Well, here goes nothing;
First off, I would like to say thanks to Puckin' Hostile for allowing me this opportunity to write about the Blackhawks. Much like those off season Shoutcasts, its going to be a lot of fun in covering the Blackhawks this season.
Since we're still in September, I'm probably going to keep this short. But then again, if you're a listener to the Puckin' Hostile Shoutcast, you can probably guarantee this rant will go on longer than originally thought.
A show of hands for how many of you thought my first blog on Puckin' Hostile would be centered around Chicago's favorite son Teuvo Teravainen? Well, give it some time, we'll get to him, but there's something more comical that happened in the Blackhawks world. Today, we were blindsided by the news that former 2004, 3rd overall pick by the Blackhawks, Cam Barker, has been invited to training camp.
What was Steve Poapst not available? Deron Quint? Steve McCarthy? Anton Babchuk?
There's no breaking this move down, because honestly, there is no upside to it. If you've followed my past work, you already know my feelings about Cam Barker. Barker has a heavy shot, but to go with that he also has heavy legs. As if he was wearing cinder blocks instead of skates. In addition, his defensive zone coverage is brutal to say the least. One has to wonder what the hell the Blackhawks were thinking in inviting him to camp. Was it merely to give us bloggers something to bitch about? Because if that's the case, then its mission accomplished with me. Now is it worth getting all bent out of shape about? Probably not, since Barker has a snowball's chance in hell in actually making the roster. If he were to crack the lineup, much like Michael Leighton, then the Blackhawks are in serious trouble.
Normally a guy who's ranked 17th on the defensive depth chart wouldn't make any sort of news, but this case is different. This is more about getting a few laughs in as the off season winds down. Could Barker have improved since the last we saw of him in North America, let alone with the Blackhawks? More than likely not. Keep in mind this is a guy who was let go by an AHL team less than two years ago, and didn't last over in the KHL.
So on the eve of training camp, the Blackhawks provided us a good chuckle with this news. All I know is I am looking forward to seeing Teuvo corkscrew Barker into the ice at camp. But then again, a highlight reel move like that will get people thinking Teuvo's ready for the NHL. Wait, didn't that just happen in a rookie tournament?
In the end this was exactly the kind of news I needed to awake from the summertime slumber that is the NHL off season.
@Patrick_Stankus