Blackhawks: Movin On Up

Today, the Blackhawks did exactly what any halfwit would have expected. They made two small splashes. One move was made to add to the team, and another to clear up a roster spot for the first. First of all, the Hawks traded two draft picks to former Assistant GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and the Winnipeg Jets, for 30 year old Johnny Oduya. The second move was Bowman trading John Scott to the New York Rangers for a 5th round draft pick.

Do these moves fix all the problems that the Blackhawks have? Absolutely not, but the Oduya move addresses the Hawks biggest hole, which was on defense. Based on what was available, they probably got the best option on the market, to fit their needs. Not an ideal choice, but with the recent re-signings, there was a seriously depleted talent pool. In acquiring Oduya, they were carrying too many defensemen on their roster, and felt that keeping Dylan Olsen in the NHL and Sami Lepisto on the roster were in their best interest. That lead to the John Scott deal.

Johnny Oduya

Johnny Oduya is a 30 year old, 6’0” 200lb, lefthanded defenseman from Sweden that will wear #27 for the Blackhawks, and probably debut Wednesday night against the Leafs. He was originally brought up in the strong New Jersey Devils system, and traded to Atlanta/Winnipeg, was part of the infamous Ilya Kovalchuk deal, in February of 2010. He has two 25+ point season for the Devils, so behind the right team, he can contribute offensively. The Blackhawks acquired him for 2nd and 3rd round picks in 2013.

He is regarded as a great skater, which is not to be confused with FAST SKATER. He’s strong on his skates, and has good balance. This means you won’t see him tripping over his own feet or getting turned around like a top. He is younger and probably a better skater than both Montador and O'Donnell. He will probably be the injury replacement for Montador, to begin with. If Montador makes it back this season, he'll somehow push O'Donnell and Lepisto back down to the #8 and #9 guys, or possibly push Olsen back to Rockford. This is a good move, but not a great move, and purely a rental, because Oduya is an UFA at the season's end. No one knows just how this one will turn out until the draft of 2013. Right now, it's low risk, and possible high reward.

John Scott

The John Scott experiment has ended in Chicago. He was sent to the New York Rangers for a 5th round draft pick in this year's draft. For as many people that wanted him off the ice, they didn't necessarily want him gone. He was a good locker room guy, and his teammates loved him. The problem is that he is a terrible hockey player, but a talented face tenderizer. Maybe one of the worst hockey playing enforcers in recent memory. When he fought, he did is exceptionally, but there was no way around putting him on the ice to actually play hockey. People would argue that just the his mere presence would scare the bejesus out of the other team, and I would vehemently disagree. He was a clown; a sideshow act. He fought at the wrong times, took stupid penalties, and forced other players to incur extra ice time, because he was barely worthy of stepping on the ice. That's the cold hard truth.

BUT, alas, he is gone to the city that welcomed King Kong, and the Sultan of Swat. Surely, they will welcome the Big Slow. Maybe they are hoping he will be able to fill the big shoes left by the unfortunate death of Derek Boogaard. He may just fit right into that spot, because he is quite similar in stature and personality. Good luck in New York, John. Honestly and Sincerely.

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I Am The Law

July 2nd 2010: Blackhawks sign defenseman John Scott to a 2 year deal.

July 1st 2011: Blackhawks sign winger Daniel Carcillo to a 1 year deal.

We all remember these fateful days, but usually for different reasons. Each day was the opening of the free agent signing period in the NHL. Much bigger names were inked by the Hawks on those days, but these two guys were snuck in under the radar. Both of these players were signed to low risk, low paying contracts to bring "grit" and "toughness" to the Blackhawks, which is something they haven't had in a decade. Some may argue that they aren't much tougher today than the day they won the Stanley Cup, and I'd have to agree those people.

These two players that are known first and foremost for one skill, tenderizing faces. To date, Carcillo has 4 fighting majors, and Scott has 2. While, last year John Scott had 8 all season. I would hardly call 6 fights in 37 games "grit" or "toughness", and before I get 20 emails saying that grit is more than fighting, I understand that means more than just fights. Most of the fights Scott or Car Bomb have been in, are as a result of some random 1-on-1 yapping with an opposing player, not to set a tone or protect a teammate. For the first time in a year and a half, we saw Scott actually stick up for a teammate that took a cheap shot, when Kruger was concussed against the Penguins. The same goes for Car Bomb when he stuck up for Toews, a few games previous. Otherwise, just about every time one of these players displays their "toughness" it ends up biting the Hawks in the ass, or just simply turning the game momentum in favor of the opponent. Now, of course, this is not Scott or Carcillo's fault, because they are doing what they do best.

