Everything Else

Their Emblems Built of Garbage – ’18–’19 Blackhawks Player Previews – Dylan Sikura & Luke Johnson

By John Pullega 1474 0

For the past year or so, there have been rumblings about how Dylan Sikura was going to be a classic Bowman late-round pick. He was going to wildly exceed all expectations and give the Hawks the scoring depth they needed to recapture the dominance of the early-to-mid 2010s. After an ineffective camp, Sikura gets to take a gray trip up the Jane Addams to Rockford, while despite the odds, Luke Johnson gets to break camp. Let’s double dip.

Dylan Sikura 2017–18 Stats

5 GP – 0 G, 3 A

41.8 CF%, 64.3 oZS%

Avg. TOI 13:24

A Brief History: The former sixth-round pick in 2014 made his debut for the Hawks late last year. After increasingly strong performances at Northeastern from 2016–18, which saw Sikura tally 111 points in 73 games during his junior and senior years combined (43 G, 68 A), Sikura signed a two-year ELC last year. He played most of his time with Alex DeBrincat and Victor Ejdsell in his five games up, tallying three assists despite having his head caved in on the possession ledger. While two of those assists came in his debut during the Scott Foster Game, you’d gladly take three assists over five games. Things were looking up.

Then, preseason happened, and Sikura looked more like Freshman Year at Northeastern than Top Prospect in the Pipeline material. He had zero points on six shots at evens. His possession numbers were somehow worse than they were at the end of last year, as he posted a woeful 39.62 CF% despite taking 56+% of his draws in the offensive zone. His only notable contribution was a power play assist.

Oh, and by playing in just one game last year, the Hawks burned year one of his ELC deal, meaning Sikura is a restricted free agent after this year. Overall, not how anyone had it planned, if anyone had a plan at all.

It Was the Best of Times: We’ve already gone through something like this with Nick Schmaltz back in 2016. Schmaltz struggled early, got sent down to the Hogs, kicked in skulls, then came up for good later that year. The hope (and really, the necessity) is that Sikura follows a similar path as Schmaltz. While Sikura doesn’t have the pedigree that Schmaltz does and would need everything to go perfectly to top out as a second-line right winger, he does have a template to work with. If all goes well, he’s up with the Hawks around Thanksgiving or so and contributes 30–35 points on the third line.

It Was the BLURST of Times: Sikura turns out to be nothing more than a by-product of Adam Gaudette. This has always been the FFUD fear with Sikura, that he’s just the result of a bigger, stronger, better player at center. Since the only person who fills those criteria is Jonathan Toews (Artem Anisimov is too slow, Schmaltz is too small) and Sikura hasn’t proven he can make much on his own to this point, there’s reason to worry he’s much of nothing and peters out after this year, only to sign elsewhere and unlock the potential the Hawks always assumed he had after this year. One bad preseason doesn’t mean he sucks, but he does have the potential to suck.

Prediction: We’ll be lucky to get 40 games out of Sikura this year. I think it’s going to take him longer than anticipated to get comfortable to just AHL speeds, let alone NHL. That’s going to make it a tougher decision when deciding what to do with him as a restricted free agent come this offseason, but with all the water the organ-I-zation has carried for Sikura thus far, they’ll probably re-up him regardless.

Luke Johnson 2017–18 Stats (Rockford)

73 GP – 13 G, 17 A

8.1 SH%, 3 PPG, 62 PIM

A Brief History: Usurping Sikura’s role will be Luke Johnson. Originally drafted by the Blackhawks back in 2013, the moonfaced Johnson has spent the glut of his career in the AHL. And when I say glut, I mean it literally: A big reason he’s never made it to the NHL to this point is because of his weight. He began his IceHogs career at 5’11” 198, and it wasn’t until he dropped nearly 20 pounds last year that he started seeing greater success.

Johnson is essentially a guy. He’s got OK speed now that he’s lost some weight, an OK shot (he shot 8.1% for the Hogs during the regular season last year), and isn’t a zoo without cages in his own end. He was a strong contributor in the IceHogs’s Calder Cup run, with eight points (4 G, 4A) throughout those playoffs. He’s looked good on the fourth line, where he’s spent more time in the defensive zone and has still posted a 54+ CF%.

It Was the Best of Times: Johnson’s not going to light the world on fire. Best case, he stays on the fourth line with Kruger and some combo of Hayden, Kampf, or Martinsen. He plays well enough on the PK to justify rotating him in whenever Hayden disappears or Martinsen goes beyond sucking.

It Was the BLURST of Times: Quenneville gets it in his head that Johnson belongs on a line with Anisimov and Kunitz, and that line gives up 50 goals by itself before Thanksgiving.

Prediction: Johnson earned his shot with a strong camp this year. He’ll play well as the Hawks’s 13th forward and turn into a David Kampf Lite. He’ll get into a fight or two that will endear him to the “I’m gonna wear a headdress to the game” crowd and will pot, let’s say, nine points on the year.

Previous Player Previews

Corey Crawford

Cam Ward

Duncan Keith

Connor Murphy

Brent Seabrook

Brandon Manning

Jan Rutta

Erik Gustafsson

Henri Jokiharju

Nick Schmaltz

Alex DeBrincat

Chris Kunitz

Artem Anisimov

Marcus Kruger

Victor Ejdsell

Jonathan Toews

Brandon Saad

John Hayden

David Kampf

Patrick Kane

Everything Else

High On The Hog: That Time Of Year

By Jon Fromi 1695 0

The calendar is telling me that hockey is soon to be underway for the Blackhawks AHL affiliate. That would be the Winnebago County Flying Piglets, known to folks in these parts as the Rockford IceHogs.

Second-year coach Jeremy Colliton will be hard at work this week getting Rockford prepared to open its season. That happens this weekend with a pair of games in Cleveland.

