It's soon to be all about Huet
The Blackhawks have so many terrific pieces in place for a long run as one of the NHL's elite team.
But for anyone who dreams of the day when the commissioner places the Stanley Cup into the arms of captain Jonathan Toews, I have one question: When you have that dream, who is the goalie?
Following Sunday's embarrassing 6-1 loss to the Red Wings at the United Center, the Hawks are one more loss away from what should be an interesting off-season.
Maybe the biggest question of all is what does GM Dale Tallon do in goal? Cristobal Huet is signed for three more years at $5 million-plus while Nikolai Khabibulin will be an unrestricted free agent.
Based on that contract, Huet would seem to be the No. 1 guy for next season, but do the Hawks really know if he can get te job done? I think they should have some serious reservations.
In fairness to Huet, his start Sunday in Game 4 was his first since early April, but the bottom line is he wasn't very good in such a critical setting. Watch again the goals he allowed. Awful.
Maybe this isn't the time to start thinking about the goalie situation for next year. I'm just saying it should be a concern. A big concern for Tallon and his staff.
Nice read there Wiz. Got me thinking and looking forward as well.
I think we have pieces in place to get better and be thought of as a top team. There are holes and questions as there are with most teams. I think there needs to be more tweaks then major changes.
1. Can't resign Habby. With how well he played this year, he has still showed that we can't count on him due to injuries. I highly doubt he would take a major pay cut so I don't think we can re-commit near enough money for him to be happy staying. I'm not saying that we have to put all our eggs in Huet's basket. A big difference this year is that the Hawks had great attendance so there is plenty of money made by the team so we don't have as many limitations as in years past. While it might not be an ideal situation, we can have Huet in the minors if we want. If Niemi/Crawford show to be better then we can have a good veteran backup like Lalime was to go with whichever. If one of them gets hurt or flops we have insurance. This avoids a bad salary cap situation (especially with the cap shrinking and our player salaries rising) and we can play who is best for the team.
2. Trade Campbell, Brouwer, Fraser to Montreal. They have a team that is in flux. A lot of UFAs and spots needed to fill. They won't necessarily be driven to bring back the same players because they have folded in the playoffs. Campbell is a salary dump but I would think that Montreal would want a reason to take a chance on him. I figure that Brouwer and Fraser can benefit them with their rebuilding. All told we gain the cap room needed to keep the players that we really need. We have Sopel under contract still and can plug him into that spot (not on the powerplay) and have him be a defensive player on a tandem with Barker. If Sopel plays bad then we can admit that mistake and move on.
3. Sign Pahlsson and Malhotra. Neither should make much more then they are now (between 1.5-1.75) but could center our 3rd offensive line (Malhotra) and our checking line (Pahlsson). Both have size, speed, can win faceoffs, and are good team guys. That makes our center position pretty deep.
I think we need cap space to keep the majority of this team together but still need to make shrewd decisions on keeping players. Havlat is one of the most important decisions. He played great this year. But this is the most games he has ever played in a year. Can he consistently do it again? Will he take a one year deal? That is where Tallon will make his decision and mark. There will be plenty of these decisions coming very soon.
How about offering Duncan Keith to Boston for Milan Lucic? Keith has been an integral part of the Hawks for a while now, but I'm not convinced that he's a playoff-caliber blue-liner. Lucic might do for Toews and Kane what Secord did for Savard and Larmer. The fact is that Boston would probably want more than just Keith for Lucic. In that case throw in a young winger and never look back. As to Keith's spot on the blue-line, perhaps Lalonde comes in from Belleville and skates next to Barker, or maybe we sign a guy like Beaumarchin from Anaheim. Beaumarchin would give the d-core a grittier presence. Walker is indeed tough but he lacks speed, quickness, and puck skill. As much as I hated him in round 2, Bieksa would also be a nice addition. By the way, Byfuglien has improved his value in this postseason. Would he not also be a nice bit of trade bait? The potential is there, but I'm not convinced that he wants it badly enough.
It may be a busier offseason that we realize.
