We all know that the Blackhawks are over the cap. That's not a scoop or a revalation. But somehow they need to get back under the cap. Which means they have to dump some salary. Which means a player is going to be packing up and moving on. But Who? Who is going to be the sacrificial lamb in the name of Cap space? With rumors of Khabibulin being dealt almost a month old, I'd say he would be the guy. HOWEVER, the fact that he hasn't already been dealt leaves me wondering if anyone is remotely interested in him.
The Kings would be the most obvious choice for trading partners, however they don't have much in the way of returning players to be dealt. Which means they would need a third party willing to take draft picks for a player that the Blackhawks deemed "acceptable". I do not think that the Kings are really in much of a position to be giving up draft picks as they are obviously in the rebuilding mode right now. At least I sure hope that's what they are doing.
The second pick would be Colorado. With Peter Budaj and Andrew Raycroft as their netminders, they could use someone with a starter status rather than two back ups. They do have plenty in the players to be traded section as well. But if Colorado is our trading partner, I'm sure they are waiting for Joe Sakic to either re-sign or retire before they bring in an expensive net minder like Niko. Colorado has always been fairly focused on winning and let's face it- That ain't happening with Budaj and Raycroft. If Sakic isn't returning I could see the team going to re-building mode almost immediately, which would mean a goaltender like Niko wouldn't be in the picture. If Joe is coming back, I can see Colorado going for Khabi in an effort to make a Cup run for their Captain's (most likely) last year.
The longshots:
Atlanta: In return we get John "The Moose" Hedburg and possibly a draft pick or prospect We shed our cap space. They get a genuine starter that can show Lehtonen the way.
Nashville: They only have Dan Ellis as a true netminder right now. This one is an EXTREMELY long shot as Ellis posted better numbers than Khabibulin last year. Not to mention the team is sort of cheap (there's really no other way to put it).
St. Louis- We get Legace, they get Khabi. I would say this is a stupid trade for St Louis, but they seem to be doing the same thing Chicago did after the lockout. They might bite on this trade if we threw in Cam Barker to "bolster" their blueline. I don't see it happening, but then again I never thought I'd see the Blues suck this bad this long either.
Toronto: CuJo is a great goaltender.......5 years ago. This is the here and now. The Leafs could use someone to bolster their netminding capabilities. That could be Khabi depending on which one they get each night. I'm saying this is a LONGSHOT though. Because the Leafs seem to be rebuilding or at least "going in a different direction".
Now we get to sit and wait. When will Khabi get moved? Where's he going? What do we get in return? Mostly I'm wondering about the when part. The sooner the better in my opinion. The way I see it, Nikolai Khabibulin has ripped off the Blackhawks organization, the fans, and his team mates for the last 3 seasons. His bloated contract and overall lack of consistency have not impressed me one bit. I'm really hoping he is the one that gets dealt from the team as I don't want to think about who else it could be.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
From one fan to another.
I don't like Wayne Gretzky. There. I said it. I just got some scowls from some people, and others perked up their ears. People ask me why I don't care for Wayne. Simple. The way I enjoy the game. What I really enjoy about the game. What I like seeing. I love seeing a goal being scored, but to be honest I'd rather see a couple of bone crushing hits on the ice.
Which is why I'd rate Mike Grier far above Wayne as a player I'd idolize. Grier falls under my "Substance without flash" category. Being a brutally to the point kind of player really gets my attention. And Mike is all about that. Scrapping along the boards, laying people out with a crunching hit and causing havoc on the other team's offense. I like that.
Sure Wayne could score goals, but did you ever once see him throw a good hit? How about a decent hit? A mediocre hit? Yeah I didn't think so. Does Wayne strike you as a guy that would fight along the boards? Power his way in towards the net? Drop the gloves?
This is what I'm talking about. The way I see the game is very much 2-way old time hockey.