This is no longer a league where players like Tie Domi, or Stu Grimson would fit on an NHL team. The rules against fighting and for opening up the ice make these players irrelevant, ESPECIALLY John Scott. The league is just too fast for him, and he's FAR too slow to make up for the mistakes he makes. He's a huge 6'8" 260 pound liability. The fact that he hasn't been in many scuffles this year isn't really all his fault, because the rest of the league has seen what he can do, and just simply avoids him for the 5 minutes he sees a game. Ignore him, and go about their business. No one the Hawks have played looks frightened of John Scott whatsoever. He's not quick enough to catch someone in a corner, and I highly doubt he'd know what to do if he DID have someone lined up. Last night, he had one of the Kings smaller players trapped behind the net and gave him some stiff arm/chokeslam hybrid thing, that just looked awkward. The bottom line is that he's lost on the NHL ice. He doesn't have a defined position and he's not cerebral enough to swing a game around, when the Hawks are trudging uphill or running around like it's a Chinese fire drill. Playing him in almost half the first 37 games is a fucking JOKE.

Car Bomb is another chapter, but from the same book. There is no doubt in anyone's mind that he was sat down, when he signed, and told that none of those stunts he pulled in Philly or Phoenix were going to be tolerated in Chicago. We all know Quenneville won't put up with it, but again, who's at fault here? You bring a guy in and then muzzle him by telling him that he now can't do what he's good at. It's what he KNOWS. As a result, you have Carcillo running around without a purpose, and hearing "don't do it" from a big bushy gray mustache, in the back of his head. He's a neutered and muzzled pitbull that can only piss on your leg every once in a while. Do you think that last year's Car Bomb would have been in a position to basically skate into an opponent's fist and end up with a concussion? No fucking WAY. He would have been on that guy's back throwing uppercuts from behind, and probably biting the guy's ear, Iron Mike Tyson style. This year they have had him skating on the TOP LINE, with two of the best players in the NHL, where his is GROSSLY out of place. Dan Carcillo is not, and never will be, Al Secord, Wendell Clark, Dino Ciccarelli, Cam Neely, or even Rick Tocchet. He will yap his fucking head off, throw haymakers, and take cheap shots. Once, on a blue moon, he'll be in the right place and throw in a goal or two.

The moral of the story here, is that there are two people responsible for this charade. Stan Bowman and Joel Quenneville are to blame for both of these failed experiments, PERIOD. They put two square pegs on a team full of round holes, and keep jamming the fucking pegs into the holes over and over. You can't have it both way's gentlemen. Either the dogs are released, or you cage them up. Don't chop their balls off and wonder why the whimper away. Neither of these guys are players that the Hawks NEEDED. Being upset with Scott or Carcillo PERSONALLY, is irresponsible, but being upset with Q or StanBo is perfectly

If you're looking for that kind of aggression, look no further than one of the GOOD moves Bowman made this summer. Jamal "Megamind" Mayers, has a team leading 7 fighting majors, but you don't think of him as a fighter. He has shown that when a teammate is in need of some help, he's more than willing to jump in to make a point. He's useful on the penalty kill, a leader in the locker room, defensively responsible, can play wing or center, and has actual hockey skills. The biggest part of MegaMayer's game is that he's SMART. He doesn't seem to take stupid offensive zone penalties that handicap the team, like the others do.

The problem here is that we all know I'm pissing in the wind, because the management will jam their decisions down our throat over and over, rather than admit failure. So be it...I suppose.

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The Things I Get Myself Into...

Yesterday afternoon, I was unfortunately suckered into beating my head against a wall, 140 characters at a time, through Twatter. I have maintained that while Twatter can be useful for things like promoting business and media, it's basically the gutter of human existence. It's either people bitching about their inconsequential lives, or people holding incredibly narcissistic and passive aggressive conversations for the whole world to see. But, I digress...

I have to say that if the major problem in the Blackhawks world is our forth line winger, life isn't so bad. Let's be honest here. The reason I got suckered into this ordeal is one particular theory, "Common Sense". I'll be the first to tell you that while I'm sarcastic, stubborn, and cocky, I've been known to change my stance from time to time, because of said common sense. I can't possibly see every scenario, and solution; no one can. This is not one of those situations, and again, if you could care less about the Blackhawks fourth line winger that plays 3-6 minutes a game, feel free to ditch this thing, right here...

Still with me? Onward, Satan's Soldiers. The situation in question involves the subject of Rostislav "Rosty" Olesz vs John "Big Slow" Scott. Forgive me; I was baited; It was on my train ride home; There was an earthquake; A great flood; Locusts; IT WASN'T MY FAULT!