Colliton helmed the Hogs to their deepest foray ever into the Calder Cup Playoffs. Rockford reached the Western Conference Final before being beaten in six games by the Texas Stars.

Four IceHogs who spent a portion of 2017-18 in Rockford (John Hayden, David Kampf, Andreas Martinsen and Luke Johnson) are now on the Blackhawks roster. Colliton is once again charged with pushing more talented skaters through the pipeline to Chicago.

To show just how important the preseason is, Rockford had no exhibition games on its training camp schedule. Fans were treated to an intersquad affair at the BMO Friday night before the Hogs pared down the roster.

The Hogs vs Hogs tilt resulted in a 3-2 win for Team White, following a Gus Macker tally by Darren Raddysh. Regulation goals from the winning squad came from Conner Moynihan (who got sent to Indy for his effort) and Terry Broadhurst, both on AHL contracts with Rockford.

Team Red also got a goal from one of the Hogs AHL signings, courtesy of Henrik Samuelsson. New Hawks prospect Jacob Nilsson got a put back goal to round out the scoring.

After some moves from Chicago, we now have a pretty decent idea of who will begin the 2018-19 season in the Forest City. Here is a look at the roster heading into practice this week.

 

Forwards (15)

NHL Contracts (11)

Dylan Sikura, Tyler Sikura, Viktor Ejdsell, Jordan Schroeder, Anthony Louis, Matthew Highmore, Jacob Nilsson, Nathan Noel, Matheson Iacopelli, Graham Knott, Alexandre Fortin.

At 28, Schroeder is the elder statesman in a group otherwise made up of first or second-year players. Most of the forward group is preparing for their second loop around the AHL. Noel is hoping for a healthy go-round and a full campaign in Rockford. Ejdsell saw mostly playoff action last season.

The two rookies in this group are Nilsson, who has several years of pro experience in Europe, and Dylan Sikura, who was assigned to the Hogs after joining the Blackhawks after his college season ended. Both players could make a big impact in Rockford early in the season.

Noel, Iacopelli and Fortin are looking to entrench themselves into Jeremy Colliton’s lineup in 2018-19. Knott will be looking to raise his level of play a notch or two from his rookie season.

AHL Contracts (4)

William Pelletier, Henrik Samuelsson, Terry Broadhurst, Brett Welychka.

Pelletier did not draw an invite to the Hawks NHL training camp. He was also absent from Friday night’s intersquad scrimmage and most (if not all) of the team workouts before that. If he is healthy and ready to play when the puck drops Friday in Cleveland, he should be a steady presence in the Hogs lineup.

Regardless of Pelletier’s availability, Samuelsson and Broadhurst should see a lot of action. Welychka could find himself with the Indy Fuel at times this season but may hold onto a roster spot for now. (UPDATE-Welychka was sent to Indy Monday afternoon.)

Outlook

As was the case last season, this is a young group that will be more than able to play at the pace Colliton prefers. There would appear to be opportunities to crack the lineup in Chicago for guys like Sikura (pick one), Highmore, Schroeder or Fortin. There are also players who need to prove they belong in the IceHogs lineup, so this should be a motivated group.

 

Defense

NHL Contracts (8)

Andrew Campbell, Carl Dahlstrom, Darren Raddysh, Luc Snuggerud, Joni Tuulola, Dennis Gilbert, Blake Hillman, Lucas Carlsson.

Depending on how Colliton pairs up his blueline, Dahlstrom provides a solid option on the top duo. Campbell is this season’s veteran presence; don’t expect too much in the way of offense, but he can sure up a pairing with one of the rookies.

Snuggerud is looking to put some injuries behind him in 2018-19. Raddysh is hoping to build on a solid rookie campaign that earned him his entry contract.

This group lacks the overall experience that was in Rockford to begin last season. Tuulola, Gilbert, Hillman and Carlsson are untested at the AHL level and will need to get up to speed quickly.

 

AHL Contract (1)

Josh McArdle

McArdle could be destined for Indy before too long (UPDATE-McArdle was assigned to the Fuel Monday afternoon). When all of the Hawks prospects are healthy, there may not be too much ice time for him with Rockford. A native of Rockton, Illinois and a former Junior IceHogs skater, it would be a hoot and a holler if McArdle could get into some action at the BMO.

Outlook

If last year’s forward group was unproven last season, it’s the defense that offers the most question marks this fall. The development of a young blueline will have a huge impact on Rockford’s fortunes as a team. This is nothing remotely close to the group that played so well in the playoffs last spring. The goalies could be facing a different caliber of shots in the event of a steep drop-off at the defensive end.

 

Goalie

NHL Contracts (2)

Collin Delia, Kevin Lankinen

Barring any other moves or injury, this is your net tandem this season. It figures to be a solid one, provided Delia builds on the momentum generated by his whirlwind spring in Rockford.

If Delia starts this season the way he finished the last one, he could earn himself some time protecting the crease for Chicago. That depends on how the Hawks goalie situation works out the first few months.

I’d think the organization would like to see Lankinen get around 30 starts in Rockford, though the primary starter’s job should be Delia’s based on his play. Let’s keep in mind that Delia has just 28 AHL games to his name heading into this season. He’s still going to be learning on the job, as will Lankinen, who is making his debut in North America.

 

AHL Contract (1)

Matt Tomkins

Tomkins should get a healthy workload in Indy once he is assigned to the Fuel, which is a move the Hogs will make early this week. He wasn’t particularly impressive at the AHL level in his stints with Rockford last season, so you’d like to see Tomkins perform well with Indy and potentially provide a bit more consistency in any action he sees with the IceHogs in 2018-19.

Outlook

Last year’s Hogs team limited traffic and high-percentage shots on Delia, giving him time to play his way into a big role in the postseason run. A younger, less-experienced defense will keep all of Rockford’s goalies on their toes.