Now thanks to the Gretzky era and the NHL's move away from the goonish 70's we got the role player. Guys that only do one thing. Not every player falls into this, but it seems so many do. They are good at defense, or scoring, or fighting, but rarely more than one of these things. When you think of the great players, and I mean GREAT players, they were good or proficient enough at every aspect of the game. Bobby Hull had a massive slapshot, scored goals like no other left winger, and he was no stranger to a scrap. But 20 years later his son scored, but I can't see Brett fighting anyone older than 10. Can you?
I'm actually going somewhere with this so stay with me. The first thing I really wanted to point out was role players. Now we have them locked down. Right? You're still with me? Cool. Because now I want to talk about a different role player- The Goon. Goons come in one size-ridiculously giant. They usually have the stickhandling skills of a 4 year old, the shot of an epileptic, and the hockey sense of a kitten. They are there for one reason- to fight the other team's Goon.
Don't get me wrong. I love a good hockey fight, but watching two goons that shouldn't be playing at the Jr. High level slugging it out while eating up a real roster slot does nothing for me. I don't see how they could bring any momentum to a team by winning or losing. Look at it this way "If Derek Boogaard got KO'ed by George Parros in the street would it be news?" Fuck no it wouldn't. If Jarome Iginla got into a drunken fist fight with Ryan Smyth would THAT be news? It better be!
In the "new" NHL, if we can get rid of hooking and holding can we deep 6 the Goon in favor of letting real players fight their own fights against other PLAYERS? Every other role player is taking a hit from some where. Scorers aren't defensive enough, they don't skate through traffic. defensemen don't score enough. Whatever. The list goes on and on. But everyone turns a blind eye to the fact that there is really only a handful of fights on the ice that have fuck all to do with real player enmity. Mostly it's just two cement headed jerkoffs center ice wailing on each other because they are completely useless at every other faccet of the game!
Go back in time with me for a minute. You remember Bobby Probert? I bet you do. You should! Anyway. Sure the guy fought like a badger with rabies, but do you realize he was good for a point every 3rd regular season game and more than a point every other playoff game? Domi scored about a point every 4th regular season game and a point about every 5th playoff game. Sure they were somewhat cement headed and brawlers, but they were PLAYERS. They enhanced their presence on the ice with fighting not by making it the only thing they didn't suck shit at.
Now here's a REAL NHL worthy fight. When Iginla fought Derian Hatcher in the 03-04 Playoffs that was a real fight. When Lecavillier fought Chara, that was also a real fight. Real players stand up for themselves. Period. When a team captain fights a first pairing D-man that's a real fight. There's something on the line other than a free trip back to the press box or the minors.
I don't see how this problem of goon on goon boredom will get fixed unless it is a 30 team coach pact to leave the douches in the minors. Anyway, I know you're probably thinking "Whip dee damn doo doo! Another fighting blog!", but I had to get that shit off my chest. I just want to watch meaningful fights on the ice. I guess that's my bitch, if I wanted to watch two meatheads throw punches I'd watch the NBA.
Which is why I'd rate Mike Grier far above Wayne as a player I'd idolize. Grier falls under my "Substance without flash" category. Being a brutally to the point kind of player really gets my attention. And Mike is all about that. Scrapping along the boards, laying people out with a crunching hit and causing havoc on the other team's offense. I like that.
Sure Wayne could score goals, but did you ever once see him throw a good hit? How about a decent hit? A mediocre hit? Yeah I didn't think so. Does Wayne strike you as a guy that would fight along the boards? Power his way in towards the net? Drop the gloves?
This is what I'm talking about. The way I see the game is very much 2-way old time hockey.
Now thanks to the Gretzky era and the NHL's move away from the goonish 70's we got the role player. Guys that only do one thing. Not every player falls into this, but it seems so many do. They are good at defense, or scoring, or fighting, but rarely more than one of these things. When you think of the great players, and I mean GREAT players, they were good or proficient enough at every aspect of the game. Bobby Hull had a massive slapshot, scored goals like no other left winger, and he was no stranger to a scrap. But 20 years later his son scored, but I can't see Brett fighting anyone older than 10. Can you?
