Blackhawks Roster Breakdown: Goalies

by Gatekeeper
Yell at Gatekeeper

With opening night less than a week away, the Blackhawks are down to some tough decisions with their roster. We talked at length about the options on Tuesday night's Shoutcast, but there are some real questions. I'm going to break down some of the upcoming roster decisions or at least try to lay them out in a logical manner. This doesn't mean Joel Quenneville will decide to use the logical method. First, we look at my favorites, the goalies, which is the only position that is seemingly locked down.

Corey Crawford is the clear and unquestioned number one. He had has his injury bugs each year, but he is still a top 10 goalie in this league. We can all expect another injury at some point this year. It is inevitable. Crawford will continue his solid, unspectacular performance, and continue to be overlooked, as well as under rated. He won't truly be appreciated until the Cup window is secured shut and this generation of players are retired. It is a shame that the guy gets so much angst from fans that don't truly understand the intricacies of the position, but it is the nature of the sport and Chicago.

Sneaky offseason acquisition Anton Forsberg will back up Corey Crawford. Before camp began, I honestly thought that Jean-Francois Berube had a solid chance to challenge Forsberg for the backup job, but Berube had a pretty rusty performance against the Blue Jackets. This opened the door wide open for Forsberg. All he needs to do is be solid tonight in Detroit, and the race is officially over. Forsberg really impressed me in his opening game vs the Blue Jackets. He was big in net, quick in the crease, and composed. His reflexes are very good for a big guy. I am now aboard the Forsberg train. If he can keep this up, he'll be a perfectly fine replacement for Scott Darling.

My dark horse this camp was Jean-Francois Berube, and he simply just didn't deliver in his one opportunity. His first goal against was more the lack of support from his team, but he got a piece of the Ryan Murray shot. The last two goals against were pretty sloppy. There is no excuse to be giving up a goal off the end boards, from virtually behind the net, like he did to Lucas Sedlak. The third goal was a weak backhand less than a minute later by Oliver Bjorkstrand, that was actually defended alright by Brent Seabrook, which softly went 5-hole. He will be fine in Rockford, if he sneaks through waivers, and "should be" the number one guy there, but Jeff Glass is a former teammate of new coach Jeremy Colliton, so that could affect the game distribution. If Crawford or Forsberg get hurt, Berube is a fine option as well.

Jeff Glass is just a veteran depth guy that can be a leader in the locker room for the kids and provide some valuable consistent experience in the Icehogs backup role. If Glass ends up being counted on for more than a leadership role, then there are real problems.

First year pro (and Puckin Hostile favorite), Collin Delia doesn't figure into the pro team's plans this year, or even maybe next, but this will be an important season for him to earn a reputation and gather some crucial experience. Expect him to probably start the season in Indy, with the Fuel, and share time with Matt Tomkins. If Delia can have a solid season in Indy, we could see him get some time in Rockford as the season progresses. He has the potential and certainly has the talent. The fanboy in me wants to see Delia get some Rockford time and wow the pants off everyone, but the pragmatist in me says that isn't realiztec to expect.

Matt Tomkins is signed to an AHL deal and will eventually end up in Indy with Delia. While I was certainly fine with Jake Hildebrand and Eric Levine in the ECHL last year, Delia and Tomkins are an upgrade to the depth of the organization. Hildebrand was just alright as the primary netminder in Indy, but was overmatched in the few times he actually saw the ice in Rockford. He today signed a tryout with the Tulsa Oilers of the ECHL. Levine was a temporary solution to the thin goaltending depth in the organization, as was Jeff Glass, and wasn't even all that good in Indy.

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Just The Facts, Ma'amCrawford by the Numbers

by Gatekeeper

Happy summer, Blackhawks fans. How happy are we that the Stanley Cup has come back to Chicago for the third time in 5 years, or 6 Seasons? Elated, I would hope. I know I am. There is a slight problem, however. Some people, lets call them meatballs because fans is not a correct term, are still not happy with their team's goalie. I'm not going to point out which team...

OK, well maybe I am going to point out this thankless group of meatballs. It shouldn't surprise me, or anyone for that matter, that Chicago sports fans completely overlook a player's success for fairy tales and conspiracy theories. I want to keep this strictly to a stats/salary driven piece, because everyone knows I'm a Crawford apologist.

First of all, Corey Crawford is the 7th highest goalie cap hit in the NHL. Five of the top seven have never won a cup. Two of these players have two Stanley Cups, Corey Crawford and Jonathan Quick. Quick's cap hit is $200,000 less than Crawford, but he makes $500,000 more in real dollars.

Second of all, Corey Crawford is the 9th highest goalie salary in the NHL. Six of the top nine have never won a cup. Again, two of these players have two Stanley Cups, Crawford and Quick.

Below, is a list compiled of all Stanley Cup winning goalies since 2007-08. Playoff stats, and regular season Save Percentage are listed, as well as some advanced stats. The advanced stats are as follows:

Quality Starts (QS): When the goalie achieves at least the mean save percentage (for the season) in a game.

Quality Start Percentage (QS%): simply the number of Quality Starts / Games Started. This gives you a sense of how often the goalie has a Quality Start. A good rule of thumb for this stat is that anything less than 50% is bad, anything over 60% is among the league leaders, and the league average for an NHL regular is about 53.4%

Really Bad Starts (RBS): Awarded whenever a goalie has a save percentage in a game less than 85%

GA Pct (GA%): Goals allowed % relative to league goals allowed. Lower is better, 100 is exactly average, 0 means you have saved 100% of shots faced. Min. 4 shots faced per team game needed to qualify.