Did Kronwall's hit on Havlat accentuate the point that he is soft? Did the hit lessen his value on the open market? Let's hope so. How could we get rid of Huet, Sopel, and Aaron Johnson etc.? I would really like to see a player like Beach, Skille or the 6'7"Antilla.
I believe Havlat is a priority sign, if Luongo is available get him.
Who is Antilla? I haven't heard of him.
With three years left on his deal it is extremely unlikely that the Hawks could trade Huet even if they wanted to. But I'm not sure they want to anyway. Tallon/Bowman see something in this guy or they would not have signed him for four years regardless of the money involved. I think they also see something in Khabibulin that they don't like which is why they signed Huet a year before Bulin's contract was up. Maybe it was just Bulin's age, maybe it was his erratic play the past three years, or maybe it was something else. Who knows for sure.
I know there are many posters that crucify Huet for having the gall to take so much money when it was being offered. Some posters don't seem to like his style which also has led to many a crucifiction this year. To me we need to see at least a full season of him playing 50-55 games followed by a playoff run before we have a true measurement of what he is or what he isn't. But based on what I saw during the regular season this year I did not see anything that firmly says he can't be "the guy" around here for a couple of years. I think I'd like to see him improve with the stick (maybe the Hawks could bring someone in to help with this...where's Eddie when you need him?) as that got him into trouble a few times during the year but his overall play was fine considering it was his first year here.
It does appear that Detroit has him figured out though. I heard some local radio guys discussing Huet yesterday. They figured out his GAA against Detroit this year was 4.38 and he has obviously been shelled from games against Detroit multiple times. That's an uh-oh. However, his GAA against the rest of the league was 2.39. With the Hawks offense and a continued committment to improve the defense next year that is more than enough to get the job done. They just need to figure out how to slow down the Wings offense.
I heard from a fairly reliable source that in between the second and third periods of Fridays game, Coach Q was berating Khabby something fierce. Khabby went nose to nose with Q and told him to get one of his defensemen to take out the Red Wings camped out in front of his net and there wouldn't be so many shots going in. Then Khabby says "Oh and by the way my groin hurts."
First of all, Khabby had a point regarding the Hawks failure to take out Holmgren and the others. He also should not been subject to verbal abuse from the coach.
However, to walk out on his team in the Conference finals in the middle of a tie game goes beyond whatever locker room problems he was having with the coach.
Khabibulin has always been and still is an egocentric selfish player who puts his wants and needs above the teams. He should be gone at the end of this year and good riddance.
The only problem is can Huet fill the bill.
Fairly reliable source?
kHABIBULIN39 is gonna tee off on you when he reads what you posted.
If its true...
Hofly trust your source, I'm not surprised one bit that Nik stood up to him. Don't be surprised if Khabby is done as a Blackhawk for good though, but I don't think Nik walked out on his team.
Mr. my wallet is 10K light, pulled the plug on him and decided to bring Crawford out of a skybox instead. Besides I hear Mr. 6-19 career in the post season vs the Wings (until tomorrow), also ducked the question from some local reporter about how Crawford became the post season #3 goalie in stead of Niemi. The whole goalie thing in this Organ-I-Zation seems to revolve around money.
I wondered the same thing. My first thought when I saw Crawford was: "Khabby sulked and refused to go out."
If that's the case, he's finished in Chicago. And I, for one, am OK with that.
I'll also say this, the team played better for him in games 1-3 than it did for Baby Huet in Game 4.
As far as Q's 6-19 vs. the Wings in the postseason, SG, that's about the most misleading stat I've ever seen. Come on. St. Louis and Colorado (of recent vintage) versus the Wings? Please.
There might be something to a negotiating ploy vis a vis Crawford over Niemi. Could also be they NEVER thought either would see the ice, Niemi had personal stuff to deal with in Finland, they're giving Crawford a good soldier bonus. All of the above. Who knows?
