Skille just not making strides
It's been four years since the Blackhawks made Jack Skille the seventh pick in the 2005 draft.
You remember that draft. It was the first one coming out of the lockout and because of the work stoppage every team was in a lottery for the first pick overall, which just happened to be Sidney Crosby's coming out year.
The Pittsburgh Penguins, of course, won the lottery for Crosby and have a Stanley Cup to show for it.
The Hawks took Skille, who may or may not figure into their future anymore.
It's not only Skille's $1.25 million salary cap hit that is keeping him out of the Hawks' lineup, as many would lead you to believe. Skille has yet to show that he is anything but a third-line winger at best. Good straight-ahead speed and a nice kid, but there's not much more to his game after that.
You better believe if Skille played like the seventh pick in the draft, the Hawks would find a place for him, no problem, salary cap hit and all.
I heard someone say Skille needed to play on the first two lines to be on this roster, and that there was no room for him, which was why he is in the minors.
That's just not true.
At this point in his career, Skille has not developed into a top-nine forward, and there are better options for the fourth line. Is that the Hawks' fault? Possibly, but maybe the mistake was made on that draft day in 2005.
Here are five pretty good players taken after Skille went at No. 7:
8. Devin Setoguchi, San Jose
11. Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles
12. Marc Staal, Rangers
24. T.J. Oshie, St. Louis
25. Andrew Cogliano, Edmonton
Assailing draft picks because of who came after them is such a hindsight game it shouldn't be entertained, i.e. Sam Bowie before Michael Jordan. WE GET IT.
he's been showing signs of life for the first time in his career.....but the Hawks pull the plug again.....address the frigging goaltending situation first....the mess with the corps.....
Skille reminds me of another Wiz...
Only for the simple fact that some Hawk fans get obsessed with Jack Skille the person and not Jack Skille the hockey player..
Some people act like we traded Scott Niedermeyer away when Wiz was swapped with Anaheim..
Fact is, this organization has eyes on these players every practice and every game.. wherever they are playing. I'll trust these guys over some obscured fans points of view any day of the week.
Tallon drafted him, and never gave him the shot last year.. clearly because he wasn't ready for that shot. GM's are proud and most of the time stubborn guys who don't like being wrong.. If Dale thought for one minute that Skille could have proved himself last year, he would have been up with the big club more.
"I think he will be a better Pro than college player"
When they drafted him I remember Tallon saying that. I also remember that I could not believe the Hawks drafted a player that did not play at a high level at Wisconsin, but somehow Tallon thought he would be a better player in the NHL.
Tallon also said Beach would be a better pro than junior player.
Please don't compare anyone to Cleary, unless it's in a negative light.
after the Mike Smith drafts that basically retarded the franchise.
He didn't have the guts to take the big quick but not fast Kopitar.
Who knows, he may have gone into the toews draft and THEN passed on Jonathan and went wing, cough, Kessell.
Barker, Bolland, Dowell, Seabrook, Crawford, Kukonen, Buff, Keith, Babchuk, Ellison, Wis, Burish, Ruutu, Anderson and five other guys who played in the league were all drafted by Smith.
If you look at Smith's drafts you will see he hit on more NHLers during his GM tenure than anyone else drafting during the same time.
Yes Yakubov and Vorobiev didn't pan out.
Unlike predicting where players will draft, the track record cannont be debated. Smith stocked the team that Tallon's defenders claim he turned around.
I must have missed all that playing time that the Hawks gave Skille to prove himself.
Maybe the coaching staff has seen enough in practice and down on the farm to know he can't play in the NHL. Or perhaps Skille is just one of these guys that is with the wrong team and needs to move on to get a fair shot. Time will tell. All we know for sure at this point is that the Hawks don't keep bringing in guys to fill his spot by accident.
Its a moot point. He is in Rockford. He might get another chance with the big club. Or he gets traded and turns into a Cleary or a dud who is never heard from again. I think Skille has some potential. He has looked better in the few games this year than in the past. Some players take longer to figure things out. Others never do. We will see. I would hold on to him a little longer. His speed, shot and size is a pretty good combination. Now his head just has to catch up with his physical skills.
Skille has not been given a legitimate chance. What can you expect when you throw a young player on the 3rd or 4th line for 5-7 minutes a night? Hell, it takes Toews how many games the past two years to score a goal? Look at the minutes he gets. Not saying Skille is Toews, just that he has not received a legitimate chance. Luck and timing are also key elements to success in the NHL. Only a hand full of guys in the league get the Shawon Dunston level of patience in their development. Lets not forget that he is one of the top forwards in Rockford as a second year pro. Not bad if you ask me. Skille will not get a real shot here, but stands a good chance to be a NHL regular if given a real opportunity. Kris Versteeg said it himself, there are many guys in the AHL that can get it done up here, they just haven't had the opportunities.