Goals Saved Above Average (GSAA): Goals this goalie prevented given his save percentage and shots faced vs. the league average save percentage on the same number of shots. Min. 4 shots faced per team game needed to qualify.

I did not create these, I am simply passing on the information. This is a list that has been mixed up for the sport of it. Feel free to tell me which two are the terrible over paid Corey Crawford, by looking at these stats:


If you don't like Corey Crawford, that is your right, but there is no statistical evidence to damn him, or his salary, for that matter. Saying he is overpaid is false based on his accomplishments, and saying he has not earned his status is also false, based on the stats.

If you compare him to Antti Niemi on 2010, the comparison falls short, statistically, as well. Of the three recent Blackhawks Stanley Cup wins, Niemi played the worst. In fact, you could make the argument that he was statistically the worst goalie in the last eight seasons to win a Stanley Cup, along with Marc-Andre Fleury. Black and white folks. Below are the initials and the year filled in:

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Tin Foil Hats, Creationism, Anti-Vax Truthers, and Goaler Problems.

Ya, know...

I have a problem, and it needs and intervention. I'm an addict. I get sucked into more internet idiocy than a sane 40 year old man should. Instead of just letting the meatballs off themselves by natural selection, I get into pointless debates over utterly stupid ideas. Following yesterday's game with the Bruins, the insanity hit a head. Actually, the insanity started in the third period. Let me calmly, and hopefully thoughtfully, go over a couple of things. Even though, I am fully aware that meatballs aren't capable of being saved, I still try.


The initial knee jerk reaction of the meatball coalition was to blame Corey Crawford for the loss to the Bruins yesterday. I will fully agree that he certainly didn't help, there were many other factors that led to this embarrassing loss. The first three goals were as much the fault of the defenders, as they were Corey Crawford.

• First goal was a backdoor goal, which is 50/50 for a goalie. Most backdoor saves are luck. It's hard to ensure a backdoor save if the puck isn't low, and even that isn't a sure thing.
  
• Second goal was a redirect of a puck that was going three feet wide, two feet in front of Crawford.
  
• Third goal was Milan Lucic walking right through FIVE defenders. FIVE DEFENDERS. Against one player. Not only did he get a decent shot off on the initial shot, which Crawford saved, but the rebound.
  
• Fourth goal was bad, but the entire team had shit their collective pants at that point. I'll give the meatballs this one, though. Soft.
  

Antti Raanta, the goalie that SOME meatballs want to turn the crease over to, didn't fare any better.

• Fifth goal was a long shot that had decent coverage and just flat out beat Raanta badly.
  
• Sixth goal was brutal, and you can tell by Raanta's expression after. Long distance, he had all the space and time to make an easy save.
  

It is lazy to blame the goalie for every goal. Three of the six goals were legit bad. Say, for instance, the Blackhawks "terrible" goalers stopped those three bad goals. The Blackhawks still lose 3-2, and some might argue the Bruins would have tried harder on the second Blackhawks goal. Their #4 defender missed 2/3rds of the game and the other bottom two were terrible. I'm not even touching on the top three guys, who weren't stellar by any means. Where is the goal scoring from the juggernaut? Where are Patrick Sharp and Brad Richards? Open your mind, people. Tunnel vision makes for a lazy and misinformed fan. I don't claim that Crawford isn't overpaid or that the term of his contract isn't too long, but he had Bowman by the short hairs. Bowman was not going to let his Stanley Cup winning goalie walk for a second time. Crawford is a slightly above average position goalie. He's streaky and will give up awful looking goals sometimes, but he is the best goalie in the Blackhawks system, and they cannot trade for anyone cheaper or better. So knock it off, already. PERIOD. Now, let us discuss some of these silly solutions:

• Trade Crawford - Granted someone has to want to trade for him, which a couple of teams with spare cap space might. The Blackhawks would then need to somehow acquire an NHL, mid level at minimum, goalie. Raanta, Darling or any other goalie the Blackhawks have rights to are not even mid level NHL goalies, yet, but I'll touch on that later. No team is going to win the Stanley Cup, in what might be the last serious run of this stretch, after trading their #1 goalie mid season. NO ONE!
  
• Trade Patrick Sharp - Sure. What is the return? Tim Erixon? Bunch of minor leaguers? That is all the Blackhawks are going to get when the rest of the league knows you are desperate. Bowman is going to get a much better return when teams are trying to improve in the off season. Let us not forget that trading one of your assistant captains in the tight final playoff race with this group isn't exactly smart.
  
• Trade/Waive/Kill Rozsival, Rundblad and Erixon - Again, sure. Who takes ANY of them? Rozsival has a NTC and makes $2 million. Rundblad, well, if anyone wants him, they would have him. Erixon, is so bad the Blackhawks made up an injury to explain why they won't dress him.
  
• Trade Bickell - Once again, SURE. Who is taking his $4 million salary? They won't trade him to a division foe. Would someone want him in the Eastern conference? Maybe. Wouldn't it be nice to have one big body in front of the net in the playoffs though? They only have one. The last two years, he has been a beast come playoff time. The salary sucks, but he also had Bowman over the barrel. At least he isn't David Clarkson or Ryane Clowe. On top of all this, what return do you get? Slim to nothing, which is not wise if you want to keep your job.
  
