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Game #58 – Devils vs. Hawks: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels February 14, 2019 1312 0

Notes: The Devils are extremely beat up. Hall has missed 20 games and hasn’t even begun skating again. Miles Wood is out as well, along with Sami Vatanen and Stefan Noesen. So this wasn’t a good team before, and now it’s had to dip hard into its AHL team. This is how you tank, folks…this is the first of a back-to-back, they’re in Minny tomorrow, so Schneider may go instead of Kinkaid…Palmieri only has two goals in his last 11, which probably necessitated the swap of Zajac and Hischier…Hall has missed over 20 games and is still the third-leading scorer on this team, which tells you just about everything…

Notes: Kunitz plays his 1,000th game tonight…Koekkoek rotates in for Forsling, and we’d honestly be happy if Forsling never rotates back in. He sucks out loud and was awful against Boston…speaking of awful against Boston, Brent Seabrook was truly special on that night as well…we’re intrigued by the Sikura-Saad combination…Sikura managed a 55% share on Tuesday when the rest of the team was getting buried…Gustafsson, along with Forsling, managed a 22%. That’s monumental…

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Game #57 – Hawks vs. Bruins: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels February 12, 2019 1381 0

Notes: Sikura was promoted yesterday, and he’ll take Kunitz’s spot as they want Kunitz to play his 1,000th game at home, for some reason. Because he’s such a Hawks legend?…The rotation on the blue line should continue with Koekkoek slotting out for Forsling, but we thought that would happen last time too so who knows…Perlini should be on notice with Sikura up, as Sikura looked more than all right last time he was in the lineup…Delia gets his turn, as the Hawks seem intent on just splitting starts…

Notes: We don’t know what’s going on with the Bruins’ fourth line. They didn’t skate this morning. Pastrnak is out for three weeks with a thumb injury. Backes was hurt as well, but might have to be rushed back into the lineup. We don’t know what is going on with the fourth line…John Moore might make way for Grzelcyk…Rask hasn’t lost in regulation since December 23rd…Pastrnak has slotted down to give Krejci any winger who can maintain oxygen intake…Marchand has four points in his last two games, though a couple are in overtime…Krug has seven points in his last seven games…

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Game #56 – Red Wings vs. Hawks: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels February 10, 2019 1414 0

Notes: Jimmy Howard started yesterday in Buffalo, so it’ll be Bernier today. He shut out the Sens the last time he started, but he had given up 16 goals in his last four starts before that…Larkin has five points in his last four…Kronwall is a free agent at season’s end but has said he does not want to go anywhere, so the Red Wings can’t cash in on him…Athanasiou doesn’t have a goal since January 6th…what the fuck kind of doofus spells his name “Cristoffer?”

Notes: Only changes should see Dalhstrom come back in for Koekkoek, who was not good against Vancouver…After his late-game penalty Perlini would normally be scratched but the Hawks aren’t carrying an extra forward…Ward’s turn in the net if they’re splitting starts…Saad continues to kick in skulls, and he did it without Kampf on Thursday. Was one of the few Hawks above water in possession…Caggiula had five shots at even-strength against Vancouver…

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Game #55 – Canucks vs. Hawks: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels February 7, 2019 1381 0

Notes: Coach Cool Youth Pastor should be targeting the bottom six of the Canucks, because it SUCKS. With last change, get your top lines out against them as much as you can, and see if Kruger and Saad can’t deal with Horvat or Pettersson. It’s worth a shot…Pettersson hasn’t stopped, with 23 points in his last 18 games…Roussel has four points in his last three games, and makes a habit of scoring against the Hawks…with Demko hurt Markstrom is going to take just about every start…Stetcher has been sneaky good metrically, hopefully the Canucks underrate and lose him somehow…

Notes: Kampf’s injury is bigger than you might think. He and Saad had dominated possession with unfriendly zone starts, and it’s a real question that Kruger can hold up his end of the bargain, though Edmonton was a good start…Forsling comes back in for Dahlstrom, which makes you wonder who CCYP is going to throw at Pettersson, and pray to god it’s not Keith and Seabrook…Delia and Ward are apparently just going to swap starts, which probably isn’t the worst way to bleed Delia into the league but you know at some point Ward is going to go Cam Ward…Saad has seven points in his last seven…

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Game #54 – Hawks vs. Oilers: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels February 5, 2019 1356 0

Notes: We keep telling you about Kampf and Saad, and they keep crushing it…any chances would see Kunitz slot in for Perlini but that would be pointless…Seabrook and Keith got clocked against the Wild, and Hitchcock isn’t so dinosaur that he won’t recognize what they are and send McDavid at them every chance, so that’ll be fun…Gustafsson and Forsling were actually effective together as a third-pairing, which is what they are…we’re hoping it’s Delia but they could go back to Ward, morning skate was after publish time…