As far as money, yeah, well, it's going to start meaning a lot when they have to do all these deals with Bolland, Keith, Versteeg, Kane, Toews. Even Byf is up again in two years.
jacukel, I wondered about the same thing too. I figured I was reading too much into the switch and no player worth his weight would go into a pout in a must win game.
Jacukel..6-19 is not very misleading..and in all likelyhood 6-20 after tomorrow and 0-5 in post season series wont be either. Q has had 5 shots with 3 different teams, and they all weren't pansie teams. They all had some players and some talent. Of course the Wings of this ERA are very good, but geez..even if he doesnt win, how about at least 1 seven game series in 5 tries. His regular season numbers vs Det. are pityful too, in fact when the Hawks hired him, there were columns from Detroit and Toronto papers that said obviously the Hawks didn't do their homework before they hired this guy. If they want to hurdle the Wings, they brought in the wrong guy. Time will tell, he has a couple of more years on his deal, so he has at least
two more shots to get it right.
I am betting he doesnt beat them in the post season, should the teams neet head-to-head in either of the next two years. I think the Hawks are trying to send a message to Niemi, he wants some serious money from the Hawks, if not he has no problem with pulling the plug here and heading back to Finland to play. It's just after the way Q treated CC during the year as opposed to Niemi, I am surprised Q went with CC here in the post season.
Jacukel,
You and Wiz are 2 of the more level-headed guys here (and I've read your stuff over on Hockeybuzz too) -- most simply write off Cristo because the "book" says he can be beat up high. While that may be somewhat accurate (Khabi, btw, in my estimation is even worse up high and usually has a gaping 5-hole), very few seem to want to fess up to the rest of the team's play in front of him most of the time.
When Cristo had a good run while Khabi was out (again) hurt, the team played very well in front of him. When he was bad, it was like a snowball rolling downhill -- the team played crappy, Cristo let up an easy one and the team simply quit.
We saw this play out in game 4 -- Cristo had the shorthander but let it trickle in off his arm after having blocked it. At that point, the team simply fell apart. Everyone wants to blame him for the 2nd goal (the high wrister shot through the legs of the Hawks D to upper left corner) -- but I honestly felt that was a much tougher shot than the one Khabi gave up to Clearly from the left side early in the series. That particular shot was seen ALL THE WAY by Bulin and was a weak shot (relatively speaking). Cristo, did not immediately see the shot and by the time he reacted it was too late.
One of our other posters may have hit the nail on the head earlier -- a good part of the problem might be Jimmy Waite. If you've watched the goalie practice at all this year (prior to full team coming out), virtually everything is done on the knees or worked on by dropping down. There is no practice whatsoever on staying up until a shot is launched, trying to assess whether you need to go down to cover the entire lower half of the net and try to rely on your glove if it's up over your body.
From a purely athletic standpoint -- quickness, etc -- Cristo seems to be a far better athlete. Watching Niemi in practice the few times he's been out, what he has going for him is sheer size. He appears (to me) to be relatively slow & lumbering. Crawford OTOH has quickness and could use work on positioning that might come w/a better coach and more real NHL experience.
Savvy one..Stephane Waite is your goalie coach now, Jimmy Waite the hawks #1 pick in 1987 is no longer an issue here. But you knew that.
Sports guy,
100% right, Stephane -- I've watched the guy run Cristo/Khabi/etc. through practice upteen times. Comments still stand, though, on what he does with them in practice.
Wonder if things would have been any different, at least for Cristo, if Tretiak were goalie coach? Tretiak ended up coaching Belfour and Hasek (also Broudeur)(and Thibault, though he didn't seem to help him much while he was a Hawk). Maybe more to do with the clay than the potter?
I guess there would be some say the same thing about Waite and current Hawks goalie scenario.
Savvyone..I do agree, I wish Vladdy was still here, but he became less and less available
to the Hawks as he grew as a political force in Russia. I am not totally sure but I think he is
now considered a state senator which is a big position in that country. Come the day Marty
Brodeur retires, if J-mac wants to pull a coo, steal him away from the Devils as goalie coach or since Patrick Roy claims the Lanche did not offer him Granato's job, maybe he could be lured here another coo for J-mac to work on. His last coo of bringing in Scotty Bowman, was not quite the steal he would like to think it is. Apparently many in the Det. front office couldnt wait to see the door hit SB on the backside on his way out. I hear the atmosphere is much better there now, like the Bulls front office became when Pax took over for Jerry "Crumbs" Krause.