• After trading Crawford for a hill of beans, turn the crease over to Raanta and, the newly extended, Scott Darling - In one word, NO! Raanta and Darling were shielded behind the Blackhawks strongest defensive play, this season. Raanta is a step down from Crawford. I like him, but he is over aggressive and slightly small. Also, based on recent events, he may be headed elsewhere. This brings us to the apex. Lemont Native Scott Darling.
  
  Did you know he was from Lemont?
  
  I can't believe I have to keep saying this. Over, and Over, and Over! Scott Darling cannot even win the outright #1 spot in Rockford. THE AHL! He plays best behind the Blackhawks defence, because they don't need much out of him, when they remove their heads from their asses. They need a big positional goalie, that can keep them close, and somewhat control rebounds. Like Corey Crawford. Once Darling gets hung out, he is big and awkward. He is still not "bad". I like him. It is a great story. BUT; if you want to willingly pin the hopes of another cup on a completely unproven backup AHL goalie, you're insane. That's chicken little stuff. Panic. No team was ever successful because of forced panic. I hope he turns into something but, currently, he is an NHL backup AT BEST.
  

Wrapping this up, Bowman needs to do something, and this is why he was moved into this position. He can either pull off a miracle, or wallow in the shit pond he and Quenneville have created. The mismanagement of the prospects and lower level players in this organization are now becoming glaring mistakes. If these two clowns can get over this cock measuring show, they might be able to pull off one last Stanley Cup with this core. Or, they could bow out in the first round and point the finger at Crawford, like the rest of the meatballs.

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Corey Crawford Meatball-Palooza

by Gatekeeper

So, How bout them Blackhawks, eh?

Last night, after seeing so people I highly respect as hockey players jump up Corey Crawford's puckered ass for a SHUT OUT LOSS, I decided to put some illustrations together. In said illustrations it is shown that while Crawford is not completely absolved of blame, the two goals he gave up in the first 1:17 of the game were landed more on the shoulders of the circus spectacle of players in front of him. Have a look for yourself, if you're that one person that hasn't seen them:





NOW... this is not to say that Crawford hasn't had shaky first periods. HE HAS. I have been critical of him on the last two Shoutcasts. He has not been the "pre-drunken concert" Corey Crawford. If you're going to feed me that "rebound control" horseshit, you're wrong. A wide open player has time to size you up, 12 feet out in the slot. He takes a shot low to your left. What is the ONLY thing you can do? Kick your pad out. Just so happens that there was a WIDE OPEN PLAYER standing there. Stand in net, in full gear, and take a 70mph shot, and TRY not to kick it out in that direction. IMPOSSIBLE! It's physics. He has a fraction of a second to drop down, kick the shot out (not to the wide fucking open guy). When he DOES kick it to MacKinnon, Crawford has to get back up and shuffle over to MacKinnon, AND STAY STANDING, because just simply sliding over would have still left the top shelf (peanut butter) exposed. Now, try this move...in real time...just on a floor. Again, IMPOSSIBLE! But because he makes $6 million Crawford is different. "No I'm sorry, Stan Bowman, I'm not worth $6 Million, please offer me less". Corey Crawford is NOT the entire reason this Blackhawks team is slumping slightly.

That being said, Teuvo Teravainen isn't the reason, either, but that is another meatball story for another meatball day.

My point last night was that, people are taking the easy out. Blame the goalie. Hey, every goal is really the goalie's fault, right? If he stopped 100% of the shots he faced?

This is not reality. It is as real as a player scoring on every shot he ever takes. None blocked. EVERY FUCKING SHOT. Kiss my hairy ass!

Anyone looking at these screenshots can see that the Blackhawks second defensive pair, specifically Johnny "Best Johnny on the Ice" Oduya, was having adventures in babysitting. AGAIN, this s not putting the loss solely on THEIR shoulders either. They had two bad shifts, back to back. Quenneville should have pulled them off after the first goal, but that didn't happen either.

Let's talk about another player that might have helped, Bryan Bickell. He had a chance to scoop a loose puck into a gaping net and pulled a Viktor Stalberg.

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When We Have Nothing Else To Complain About:The Blackhawks Goalie Controversy

Now that I have all of your attention, it is time for a little education, so lets get a few things out in the air. There is no controversy in the net, for the Chicago Blackhawks. The only controversy is firmly planted in meatball heads. The same types of meatballs that wanted Henry Burris, PT Willis, or Will Furrer to start for the Chicago Bears.

This is, in fact, what you all look and sound like:

The Chicago Blackhawks are Corey Crawford's team, and it will stay that way unless he gets more severely injured or he has an epic collapse. Crawford has done nothing for the Hawks but win a Stanley Cup, and rack up a solid record. In fact, he had the most wins of any NHL goaltender, until he hurt his groin. While Anttio Raanta's save percentage is a bit better, Corey Crawford has been far and above better in shootouts. Corey Crawford is 4-2 on Shootouts with an excellent .833 save percentage, while Raanta is 0-3 with a rather paltry .533 save percentage. This would lead any rational (and labeling some of you as rational is QUITE a stretch) person to believe that the Blackhawks defense helps cushion both goalies, but it benefits Raanta much more. When the game is solely left up to him, he's still green, as far as experience and production goes. Just a few mere games ago, Raanta only faced 12 shots and gave up 2 goals. That's FOUR shots a period. FOUR! If that was Corey Crawford, the meatball nation would be marching the streets of Chicago with pitchforks and torches. Why? Because they are meatballs.