 

New Look Central

The Hogs have some new division foes with which to contend in 2018-19. Cleveland slides to the Eastern Conference, while two teams, San Antonio and Texas, move into the Central Division this season.

That makes for an eight-team division consisting of Rockford, Milwaukee, Chicago, Iowa, Grand Rapids and Manitoba in addition to the Stars and Rampage. Of Rockford’s 76-game schedule, 64 will be contested with a Central Division opponent. As always, beating the teams in the Central is key to being in a playoff slot come April.

That includes a dozen games with the Hogs two closest foes, Chicago and Milwaukee. Rockford has ten with both the Wild and Griffins and face both San Antonio and Texas eight times. As was the case a year ago, the IceHogs see the Moose just four times.

The season kicks off in Cleveland, where the piglets are in action Friday and Saturday. Six of Rockford’s first eight games are against non-divisional opponents…then the Hogs settle in for three months and 40 Central matchups.

Rockford has a six-game road trip November 9-20 and a couple of four-game jaunts in the second half of the season. Their longest home stretch is a six-game stand in February. Starting in late March, the Hogs are at the BMO for five straight.

Unlike 2017-18, when Rockford played a home-heavy schedule in the first few months and were frequently out of town the second half, this year sees a more balanced slate. Of the 35 games in the 2018 part of the schedule, the IceHogs play at the BMO 16 times. Starting January 1, 22 of Rockford’s last 41 games are at the big orange box.

 

Puppy Power…And Other Promotions

Last season, the IceHogs attendance was down to 3915 a night at the BMO, the lowest it’s been since Rockford’s inaugural AHL season in 2007-08. This, despite a exciting brand of hockey and a deep playoff run. It should be said that the crowds were much healthier in the playoffs, eclipsing Hogs postseason attendance records.

Hopefully the trend will reflect the previous season’s success. The Hogs are working hard to get butts in the seats…even puppy butts.

Rockford held Pucks and Paws Night on November 10 last season. The Hogs lost 6-0 to San Antonio, but enough dog lovers had their pets in tow to merit the IceHogs opening the BMO Harris Bank Center to your fur babies for all seven Wednesday home games. And your dog’s ticket is only two bucks!

The Hogs will also have their share of youth jersey, hat, shirt and blanket giveaways throughout the schedule, along with annual events like the Teddy Bear Toss (December 1) and the Pink In The Rink Night. If watching tomorrow’s Blackhawks playing fast-paced hockey isn’t enough for you, maybe some swag will get you heading to the BMO.

 

How Will The Piglets Fare In 2018-19?

Before the Hawks organization sent veteran reinforcements in February, Rockford was a young, exciting team that was fun to watch but was probably going to finish a spot or two out of the playoff picture. Not a one of the veteran catalysts remains from the club that reached the Western Conference Final.

Where does that leave this season’s group? Well, it would be foolish to think that the roster will undergo its share of turnover over 76 games.

Players are going to slide in and out of town at various points in the campaign. A lot of skaters earned looks in Chicago last season and that figures to continue with a lot of youth in the Hawks lineup.

As constructed, a lot of the load will have to be shouldered by returning players like Highmore, Sikura and Louis. Broadhurst and Schroeder getting off to hot starts and being steady, point-producing vets would be more than welcome.

Ultimately, it could come down to how Rockford grows up on the defensive side of the puck that dictates team success. Last spring’s playoff lessons could pay dividends with what is still a very young team. Will it be enough to land the Hogs in the postseason? However Rockford answers that question, the action at the BMO should be worth checking out.

I’m looking forward of another year of covering the IceHogs; follow me @JonFromi on twitter for news and commentary on all things Rockford throughout the 2018-19 season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything Else

Well Pilgrim, Not Until You Eat The Peanuts Outta My…- FFUD’s Player Reviews: Anthony Duclair and Dylan Sikura or I Want You To Show Me

By Adam Hess 1957 0

Anthony Duclair’s career thus far has a slight “Over Promise, Under Deliver” to it. He was considered a pretty good prospect before got to the NHL, one with high offensive upside because of his speed and shot. And while he does still flash that speed and shot occasionally, he’s only scored 37 goals in 213 NHL games thus far, and 2o of those goals game in 2015-16. Let’s take a look at his most recent campaign.

Anthony Duclair

Total – 56 games, 11 goals, 12 assists, 23 points, -5, 16 PIM

With Hawks – 23 games, 2 goals, 6 assists, 8 points, Even, 6 PIM

50.51 CF%, 1.99 CF% rel, 45.97 xGF%, 0.42 xGF% rel, 53.12 ZSR

Duclair wasn’t exactly over-the-top impressive this season, in general nor when he came to Chicago in exchange for drunk trespasser Richard Panik, but he was certainly not bad. His speed is evident the moment you lay eyes on him on the ice, and he puts it to work well at both ends of the ice. He’s got a decent frame for being for 5’11”, 191 lbs, so he’s able to cause some issues with that speed and his body in transition offensively, as well as defensively on the forecheck and backcheck. One of the podcast guys mentioned a while back that he has some Hossa-esque qualities to his defensive style, and at times that 91 on his jersey might make you think it’s Hossa’s 81.

While Duclair hasn’t exactly lit up score sheets so far in his NHL career, it doesn’t take too much investigating to fine out why – he doesn’t shoot enough. In his 56 appearances last year, Duclair only got 97 shots on goal total. He shot 11.3% for the season, not far off his career mark of 12.5%, which is a more than acceptable conversion rate. But it still doesn’t tell the whole story, as that number is buoyed a bit by his 19% rate in 2015-16, his only full season so far and also the one in which he accounted for more than half of his career goals. He followed that up with a tough 2016-17 in which he scored just 5 goals on 6.6% shooting. And even this past year, he shot 13.2% in his 33 games in the desert and just 6.9% (nice) in his 23 games with the Hawks. All of that suggests that we still don’t know what kind of shooter Duclair is, but the only way to really figure that out is going to be him getting more pucks to the net.

