I can admit when a man is much smarter, well spoken, and sarcastic than yours truly, which is why I needed to pass this piece on. It is by Sam Fels of the Committed Indian/Second City Hockey/Madhouse Enforcer, with some footnotes from The Fifth Feather. It's a great read, and all involved deserve to be commended. This is a link to the actual article: Dear Blackhawks Media, so please support them, as well. They work their asses off, between porno and drinking binges.
How's it going, guys? Enjoying the sun of Texas and Arizona? I hope you are, I know some of you could probably use the rays. Anyway, we need to talk. There are just some things we have to discuss.
Before I go any further, you should all go read The Fifth Feather's latest post. As usual, they've stated what we're thinking better than we can. It's hard enough that they're so much better looking than we are, but the gap in intelligence is getting really galling. I know all of you read this, for the most part. I've seen enough evidence to prove that. But you should read them too.
Anyway, the point of all this is that we'd like some answers. While you all swallow the propaganda that the Hawks are hurt and up against the cap, it really isn't that way. We really can't ignore the mismanagement of this team any longer. There really isn't any excuse to skate one man short last night, though that had no baring on the result. The Hawks could have had 25 guys dressed, that kind of effort will always result in a paddling. But you see, this isn't the first time Stan Bowman has ignored the options available to him, such as LTIR or just the regular old IR.
Remember Marian Hossa last year? Missed close to the first two months? Wasn't on LTIR? Could have saved quite the dollar had he been. Instead, you all were so quick to bullhorn the geniusness of Stan as he shuttled Jack Skille and others back and forth between Rockford to save a nickel, a dime, possibly a bus pass. Lapped it up, you did. But it didn't make any sense then. Still doesn't now.
Here we are again. Jordan Hendry will almost certainly never play for the Hawks again. He's out until next season when he's UFA, and probably going elsewhere. And yet there he is, taking up a spot. Why? We don't know, and we can't find out. But you can. Maybe you should?
Had Hendry been moved to LTIR, his salary matches up pretty ok with Ben Smith, who could have been called up for a game or two without exceeding the cap. I know, I did the math. Again, the presence of Ben Smith isn't going to win or lose the Hawks any games. But they wouldn't have to go with 17 skaters. We know Dave Bolland won't be back for a bit, he could just be on IR. You could even do it retroactive to his first game missed, which was against the Caps. So he would only have to miss Sunday, which he's going to anyway, and Wednesday at home against Florida which you really shouldn't need him for -- the Sunrise loss notwithstanding. You could carry more. But the Hawks don't. Why? We'd like to know. And maybe at this point putting Hendry on LTIR doesn't save cap space, but it opens up a roster spot, as would just normal IR. We know they have the space.
Or is it because they're so afraid of anything being tacked to next year's cap? If Stan is such a cap expert, which the Hawks are in such a hurry to express to you and have you spread across your pages and airwaves, he can't find his way around being deprived of a few grand instead of the four mildo he was last summer? That can't be the case.
But we're not done. Why is John Scott here? You've never bothered to find out. Sure, there was a brief mention of "physical presence". But why didn't anyone mention the Hawks won a Cup without that last year? Why was it more important this year?
Why do the Hawks have 50 contracts? Why is Marcus Kruger signed when he's in Sweden when we all knew he would be? Why is Brandon Pirri wasting everyone's time in Rockford and possibly stunting his development irrevocably? If they knew Dylan Olsen was going to flunk out of school, why wasn't he sent to junior? Did the Hawks really think he was ready for the AHL? Why are there still seven d-men down there, some who really need top four time not getting it? Why was Jassen Cullimore sent down instead of Nick Boynton, who you then lost anyway? Is Nick Leddy here simply because you couldn't guarantee the minutes in The Rock? What happened with Mark Stuart? Was Atlanta's offer that much better? Probably, but it would have been nice to know. When they dressed Scott and Hendry on the fourth line, why? We never got an answer.
Look, as I said, we know you read this. And we're fine with that. We like to help. But I don't think you're using this in the right way. It feels as though we're just being mined for ideas. That's fine, it must be hard writing a story every day. There are four of us and we don't even do that. But this could be a real tool to help you understand what the real Hawks fans are concerned about and want answers to. We know you don't face the pressure from editors that you would in Toronto or Montreal. We get that. They don't care. But we care. And aren't you here for us, not your editors or bosses? Are you so afraid of the brass? Don't you know we'd be right behind you if your credentials were stripped because you asked the questions we wanted to hear answers to? Look at our numbers, we could cause something of an uproar.
I feel like we can be working together better. We shouldn't be enemies. We know you look down at us at times, and that's fine. Sometimes our behavior warrants that. But our goals are more similar than you might think. I think we can help. Maybe I'm wrong. But try it, and see.
Sincerely,
Sam