Being slightly green goalie is not bad. Raanta has only played 29 games on the smaller US ice surfaces. His total numbers (Rockford and Chicago) are 17-6-3, with a .913 save percentage, 1 shutout, and a 2.49 GAA. These are all very admirable, but not worth pinning your hopes on, just yet. Corey Crawford, at the time of his injury, was 17-6-3 with a .907 save percentage, no shutouts, and a 2.47 GAA. Those are facts. Other than save percentage, the numbers are almost identical. For Joel Quenneville to bench his Stanley Cup winning goalie, at this point, would be absolutely ludicrous and you should all be tarred and feathered for suggesting it. Fans should be more upset if, by some miracle of science, Khabibulin comes back and Raanta is sent back to Rockford, which he would.

Stop, just STOP!

I will agree that the Hawks signing Crawford through the 2020 season was a little excessive, and I won't dispute that one bit. The chance that Crawford is going anywhere, including the bench, is highly unlikely. Basically, miniscule. The Blackhawks COULD trade him now, but would be stupid in doing so and the number of takers, with that contract, are going to be few. He's been solid in net, won them a Stanley Cup last June, his ego is not fragile, and he has done nothing to lose his job. His numbers support this argument and stack up with the top goalies in the NHL.

There are a few young back up goalies in the league putting up great numbers. The Blackhawks just saw Martin Jones from Los Angeles, who is putting up far better numbers than Jonathan Quick, Ben Scrivens, Antti Raanta OR Corey Crawford, but you're not going to see him start in the NHL, on a regular basis, over any of them at this time. When Jonathan Quick returns from injury, he will be the starter in LA and Scrivens will be the backup. Period. Martin Jones will then return to being an AHL goalie. This is because Jonathan Quick has done nothing to lose his position, and neither has Scrivens. If it isn't broken, don't fix it.

Those of you running around the intarwebz tooting your Antti Raanta vuvuzelas (look it up and learn something instead of being a dumb shit meatball), just pipe down. The Blackhawks have stumbled upon a nice backup goalie, and he will continue to be a backup goalie. Enjoy it, and relish the luxury the Blackhawks have fallen into.

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Blackhawks Extend Corey Crawford For Additional 6 Years

Just when we all have the situation figured out, the Blackhawks decide to throw a wrench into the mix. On Labor Day, no less.

Leave it up the the Hawks to announce a fairly surprising deal on a national holiday. The Crawford deal is a reported 6 year extension, following the 2013-14 season, and it is reportedly worth $36 million. After his very affordable $2,333,333 cap hit, this new $6 million hit will tighten things up a bit for the Blackhawks next season. The salary cap is expected to go up fairly considerably next year, but it is still going to .

I have been a Crawford supporter since 2009, but I'm not sure I'm entirely on board with giving a goalie a fairly lucrative 6 year extension. Based on recent history, long term goalie deals are extremely risky, and this one is no exception. This is not to say that he isn't a very good goalie, but the chance that Corey Crawford will be able to play out a 7 year deal (6+1 remaining year) is highly unlikely. The lower bodies of butterfly goalies take a terrible beating and they just can't hold up at an NHL level that long. Crawford will turn 29 years old on New Years Eve, and he is in what would be the the bottom end of his career. The idea of a 35 year old backstopping the Blackhawks just doesn't seem realistic.

Another subplot of this deal, is the status of new Blackhawks goalie Antti Raanta. He, no doubt, signed in Chicago to have a shot at the starting job when Crawford's deal was up next July. The chances that will happen just became exponentially lower. Raanta is going to need to blow the minds of the Hawks brass for a solid chance at a starting job anytime soon. The saving grace of this deal is that, thus far, there is no mention of a no trade clause, so the Blackhawks could move him if things go south.

All that being said, it's nice to have too much goaltending in Chicago for once. Let's enjoy it.

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Blackhawks News And A BriefcaseFull Of Blues

Halfway through the month of December and the Blackhawks are still holding onto the #3 spot in the entire NHL. Even with all of the issues they have been having, they are able to pretty much stay there. Granted, there are 6 teams within 2 points of the Hawks (including Blackhawks south, The Panthers), but Hawks fan's have things to be happy about. The Blackhawks are also second in the league as far as Goals For. As with every good, there are plenty of things I would call "concerning", rather than bad. Lets go over a few:

• Razor's Edge. How could the goaltending quandary not be the first item on the list? Corey Crawford has come out "sub-par" and Razor Emery has actually over-achieved. This play has gotten Razor 3 starts in a row, when he takes the net tonight in Minny. I keep saying it, but this is not yet a controversy. Quenneville is going with the hotter hand, while he has the luxury of letting Crawford work the kinks out. This may very well turn into the same scenario as the last two years, but we mustn't drink the Razor Kool-Aid just yet. Crawford is not a fragile ego'd Huet, or an over the hill Turco. He's still young and impressionable. If Stephane Waite can't fix Corey's foggy head, then I will fully endorse panic mode, because the Hawks goaltending in Rockford isn't exactly comforting. Salak, and Richards haven't done anything notable, which is hugely disappointing, and Carter Hutton is small and not NHL ready, either.
• Bickell, Smith, Bickell, and so on. After last season's shocking 17 goal output, One Trick Bick opened some eyes in the NHL circles, if only to make league scouts say, "Don't give him 3 days to get his shot off". This also gave him a false sense of his place, as an NHL forward. He's a big ass that can cause traffic in front of the net, and if you give him time, can rip off a nasty wrist shot. Unfortunately, Mr. Bickell began to drink his own Kool-Aid (Yuck, I know), and lost his true identity. He began to think he was some kind of established sniper, and forgot to go to the net. Right to Q's Doghouse with you, Son. In steps every beat writers wet dream, the sandy haired Ben Smith. EVERYONE had been clamoring for the kid to step in. He was going to do great things because he had a handful of good, not great, games 8 months ago, right? Despite only scoring more than 20 goals once, in his Sophomore year at BC, he's a top six guy. Well, If you ask the Blackhawks Meat Beat Crew, they'll feed you that bologna. I've stated all along that Smith is, at best, a solid 3rd liner, who could fill in from time to time in other spots. Anyway, Smith was called up and, coincidence or not, laid a big steaming pile of poop in two of the Hawks worst games Hawks fans have seen in quite a long time. Now, by no means was this solely on Smith's shoulders, but he was absolutely invisible. Q had seen enough, and gave him the old "Healthy Scratch" treatment for 4 games. Bickell, who had been dropped to the fourth line, proceeded to swim in a sea of suck for those 4 games, and was scratched in favor of the kid. The Meat Beat threw fits of joy and spewed delusions of grandeur, when Smith scored in his first game back, but he then returned to earth so fast that he landed about 75 miles west of the UC, in Rockford. Now, we're back to the very affordable Bryan Bickell, who may or may not be angry enough to use that big ass to throw people around. At a dollar to pound ratio, the Blackhawks have to be winning on this one, right? Wednesday night's game will hopefully show us what One Trick Bick has learned, if anything. If not, he's cheap enough to sit in the press box, or even dangle as trade meat. Suck can be easily replaced.
• Hammer Time. All of us bloggers have been taking notice of Hammer's play lately, because that is what we do. If we point out the good, that's only restating the obvious. In this case, we can really blame Doug Wilson. As revenge for sending them packing in '10, he pulled a dick move on his former team and ran the price up on Hammer, like some kind of bidding war between the knuckleheads on Storage Wars. For those of you who are familiar, liken Wilson to the Dave Hester, yelling "yeeeeeeeeeep". Anyhow, Bowman had to keep him, at the time, and overpaid by at least a million for him. A young, good sized, Swedish defensive defender with a lot of potential could really be a steal a few years down the road. The problem, here, is that Hammer has not progressed, and, in fact, he's REgressed. He refuses to use his size to punish opponents, he really offers zero offense, and he absorbs huge hits. He has a constant look of extreme pain glued to his face, and he's only 24 years old! No player can take this abuse for long, and it's showing in his development. Yes, we all know he blocks shots, but that doesn't take a masters degree to accomplish, in fact, it's probably the easiest of all talents to master. You know where the net is, and where the defender is, just figure out the angle and cover your nuts. The bottom line is that time is running out. Nick Leddy has all but jumped Hammer to become the #3 guy. Hammer was never going to be a 40 point defender, but 20 would be a reasonable goal, and the even bigger issue is his physical play. He CAN punish people, like he did against the Islanders, but he's just too tentative. The clock is ticking, Nik.
• The latest of the entertaining shenanigans is today's article by NHL Blogger Extraordinaire Puck Daddy, aka Greg Wyshynski. Apparently, in a recent WGN radio interview, the host asked a question regarding the tired joke of the Sedin Sisters. Hardy, Har-Har, right? Bolly played to the audience and threw out a few jokes. Weeeeeeell, the Intarweb, mostly Vancouver Canucks fans, is up in arms over this, thanks to Wysh. Like this is the first time they've heard this shot. Really, it's like shooting fish in a barrel with Canucks fans, and this joke has been beaten to death. If you're going to get the idiots of the Intarweb up in a huff, find someone who is making a more recent stab, like their $10 Million backup goalie with the weepy face and greasy hair. I prefer the Tomax and Xamot Crimson Twins reference for the Sedin's, myself.

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Slave to the Grind

I apologize for getting to all this stuff a little late, but I was in Jolly 'Ol England for a couple of weeks, and it's hard to accomplish anything NHL related when there is a 7 hour time difference and no TV coverage. On to the subjects at hand:

• First of all, Just days after his 71st birthday, it was announced that Stan Mikita has stage 1 oral cancer. The prognosis is great, according to doctors, but my thoughts and wishes are with him and his family. Good Luck, Stoshly!
  
  
  
• Corey Crawford. This was a "slam dunk", and a "must have". Whatever cliche you would like to use; this was it. There was no doubt that the Hawks needed to go into next season with 26 year old Corey Crawford in net. This year was no time to jerk around with arbitration and offer sheets, and thank god, Stan Bowman made it a priority to re-sign his netminder, before this season was even over. That's one less thing we have to curse him over, come training camp. The preliminary numbers have the annual cap hit at a modest $2,666,667 for three years, which is more than reasonable. If you compare the mere facts of Crow vs. Niemi, the Hawks grabbed a guy that is a year younger, the same physical stature, with more North American hockey experience, for $1.2 million less a season. Crow had much better playoff numbers and an almost identical regular season, with a team that was in transition most of the year. This is a Charlie Sheen style WINNING, in every sense of the word.
  