Given the positive qualities he possesses, and the fact that he is still just 22 years old, I still think it’s reasonable to believe there is some high-ceiling upside left for Duclair to tap into, but with each passing day the likelihood of him reaching that ceiling shrinks. If he can somehow have a breakout year next year, you might have a 55-point player on your hands. But that’s if you wanna be really optimistic about his climbing the ladder to that ceiling. More likely, you have a 35-45 point third liner on your hands who can contribute defensively, which is perfectly fine.

Dylan Sikura

College – 35 games, 22 goals, 32 assists, 54 points, +18, 22 PIM

NHL – 5 games, 0 goals, 3 assists, 3 points, +2, 0 PIM

NHL – 42.34 CF%, -4.81 CF% rel, 49.32 xGF%, 7.07 xGF% rel, 64.29 ZSR

Just about any NHL production you get from Dylan Sikura is a net positive, because it’s extremely rare that 6th round draft picks become NHL players. Sikura developed into one of the best college hockey players over the past few years, and he certainly got the Hawks brass excited about him, enough so that they signed his brother to an NHL deal to butter him up and make sure he signed at the conclusion of his college season. We call that the reverse Hayes.

Sikura looked fine when he got to the NHL, I guess. I am not sure how much you can read into five appearances in a lost season on a team made up of a lot of patchwork. His offensive ability was evident in college, and he flashed some of hit when got to Chicago, so we know it’s there. The question is whether or not that will come to mean anything, because we have seen plenty of good college performers become nothing NHL players in the past. I think Sikura can stick, but he probably projects similarly to Duclair – if it all clicks, you maybe have a second liner who will give you 50 points or more, but more than likely you’re looking at a third liner who can create some mismatches and get you 40ish points a year. Next year will be the true barometer for him.

Everything Else

Well Pilgrim, Not Until You Eat The Peanuts Outta My… – FFUD’s ’17-’18 Player Reviews – Victor Ejdsell or I Am Not A Gun

By John Pullega 1988 0

In running himself out of town by means of his performance and (allegedly) his mouth, Ryan Hartman turned into a late first-round pick and the towering Victor Ejdsell. Ejdsell impressed in his NHL debut, lining up between Saad and Kane to the tune of a 51+ CF% and three shots on goal. Then he sort of disappeared in his last five, primarily between DeBrincat and Sikura. Let’s see what we can pick out in a mere six games from our newest Éric Dazé–sized center.

Victor Ejdsell

6 GP, 0 Goals, 1 Assist, 1 Point, -1, 0 PIM

43.3 CF% (Evens), -2.7 CF% Rel (Evens), 37.88 SCF% (5v5), 35.96 xGF% (5v5), -8.66 xGF% Rel (5v5)

 60% oZ Start (Evens)

What We Said: Ejdsell comes with plus-hands . . . The big concern is whether or not he can skate enough to make any of it matter . . . The Hawks were after Ejdsell when he chose the Predators, and generally the European players they’ve been hot on tend to work out at least ok . . .

What We Got: Overall, we got a small feel for what Ejdsell might be able to provide in a sheltered role. His first two games were his best, as he managed four shots and his lone assist. After that, he disappeared completely for his next three, losing 66% of his faceoffs or more, and managing zero shots on goal. He took three shots in the very last game, then got sent down to Rockford for their playoff run.

Perhaps the most encouraging thing about Ejdsell’s cup of coffee was that he didn’t spend too much time playing the role of Annette Frontpresence. He’s got soft hands and good vision according to most scouting reports, and in his debut, he spent much more time in the high slot than in front of the goaltender. That’s a good thing, because by all accounts, Ejdsell’s play style is much smaller and more skilled than his frame suggests. There’s still plenty of time for Quenneville et al. to fuck that up and neuter him by cementing him in the crease because he happens to be large, but in his mini-audition, they seemed willing to let Ejdsell be Ejdsell and not Artem Anisimov.

There isn’t a ton more we can glean from his six games in terms of performance. While all of his advanced stats are downright awful, it’s over six mostly meaningless games, during which he played most of his time with DeBrincat and Sikura. More encouraging is how he’s playing in Rockford. He’s got two goals and two assists in three games, including a triple-overtime, series-sweep-clinching goal against the Wolves. Jon Fromi had some positive things to say about him:

Wasn’t bad in his own end and showed he can finish a scoring play in Game 3 [against the Wolves] . . . I haven’t seen any problems as far as him keeping up with the pace the Hogs like to play. He hasn’t looked out of place at all coming from the larger ice.

Fromi also said that the Ice Hogs are letting him play in transition, as he’s been at the front of some of the rushes. He’s also played a bit on the point during the power play with Dahlstrom, which might be encouraging.

Where We Go From Here: Given the Hawks’s makeup at center—with Toews and Schmaltz in the top two, Tommy Wingels all but guaranteed to come back, Artem Anisimov not yet traded, and our David Kampf in the background—it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of wiggle room for Ejdsell next year. But with his size and the supposed skill he’s got in his hands, there could be a spot for him somewhere in the bottom six—maybe next to Duclair and Sikura—assuming Saad, Kane, DeBrincat, and Vinnie round out the top six, as they should.

Realistically, he’ll find a home in the bottom six, making us wonder whether he’s actually two smaller hockey players underneath a trench coat sneaking into a movie they shouldn’t be at.

But you didn’t come to the Victor Ejdsell review for rational, stats-based analysis, and neither did I.

What you came for is a complete skullfuck of unbelievable and nearly impossible trades involving Ejdsell, and I’m here to give it to you.

Because the Blackhawks are running out of time with this core’s window, they’re going to make two moves to pry it back open, and they involve a ton of risk. But with the core aging and three consecutive disappointing years behind them, it’s time for Bowman to ride the snake.

