The lame duck portion of the year is upon us, and the Hawks fill that space nicely with two quality opponents and one piss-poor opponent. After a 4 day ChristmaHanaKwanzika break, the Hawks came out pretty flat to to play the very bad Blue Jackets. Luckily, the Jackets weren't interested in a win, and defaulted to the Hawks. Tonight they play the young and talented Kings, and Friday night they face the old and talented RedWings. With these end-of-year festivities going on, the Hawks have a few issues of their own:
- Where ever Corey Crawford lost his game, he seems to have recovered it, after his little Amber Alert. He'll play his 3rd game in a row tonight, and he's looked solid in his previous two contests. This is good news for the Hawks, because two hot goalies is a nice problem to have.
- Looks as though the Blackhawks brought back Dream Warrior Marcus Kruger too early. In his first game back he absorbed a few really big hits including a Rich Nash punch to the back of the head. While it's not specified, a punch to the back of the head of a recently concussed player should warrant at least a fine. Nash first missed with an elbow to the face, and followed up with a knuckle sammich to the back of the head. This wasn't a fight, so Kruger had no need to expect a cheap shot to the dome. This will never happen, but I reiterate, if this had happened to Sid the Kid, Nash would have had to go into protective custody. Anyway, it might be a while before we see Kruger, after this medical staff snafu.
- Brandon Pirri has his bags packed for Rock Vegas when the Kruger news hit. Fortunately for Pirri, this benefits him. Skating with two of the hottest players in the NHL will be nothing but good for his confidence, and with Kruger's baby food brain in disrepair, he'll get an extended look at the #2 center spot. I'd love to see the kid grab a hold and stick around. It never hurts to have too many good players on the roster, and opens things up, when the trade deadline arrives.
- Rumors are that the Panthers and Uncle Dale are going to sign former Hawks and Devil Cup Winner John Madden tomorrow. If so, good for him. I always liked that guy.
- Bickell continues to be Bryan Bickell. Blue line, one-two-three strides, 60 foot wrist shot, miss the net. Will he EVER learn to hit people? Maybe he can with Uncle Dale in Florida.
- While I LOVE John Scott in the latest Blackhawks parody video, and his Freshwave commercial, he still does nothing for me as a hockey player, and especially on defense. Sami Lepisto has to be carrying a John Scott VooDoo doll around, because if I'm Lepisto, I'm NOT happy that big lug is playing in front of me. Hell, I'm NOT Lepisto, and I'm pissed that Scott is playing in front of him.
- Kaner is reported to have Strep Throat, and will be in the lineup tonight. He could be dehydrated and a bit on the weak side, so look for Q to go easy on him.
- Has anyone seen what happened to Frolik? Me either, but he'll continue to ride the Megamayers express on the forth line. So much for that 30 goal prediction, as he sits at 5 goals with almost half the season gone.
- Car Bomb seems to be feeling better with whatever top secret upper body injury he had and was seen skating with Frodo, and Megamayers this morning.
- All in all, being in first place overall with 50 points has left us grumpy bloggers with very little to bitch about. OK, not very little, but much less to scream about. Again, nice problem to have.