  I've made no bones about the fact that I've been a Crawford supporter since '08-'09, when I felt he should have been given the backup spot behind Khabby. I can't say I ever imagined that his journey would ever turn out like this, but he is here, and the Blackhawks starting goalie for next season. I have cursed Dale Tallon more than enough for the "Huet instead of Crawford" ordeal. He has his own problems to deal with, in south F-L-A.
  
  All the numbers aside, Corey's style and demeanor work well with the Hawks style of play. He is calm, and virtually unflappable. I can't recall a time where he looked visibly shaken, in a game. Niemi, and Turco for that matter, are more physical goalies that sometimes confuse the Hawks D-men with their aggressive and theatrical style. This has shown to sometimes cause chaos, and lead to some pretty unusual goals against. Nothing against Niemi's talent, because he has proven to be a talents netminder, but Crow is a better fit.
  
  
  
• Alexander Salak. On May 20th, reports were floated by Jesse Rodgers of ESPNChicago.com and later by Chris Kuc of the Tribune and Adam Jahns of the Sun Times, that the Hawks had re-signed the 24 year old Alexander Salak to a two year $600K agreement, which if true, is a deal. Considering that Salak was hitting the cap to the tune of $1.3 million a year, previous. Strangely, nothing has been said since, which would lead one to believe that the information was incorrect. The information had to have come from a credible source, but Rodgers may have jumped the gun.
  
  At any rate, this would be another important signing, because they need to lock up a legit backup for next season, so they can attend to other issues. Salak is another player I have been crowing about, since the Hawks acquired him with Frodo. I'll be watching to see how this plays out. Nothing has been updated on CapGeek.com, so it is not official with the league, yet.
  
  
  
• David Gilbert. The Committed Indians reported late yesterday that the Hawks had reached an entry level agreement with 6'2", 20 year old center David Gilbert. Just another big young kid to bolster Rockford. don't expect too much of him, right away, but stranger things have happened, lately.
  
  Not too much is known about him, other than his size. He played this season in Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the QMJHL, and had 51 points in 52 games. The Hawks brought him up to Rockford late in the year, where he had 3 points in 5 games, and plus 3. His draft profile, in 2009, said the following:
  

  "Still growing into his body at 6'1 and 184 pounds, Gilbert's main assets are his vision and his hands. Able to skate up the ice with the puck on a string, he's equally adept at making a play as he is at scoring the goal himself. Gilbert still needs plenty of time to round out the rest of his game and would benefit greatly from becoming both stronger and faster. Questions abound about his work ethic as well."

  
  Take from that what you will, because it really says a whole bunch of nothing...
  
  
  
• From the Hospital ward, Troy Brouwer and Chris Campoli both had minor surgeries to repair injured appendages. Brouwer had his bum shoulder fixed, and Stromboli had his knee fixed. Brouwer's injury was no surprise, but Stromboli's was slightly surprising. Neither injury is serious, but this could help the Hawks bargaining position, as both players are RFA's when the season ends. Both could very well be back in a Blackhawks sweater, for next season at relatively bargain prices. A healthy Stromboli could really be a breath of fresh air for Hawks fans, that didn't even know he had a very uncomfortable knee ache. Unfortunately, this knee ache had nothing to do with the poor turnover that send the Vancouver Canucks into the second round, and the Blackhawks to the golf course.
  
  
• This was under the radar, but Mathis Olimb decided against staying in Rockford and signed a 2 year deal with Frölunda HC in the Swedish elite league. Maybe the maiming he took in camp from Kyle Beach had something to do with it. Who really knows, but at 25, he looked to be a little short and frail for the grind of the NHL. Not that Marcus Kruger isn't, but they obviously saw something in Kruger that they didn't in Olimb.
  
  Reports have also been floating around that defenseman Ivan Vishnevskiy, who came over from Atlanta in the Andrew Ladd Trade, has left North America to sign with the Atlant (not a typo, try and keep up) of the KHL. Really, good riddance, because he had obviously fallen out of favor in the Hawks eyes. You don't burn up the first year of a 19 year old's entry level contract, if you have a "ready for action" Ivan the Terrible waiting for ice time. The Hawks probably weren't interested in re-signing him anyway.
  

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All-Starpalooza Snubs and Flubs

"Patty Cake, Patty Cake"

Yesterday it was announced that Tomax and Xamot (Patricks Kane and Sharp for those that aren't up on their 80's G.I. Joe characters) were selected to the All-Star Extravaganza and Pig Roast. Sharp CERTAINLY deserves to be there, but I could go either way with Kane. He's been hurt and not necessarily All-Star worthy. I'm a hometown guy, but I can assure you there are at least half a dozen guys that have played more consistent hockey that should be out there, and if I wanted to be a real Debbie Downer I would further point out how Duncan Keith should be watching it home on TV too, but he was actually voted in by the fans. I guess if it keeps the axis of evil, Datsyuk and Zetterberg, out I'm copacetic.

Whenever something like this comes about there will always be debate about selections and snubs. This is no different. I have one major gripe, and two snubs.