The first move can come in one of three flavors, each one requiring more GENIOUS BRAIN neurons than the last to comprehend, to fill the big hole in the blue line. The second, of course, is a no-brainer. Everything that follows assumes the cap goes up to at least $80 million and that the Hawks either trade or LTIR Hossa before the draft.

1a. Package both first-round picks, Ejdsell, and Schmaltz for Calgary’s Dougie Hamilton. Throw in Rutta, and Anisimov and his 11 power play goals if you can get him to waive his NMC. According to Kent Wilson over at The Athletic, “The Flames will be looking to recoup some draft picks and find an impact right winger to solidify the attack up front. The team may be tempted to put Hamilton on the auction block to fill one or both of those needs, but that would likely turn out to be a mistake.”

Schmaltz’s 52 points and 21 goals last year might not be the high-level scoring Calgary would need to justify the trade, especially since Giordano–Hamilton is one of the best pairings in the league. Then again, Wilson pointed out that the Flames seemed to have trust issues with Dougie, using him both less than T.J. Brodie on average and rarely in higher-leverage defensive situations (penalty kill, overtime, as the sole defender on the power play). And this is a team that signed Jaromir Jagr as an offensive solution then acted surprised when he stopped giving a shit, and thought signing Michael Stone was a solution for defensive depth, so Flames GM Brad Treliving might be a moron.

2a. Sign John Tavares at $12 million. Our fearless leader, King of All Media, and overall maven already laid it out for you. If that went through, you’d have

DeBrincat–Tavares–Kane

Saad–Toews–Hinostroza

Duclair–Kampf–Sikura

Highmore/Jurco–Anisimov/Wingels–Hayden

Keith–Hamilton

Gustafsson–Murphy

Seabrook–Jokiharju

1b. Package both first-round picks, Ejdsell, Hinostroza, and Schmaltz for Erik Karlsson, and even that might not be enough for what Ottawa would need for the best D-man in the game (Bobby Ryan would probably be involved, making this impossible for the cap). But let’s assume Pierre Dorion is a special kind of moron, and Ryan isn’t involved.

2b. Sign John Tavares at $12 million. That leaves you

DeBrincat–Tavares–Kane

Saad–Toews–Duclair

Jurco–Kampf–Sikura

Highmore–Anisimov–Hayden

Keith–Karlsson

Gustafsson–Murphy

Seabrook–Jokiharju

1c. Package their #8 pick, Artem Anisimov, Victor Ejdsell, and Vinnie Hinostroza for Justin Faulk. The scuttlebutt is that Carolina is losing patience with with Faulk, and given Canes owner Tom Dundon’s questionable ability to properly value and compensate the people who work for him, he might be griftable. Dundon, a man with next to no professional experience in hockey, wants to play Mark Cuban, so maybe you sell him on Anisimov’s VETERAN PRESENCE and 20-goal season as a center, Vinnie’s offensive potential, and Ejdsell’s size and skillset. The problem here is Anisimov’s no-move clause doesn’t turn into a limited no-trade clause until after the draft. Maybe you get him to waive it by selling him on playing with Andrei Svechnikov, I don’t know.

2c. Sign John Tavares at $12 million. That gives you

DeBrincat–Tavares–Kane

Saad–Toews–Duclair

Jurco–Schmaltz–Sikura

Highmore–Kampf–Hayden

Keith–Faulk

Gustafsson–Murphy

Seabrook–Jokiharju

Ejdsell may not be a gun, but maybe he can be one of the bullets that get the Hawks the top-pairing D-man they need, based on his size alone and the coinflip that is NHL GM dipshittery. Though it’s 99.9% certain none of this will happen, especially since DeBrincat would probably need to go for most of these trades to even be plausible, a boy can dream.

Everything Else

Why’d They Hang Them So High? Perhaps In The Hopes It Would Make Them More Dead

By Sam Fels 2260 0

As Hess put it, our nightmare is over. The Hawks season has come to an end, and now they get the maximum amount of time to pick up the pieces, dust for prints, perform the tests, and try and diagnose and then prescribe. They certainly can’t complain the schedule will be too crunched to figure out what “The Plan” (it keeps coming up again) is going to be.

What will they find?

-As everyone has said though are hesitant to pin everything on, Corey Crawford going out was reasons 1-6 that this team did a face plant in front of everyone at the party including the girl they liked (this is no way ever happened to me in high school I assure you. Nope. Never).

We’ve said it a few times and it’s worth repeating. Since Crow went down the Hawks have the third-worst even-strength save-percentage, at .910. Crow’s was .935 before he got hurt, Last year it was .930, and he’s averaged .932 at evens the past four seasons. The Hawks gave up 112 goals in that time, and with Crow’s SV% that number would have been 81. Now, clearly it doesn’t work like that because Crow wouldn’t have started every game, but you see the problem.  Let’s throw in the penalty kill problems, where the Hawks had a .857 SV% after Crow got hurt, and when he did he was stopping shots at a .902 rate. Now, that number is astronomically higher than his career mark of .868, but again, it’s clear. Crow was worth anywhere from 10-15 goals, probably more. Or 8-10 points, maybe more.

Now you might say that’s still not enough to get the Hawks near the playoffs, but what we can’t calculate is how many goals for, and games overall, Crow might have changed. Goals change games. If Crow wasn’t letting in the terrible goals that the cavalcade of nincompoops and halfwits the Hawks rolled out there did, opponents couldn’t sit back as often and early as they did this season. Things may have been more open. The Hawks wouldn’t have looked so beaten, so early, so many times with Crow behind them, giving them the confidence he could hold the other team still at least. He gives them a platform to get ahead in games more often, and the assuredness they could stay there. One-goal deficits instead of two. Those things make huge differences in an NHL where basically every team is the same save a few degrees. I think that’s good for a few more points.

