upon the NHL season and no actual Hawks game until late Wednesday night at Staples, now is as good a time as any to take a look at where things stand.
vs 
Game Time: 7:30PM Central
TV/Radio: CSN, WGN-AM 720
Carnivorous Vulgaris: Five For Howling
Since the calendar turned to 2015, the Hawks have now gone a sub-par 3-5, which in Conference III has been enough to drop the Hawks tied for third with the Jets and four points back of second place St. Louis. Even if any of the other teams in the division weren’t winning any and every game they played, this would still be an unacceptable record, particularly with the Hawks not playing on home ice until February 9th after tonight. And though the bottom appears to have finally fallen out on Dave Tippett’s Coyotes this season, the Hawks aren’t currently playing well enough to count any game as a given.
vs 
Game Time: 5:00PM Central
TV/Radio: WGN, WGN-AM 720
Larry Hagman’s Liver: Defending Big D
With even a slight dip in production since the calendar turned to 2015, the Hawks now find themselves situated in third place in the mongoose fight that is Conference III. Fortunately, thanks to nearly a week off, the Hawks now have a game in hand on the second place Blues. That games played ledger will get evened tonight against the visiting Dallas Stars.