Now, you could make cases for Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Stastny, Suter, and a few others, but really, the list could go on forever. My major gripe is with the selection of Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury from the Pens, and I'll tell you why. For at least the first quarter of the season, Fleury wasn't even the starting Goalie on his own team. Veteran Brent Johnson would have been listed as the #1 netminder, and Fleury couldn't stop a beach ball rolled at him. Tomas Vokoun, of the Florida Panthers, should have easily beat him out. Fleury's stats aren't even all that spectacular either, but I guess the small market teams have to suffer somehow. Apparently, once you get your Stanley Cup gold jacket you're given all the special considerations.

The snub really isn't on the radar, but it has to do with the rookie selections, for whatever silly horseshoe throwing competition they have planned. There are two Blackhawks rookies that deserve a look; One-Trick-Bick, and CrawDaddy. Bickell has fairly quietly put together a very impressive first half. He's 4th in the league overall, 5th in goals, 5th in assists, and 1st in shooting percentage. If that doesn't warrant a rookie selection, I don't know what does. CrawDaddy is in the same boat. He's right behind Philly's Sergei Bobrovsky in just about every rookie goaltender category and first overall in GAA. Unfortunately, the fab 4 took up the quota of All-Star slots for the Hawks, and I don't think goaltenders can be included in this complicated rookie jarts tossing competition.

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Dallas Madness

Burish and the boys pulled out their Sunday go to meetin' clothes for the trip

Dallas Stars tonight at the UC...here we go!

• Baby Face Jeremy Morin was on the Rock-beria express this morning. No surprise, as this was reported Monday night by Tim Sassone.
  
  
• Not only will Morin be back, but Colonel Klink, Rob Klinkhammer, will be making his 2010 Hawks debut wearing the every popular #59. The kid has energy, and a great attitude, so no issues here with this call up. He's going to be playing on the forth line tonight. Can we say "poor man's Skillington"?
  
  
  
• Boss 81 was placed on IR retroactive to the day he was hurt, to make room for Colonel Klink. Moustachio said it was all procedural, and that neither Boss or Pisani will be making the road trip. So, it looks like Boss and Pisani will be back in a week, at best. Lets see what these kids can do, because it's better now than April.
  
  
• Corey Crawford will be your starting netminder tonight against Andrew Raycroft, which proves that a win is much more important than showing your ex team that they made a mistake, right Marty? IF they made a mistake that is.
  
  
• Jesse Rodgers reported that Power Brouwer said, "I didn't hang with him much cause he was always patrolling for ladies, and I'm married but we're buddies" about Burish the Poonhunter. Way to make a showing for the wife, Troy. (wink,wink,nudge,nudge)
  
  
• Lines at this morning's practice were:
  Skillington, Jonny B Goode, Pick-To-Click Vik
  Shooter, TomoKop, Baby Face Morin
  Power Brouwer, Invisi-Bolly, One Trick Bick
  Big Show, The Snake, Col Klink
  

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Day Off Blues Clues

You people are really going to be sick of me, but I have topics to discuss and time to discuss them. So, lets dive right in, shall we?

• I'm not sure where they got this, but a friend messaged me last night to tell me that the NHL network was reporting that Kaner will be out 4-6 weeks with an ankle issue. If it is anything like I think it might be, he's going to be tender and ineffective for longer than that. Now, I didn't have the wonders of a multimillion dollar training and rehab staff, but I had a similar injury and I wasn't even close to normal for at least 8 weeks, and I'm just a goalie. Anyway, it's clear Kaner is out for a while, Boss 81 is probably at least a week away from being rushed back too soon, and Pisani...is talent deficient. This morning Quenneville said Kaner will only be out for 3 weeks but I strongly believe he's being conservative to keep the media at bay. When all is said and done, don't be surprised to see him out for closer to the original reported time.
  
  
• The Hawks announced, apparently only to columnist Tim Sassone, that Morin will be back for the Wednesday game. Yeah, yeah, Salary cap, blabbity, blah, blah. For those of you hoping to see Kyle Beach anytime this year, you're high. He makes $250K more than Morin and they have to send HIM back to Rock-beria on off days to save some cabbage. Unless they drop some salary though trades, you will see Potulny, Pirri, Smith and/or Makarov before Kyle Beach steps on the ice at the United Center. Welcome to Hawk-onomics, folks, I'll be your instructor, Stan Bowman.
  
  
• The Second City Hockey/Committed Indian guys have touched on it. We don't really have the goalie controversy of last year, and quite frankly, this is how last year should have been handled, early on. The only problem was that they had to somehow justify almost $6 million of suck. It's all water under the bridge, because they won, but they are in a similar position this year and I feel Quenneville is handling it right. Stick with the hot hand, whoever that may be. I agree, completely, with the SCH/Committed Indian guys about the fact that the Hawks owe Marty Turco nothing. He practically begged to play here, and they needed an insurance policy, if Crawford wasn't ready. Well, Crawford IS ready and Turco has been average. Even on his bad days the Hawks seem to play better in front of Crawford, for whatever reason. It's about time we started getting use to Corey Crawford as our starting netminder, as he will be tomorrow night. Where is my #50 jersey?
  
  
  
• Today it was announced that prospects Jeremy Morin and Nick Leddy were named to preliminary roster for U.S. National Junior team. That will take them off our hands for a little bit. Should be interesting with Kaner out for a while, Hossa recovering, and Morin playing for the WJC. The options for goal scoring are getting thinner by the day. Get ready to have Tomas Kopecky and Troy Brouwer jammed down our throats, nightly. Just what we wanted for Christmas, Santa.
  