While the Hawks and/or their press say there’s no reason to think that Crawford won’t be ready in September, quite frankly I need a reason to think that he will. He’s still been nowhere near the ice lately, and the Hawks never used the words, “shut down.” He just didn’t make the bell. Maybe you’ll get pics of summer workouts. Then again, maybe you won’t. Then what? Me, I’d let him try and give the World Championships a whirl if he’s able and willing, just so he and the team can find out if he can play a stretch of games at all without being sidelined by a passing breeze or aggressive fart.

-But that’s not all. Joining the Hawks in the bottom-10 of SV% at even since Crow went to the land of wind and ghosts are San Jose, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, and Philly, all playoff teams. Only the Devils matched that with a bottom-10 shooting percentage as well (so what the hell are the Devils doing in the playoffs anyway?) So clearly, the Hawks didn’t score enough.

And their chance-creation wasn’t terrible. They were second in attempts per game, first in scoring chances. But middle of the pack in high-danger changes for per game. Some, and I’m terrified this will the front office who do, will conclude the Hawks didn’t create enough high-danger chances because they lack some drooling monolith in front. I remain unconvinced of that. The culprit to me is that the forwards had to do all the creating and converting, because this team got nothing from its defense.

33 goals, 115 points from the Hawks d-men. And that’s all 11 that played. Compare that to the 56 goals and 197 points the Predators got from their eight d-men who played significant time. In practice, the Hawks forwards had to get the puck from their zone to the attacking one, recover it, create all the chances while getting to the net, and finish them. Clearly it proved too much of a task.

This is the biggest thing the Hawks have to solve. They need to find at least one puck-mover, and they probably have to stop considering Duncan Keith one. Gustafsson has done enough to earn another look next year as a bottom-four puck-mover. But they need one more, and I don’t know where that one is. Jokiharju is going to need seasoning. Forsling will have to make quite the leap. They’re ain’t shit on shit in the free agent market. They’ll have to get creative here.

-Because with a mobile and at least threatening blue line, this forward corps has a lot of hope. If Dylan Sikura is all they think he is and Vinnie Hinostroza is what the numbers say he is and EggShell can actually play, there’s a top nine here a lot of teams would envy. Yeah I know. “THEY’RE TOO SMALL AND DEY DON’T HIT AND DEYRE NOT CHICAGO TOUGH.” Bite me. Give me all the speed and skill you can shove into a needle and inject. Play faster. Blitz teams like the Hawks were at times.

A lot of work to be done, but not as much as some might think.

Everything Else

Game #82 – Jets vs. Hawks Preview/Mohair Suit Fitting

By Sam Fels 2119 0

vs.

RECORDS: Jets 51-20-10   Hawks 33-38-10

PUCK DROP: 6:00 p.m.

TV: NBCSCH

SOLID WALLS OF SOUND: JetsNation.ca

We’ve reached the end of the line. Tonight’s matchup between the second-seed Jets and the Chicago Post-Acid Emil Antonowskys will have all the vim and vigor of a midsummer Pony league game between two teams whose best players all went on a family vacation without telling the rest of the parents. There’s hardly been a game more useless than this, but she’s there, you’re there, and everybody’s there, and we’re in turmoil, as puzzled as can be. So let’s cut this vestigial tail one last time before the Hawks gather their clubs.

The Jets have won 10 of their last 11 (that’s allowed??) and are on a four-game winning streak. Their one loss in that time came via the 6-2 drubbing the Hawks doled out just one week ago. You might remember that as the Scott Foster game, one of the last beacons of fun we’ve had this year. With absolutely nothing to play for, being entrenched in the #2 spot and drawing the Wild in the playoffs, it’ll be a small miracle if we see anything resembling the A-team for the Jets. We’ll probably end up seeing Steve Mason—who last posted a 36-save, 90 SV% win over Montreal—or worse, because again, this game is absolutely meaningless to the Jets. The only thing they might do of note is continue giving Trouba his shifts as he shakes the rust off of his brown brain. Then again, this could be a nice little tune-up game for Hellebuyck, so who knows?

As for your Men of Four Feathers, the big story is that this may be will be Patrick Sharp’s final game as a Blackhawk, and perhaps final game full stop. There wasn’t much to expect out of him this year, but we’d all be remiss to forget the contributions he made to this team throughout his career. It won’t be a shock to see him play extra minutes tonight as one last sayonara, similar to last night. Given what an important cog he’s been in his Hawks career, I certainly wouldn’t begrudge the decision, especially since the only guys who came to play yesterday were Sikura and DeBrincat, anyway.

Tonight will also give Alex DeBrincat another chance to tighten his grip on his team lead in goals, which is about all there is to play for at this point. He’s been one consistent bright spot on this blighted potato of a team this year, and if I had my druthers, I’d want to see him, Eggshell, and Sikura as the top line, just for fun. But again, it hardly matters with a game as meaningless as this. After J-F Berube had another J-F Berube game, it’s likely we’ll see Jeff GL Ass out there once more to bolster his Masterton chase, which should be hilarious and fitting given that Keith has decided that he’s done playing for the year and Connor Murphy has been trying his hardest to make us look like big(ger), stupid(er) assholes for believing in him over the last two games.

The nightmare officially ends tonight, and no one will judge you for consciously missing this one. For the first time in, well, ever, we at FFUD leave you with our final Hawks preview during the regular season. It’s a strange feeling I don’t want to feel again next year, so savor the strangeness of it.

Thanks for reading this year, and stay tuned for the playoff coverage we’ll have and the postmortems we’ll do. I’ll never be able to bring myself to jump on the tank wagon, so one last time for the year:

Let’s go Hawks.

Game #82 Preview

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Game #81 – Honey Don’t Stop Tryin’ and You’ll Get What You Deserve – Hawks 1, Blues 4

By John Pullega 1977 0

Box Score

Hockey Stats

Natural Stat Trick

Like a day at the Robert Crown Center, this game leaves us cold, bored, and completely disenfranchised about things that are supposed to be fun. The good news is that none of it mattered, and it’s now almost over. To the bullets.