Notes: You can complain about the Hawks wingers, and you should, but good god look at this trash! That’s what plays with McDavid? He should have demanded a trade like four months ago!…Draisaitl has seven points in his last four games…McDavid has 41 points in his last 26 games, only slightly behind the pace Kane has been putting up…Koskinen probably goes tonight as Talbot has been horrible his last couple appearances and Koskinen at least hasn’t turned into putty, and the Oilers will settle for that…they’re already bitching about Manning, which is just delicious…

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Game #53 – Hawks vs. Wild: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels February 2, 2019 1340 0

Notes: Having played last night this is our best guess. We know Delia will start. Perlini could slot in for Kunitz or Hayden, and Koekkoek could come in for Dahlstrom or Forsling, but after Forsling notched a couple assists that’s unlikely…Kane now has 46 points in his last 26 games…Saad has five goals in his last five games…Once again that Saad-Kampf combo ran over whatever was in front of it, they may have stumbled on something here…

Notes: The Neiderreiter trade made no sense. Parise and Coyle had dovetailed nicely, and Coyle finally seemed to be settling at center. Now he’s back to a wing and Parise and Rask have combined for exactly dick…Staal has seven points in his last four games…Coyle at least has put up four points in his last three games, but they may have broken this toy…Dubnyk started last night in Dallas so clearly they thought that was the harder game, and the Hawks catch a break with Stalock…

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Game #52 – Hawks vs. Sabres: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels February 1, 2019 1205 0

Notes: Ward gets the start tonight, with Delia getting the start tomorrow in Minny. You could argue that the Minny game is the more important, as in the Hawks’ mind the Wild are a team they’re trying to catch. Didn’t say it made much sense…Forsling was activated but wouldn’t appear he would play tonight. You’ll get your Forsling fix soon enough, whether you like it or not…Kampf and Saad have been a great combo when used, and we’d like to see more of it…Dahlstrom has been demoted, we think, but what Murphy is going to do with Koekkoek we have no idea…

Notes: Ullmark has been better of late than Hutton but the latter gets the start…Beaulieu might be a scratch for Pilut with Scandella…Eichel only has one goal in his last nine…Skinner only has one goal in his last five…Okposo can’t throw a grape in the ocean right now…this is one line but it’s a hard line to keep down…

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Game #51 – Islanders vs. Hawks: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels January 22, 2019 1506 0

Notes: Lehner has given up four goals in his last four appearances…Barzal only has one goal since the last time these two met, when he had a brace…Cizikas has been the Eastern version of Marcus Kruger for years, always on a fourth-line but always tasked with taking the hardest assignments. Trotz hasn’t wavered from that…Their Toews has really juiced the third-pairing, and given them a puck-mover on all three pairings…Filppula has been extremely annoying to the Hawks in his entire career, and now that he’s under Trotz he’s Super Annoying…

Notes: After what was his first truly rough outing, it makes sense to get Delia an early start on the bye and break and give Ward the start. Not that you’re ever happy to see Ward in net, but this one makes sense…they’re giving you the hard-press on Caggiula in the top six, even though he was just fine on Sunday…the Saad-Kampf-Kruger line was used as a straight checking unit against Backstrom and Ovechkin and it held its own even if the possession numbers were a little ugly…curious to see if DeBrincat can be the main creator on a line, which is what he’ll be tasked with joining Strome and Kahun…

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Game #50 – Capitals vs. Hawks: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels January 20, 2019 1459 0

Notes: Ovie has four goals in his last 15 games…it’s been a rough go for Niskanen and Orlov, who take the toughest assignments but aren’t doing nearly as well with them as they did last year. Those Cup runs sure do take a bite, don’t they?…Kuznetsov has one goal since December 2nd….Oshie has three goals in his last 11. Starting to see how the goddamn Islanders caught them…Wilson is shooting over 21%, in case you made the mistake of thinking he turned into a real player or something. Correction is coming for him…

Notes: Stop trying to make Caggiula happen. It’s not gonna happen…Looks from practice yesterday that Jokiharju will take a seat. He had a rough one in New York, but pairing him with Seabrook on his off-side certainly wasn’t doing him any favors. If Koekkoek was anything the Lightning sure could have used him on what is a underwhelming blue line behind Hedman…Saad had played well the past two games on the top six, so of course he gets demoted to a checking line for Caligula and Kahun…Perlini looks to be taking a seat too for Kunitz, because the world is fucked…

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