Everything Else

Ein Minuten Bitte… Again

By 1809 0

I suppose that with it being summer and the Hawks having already made their signings and not yet a trade to clear cap space, we have more time than we should to study the narratives they are pushing. It’s not something I consistently want to do, but they keep putting this stuff out there and some of it is just wide of the mark. And those who are supposed to stand watch and call it out are once again passively accepting and even echoing it themselves.

During yesterday’s press conference, the Hawks and the sycophants who cover them couldn’t wait to tell us that Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane took less money so that they could keep the team together (even though the team is already over the cap). Their agent told everyone that they could have asked for the maximum $13.8 million per year.

That’s nice. I’m sure they could have asked. And Stan Bowman could have laughed them out of the room.

Everything Else

Better Leave Her Behind With The Kids, They’re Alright

By 1095 0

It’s always a weird mix at Prospects Camp. You have the made men of 1st round picks and this year they’ve added the spice of kids already in the organization. You have the mid-level picks who definitely have something to prove before they had back to whatever campus or Canadian backwater to work on their games. And you have the college free agents who very well may never wear a NHL logo on their chest again and are doing their best to make it count.

I don’t know how much you learn from any of it, especially with a team like the Hawks who have a pretty much set top roster and one in Rockford that will have a lot of returnees trying to move up the depth chart. But it can’t hurt to look. So I moseyed down there today to catch the scrimmage. Just some random observations:

Everything Else

Better Leave Her Behind With The Kids, They're Alright

By 1486 0

It’s always a weird mix at Prospects Camp. You have the made men of 1st round picks and this year they’ve added the spice of kids already in the organization. You have the mid-level picks who definitely have something to prove before they had back to whatever campus or Canadian backwater to work on their games. And you have the college free agents who very well may never wear a NHL logo on their chest again and are doing their best to make it count.

I don’t know how much you learn from any of it, especially with a team like the Hawks who have a pretty much set top roster and one in Rockford that will have a lot of returnees trying to move up the depth chart. But it can’t hurt to look. So I moseyed down there today to catch the scrimmage. Just some random observations:

Everything Else

Creme Kev Dineen… And Montelimat

By 1559 0

Somehow the name Kevin Dineen escaped our attention when we were speculating who would replace Jamie Kompon and whatever it was he actually did here. It probably shouldn’t have. After all, Dineen was a Whaler when Q was, and a very decent one at that. What Dineen didn’t have was previous coaching experience with Quenneville, so maybe that’s why we missed him.

Dineen has various head coaching experience in a lot of places. He was an AHL coach for six years in Portland, for both the Anaheim and Buffalo organizations. His record there was very impressive, as the Pirates amasses 39+ wins five out of six seasons.

He then went to Florida, to take over the Panthers in their Garage Sale Binge phase, where Dineen took all of their 11 signings and acquisitions in the summer of 2011 and got the Panthers to a Southeast Division title, even if that division was terrible. It took until overtime in a Game 7 for the Devils to eliminate them. But Dineen only got a season and a month after that, and was axed, even though the team was basically garbage.

Everything Else

Digging Up

By 1879 0

Now that Daydream Nation is firmly secured in Chicago until the next lockout and one of them has to be bought out after to get under the $12 salary cap Bettman instills to end that dispute, Stan can start figuring out just how he’s going to put next year’s team together.

What’s that you say? This year’s team is still over the cap? Why yes, it is. But we’ve been down this road a few times already, and the answers to get under this cap are known to everyone. It’s a punting of Oduya, or Sharp, or Rozsival, or Seabrook, or Versteeg (that would be a miracle) or some combination thereof.

It’s next year where some of the challenges lie. But is it that bad? Let’s look, yes?

Everything Else

A Strange Set Of Priorities

By 1884 0

You probably have seen it by now, as the story was shared on Twitter by our compadre Fifth Feather and on NBC Chicago by friend of the program James Neveau and many others. If you haven’t I’ll do my best to recap.

About a week ago at Johnny’s Ice House West, the official practice home of the Hawks and also home to several men’s and children’s leagues, three men were mugged in the tunnel to the garage after their men’s league game. One was pistol-whipped. This was shared on Facebook by several people, and I’m not sure exactly how but it got the attention of NBC 5 who did a piece one it.

Tim O’Shea, who plays (or should add, “played”) at Johnny’s spoke to NBC 5 on the piece about the dismissive response he got from management when he raised questions about security at the facility. He was told basically to “go play in the suburbs.” After Tim appeared on the piece, he was banned by general manager Kevin Rosenquist for life. Which seems a total fair and in no way unhinged response for airing concerns that clearly weren’t being addressed. Apparently, Johnny’s public relations theory is “Snitches wind up in ditches.”

Everything Else

When The Spigot Gets Turned On/Kompon Out

By 1474 0

I’m loathe to go off “internet rumors” again for fear that Barstool Sports will pelt me with more of their misogynist crap because they’re real journalists, but it’s the summer and we’re left to feed on scraps. There’s been a lot of chatter the past couple days that the Kane and Toews extensions are close to being polished off. The combined number I’ve seen a few times is 21.8 million for both, or 10.9 for each. The whole debate of whether they have to get the same contract is one for another time, because they’re going to. I haven’t seen what the term would be. I’ve always thought they didn’t have too much incentive to sign a long-term deal. If they both signed for five or six years they could hit free agency in their early 30s and get another payday. But no one would complain if they sign up for life, obviously.