Sports guy,
Interesting observations -- you never know whether a great player has within the ability to articulate and demonstrate what they inherently know. Case in point: Michael Jordan. Arguably the best ever bb player but certainly not a great judge of talent (and not necessarily able to convey what he instinctively knew on the court). Whether Broudeur or Roy would be able to become a great coach is something that only time will tell if they decide to stay in the game that way. Phil Jackson was not the greatest of players but certainly has shown he can convey his knowledge to his teams to win.
Honestly, I have been wondering all year (since Q was named), whenever the Hawks would play Detroit, why they simply never were able to achieve what they did last year under Savvy? Why is it that Q just cannot figure it out? Is he so rooted in his 1 way of doing things that he cannot adjust or cannot convey these things to his team? His lifetime record against them has shown there is something to this.
Why, with the same, if not better team as last year -- can the Hawks not consistently solve the Wings? They sure didn't show it during regular season and have only shown glimpses in the playoffs this year. What is it about his ways and his knowledge of the game -- versus Savvy last year? Savvy understood and maybe it was the passion he wore on his sleeve that allowed his team to achieve far beyond what they should have been capable of. And if that's the case, how is Q the long-term answer to this young team that has shown it is far more capable of learning and growing than most any of us thought?
Does anyone else think that the goaltending issues might stem from the goalie coach? I don't like what I see from the positioning of Crawford or Niemi. Look how Craig Anderson and Michael Leighton have improved since they left our system.
They never should have let Anderson go. The only problem he ever had in Chicago was being way too aggressive and over-committing, which is correctable. He has a lot of talent. Look at his numbers over the last two years.
Would you listen to commentary on the credit crisis from a fired mortgage broker? Olczyk and Mcquire are failed coaches who can't get jobs in the real business of hockey so they are commentators.
Olczyk couldn't get the Pittsburgh Penguins with Crosby to play two way hockey.
McQuire hasn't had a real job in hockey for over a decade.
DVR the games, watch with the sound off and make your own opinions.
I still say McGuire is a toolbox and if he is going to blatantly root for the Wings Edszo shouldn't be falling all over himself trying to be objective.
Eddie O got the axe in Pitt for not playing number 1 draft choice Marc-Andre Fluery when the kid was 18 with a young team in front of him, and Pitt was cash strapped with sagging attendance.
Mario got an infusion of cash, Crosby came in, and the young team began to mature.
Attendance improved, but Eddie woul not play Fluery becasue he knows how fragile a young goalie's psyche is. (Remember how mamy times Jocylen Thibault got he nod back then?)
So Eddie got the axe only to see the team he nutured go on to the level they are now.
Side note: The Hawks pegged Leighton as the future in front of a bad team and played him extensively in his young career.
Result: He never blossomed and is now a back-up in Carolina.
Maybe i am all wrong on this. Who knows?
Swisscheese 39..you are slighty wrong on the Edzo-MAF story. I know for a fact that Eddie wanted to keep MAF in Pitt after that pre-season because he was the best goalie he had in camp, but MAF was cheap that season if in the AHL, but costing the cash strapped Pens big dough if in the NHL (2-way deal). So folks over Edzo's head sent MAF down over Ed's protests, broke EO's heart to have to tell the kid why and that he wasn't staying in the steel city. Edzo got stuck with Josh T-bault and some other stiff, which cost E-O his job. Of course some outsiders think Mario saw the inmates running the asylum under E-O's reign and that did him in. Edzo will tell you it was because he had no goalie, just ask him sometime.