I'm actually going somewhere with this so stay with me. The first thing I really wanted to point out was role players. Now we have them locked down. Right? You're still with me? Cool. Because now I want to talk about a different role player- The Goon. Goons come in one size-ridiculously giant. They usually have the stickhandling skills of a 4 year old, the shot of an epileptic, and the hockey sense of a kitten. They are there for one reason- to fight the other team's Goon.
Don't get me wrong. I love a good hockey fight, but watching two goons that shouldn't be playing at the Jr. High level slugging it out while eating up a real roster slot does nothing for me. I don't see how they could bring any momentum to a team by winning or losing. Look at it this way "If Derek Boogaard got KO'ed by George Parros in the street would it be news?" Fuck no it wouldn't. If Jarome Iginla got into a drunken fist fight with Ryan Smyth would THAT be news? It better be!
In the "new" NHL, if we can get rid of hooking and holding can we deep 6 the Goon in favor of letting real players fight their own fights against other PLAYERS? Every other role player is taking a hit from some where. Scorers aren't defensive enough, they don't skate through traffic. defensemen don't score enough. Whatever. The list goes on and on. But everyone turns a blind eye to the fact that there is really only a handful of fights on the ice that have fuck all to do with real player enmity. Mostly it's just two cement headed jerkoffs center ice wailing on each other because they are completely useless at every other faccet of the game!
Go back in time with me for a minute. You remember Bobby Probert? I bet you do. You should! Anyway. Sure the guy fought like a badger with rabies, but do you realize he was good for a point every 3rd regular season game and more than a point every other playoff game? Domi scored about a point every 4th regular season game and a point about every 5th playoff game. Sure they were somewhat cement headed and brawlers, but they were PLAYERS. They enhanced their presence on the ice with fighting not by making it the only thing they didn't suck shit at.
Now here's a REAL NHL worthy fight. When Iginla fought Derian Hatcher in the 03-04 Playoffs that was a real fight. When Lecavillier fought Chara, that was also a real fight. Real players stand up for themselves. Period. When a team captain fights a first pairing D-man that's a real fight. There's something on the line other than a free trip back to the press box or the minors.
I don't see how this problem of goon on goon boredom will get fixed unless it is a 30 team coach pact to leave the douches in the minors. Anyway, I know you're probably thinking "Whip dee damn doo doo! Another fighting blog!", but I had to get that shit off my chest. I just want to watch meaningful fights on the ice. I guess that's my bitch, if I wanted to watch two meatheads throw punches I'd watch the NBA.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Confusion in the face of Congratulations
I am a Blackhawks fan. I've taken my beatings. Now the team is starting to rise up from the ashes of the Bill Wirtz era and into the Rocky era. There is hope or was hope. While everyone keeps clapping their hands around me, I'm skeptical. It's like being John Hurt in "1984". There's a giant "Wait a minute!" feeling that is slowly consuming me.Everyone keeps saying "Huet! Campbell! Brilliant!". Oh really? $12 mil worth of mediocre goaltending is Brilliant? Since when? I also didn't know paying a 37 year old defenseman $7.1 Mil was genius either. So maybe I have alot to learn OR (and I'm leaning towards this one) it's same old same old in Chicago. Overpaying players. And that is NOT genius.One of the things that I was looking forward to this year was that we could get good players to come to Chicago without overpaying them. I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one. So how do we celebrate our new status as a "Place to be"? We overpay to get players to come to Chicago. Brilliance (note thick sarcasm)!Regardless of the fact that we will lose $16.75 mil in salary after this season with Havlat, Khabibulin, and Lang's contracts all coming to an end. We have set an unrealistic pricetag to meet here. In my biased opinion Duncan Kieth will outshine our "big signing" of Brian Campbell. Meaning that when contract time comes (after the 09-10 season) Duncan's contract is gonna have to be huge like $1.2 Bil a year for 3 millenia or something ridiculous.Now on to my gripe about Huet. I am not opposed to new blood between the pipes nor am I oposed to Huet in