On the next "Bromance"
The first really eventful week came to a close Sunday, and the Hawks came out of it 1-2 and quite a bit lighter. They made several roster moves and split a Friday/Saturday home and home series with the Ivan Dragos to our Rocky, the Dead Wings.
-On Friday, the Hawks assigned, Forward David Gilbert to the Acadie-Bathurst Titans (QMJHL). No huge surprise, so I'm not going to spend much time on it, but He looked good in the rookie tournament, and was pretty much invisible in the game Wednesday.
-Friday's game against the Wings was a joke. Bolland, Kopecky, Brouwer, and Campbell were the only real noteworthy players in the lineup. Poor Corey Crawford, really didn't have much support. Most of the goals were poorly covered rebounds, and sketchy defense. Blah...blah, blah, blah.
-Saturday, the Hawks announced a flurry of roster cuts. Forwards Brandon Bollig, Rob Klinkhammer and Brandon Pirri, and defensemen Jonathan Carlsson, Simon Danis-Pepin, Ryan Stanton and Ivan Vishnevskiy were sent to Rockford. They also released forwards Rastislav Pavlikovsky and Nick Tarnasky, and defenseman Wade Brookbank. None of these moves surprise me, and the only one that was remotely noticeable was Pirri. He had a few nice plays, but he clearly needs some seasoning in Rockford.
Mr. Jack Skille
-Saturday night, the bottom half of the home and home series was back at the UC. Obviously, Quenneville rested up the big boys for the home preseason debut, and the Wings did the opposite. I really didn't see a lot of the game, but some things caught my eye. Turco's outlet pass to Kane, which set up a goal, was excellent; both from Turco's end and from Kane's. Turco noticed Detoilet changing lines and launched an outlet pass from the crease to the far blue line, where Kane was waiting. Kane was able to smoothly trap the pass and worked it in the zone to Pisani who fed Keith for a perfect one timer. Something, Huet or Niemi couldn't dream of. Jack Skille was actually, wait for it; NOTICEABLE. Now, keep in mind, we're talking about a half ass Wings lineup, but he had a goal, and assist and 4 shots on net. I didn't find myself asking, "Who is that number 20, out there?". I realize big bad John Scott made his debut, but I wasn't able to pay enough attention to the game to recall anything of substance in his play. Hossa quietly had a 2 point night and Fernando Pisani had a 2 assist night. Let's not all start planning the June Stanley Cup parade, but the team looks well, with most of the regulars playing. Turco played the whole game and looked pretty good. A few people have mentioned how small he looks, and I agree. He's probably closer to 5'9" than 5'11", but I don't care. He's aggressive, and athletic. Those two things, alone, will stick in the back of opposing players minds. Past goalies almost looked frightened by the thought of playing the puck, much less, turning it around and unleashing a 75' pass on the tape of a teammate. He may have his soft moments, but plays like that one make me smile and give me the "warm fuzzies", in the cockles of my heart. Well played, Sir!
-Sunday the Hawks assigned forward Chris DiDomenico and defenseman Shawn Lalonde to Rockford. Again, no big surprise. Lalonde is a player the Hawks are very high on, but needs a little AHL flavor added to his game. Connelly and Leddy have been much more consistent. The person that is SHOCKINGLY still on the roster, is Jassen Cullimore. There is no way that guy makes the this team. He has the worst qualities of Matt Walker and Brent Sopel, all rolled into one big 37 year old sloth. My prediction is that Leddy and Cullimore get moved to Rockford. Connolly is a 50/50 bet, but I just don't see him sticking at only 5'10" (probably really 5'8") 167lbs. that would leave Keith, Seabrook, Campbell, Hjalmarsson, Boynton, Hendry, and Scott. If there are any injuries or trades, Connelly or Leddy are the guys that are coming up. With Connelly making almost half what Leddy is, you can bet that Connelly will be the first guy brought up, if needed.
-Lastly, the phenom that is Jeremy Morin just keeps chugging along. Everybody loves him, and he's exciting. In fact, he's exciting enough to earn that #27 on his back that another legendary Jeremy once wore, but I still don't see him sticking right away. He's only 19, and right out of the juniors. Facing top 6 defensemen in the NHL every night will be a lot different than the hacks he's seen in the preseason. Don't get me wrong, I think he's going to be a star for this team in the very near future, but where does he play? 3rd or 4th line? That's a complete waste of his talent and skillset. He's a top 6 player, and needs powerplay time. Send him to Rockford, let him absolutely dominate the AHL competition, build his confidence, and work him in as needed. Rushing him up to waste away at the bottom of the lineup is just foolish. It's very nice to have the problem of too much talent. I still stand by my prediction that Makarov wins a spot over Morin, even though I think Morin is going to be a better player.