– This was less a hockey game and more a farewell to one of the most important Blackhawks of this era, Patrick Sharp. He got a nice video montage both before the game and in the third, and was slotted on the top line next to Kane, in hopes that he’d be able to recreate some of the magic of his younger years. While it’s no surprise that nothing really happened, it was a nice gesture from the organization. It hardly matters that Sharp was the worst possession player for the Hawks by far. Given that Colorado lost last night, the outcome of this game was window dressing, so giving Sharp a good sendoff was about as good as it was going to get.

It might be easy to forget just how good Sharp was for the Hawks in his prime, but I’m not going to take that away from whoever does his year-end wrap. All I’ll say is I’ll miss what Sharp once was and am glad to see him retire as a Hawk, which I assume is what he’ll do following tomorrow’s game.

– J-F Berube looked good until he didn’t, which is about par for the course. Crawford can’t come back quickly enough.

– One positive from this game was the chemistry between DeBrincat and Sikura. Sikura fed DeBrincat a few nice opportunities tonight, the best of which coming in the first period. Sikura took advantage of a Carter Hutton turnover behind the net and fed DeBrincat for a high-danger zone shot that Hutton managed to stuff. Then, in the second, DeBrincat returned the favor with a crisp pass through the Royal Road to Sikura, who also got stuffed by Hutton. The only real question is who’s going to center these two, because Ejdsell looks like a sore thumb out there with them. He’s going to need to progress by leaps and bounds if he wants to be the guy for these two.

– Duncan Keith had one of his worst games in recent memory tonight. He had three turnovers by the second period, and never looked comfortable on the ice. Again, this was a meaningless game, but watching Keith struggle as badly as he did is never fun. Like most of us, he’s obviously ready for this year to end.

– Connor Murphy also had a bad game, which makes two stinkers in a row for him. Only Duncan Keith had a worse possession night for Hawks defenseman, and what was worst about Murphy’s night was his regression into balloon hands in his own zone. He’s got a lot of potential as a defensive defenseman I think, but his struggles to exit his own zone are going to need to improve if he wants to stake his claim as the Top 4 guy we all think he can be.

– Outside of the Sharp farewell tour, this game was drudgery. The Hawks had 13 shots about midway through the third, and never looked alive at all out there. They finished with 20 shots, but I’d be hard pressed to describe any more than two. The highlight of the game was the two free chalupas and one cheesy gordita crunch I got in my Taco Bell order, which are currently calling my name from the microwave, the disgusting animal I am.

That’s it for the home games this year. In a game against a desperate rival, the Hawks rolled over, which doesn’t really deserve anything more than a shoulder shrug at this point. The last one’s tomorrow, and you should join Adam Hess for that one.

It’s been a pleasure writing for you all about this Hawks this year, despite the performances on the ice. We’ll be back at it for the playoffs and postmortems soon enough.

Beer du Jour: Dogfish Head Oak-Aged Siracua Nera.

Line of the Night: I didn’t catch the actual quote, but Brian Campbell suggested that the Hawks need a “character guy” like Andrew Shaw or Danny Carcillo during one of the intermissions. The perfect summary of this brat-fart season.

Everything Else

Game #79 – Hawks vs Avalanche Preview, Bandcamp Record Purchase – Pineapple Express

By Matt McClure 1813 0

 at 

Game Time: 8:00PM CDT
TV/Radio: NBC Sports Chicago, WGN-AM 720
Edible Arrangements: Mile High Hockey

At the beginning of the season, most observers would have marked this game as being between one team who is scrapping to maintain a wildcard spot and another who is getting a look at some kids in a season that has been in the shitter since the end of January due to shoddy goaltending, and they would still be correct. Cue Twlight Zone music (or is Black Mirror the more appropriate reference?) .

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Game #78 Once in a While You Can Get Shown the Light – Hawks 6, Jets 2

By Rose Rankin 2294 0

Box Score

Natural Stat Trick

Corsica

It felt a little like an Irish wake tonight. Yes the season is effectively over, yes the run of playoff appearances is dead (sky point), yet the mood was celebratory, and rightfully so. Nights like tonight are why we watch sports, because when and where else does this much crazy shit happen? We’ll get to the debuts by the kids and the goalie drama a little later, but the main story tonight was that Brent Seabrook hit 1,000 games. To the bullets:

–We give Seabrook a lot of shit around here, but neither his contract nor the natural aging process from which he’s suffering will diminish any of the contributions he’s made. Seabrook is only the fifth player in franchise history to reach 1,000 games, and it was both extremely fun and extremely nostalgic to watch the pregame ceremony and video montage. On the ice there wasn’t much to write home about tonight (one shot, 47 CF%). But it was fun to be reminded of all the positive Seabrook memories, and overlook the problematic present.

–Then later in the first period they ran another video montage, this one for Eddie Olczyk, celebrating him beating colon cancer and getting a clean bill of health recently. The fans gave him a standing ovation, and as this is a subject close to my heart, I was happy to see everyone cheering something positive, which is all too rare these days both in terms of the Hawks and just the world in general.

–And then there were the kids! Dylan Sikura made a very good first impression tonight, with four shots total, three of which came in the first period alone. He had an assist on Gustafsson’s goal for his first NHL point, and then followed it up with another in the third on Top Cat’s goal. The Sikura-Eggshell-Top Cat line was just plain fun to watch, even if they did make me nervous when they were in the defensive zone. (They obviously made Q nervous too because they took 75% of their starts in the offensive zone, but that’s cool.) I prefer my hockey with speed and skill, so despite their inexperience (not counting Top Cat in that) and two of the three of them being of small stature (counting Top Cat in that), I am legitimately excited about what these guys will achieve.