particular. I'm also not opposed to giving Khabibulin the boot, throwing him under the bus, pushing him into traffic, or generally verbally abusing him like I have since he was a member of Tampa. What I am opposed to is the concept that two starters will share goaltending duties. Yeah this isn't the MLB we don't have a "rotation". We also don't have starters backing each other up morally. That crap only happens in REALLY shitty movies and not even just the bad ones like "Mighty Ducks 3"! This isn't a "feel good movie about buddies", this will be a "legendary clash of egos!". If Huet is replacing Khabi, that is fine. BUT who in their right mind signs another starting goalie while they still have one left to unload? And I do mean unload. Thanks to mathematics I figured out that we paid Khabi over $290K per win last year. Which I find ridiculous.Then we get to the draft. The whole time before hand there was only one kid rated in our range I did NOT want. Guess who we signed? The kid with an attitude problem and some injuries. Yeah genius drafting startegy! Oh but it gets better. We then spend the rest and I mean the entirety of our draft picks on defenseman. um, okay. Refilling the AHL roster with D-men? Possibly. Which almost started to make sense UNTIL we signed 3 defensemen in a row that were like #7 D-men at the best. So we have a bunch of D-men that should not be playing at the NHL all eating up non-existant cap space. Not one of these guys is gonna be ready to fill in for injured D-man James "Wiz" Wisniewski who will likely miss 5-10 games recovering from surgery.Yeah. Well anyway everyone keeps saying "The Blackhawks are going to be amazing next year!" I think we will make a powerful playoff push, but I'm not 100% on board for this "Stanley in 09 !" thought process that seems to be overpoweringly compelling to hockey fans right now. I'm happy that we're re-surging, but I'm confused as hell about out post-season strategies. I've shook my head in pure bafflement when we signed what really amounts to NHL cast offs and AHL refuse, especially when goaltending prospect Corey Crawford has not been signed. Corey has skills. I am saying that straight up. He could be a Stanley Cup winner, and that is no doubt to me. My Chicago Sports Paranoia keeps thinking we will let talent walk away and not even get a draft pick out of the deal AGAIN. When Corey gets signed and Khabi get dealt I'll relax a ton.It just doesn't stop getting better! By now that ridiculous trade rumor is swirling around that links us to the Kings and the Sens in a 3 team blockbuster trade. Let me dispell this rumor right now. NOT GONNA HAPPEN. The first tip off was that we would trade Seabrook and Khabi. Okay we JUST re-signed Seabs for 3 more years. This trade is not gonna happen. You don't re-enforce your blueline and then trade your 2nd biggest homegrown Defensive player(after Keith). Flush rumor #1. Rumor #2 is even more ludicrous as it involves both Khabi and Seabs and then gets even more Eklund-ish....er, insane by involving our top goal scorer Patrick Sharp. Let me tell you something. We might be dumb enough to overpay for Campbell, but dumping Sharp is a new kind of dumb that only a Gm for a Florida team could pull off.Someone will be hitting the skids, but it won't be Sharp or Seabrook. Stay tuned to see who that lucky target will be other than Khabi. My Spidey Sense says Barker. Oh well. I pled my case, but Koharsky is pointing at the box. I'm off for another 10. Good night folks
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Confusion in the face of Congratulations
I am a Blackhawks fan. I've taken my beatings. Now the team is starting to rise up from the ashes of the Bill Wirtz era and into the Rocky era. There is hope or was hope. While everyone keeps clapping their hands around me, I'm skeptical. It's like being John Hurt in "1984". There's a giant "Wait a minute!" feeling that is slowly consuming me.
Everyone keeps saying "Huet! Campbell! Brilliant!". Oh really? $12 mil worth of mediocre goaltending is Brilliant? Since when? I also didn't know paying a 37 year old defenseman $7.1 Mil was genius either. So maybe I have alot to learn OR (and I'm leaning towards this one) it's same old same old in Chicago. Overpaying players. And that is NOT genius.
One of the things that I was looking forward to this year was that we could get good players to come to Chicago without overpaying them. I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one. So how do we celebrate our new status as a "Place to be"? We overpay to get players to come to Chicago. Brilliance (note thick sarcasm)!