Dale has done a good job at drafting young players (Toews, Kane, etc) and making trades for young players who have either fallen out of favor or have no spot on their current teams (Sharp, Eager, Versteeg); however, he needs to be kept away from signing free agents anymore. Years ago, when the league was changing the rules to make the game more dependent on skating, speed and skill, he was busy signing guys like Curtis Brown, Jason Cullimore, Matthew Barnaby, Adrian Aucoin and Khabibulin, He then declaring that the "Blackhawks are Back!" The contracts he gave to Khabi and Aucoin were way over the top and the other signings were just plain awful. Now, prior to this year, you think he would have learned a lesson from that debacle, but instead, he went out and signed Brian Campbell to probably (if I can borrow a line from coach Q) the worst contract in the history of sports. Campbell has been no better than mediocre this season (and at times simply awful) and he will never play at a level high enough to justify his deal. I truly don't believe there is a team in the league that would have paid him more than 4 million tops for 3 or 4 years. Although he has played better in the playoffs, he cost us game 2 against Detroit and was a minus 3 yesterday, including his idiotic decision to take a run at Hossa, who easily went around him and scored 12 seconds after we scored to effectively end that game. His "gutless" comment regarding the Kronwall hit did nothing but spur on Detroit when the smart thing would have been to keep his mouth shut.
As for Huet, this was another unneccesary move made worse by the contract that was given to him. I thought Khabi actually played well down the stretch last season when the Hawks were driving for a playoff birth. Why not let him finish out his contract this season and back him up with Crawford or Niemi who would gain valuable experience and perhaps be ready to take over next season. If you didn't want to stunt their growth sitting on the bench, then fine, you could have found a quality back up for a season or two at respectable money. Huet has been a journeyman in this league for a reason. If he could lead a team to a Cup, he wouldn't have been available in the first place. I know the plan was to trade Khabi, but guess what, you couldn't do it because nobody wanted to take on such a ridiculous contract, even if you offered to pay some of it. Tallon should have made sure he had a trade in place before offering Huet that deal.
In my opinion, the Hawks have to do everything possible to get out from under Huet. I would sign Khabi to a one or two year deal at far less money than he was making or even Huet is making. For those who are saying he won't take less money, I say he won't have a choice. Nobody in this league is going to give a 37 year old goalie, who is still good, but past his best days, a long term big money contract. His only other option besides returning to the Hawks is to go back to Russia. If he does that, then so be it.
Otherwise, keep Khabi and again, either bring up Crawford or Niemi to back him up or sign a competent backup.
Now if I was to dream big, I'd let both Khabi and Huet go and try to get Giguere from Anaheim. Ideally, and I know everybody will rip me on this, but I believe Luongo is a free agent after next season and wants out of Vancouver (if rumors are to be believed).
I know he was bad against the Hawks, but the guy is definitely one of the best goalies in the world and playing with a Hawks defense that is speedy and mobile compared to the old and slow defense of the Canucks would only make him better. Again, that's just a dream, because unlike Khabi, there will be alot of teams willing to go after Luongo for big money.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out during the offseason and I'm hoping Scotty Bowman will have a large say in how this unfolds, because I don't trust Tallon to make the right move. Judging from the lack of commitment from the Hawks brass (McDonough, Rocky, Bowman) to Tallon after his contract is up, I'm guessing they don't necessarily trust him with this decision either.
Most important position on a team, by a wide margin - particularly in the playoffs.
the rest of the team feeds off their goaltender - if he is good or great, the team usually plays well or "great", if he is weak or bad, the team usually sucks as well. an average team with great goaltending is usually better off than a great team with mediocre goaltending - dominik hasek & buffalo vs. patrick lalime & ottawa is a good example.
proven playoff experience & winning a cup is worth a lot - some might suggest cup winning goalies win because they play on great teams, but there is no position with more specific pressure on it come playoff time than goaltender. detroit had great teams in the early & mid 90s - but couldn't win with osgood so they finally got vernon (a former cup winner) to win their first in 96, showing osgood how its done. hawks & their fans are unfortunately are finding out now with huet, that nothing beats proven playoff experience.