–The saga of the Hawks goaltenders continued. Seriously, we’ve reached Spinal Tap drummer status here, with Anton Forsberg somehow getting hurt in warm-ups or some pre-game shenanigans, of course just as he was having a couple good games and making a serious case for himself as the backup for next year (please backing up Crawford please backing up Crawford I ASK FOR SO LITTLE). He must have trashed a gypsy’s magical tent and gotten cursed or something, because Forsberg is truly the most unlucky man in the NHL.

In his place was Collin “One Too Many Ls” Delia, who WAS the second feel-good goalie story this year until the third period. He was stinking it up in the ECHL for most of the season, turned it around, got brought to Rockford recently, and now found himself here after Berube fucked himself out of the job. Delia looked better than the previous fuzzy-moments-story in goal, the Jeff Gl-ASS Experience. Despite giving up a goal to Bryan Little on a tough redirect, and one to Scheifele (which , come on, can you really hold that against the guy?), Delia looked relatively confident in the crease, made some big stops on the likes of Blake Wheeler and Kyle Conner, and had 25 saves until HE TOO got hurt, and had to be replaced by literally some dude off the street. I know it sounds like hyperbole, but it really isn’t—it was a guy named Scott Foster who’s 36 years old and playing in a men’s league at Johnny’s Ice House. You can’t even make this shit up. And yet Foster was perfect, and managed to make a few saves including on Patrik fucking Laine late in the third. It will certainly make for a good story that this guy can tell his grandkids one day.

In all seriousness, the Hawks really need someone to make it through a game for these last few coming up, but at this point, fuck it. They should just hit up the Salt Creek Sports Center in Arlington Heights and grab some roller hockey men’s league goalie, I know a few I can recommend.

–Tomas Jurco had two goals, who knew?

–Now, in all honesty the Jets weren’t REALLY trying all that hard, and you can’t blame them. So that sort of skews the results, making the score look more impressive than it really was. But this was genuinely a wild, feel-good, party atmosphere game. I really hope Delia is OK just because that sucks for him, and same for Forsberg. However it was one of those games where I’m just glad I saw it, because if someone just told me about it I wouldn’t have believed it. Despite everything—all the disappointment, missing the playoffs, all of it—this is exactly why we love this sport, it’s exactly why we keep watching even when it “doesn’t matter.” If you didn’t see it, I just hope this does it some justice.

Beer du Jour: 312 by Goose Island

Line of the Night: “Dustin Byfuglien woulda said ‘No, we’re going out there!'” —Foley ejaculating about how classy the Jets were for being on the bench for the Seabrook ceremony.

 

Everything Else

Game #78 – Jets vs. Hawks Preview/Foot Exam: All The Kids Are Right

By Sam Fels 1781 0

 vs. 

RECORDS: Jets 47-19-10   Hawks 31-36-10

PUCK DROP: 7:30

TV: NBCSN Chicago

STOP SAYING THE YEG: JetsNation.ca

Well now it’s really New Toy Day for the Hawks.

They will spend the next two games unveiling all sorts of things, getting a look at some kids who could be something and some who could just be on a flier (not a Flyera). Tonight sees Dylan Sikura make his Hawks debut, on a line with Alex DeBrincat, and if you already have images of them doing this for a decade together, I won’t stop you. They’ll be centered by EggShell, so hey, all the kids are here. and all right. Maybe.

Tomorrow night will see Blake Hillman, or Hill Blakeman, not sure which, and Collin Delia with his superfluous L make their debuts in Colorado. If you were a fan of the Cubs from 2012-2014 or the White Sox now, you know this feeling. There are some kids who come up late in the season that are worth getting excited about. And then there are some that they’re just throwing against the wall (strangely, it was Mike Olt for both teams). That’s what those two feel like, but hey, you never know.

The presence of Delia might just be what lit a fire under Anton Forsberg, if you consider two competent starts in a row “a fire.” It’s barely a kindling, but in this season it just might count. Then again, Delia wasn’t really that good in Rockford, and played in the ECHL this year so basically you can conclude he kinda sucks. We’ll get to this tomorrow, though. Forsberg is probably only going to get three more starts, with the two back-to-backs remaining, at most four. He has to basically crush all of them if he’s going to compete for the backup job next year. And even that probably isn’t enough, though he’ll get a chance in training camp regardless. It’s not as if no one has anything to play for.

As for Sikura, the talent really isn’t the question. The kid has serious hands and serious sense. The question is can he get into areas and stay there with his diminutive size, the way Top Cat does. Another question is how much of a product playing with the best center in college hockey he is. Most think he is just a touch below the level of Adam Gaudette, so we’ll see. The Hawks wanted Sikura earlier than this season, and generally the guys they’ve picked out of college early have been effective (Schmaltz, Hinostroza, Leddy to name a few). You’re allowed to have high hopes on this one.

As for the rest of it, it’s kind of the same. Gustafsson and Murphy get a chance to prove they can be a top four pairing next season (only one of them can). Brent Seabrook can look forward to having Blake Wheeler target him on every single zone entry as is his way. That’s about it.

The Jets don’t have much more to play for. They’re entrenched in second. They’re almost certainly getting the Wild in the first round, and they really should pound the shit out of them when they get there. They’re staring at a second round bloodfest with the Predators, which is going to be an awesome time even if you want both teams to lose. They’re getting healthy, as Scheifele has returned to center the top line, making for perhaps the scariest top nine in the NHL. Jacob Trouba and Toby Enstrom should be ready to go for the playoffs. Trouba has played a couple games though looks like he might miss out tonight. They’ll need them both, as that’s their weak spot, the blue line.

Connor Hellebuyck has won his last five starts and hasn’t lost one in regulation since March 8th. He’s playing as well as can be, and if he keeps the streak going into April then this team can go as far as it wants. Which is weird to say about the Jets, but the world doesn’t have to make sense.

Only five more to go.

Game #78 Preview

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Spotlight

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