That was your last chance to bail on me, so for the three readers I have left, let's continue. I am going to lay out some FACTS, here, before I even get started:

• Olesz is faster, and more talented overall than Scott, by a pretty large margin.
• Olesz has 132 points in 351 NHL games, at 26 years old. John Scott has 4 points in 115 NHL games, at 29 years old.
• Preseason or not, he scored the first goal of the year for the Hawks.
• Olesz has had injuries in the past, and is coming off a blown out knee, but appears to be healthy. If he's not healthy, the LTIR is the place for him.
• Scott is tremendously limited, physically. He can tenderize faces, and that is all.
• Once Mayers, CarBomb, Lepisto and O'Donnell were signed, it effectively took any role Scott had, and rendered him useless.

I'm not going to name names, because that's irrelevant, but a person or two sparked up a "conversation" that basically started as, "The Hawks can work around John Scott, but there is no way to work around Olesz, because he is void of any hockey talent". Not quite in those words, because you can't fit that much sarcasm into 140 characters, but you get the gist of it. You might imagine how I responded to THAT revelation. There were theories floated, but when it came down to simple business and common sense, there is no way around the fact that the Blackhawks need to play Olesz. Why, you ask? I was hoping you'd never ask:

Theory 1:Send Olesz to Rockford/Siberia
Result:FAIL
First of all, he would need to pass through waivers for Rockford, and surely would. Second, The Blackhawks as an organization, are eating $5.625 million for Cristobal Huet to NOT play anywhere in North America. Which, in and of itself, is a very bitter pill to swallow for any company. If you add Olesz's $3.125 million, and the team, AS AN ORGANIZATION, would be dishing out almost $9 million for 2 players to NOT play for their team. Remember, This does not reflect on the salary cap at all, but you're asking a business to hemorrhage millions MORE than they already are. While Huet was in a critical position, and needed to be moved for cap reasons, Olesz does/is not. He can be hidden on the forth line, and they have enough cap room to maneuver, if needed.

Theory 2:Buy out his contract
Result:FAIL
You can only buy out a players contract during the designated period of time, which is usually between June 15th and June 30th. I don't need to remind anyone what the date is today. Pull out all your trust-dusty contract buyout calculators, but none of it can be done until June of 2012.

Theory 3:Trade Olesz
Result:FAIL
In a perfect world, Stan Bowman could sell that rust bucket to some ignorant kid, but no one is buying that set of wheels without taking on another, equally as obnoxious, overpriced contract in return. If you know of someone that will, PLEASE e-mail Stan and let him know.

Nothing else is possible. End of story. This team is stuck with him for the season. Might as well play him, and see if we can't squeeze some lemonade out of this lemon.

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Boss 81 Officially Out, Morin Officially in, Boynton Officially Useless

As reported by Tracy Myers at CSN, Boss 81 collided with Dick Boynton, and was assisted off the ice during yesterday's practice favoring his right leg. Today it was announced that Boss 81 will be out 2-3 weeks with the always exciting and specific "lower body injury". This could mean that he misses as few as 6, or as many as 9 games. One can only guess as to the exact nature but I'd guess a knee or an ankle tweak, because we already know he can skate with his balls of steel. This could be disastrous for Kopecky, because without his #81 security blanket he tends to disappear. Mix that with the fact that Bolland has been completely useless and Bickell can't do much but shoot the puck, and you have the makings of something aweful. As a result of the injury, Jeremy Morin hopped a Greyhound from Rockford, and will probably be skating with Sharpie and Troy Brouwer tonight. Let's hope Morin's first trip to the doghouse was enough to keep him from pissing on the carpet anymore, because I doubt Quenneville will have him on a very long leash. I'm looking forward to seeing his first NHL goal, and hoping it comes very soon. Good luck, 27!

Also, All signs point to Pisani being out again tonight, and instant YouTube legend Big Show Scott on the Forth line. I'm actually good with this, because St Louis is known for their douche baggery, and dress noted ball sack Cam Janssen. I'm looking for a Scott vs. Janssen main event, tonight. If Scott can do that, I'll start to give him some serious consideration as a legit league enforcer, otherwise he's still just a big, ugly, slow, waste of space. Any assclown can have their 10 seconds of fame on YouTube, but it takes some work to gain a reputation in this league, kid.

Lastly, The Hawks will face Ty Conklin tonight, so we don't have to worry about any Jaroslav Halak heroics. Thank GOD!

Here are your lines for tonight:
Pick-To-Click Vik / Captain Serious / Kaner
Brouwer / Sharpie / Morin
Bickell / Bolland / Kopecky
Big Show / Jake The Snake / Skillington

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And That's Why They Call it the Blues

Once again, the Hawks played last night and the only way to watch was a raw web feed through the Blues website. We'd be silly to expect the preseason of the Stanley Cup Champion Blackhawks to bump the utterly boring and pointless games of the Sox to CSN+ or anything. Morons. Before the game, the team called up Brandon Pirri and sent goalie Alec Richards packing to Rockford. The Hawks are again blacked out tonight against the Penguins, and then we have the luxury of watching them finish up the preseason Sunday night against these same Blues.