Regardless of the fact that we will lose $16.75 mil in salary after this season with Havlat, Khabibulin, and Lang's contracts all coming to an end. We have set an unrealistic pricetag to meet here. In my biased opinion Duncan Kieth will outshine our "big signing" of Brian Campbell. Meaning that when contract time comes (after the 09-10 season) Duncan's contract is gonna have to be huge like $1.2 Bil a year for 3 millenia or something ridiculous.
Now on to my gripe about Huet. I am not opposed to new blood between the pipes nor am I oposed to Huet in particular. I'm also not opposed to giving Khabibulin the boot, throwing him under the bus, pushing him into traffic, or generally verbally abusing him like I have since he was a member of Tampa. What I am opposed to is the concept that two starters will share goaltending duties. Yeah this isn't the MLB we don't have a "rotation". We also don't have starters backing each other up morally. That crap only happens in REALLY shitty movies and not even just the bad ones like "Mighty Ducks 3"! This isn't a "feel good movie about buddies", this will be a "legendary clash of egos!". If Huet is replacing Khabi, that is fine. BUT who in their right mind signs another starting goalie while they still have one left to unload? And I do mean unload. Thanks to mathematics I figured out that we paid Khabi over $290K per win last year. Which I find ridiculous.
Then we get to the draft. The whole time before hand there was only one kid rated in our range I did NOT want. Guess who we signed? The kid with an attitude problem and some injuries. Yeah genius drafting startegy! Oh but it gets better. We then spend the rest and I mean the entirety of our draft picks on defenseman. um, okay. Refilling the AHL roster with D-men? Possibly. Which almost started to make sense UNTIL we signed 3 defensemen in a row that were like #7 D-men at the best. So we have a bunch of D-men that should not be playing at the NHL all eating up non-existant cap space. Not one of these guys is gonna be ready to fill in for injured D-man James "Wiz" Wisniewski who will likely miss 5-10 games recovering from surgery.
Yeah. Well anyway everyone keeps saying "The Blackhawks are going to be amazing next year!" I think we will make a powerful playoff push, but I'm not 100% on board for this "Stanley in 09 !" thought process that seems to be overpoweringly compelling to hockey fans right now. I'm happy that we're re-surging, but I'm confused as hell about out post-season strategies. I've shook my head in pure bafflement when we signed what really amounts to NHL cast offs and AHL refuse, especially when goaltending prospect Corey Crawford has not been signed. Corey has skills. I am saying that straight up. He could be a Stanley Cup winner, and that is no doubt to me. My Chicago Sports Paranoia keeps thinking we will let talent walk away and not even get a draft pick out of the deal AGAIN. When Corey gets signed and Khabi get dealt I'll relax a ton.
It just doesn't stop getting better! By now that ridiculous trade rumor is swirling around that links us to the Kings and the Sens in a 3 team blockbuster trade. Let me dispell this rumor right now. NOT GONNA HAPPEN. The first tip off was that we would trade Seabrook and Khabi. Okay we JUST re-signed Seabs for 3 more years. This trade is not gonna happen. You don't re-enforce your blueline and then trade your 2nd biggest homegrown Defensive player(after Keith). Flush rumor #1. Rumor #2 is even more ludicrous as it involves both Khabi and Seabs and then gets even more Eklund-ish....er, insane by involving our top goal scorer Patrick Sharp. Let me tell you something. We might be dumb enough to overpay for Campbell, but dumping Sharp is a new kind of dumb that only a Gm for a Florida team could pull off.
Someone will be hitting the skids, but it won't be Sharp or Seabrook. Stay tuned to see who that lucky target will be other than Khabi. My Spidey Sense says Barker. Oh well. I pled my case, but Koharsky is pointing at the box. I'm off for another 10. Good night folks.
Everyone keeps saying "Huet! Campbell! Brilliant!". Oh really? $12 mil worth of mediocre goaltending is Brilliant? Since when? I also didn't know paying a 37 year old defenseman $7.1 Mil was genius either. So maybe I have alot to learn OR (and I'm leaning towards this one) it's same old same old in Chicago. Overpaying players. And that is NOT genius.
