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sharkticons vs oldschool

Game Time: 6:00PM Central
TV/Radio: WGN Ch. 9, WGN-AM 720
Pirates of Silicon Valley: Fear The Fin

It’s become somewhat of an annual occurrence over the last 5 or so seasons, where the first meeting of the year between the Blackhawksand Sharks, normally around this time in November, is viewed as a barometer of one another’s success and potential in advancing through the Western Conference. Both have been conference Finalists at least twice in that time, and based on the early returns this season, there’s no reason why it couldn’t happen again for either squad.

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The news of the day is that the Hawks have extended Andrew Shaw, who was due to be a restricted free agent at the end of the year, for two more years at a $2 million cap hit. It’s another bridge deal from Stan Bowman, using the complete lack of leverage a prospective RFA has to get a key player in at a very reasonable rate.

Shaw joins Kruger and Leddy on the list of those who are being asked to help out with the cap situation for a couple years before hopefully being rewarded. Shaw’s deal will expire the year after Kruger’s and Leddy’s, and in Kruger’s case should make for interesting watching as they could be competing for the same spot then depending on the development of some other prospects (namely Phillip Danault, who has said the Hawks have literally told him to be another Kruger). It would also be the same year that Brandon Saad would be a restricted free agent, but there’s utterly no chance that Stan is going to let Saad get anywhere near free agency and he will get a two or three year extension.

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Hey, remember when we were all sad that the Columbus Blue Jackets weren’t around anymore to provide 9-12 points in the bank? They still are. They’re just called the Winnipeg Jets now.

The Hawks once again barely got out of a yawn and a stretch, and seemingly with one swipe or their arm put themselves far ahead enough of the Jets to basically put their hand on Winnipeg’s forechead and let them charge and swing and miss for the rest of the night. It really doesn’t get much simpler.

Let’s get right to the bullets:

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While I’ve been leading the bitch about Q brigade for at least the past three years (it’s lonely and cold out here), there comes a point where you have to dig into the evidence and see if you’re just spouting nonsense. Or at least more nonsense than usual.

So before we take a look into some of the metrics we have on Jeremy Morin and Brandon Pirri, a couple caveats. One, they’ve played a combined 15 games, and that’s not really much of a sample either way to get a true reading. Two, by no means am I certain that they are the answers for their respective positions. I really have no idea. What I do know is that I want to find out, and I think we can only do that if they get a fair shake.

So, what do we know? Well, the numbers kind of break both ways.