only 4 goalies in the past 15 years have won a cup in their first finals appearance - ward, khabi, brodeur, & richter, & only one of those had not won a previous playoff round - ward (who like roy & dryden before him) was a raw rookie. that means that 11 of the past 15 cup winning goalies had at least made it to the finals once before they went on to win it.
current nhl goalies who have won it aside from khabi, ward & brodeur are osgood & giguere - that is it!
fleury might join that pretty exclusive club this year, and it is interesting that 3 of the 4 teams left this season have cup winning goalies & the 4th played in the finals last year. coincidence? I don't think so.
aside from khabi & giguere, all those guys were developed by the teams that drafted them & for all intents & purposes giguere came into his own in anaheim, having appeared in only 30 nhl games with calgary & hartford over 6 seasons before joining the ducks.
if you try to develop your own, then you better have drafted the guy in the first round - only osgood (3rd) & khabi (a 9th rd pick!) weren't picked in the 1st round - fleury went first overall. the hawks have taken only two goalies in the first round ever - adam munro (still trying to make it to the nhl playing for the toronto marlies) & jimmy waite. not much to be encouraged about there.
crawford was a 2nd round pick, 52nd overall - is he good enough to ever win one? maybe, but the odds suggests he needs to get to a finals first & before that he first needs to make the team & become a number 1, so you are looking at several years away at least.
niemi wasn't even drafted - but neither was belfour or bill ranford - two pretty good goalies who went on to win cups, tho not with the teams that originally signed them.
huet also wasn't drafted & was signed by LA originally - could he deliver a cup for the hawks? i think currently he is the hawks most realistic option, given that his contract makes him unmoveable, particularly in a declining cap world.
but huet will need a much greater commitment to defense than the young run & gun hawks have grown accustomed to & even if they can successfully make that significant adjustment, there is still no guarantee they win the cup. (and hopefully they take notes about how much backside pressure they are getting from all of detroit's players, including their star forwards).
the other two remaining options as i see them.
1. try to keep khabi around longer - somehow hoping he'll forgo more money elsewhere to sign a short term deal for less money - considering he left defending champs tampa for more money, i doubt the hawks can appeal to him to stay for less, particularly since it might be his last chance at a "big" contract.
2. to keep their cup plans on the fast "run & gun" track, the hawks might consider going after j.s giguere. anaheim came within a game of knocking off the defending cup champs with a rookie goalie (also undrafted) this year while leaving a cup & conn smythe winner on the bench. giguere won the conn smythe playing with a finesse team that featured kariya, macdonald, oates, sykora, chistov & r. niedermayer & won the cup playing for a team known for being tough & punishing physically & grinding down their opponents.
giguere has 2 more years left on his contract @ $6M per, and may become expendable given hiller's emergence - that might be a bit rich for the hawks given huet's contract, but might be a risk worth taking, especially if huet struggles to start next season & crawford or niemi don't step up.
Did you say Hasek was mediocre? Wait, just re-read it. I get ya. Sorry.
I contend that the young Hawks do not implode IF a veteran goalie makes money saves at huge times in game 4.
Huet was just terrible in the clutch. Awful. Horrible.
Think about it. The guy lets in 3 goals in 16 shots. Captain Marvel scores a hard working PP goal to get life. Then Huet gets beat on a softie on shot 17. 4-1 and the implosion reaches nuclear proportions.
Huet has got to go.
If you think they had trouble getting rid of Khabi this past year, Huet will be impossible to move with his contract.
Bottom line; Huet will be the number one goalie next season, because they are stuck with him.
The interesting one will be Havlet. I say it's 50/50 whether he comes back, especially with the young guys they will need to sign down the road. The Campbell and Huet deals are like a 500 lb weight around the Hawks neck.
Just because he is making starter money does not mean he will lead the Hawks.. Look at Washington they went with a rookie and Theodore sat on the bench for the play-offs when he couldn't cut it, who was making the money there... Hopefully one of these rookies step up next year and can steal the job from Huet....
