Let the Era of the Dragon commence: Youtube
The anointed hype sponge: CSN
Migratory birds: Chicago Tribune
Toronto Trolls: Sportsnet
vs 
Game Time: 7:00PM
TV/Radio: CSN, WGN-AM 720
Raise Up: Canes Country
We now interrupt special coverage of Teuvo Day In America to bring you our regularly scheduled preview for tonight’s game between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Chicago Blackhawks.
A couple things to cover today, so let’s get to it.
-The Hawks took back second place last night, as the Avs decided to give Semyon Varlamov a week off and threw J.S. Giguere and Reto Berra out there with a straight face. Which completely exposed just how bad their blue line is as both the Habs and Jets lit them up.
As we know, the Hawks won’t get the tie-breaker due to significantly less regulation wins than the Avs. But the schedule ahead for Colorado is not exactly a popsicle (first of all, it’s Fudge-cical).
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.
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.
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.
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.
Box Score
Event Summary
Extra Skater
For the fourth time in a row, the Blackhawks have dropped a game that goes all the way to a shootout. If that really upsets you, sorry. I still just can’t get too worked up about it. The only detriment to this game is that it ruins an otherwise solid performance from Crawford. In the second game of his return to the team, Crow put up a 40 save performance but wasn’t able to stop either shooter in the skills competition. So it goes on this frigid night.
Box Score
Event Summary
Extra Skater
For the fourth time in a row, the Blackhawks have dropped a game that goes all the way to a shootout. If that really upsets you, sorry. I still just can’t get too worked up about it. The only detriment to this game is that it ruins an otherwise solid performance from Crawford. In the second game of his return to the team, Crow put up a 40 save performance but wasn’t able to stop either shooter in the skills competition. So it goes on this frigid night.
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.
