Everything Else

Big Ontario Dynamite: Hawks at Senators Preview/Pregame Thread/Fondue Party

By 1237 0

Hawk Wrestler vs. 

FACEOFF: 6:30pm Central

TV/RADIO: CSN, WGN Radio

BULLSHIT BULLSHIT BULLSHIT: Silver Seven Sens, Bonks Mullet

The Hawks begin the Ontario two-step tonight in the capital, or actually outside the capital because the Canadian Tire Center is nowhere near Ottawa. It’s like in a field or something. called Kanata. And also, Canadian Tire doesn’t actually sell tires. I mean, it does sell tires but it’s much more like a Target than a Pep Boys. I know, they’re weird up there. Anyway, now that that’s out of the way…

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Someone’s Gonna Pay: Ducks 1 – Hawks 0

By 1247 0

Box Score

Event Summary

War On Ice

It seems like a recurring dream, where the Hawks fling rubber like monkey feces at an opposing goalie for 60 straight minutes, and yet can’t seem to make any twine ripple. Yet this one feels like the first time a goalie really had to channel Houdini to get out of some of the jams the Hawks put him in, as John Gibson was excellent. Throw in a couple posts rang as well, and you get yet another frustrating night. Still, there’s hardly much to complain about, as the Hawks were just a shade better than the Ducks everywhere but in goal (and they weren’t much worse there either).

Everything Else

Someone's Gonna Pay: Ducks 1 – Hawks 0

By 1159 0

Box Score

Event Summary

War On Ice

It seems like a recurring dream, where the Hawks fling rubber like monkey feces at an opposing goalie for 60 straight minutes, and yet can’t seem to make any twine ripple. Yet this one feels like the first time a goalie really had to channel Houdini to get out of some of the jams the Hawks put him in, as John Gibson was excellent. Throw in a couple posts rang as well, and you get yet another frustrating night. Still, there’s hardly much to complain about, as the Hawks were just a shade better than the Ducks everywhere but in goal (and they weren’t much worse there either).

Everything Else

No Touching: Hawks at Blues Preview/Pregame Thread/Rain Dance

By 1225 0

Hawk Wrestler vs. old_school_blue_l

FACEOFF: 7pm

TV/RADIO: WGN for both

MAKE SURE YOU’VE HAD YOUR SHOTS: St. Louis Gametime

You can’t avoid it forever. Eventually you have to go visit the outdoor prison that is St. Louis and play the hockey team comprised out of whatever they scraped out of the drains that resides there. It’s hardly enjoyable usually, and you’ll just want it to be over, but the NHL schedule-makers make you do it anyway.

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I’m Looking Right At You, Big Daddy

By 1205 0

This is kind of an extension of Wednesday’s Angry At Numbers, but looking more specifically at Patrick Kane. We’ve spent a lot of time on this blog analyzing Kane’s linemates and production, which seems weird. It seems weird because no one would argue that Kane isn’t one of the top 10 players in the league, so why should it matter so much who he is playing with? In one sense, you feel like it shouldn’t. But in another, it does. Kane’s such a unique talent with such a unique style, he’s not as user friendly as say Toews or Hossa is (and there’s been plenty of talk about who Hossa should play with too).

So I thought I’d go back through and look at Kane’s most productive seasons and see who they were spent with, and maybe we’ll have a better idea of what should be happening now.

Everything Else

I'm Looking Right At You, Big Daddy

By 1595 0

This is kind of an extension of Wednesday’s Angry At Numbers, but looking more specifically at Patrick Kane. We’ve spent a lot of time on this blog analyzing Kane’s linemates and production, which seems weird. It seems weird because no one would argue that Kane isn’t one of the top 10 players in the league, so why should it matter so much who he is playing with? In one sense, you feel like it shouldn’t. But in another, it does. Kane’s such a unique talent with such a unique style, he’s not as user friendly as say Toews or Hossa is (and there’s been plenty of talk about who Hossa should play with too).

So I thought I’d go back through and look at Kane’s most productive seasons and see who they were spent with, and maybe we’ll have a better idea of what should be happening now.

Everything Else

Angry At Numbers

By 1400 0

Been a while since I’ve taken a hack at one of these, so let’s get to it. These should obviously come with something of a caveat, as five games isn’t much of a sample size. However, seeing as how my time machine is on the fritz and I can’t zoom into the future a couple months and then come back with numbers with a bigger sample size, this will have to do. Blame the dog. She chased her ball in there and knocked something loose. Engineering isn’t really her thing.

65.5%, 64%

That’s Duncan Keith’s Corsi-percentage, which is tops in the league among defensemen, and in fact tops the every single player. Better yet, Niklas Hjalmarsson’s 64% is second in the league. Again, these numbers were piled up against some awful teams, other than Dallas. So you’d expect these numbers to be pretty high. But for comparison’s sake, Keith’s season long Corsi% last year when he won the Norris is 57%. Hammer’s number is impressive because A)he’s not really required to push the play as much as defend, B) he spent three games playing with both van Riemsdyk and Oduya and flipping from the left to the right and back again. While I still worry about Keith being now over 30 and maintaining this form, the opening signs are very positive indeed. We’ll find out more this week on the road, of course.