MPH73 you are dead on about the Campbell and Huet deals burying the Hawks. Unless Tallon can pull a miracle and either get rid of those guys or get them to rework their deals, I think he will be gone as GM before too long.
Niemi beats him out. Which is quite possible. Then he's a backup at $5.5 mil per until they can deal him or buy out his last two years.
...that Niemi gets every opportunity next season to win the starting job, and then you just see what happens.
The fact of the matter is this; Huet can not be moved with his current deal, so Khabi is as good as gone. When you add in Campbell's long term deal, Havlet is unlikely to be back as well. I just don't see how they can set aside the money to keep the young guys, when you may have 3 guys (Havlet, Huet and Campbell) making 16-17 mil. Havlet will be the casualty, because you can't do anything with the other two.
I'll say again, this will end up costing Tallon his GM role, even though the powers at be approved these expenditures.
Quenneville showed why he is a sub-500 playoff coach last night. Game 4 on home ice and team did not show up to play. Young team. Coach's fault.
sorry, but to suggest or imply that Q somehow prevented this team from reaching its appropriate level this year is one of the most absurd comments i've read recently (& i've read quite a few here).
he screwed up yesterday, but that hardly makes this season or his season sub 500 - and in case you can't count, the hawks, the youngest team in the league, are guaranteed to be over 500 in the playoffs this year both in games & series W & Ls.
The Blackhawks can not and will not let Bolland walk!!The guy is very close to being a "CORE PLAYER"Dave has to put some more weight on but he is an excellent two/way guy and is a team guy as well .Lock him up for 6 years at 1.6 per year Dale
1.6 per year? Think it will cost more than that over 6 yrs!
Huet is one of those guys that needs a few games to get going. He has shown us that before. He was a big difference in the game, because he didn't give his team a good chance to win. A few players decided to respond with taking terrible penalties. Versteeg and Walker stand out most to me in that dept.
Huet wasn't ready to go and some players showed their inexperince by letting their emotions get the best of them.
People are worrying a big too much about the cap. There isn't going to be a lot of money to go around in the league this year. Don't look for too many huge contracts or teams taking much risk. None of the UFAs are worth giving away too much salary for. Havlat would have to accept a pay cut and Khabby just isn't in the cards. Sammy could stay, depending on the price and Walker doesn't really have much leverage to command to much salary. He isn't a top 4 Dman and isn't all that important to the success of this team.
Tallon needs to try to lock in Bolland, Barker and Versteeg for reasonable contracts. Brouwer, Eager and Fraser shouldn't expect much of a raise.
Go get a verteran UFA and pair him with Campbell so he doesn't have to carry Walker or Hjarm.
Are you kidding? I think Hjarmersson (spelling) is the one that is stuck carrying Campbell. Campbell is another guy I would do everything possible to get rid of if he's not willing to rework that deal
This isnt the NFL. Campbell doesnt have to rework his deal. He will be laughing all the way to the bank for another 7 years. Thanks Dale.
Campbell is an offensive defenseman in an era where there aren't five others. The other teams have to react to his skating whenever he's on the ice. He breaks down traps with his skating and when the puck is on his stick Q can change forward lines to work his matchups. He is not a bone crushing guy who chips it off the glass and never ventures into the offensive zone. Hjarm is undersized to be a physical force and not fast enough to overcome it. His value will never be higher. He's another Wiz. Nice player but not a game changer. As for Huet, the same things people are writing about him is what the 2 or 3 of us who were following this team a few years back saw said about Khabby. Goalies are tricky. The scouts know what they are watching. Huet could turn it around. Everone who wants Huet and Campbell dumped for the contracts doesn't understand how hard it is to do that and is seriously underestimating what Campbell has accomplished. Remember he played most of the year with Walker. Pair him with Ohlund next year and he will be an All Star. Why would you blow up a team that made it to the Conference Finals?