  
• If you don't want to weed through the drivel of this Adam Jahn's article, let me highlight a few points. He is suggesting a few options to alleviate the recent player losses. Shorten the Bench, Find some ripe players on the Rock-beria Icehogs bush, and finally, my FAVORITE; More Hendry and Big Show at wing. First of all, they have been playing with a short bench, BECAUSE Big Show only makes appearances for 300 seconds a game and Skille hasn't exactly been leaving a cold seat on the bench, himself. Second, The Icehogs aren't exactly tearing up the AHL (9-11-3), and they top prospects aren't really lighting the lamp either. Defenseman Brian Connolly is leading the team in scoring with 16 points and Ryan Potulny is behind him with 13. Lastly, more Big Show and Hendry? That's tremendous a waste of my Oxygen, and we all know Quenneville drowned Hendry and buried him in a vacant west side lot. Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids.
  
  
• At this morning's practice the team was skating with only three lines. Skillington, Pick-To-Click Vik and Toews; TomoKop, Shooter and Jake the Snake; and Brouwer, Bickell, and Invisi-Bolland. Of course, this is all without Morin, Hossa, Pisani, or Kane. This makes me wonder though...since Morin can't practice with the team, does this mean he's in protective custody at some undisclosed location, or does he really have to drive all the way out to Rock-beria to report? I hope he's looking to invest in one of those new hybrid cars because the gas alone is going to bankrupt him. Junkfood for thought.
  

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Man, I'm Tired of Being Right

Not that I predicted that the world would end in 2012, but it’s August 2nd and the Hawks are right where I said they would be. Sometime Saturday, the arbitrator awarded Antti Niemi $2.75 Million, which is at least half a million more then they want to pay him. I’m sure more than a few of you are mumbling to yourselves, “What’s $500,000, when we have salary cap that is $56.8 Million?” and I answer…again. The Hawks are currently over the salary cap by $3,003,256 with 1 forward, 1 or 2 defensemen, and 2 goalies left to decide on. As I’ve pointed out, that salary cap number includes Cristobal Huet’s $5.625 Million that the Hawks have no choice but to unload. Once Huet is removed, they have about $2.6 Million to play with. You can see where I’m going with this, as the ruling would put the Hawks back up over the cap by roughly $15,000 with a minimum 3 players left to fill the roster. The Hawks really have no choice, but to let Niemi go, but there are reasonable options that I’ll point out later.


NOW, Anyone who starts with the “wa, wa, wa, they are breaking up the team in some diabolical plan to make the city of Chicago suck again” needs to be stabbed in the thorax with a knitting needle, because you’re a complete asshole with no concept of the business side of sports. It’s a moronic theory and no team would do that. All the players that were sent away were overpaid or role players that were expendable. This is not entirely the management’s fault, and this is why. First of all, Jack Skille, Bryan Bickell, Jake Dowell, and John Scott are probably underpaid. You have Toews, Kane, Hossa, Keith, Kopecky, Brouwer, Stalberg, and Seabrook that are pretty much paid fair market value. There is Sharp, Bolland, and Hjalmarsson that are slightly overpaid, and there are Campbell and Huet that are just retardedly overpaid. They are going to make the Huet abomination go away, and there isn’t much that can be done with Campbell. In all honesty, at the time, Campbell was a “must sign” player, and to get him, the team needed to overpay. You can’t fault them for being aggressive, and it paid off with a Stanley Cup. I fully blame the fact that they had to overpay for some of these players on the one and only rotting corpse, Bill Wirtz. He drove the value and reputation of the team down to the depths of embarrassing hilarity. Think about the scenario that he put the Hawks in; you’re a big money player that has a chance to play for a proven winner or cup contender for average market value or the lowly Hawks of 4 years ago, that had been the joke of the league because of the drunken, senile old curmudgeon, for roughly 10 years. Of course the Hawks would have to overpay. Dale Tallon really made a mess of the unrestricted free agent tenders last year, and the Huet thing is a big mess, but he accomplished quite a few more good things that brought a Stanley Cup to Chicago. So, If things were a little less screwy we might have about an extra $3.5 million to play with, but it’s not to be. At least we’re not paying Rick Dipietro $4.5 million a year until the 2020-2021 season, right?


Marty Turco
Now on to the options. I mentioned last week that Marty Turco was the best replacement option on the market for Niemi, and it’s looking like the Hawks think so, too. Early reports have the Hawks negotiating with Turco as recent as last night, and rumors have the one year deal worth about $1.75 Million. I realize Turco is 8 years older than Niemi, but this makes sense. The Hawks know what they are getting with Turco. Niemi may become a superstar, or he may slide right into Averageville. Don’t forget that the Hawks probably had the best top 4 defensemen in the league. Let Niemi try for a “no-no” playing in Edmonton, or for the Islanders. The bottom line is that he had a good playoff but could not win the starting job, outright, until Huet folded like a soggy pita. The outside option, which might drive me straight to the looney bin, is Jose Theodore. No one with any brains wants to see the guy that was chased out of Montreal by Cristobal Huet, and chased out of Washington by a marginal goalie named Semyon Varlomov. As I said the other day, I’d rather struggle with Corey Crawford and Hannu Toivonen in net. I'm just hoping we can see a sign and trade scenario with Niemi, so maybe we can get something in return.

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