John Scott with fist-a-blazin

The Hawks twater page was the next best play-by-play for the game, and CSN put together some highlights. I logged into the web feed for about 10 mins, but quickly became annoyed with it, and called it a night. I'm sure Pirri was just a temporary fill in because Jonny Be Goode was at home, no doubt glued to his MAC book, watching his team on the brilliant interweb feed. Keith, Hossa, and Sharpie were also held out of the game and probably huddled around their computers, as well. Sounds like they really peppered Halak in the first, and once they couldn't crack him, it all went downhill. Beach and Scott entered into fisticuffs with those pesky Blues, as well. Here are the highlights of the game, and here are a few observations:



-No doubt Pirri will end up back with the Hogs in Rockford, but I like the kid and I'm happy to see him playing against NHLers again, even if it only lasts a game or two.

-Whoever was running the camera sucks.

-Oshie's move absolutely left Turco in a crumpled mess. That kid is good, and that is a sweet move.

-Halak looks as good as advertised, in the playoffs last season. The Blues are going to beat some people this year.

-Turco's pads don't look quite as hideous with the away jerseys and the white mask.

-Morin's penalty shot was uneventful. I would have expected a little more pizazz from the kid. This is your chance to really make the highlight reel.

-I wish I could tell you more about Smith's goal, but the camera man was too busy admiring the form of the shot from the point. I guess it's preseason for camera men too.

-Word is that Skille went to the locker room holding his left arm close to his body. I hope it's nothing serious, because the guy is finally on the verge of cracking the lineup. A serious injury would be devastating.

Below is a reprint of the twater feed, if anyone is curious:

-Coach Q:: Skille day-to-day with upper body injury. Crawford will play the whole game tomorrow vs. Pittsburgh.

-Gotta love Hammer. Talked postgame about how he wants to do more shot blocking on D. "It's a glamorous job," he said.

-That's the game. Hawks fall 4-1 to the Blues.

-Steen with the empty-netter, giving St. Louis the three-goal cushion. 1:37 to go.

-Morin stopped on a penalty shot, 4 minutes left in regulation. Hawks still trailing 3-1.

-Cullimore gets the holding call, Hawks head to the PK. A little more than 10 left to go, still trailing by 2.

-No Keith, Seabrook or Campbell tonight. Not the defense you will see come Oct. 7.

-Just announced: Jack Skille is not returning tonight.

-3-1 Blues as D'Agostini snipes the puck past Turco after a good pass by Crombeen. 17 minutes to play in regulation.

-The 2nd period closes with the Blues up by a goal. Hawks still holding a sizeable shot advantage, 24-15. Stay tuned for the 3rd.

-Oshie, who slipped past the Hawks' D, beats Turco and puts the Blues ahead 2-1 with 3 to go in the 2nd.

-Skille heading to the locker room, looked like he was holding his arm. We'll update when we have something. 7:16 left in the 2nd period.

-Perron scores right in front of the crease off a pass by Backes from behind the net. 1-1 with 10 left to play in the 2nd period.

-Ben Smith connects just before the power play expires, assisted by Hammer and Stalberg. 1-0 good guys with 11 to go in the 2nd.

-Morin draws a penalty, Hawks to the PP again. Hawks are getting a lot of shots: 20 through just over 24 minutes of play.

-Hjalmarsson is back on the ice. Hawks to the PP with Jackman in the box for slashing. 16 to go in the 2nd.

-Hammer went down to block a shot, stays down. Got off the ice under his own power and still on the bench. 2nd just underway.

-The first comes to a close, with the Hawks and Blues scoreless. Good frame for the good guys: 14-5 in shots, and solid puck possession.

-If the Hawks brought Scott in for toughness, he did his job there. He's got a great reach during a fight. 0-0 with 7 left in the 1st.

-Winchester and Scott (which happens to sound like a fine wine or antique rifle) throw down. That's 13.5 feet of hockey player at war.

-Hawks go to the PK with Cullimore in the box. 9:53 left in the 1st. Hawks are out-shooting the Blues 9-1.

-Backes gets called for tripping as the Hawks go to the man-advantage. 12 minutes left in the 1st, still scoreless.

-Kyle Beach and BJ Crombeen drop the gloves two minutes in. Beach took a couple of big hits, but gave out a few too. 0-0.

-Tonight's starters: Hammer, Hendry, Stalberg, Smith, Bickell and Turco. Pirri, just recalled today, is in the lineup.

EDIT: Here are the highlights from another angle, via the Hawks website. No sound, but it'll do.

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