I agree with the other reply
No way. I like Hjalmersson alot. Campbell love to try to get the puck deep, but when he is challenged it is like a Pro challenging a college player. Hjalmersson Is Carrying Campbell. simple as that
Campbell can do what only Housley, Coffey, Leetch, Boyle and Green can do. He changes the way the game is played. He isn't going to be able to stand up to 215 pound forwards everywhere on the ice. That's why you get a guy to pair with him who can do that but can't dream of doing what Campbell does all over the rest of the rink. If anyone runs into one of the Hawks and can ask them what they think of the way Campbell plays I'm willing to bet they say that Campbell takes a lot of pressure off of the forwards and the other d would love to be paired with a guy who can controll the game with the puck on his stick.
. . . as a complement to Campbell. Super responsible in his own end, mobile, pretty physical too. I agree he lacks experience. But it is amazing that he has played as well as he has under these circumstances, at his age and experience level. He'll put on another 10-15 pounds too.
He's carrying Hjalmarsson? Sometimes it looks the other way around. Yes, Hjalmar is young and right now he is making the really easy play sometimes, but that kid has solid top 4 guy written all over him.
I hate the guy as it seems he's anti Hawk, and continues to ride this team throughout every broadcast. However, his comments from the winter classic still loom large about Huet. He won't lead this team to the Stanley Cup and he can't stop the high shot. Which he pointed out numerous times.
I rode Bulin for not making huge saves, and being average at best. I was hoping that Huet would rise up and sieze the opportunity yesterday, but instead he imploded. THe first goal he could saved. Much like Cleary's 5 hole in game 2. Hossa missed lifting it, and Huet got a large piece. The second goal was an absolute joke. There is no excuse for that. Screened or not. THe third goal was horrible rebound control, and the fourth he got beat on.
A horrible game by a very large question mark, who may be the key to sealing Dale Tallon's fate. Huet's deal, Campbell's deal, and Sopel's deal are all going to kill this team.
I give credit to Havlat. I thought there was no way he would play on Sunday, but managed to man up and give this team any effort he could. He must be resigned.
I know there is a lot of love for Bulin, but unless it's a one year deal for a reasonable price, he has to walk. He is getting old, and that groin is obviously a problem. Not to mention you have Crawford or Niemi who need to be evaluated. I don't see how the Hawks can deal Huet without eating a large portion of the deal.
Just a flat out horrible effort by a team that should have been desperate. They looked timid and flat, and got what they deserved. They were never in this game, and Detroit absolutely dominated them without their 2 best players. Hopefully in game 5, they have a better showing.
Huet blew it, I'm done with him. But I am in no way sold on Bulin either.
Havlat was pretty damn gutsy. You could tell he was feeling a little green around the gills but he was out there. Much tougher guy and a better teammate than he's given credit for.
Campbell had a horrible game, BTW. He's been great all thru the playoffs til yesterday though.
Like I said in my other post. Don't sign Khabby, Havlat,,,,trade Campbell for a draft pick, dump Sopel, and release Huet.
Go with Crawford or Niemi next year and you have 20 million available to secure your RFA's and sign the Sedin Twins for about 6 million apiece.
That solves your 2nd line center issues and replaces the Havlat loss.
>Is a rebound machine
>Plays the position almost entirely from his knees and has trouble getting back up
>Soft goal specialist who allows goals at the worst possible times
>Has no feel for the game and no idea where the puck is likely to be
>The entire league has a "shooter's book" on him -- "burn his ears" is what shooters try to do
>Get rid of him -- even if you have to eat some salary -- this guy is not a #1 goalie
>Has a legion of defenders and apologists that I will never understand -- remember his "fish-flop" performance at the Winter Classic...he does not have what it takes to win a Cup
Grinder....well articulated. This guy has the mental makeup of the French army right before WW 2. Ultra soft. His fundamentals are terrible and as we saw yesterday....two critical goals came on fat rebounds and the killer 2-0 goal from a terrible angle totally deflated the UC. CBC cut to a shot of Tallon mouthing the Big Man's name in vain........funny since that what i said when i heard we lined the pockets of this Swiss Cheese sieve.
Thornton to the Rangers for Gomez or Drury?
Kovalchuk?