Everything Else

Monday Notes

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Just cleaning up some stuff going around today.

-Brandon Saad won’t travel to Philly tomorrow, which makes one think it’s pretty unlikely he’ll play against St. Louis on Wednesday. Saad basically takes all the depth scoring with him, especially with both Kris Versteeg and Ben Smith now on the top six, at least at times. Though at some point Andrew Shaw will score without the aid of Jonathan Toews. Maybe.

–JenLC at the old site breaks down how the Hawks can fit in Teuvo Teravainen if they bring him over (I don’t even know why I’m including the “if” any more). Basically it involves sending Antti Raanta down, as he doesn’t have to clear waivers, and calling up Jason Labarbera. This one makes sense in a few ways. The Hawks have two back-to-backs in March, and it’s questionable whether Raanta would be trusted with a start in either. He also really should be playing, and being in Rockford’s playoff push couldn’t hurt. After the Boston-Ottawa trip next week it’s likely Crawford would go the rest of the way anyway, so you might as well have Jason Labarbera back up. There’s a back-to-back to end the season in DC and Nashville, but there’s a decent chance one or both of those games won’t matter (if the Colorado Regression shows up, and members of Colorado Regression).

Oh, and Eddie O was on The Score banging the Teuvo Drum in his continuing efforts to carry the company message, because what this kid needs is tons of pressure on him when he arrives in a strange country with strange teammates in the hardest competition he’s ever faced.

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Candy From Babies: Griffins 1 – Hawks 4

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Box Score

Event Summary

Extra Skater

Not prettiest but it’ll do. Kinda like closing time.

While Q and the press made a lot of the “battle level” of the past two games and all the drills in yesterday’s practice, there was a telling remark from Marian Hossa in his postgame interview with Brian Engblom. He talked about improving the Hawks’ gap to each other and not being so spread out. Basically, that’s puck support, and the Hawks haven’t had it in a while. They were much better tonight, building speed through shorter passes and crunching the space the Wings had to play in. They pressed Detroit all over and weren’t afraid of gaps behind. That’s what led to a pretty thorough win.

Of course, having Marian Hossa back helps too.

Let’s get to them:

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Time For The Dragon?

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The Hawks’ world has been a bit abuzz today, as Joel Quenneville in an interview on The Score let it slip that the Hawks plan to bring Teuvo Teravainen over from Finland as soon as season with Jokerit ends to “give him a look.”

Here are the pertinent details. Jokerit has two more games this week in their regular season. They’re currently tied for 6th. In SM-Liiga, the top six automatically go into the quarterfinals while the 7th-10th placed teams have a mini-playoff for the last two spots in the quarters. Those preliminary playoffs are best-of-three, and I assume they start a couple days after the regular season ends. If Jokerit slips into 7th, conceivably Teuvo could be on his way to the States by next Friday. If they stay in sixth, the quarterfinals on through are best-of-seven, and it could be an additional week or month before Teuvo is free of Jokerit responsibilities. I have no idea what kind of threat they’re considered in the playoffs, and I haven’t seen what anyone else thinks either.

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Angry At Numbers

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Time for that portion of the program where I turn into JenLC from Second City Hockey for a post. Though she definitely wears it better and with much better charisma. But anyway, let’s dig a little deep and see a little light on our beloved Hawks.

10, 9

The first number is Bryan Bickell’s goal total this year in 48 games. The second number is his total in 48 games last year. What I haven’t included is his paycheck, which apparently has fogged everyone’s lenses when viewing the Pit Bull Hero. But let’s go even deeper. For the most part, Bicks has played on the 3rd line this year with Andrew Shaw at center, just as he did last year. His Corsi-For percentage this year with Shaw is 57.5%, which is quite good and above the team rate actually. Last year? 57.3% with Shaw.

His overall Corsi-percentage is actually better this year, at 57.7% which is 2% above the team-rate, compared to 55.3% last year.

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He Fills His Head With Culture: Blackhawks 2 – Sabres 1

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Box Score
Event Summary
Extra Skater

About 3 minutes into this game, we got to witness history. It wasn’t just that Kane once again gained a point while visiting his old stomping grounds. He’s had 4 games back home now and has 4 points in them. That’s old news. The big news is obviously that we here at The Committed Indian have finally lost one of our trump cards in our calls for a real second line center. That’s right folks – Patrick Kane scored an even strength goal while Michael Handzus was on the ice. 

Now that’s not saying Handzus had anything to do with the goal… I don’t think he had even made it into the Sabres zone by the time Kaner fired that nifty little wrister. But he was certainly on the ice.. and I guess that counts for something.

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Like Being Low: Hawks at Sabres Preview/Pregame Thread/Indie Film Festival

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Hawk Wrestler vs. 2008-03-04-tylermane_sabertooth

FACEOFF: 6:30pm Central

TV/RADIO: NBCSN, WGN Radio

WINTER AND JULY 4th: Die By The Blade

The schedule has slowed down a bit here, with two days off before and after this game before it ramps up again at the end of next week. And it slows down in terms of opposition, or at least seemingly, as the Hawks travel to face the league-worst Sabres, who have now been stripped of most if not all their assets that weren’t tied down.