One of the things that I was looking forward to this year was that we could get good players to come to Chicago without overpaying them. I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one. So how do we celebrate our new status as a "Place to be"? We overpay to get players to come to Chicago. Brilliance (note thick sarcasm)!
Regardless of the fact that we will lose $16.75 mil in salary after this season with Havlat, Khabibulin, and Lang's contracts all coming to an end. We have set an unrealistic pricetag to meet here. In my biased opinion Duncan Kieth will outshine our "big signing" of Brian Campbell. Meaning that when contract time comes (after the 09-10 season) Duncan's contract is gonna have to be huge like $1.2 Bil a year for 3 millenia or something ridiculous.
Now on to my gripe about Huet. I am not opposed to new blood between the pipes nor am I oposed to Huet in particular. I'm also not opposed to giving Khabibulin the boot, throwing him under the bus, pushing him into traffic, or generally verbally abusing him like I have since he was a member of Tampa. What I am opposed to is the concept that two starters will share goaltending duties. Yeah this isn't the MLB we don't have a "rotation". We also don't have starters backing each other up morally. That crap only happens in REALLY shitty movies and not even just the bad ones like "Mighty Ducks 3"! This isn't a "feel good movie about buddies", this will be a "legendary clash of egos!". If Huet is replacing Khabi, that is fine. BUT who in their right mind signs another starting goalie while they still have one left to unload? And I do mean unload. Thanks to mathematics I figured out that we paid Khabi over $290K per win last year. Which I find ridiculous.
Then we get to the draft. The whole time before hand there was only one kid rated in our range I did NOT want. Guess who we signed? The kid with an attitude problem and some injuries. Yeah genius drafting startegy! Oh but it gets better. We then spend the rest and I mean the entirety of our draft picks on defenseman. um, okay. Refilling the AHL roster with D-men? Possibly. Which almost started to make sense UNTIL we signed 3 defensemen in a row that were like #7 D-men at the best. So we have a bunch of D-men that should not be playing at the NHL all eating up non-existant cap space. Not one of these guys is gonna be ready to fill in for injured D-man James "Wiz" Wisniewski who will likely miss 5-10 games recovering from surgery.
Yeah. Well anyway everyone keeps saying "The Blackhawks are going to be amazing next year!" I think we will make a powerful playoff push, but I'm not 100% on board for this "Stanley in 09 !" thought process that seems to be overpoweringly compelling to hockey fans right now. I'm happy that we're re-surging, but I'm confused as hell about out post-season strategies. I've shook my head in pure bafflement when we signed what really amounts to NHL cast offs and AHL refuse, especially when goaltending prospect Corey Crawford has not been signed. Corey has skills. I am saying that straight up. He could be a Stanley Cup winner, and that is no doubt to me. My Chicago Sports Paranoia keeps thinking we will let talent walk away and not even get a draft pick out of the deal AGAIN. When Corey gets signed and Khabi get dealt I'll relax a ton.
It just doesn't stop getting better! By now that ridiculous trade rumor is swirling around that links us to the Kings and the Sens in a 3 team blockbuster trade. Let me dispell this rumor right now. NOT GONNA HAPPEN. The first tip off was that we would trade Seabrook and Khabi. Okay we JUST re-signed Seabs for 3 more years. This trade is not gonna happen. You don't re-enforce your blueline and then trade your 2nd biggest homegrown Defensive player(after Keith). Flush rumor #1. Rumor #2 is even more ludicrous as it involves both Khabi and Seabs and then gets even more Eklund-ish....er, insane by involving our top goal scorer Patrick Sharp. Let me tell you something. We might be dumb enough to overpay for Campbell, but dumping Sharp is a new kind of dumb that only a Gm for a Florida team could pull off.
Someone will be hitting the skids, but it won't be Sharp or Seabrook. Stay tuned to see who that lucky target will be other than Khabi. My Spidey Sense says Barker. Oh well. I pled my case, but Koharsky is pointing at the box. I'm off for another 10. Good night folks.
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