Everything Else

Friday Free-For-All

By 1862 0

With the Free Agency Faucet now slowing down to an annoyingly audible drip, there’s not a lot to kick around other than the looming trade the Hawks will need to make to get under the salary cap.

For the uninitiated, the Hawks are still approximately $2.2 million dollars over the NHL’s salary cap of $69 million. There have been numerous scenarios fleshed out both here and elsewhere for just how the Hawks can do that. And looming as always is annual self-suck known as the Blackhawks Fan Convention, where John McDonough and Jay Blunk are loathe to trot out players who will not be here come October.

Everything Else

Sell The Kids For Food

By 1616 0

Time for our semi-regular look at the Hawks prospects that are not in Rockford.

As always, we start in Chestnut Hill where Kevin Hayes is the third-leading scorer in all of the NCAA. He’s at 22-29-51 in just 33 games for an Eagles side that is basically running away with Hockey East and will be a prohibitive favorite when the tournament rolls around in April. Now, there’s one huge caveat here in that Hayes skates on a line with college hockey’s leading scorer Johnny Gaudreau (it’s going to be fucking hilarious when Brian Burke trades Gaudreau for a third-line winger because he thinks Gaudreau “is too small to have sandpaper.”). So how much Hayes’s numbers are a by-product of his center and how much he’s responsible for is a debate one could have all day. Still, it’s pretty encouraging. Anyway, Captain Stairwell managed just an assist this past weekend in a double-header with UMass-Lowell. This was after he managed two goals in the Beanpot a couple weeks back.

Everything Else

Hey Kids, Nobody Tells You What To Do

By Sam Fels 1418 0

While everyone else makes futile attempts to figure out why the Hawks suck when the games go over 60 minutes (um, luck?), let’s pass over that debate and check in on how the kids outside the organization at the moment are doing.

Unlike last year, where McNeill and Danault were some of the Hawks most exciting prospects plying their trade in the Canadian hinterlands, this year sees the more intriguing ones roaming the the quads and woods of American college campuses (in one’s case, sometimes in a garbage bag).

We’ll start out east in Chestnut Hill, MA, where Kevin Hayes has put up 35 points in just 22 games with Boston College. This past weekend, Hayes went a little bonkers with two goals and three assists in two games versus Providence and Brown. Hayes does have the sweetheart spot in the BC lineup, as he has been playing with one of the most dynamic players in the NCAA in Johnny Gudreau. But hey, you gotta make something of it when it’s given to you and Hayes has done that. While I only got brief glimpses of Hayes last year, I’ve always thought he was the better pro prospect than his brother Jimmy, as he’s a slightly smoother skater and has better hands. Hayes the Younger won’t be a Hawk next year or anything but should get a good look in Rockford.

His teammate Chris Calnan also scored this weekend, and has seven points on the year playing in the BC bottom six.

Everything Else

Hey Kids, Where Are You?

By Sam Fels 1273 0

Organizational round-up Wednesday is what it’s become. Let’s get to it, starting in the juniors up in the hinterlands.

In the Q, Dillon Fournier was a -1 in two games for Rouyn-Noranda. He was also named to the QMJHL team for the Subway Series against Team Russia. For those who don’t know, the Subway Series is six games, two games each from an All-star team of each junior league, against Team Russia. It’s a sort of precursor for Canada to see who will compete for the World Junior roster. From what I’ve seen Fournier won’t be making Team Canada, but I suppose you never know. On the year Fournier is 7-10-17 and +16 in 22 games.

Also in the Q at Victoriaville, Brandon Whitney went 1-1 in two stars, but only gave up four goals total (two in each) on 73 shots. The numbers on the year are still unsightly, at 3.62 GAA and .896 SV%. But the poor kid is seeing over 40 shots per game, so he may be puck-shocked soon.

Everything Else

Sell The Kids For Food

By Sam Fels 1245 0

I haven’t done this yet this year, so let’s change that by taking a look deeper into the system and see how some of the Hawks’ kids are doing.

The Hawks only have four players in juniors this year. They are Travis Brown of Moose Jaw in the WHL, Dillon Fournier with Rouyn-Noranda in the Q, and this year’s first round pick Ryan Hartman at Plymouth in the OHL for skaters, and goalie Brandon Whitney at Victoriaville in the Q.