He has no hockey sense, and he continues to blame his salary, not his inabiity to evolve his game on why he's not in the NHL. If he had HALF the hockey sense and desire of a Troy Brouwer, with his skating, he'd be a force in the NHL right now.
Skille is alone again at Rockford and until Bowman's resolution concerning A Ebbet, the best place for Skille is Rockford for one really good reason -- he needs to finally see the light! Oh sure, Skille is well aware what his role is going to be in Chicago. This is not exactly the way a goal scorer would want it to be in his NHL days. Skille certainly has to have the attitude that he can become a goal scorer in the next league up, but now is the time for a fire to burn in him as he sits and waits for a recall. Whenever he may be recalled, he must do well the role given him. Skille appears to understand this role based solely on the last couple of games in Chicago; now he sits and thinks about his future while Ebbert auditions maybe for a spot should Bolland's back be an on again, off again problem. Think of Bolland as a poor man's #2 center; Ebbet as a poor man's Bolland; and Skille as MAYBE a 35 goal AHL scorer but not ever going to do that well on the NHL level. Skille's best hope is to use that speed as dependable checker and maybe he can get moved up to a top line occassionally like Eager does. But Skille likely does it modeling another uniform...unless he is still around after the summer 2010 roster upheaval. Bolland may have the ability to be a descent #2 center, but it sure wopuld help if he stays healthy and has at least one or two years playing with top six linemates. What do you think of all this, our Bolland backer, Mr Boldirev?
Totally agree with your logic, but Skille will never pot 35 in the A, 25 max in the AHL.
He can (maybe, maybe someday) be a Danny Cleary type player but man does he have a long way to go.
We could send Skille for an AHL defenseman who has shown he can play adequately at the NHL level. We may as a bonus save a few dollars along the way. A player that comes to mind is Mikelson, on Anaheim. Heard a comment that he was playing well in a recall earlier this season. Also, wondering about Ducks prospect Mitera, a former #1 -- must be that he ws assigned to Phoenix AHL team (San Antonio). Not too surprising after Coyotes send all those high picks to their farm club, that San Antonio is rolling along in victory parade and everyone is scoring! BTW: that's former NHL Gustafsson's son, who was a #1 couple years ago and signed to play over here this year. He was recalled for one game/not sure if he played. He's on the Cap's, just like his dad. That other Gustavson player..he's reportedly better than Niemi and had some inj problem early on. Right now J McDonald playing over Toskala. But Gustavsson is supposed to be the amn in goal for Leafs.
Let's watch Davis at Rockford. He has a second two goal game. Dowell interestingly has 7pts in 6gp. Just saying...maybe Dowell is a better player soon over Fraser. Have to think Ebbet is insurance for Bolland's bad back. Ebbet plays over Fraser ? when Boland is healthy. Ebbet is skilled, crafty but slow afoot for today's NHL. If Bowman moves any big name forwards, Ebbets is a chip to play (as a reserve).
I would like to see the Hawks save Skille for a package deal. Something where they can shed some salary by trading two guys for another player and a draft pick or something like that.
Skille and Barker somewhere.
If the Hawks could somehow parlay that into a stay at home d-man, another young goalie and some cap relief, Trifecta.
Mitera is one knee hit from being Wisniewski,
Mikkelson is an inexperienced Cam Barker who is only playing more minutes because Wiz is AGAIN injured, and it is rare that the goalie getting paid the much larger salary sits for long simply because they GM paid the guy to play.
Vesa Toskala will play again more that the swede
Huet will play more than niemi,
Giguere will STILL get time in anaheim and the big Russian in Washington will get the Theodore job unless they all lose an arm.
These GMs don't want to hear the press asking if their careers are over in their cities and that is what happens if each doesn't play every third game, because it makes the GM a jackass for paying millions for guys that cannot hold the position.
Hear that Dale?
It took THAT much more money to get Huet to decide against the Caps offer?
Ebbetts still finished when playing with skilled guys....and Skille has yet to prove he can, but I am not trading Skille until the pressure is high enough on him to explode.
Players want time on the ice and if he does he will work to that end and not make the Cap his crutch....
Continuing to talk about Rockford players like Davis is not applicable....they at this point are minor blemishes and little consequence qwhen your offense is firing the puck on goal in the numbers the present team is.
How does Davis or anybody able to the present scheme and major way?
Forget about Rockford for how.
Too many Hawk contracts here within two months to consider any minor league 5 minute replacements....heck they can skate a defenseman there who will at least know his taemmates before throwing a hog into the fire.....
Skille is a loser just like that Cleary kid who...oh, wait.
Still, a guy like Kopitar or Oshie would've looked great in a Hawks sweater...
the Hawks aren't exactly an easy line up to crack for a kid at forward
He'll find a home somewhere
There are some places like Colorado, Nashville, NYI, etc where he'd probably get more ice time. I think he is just needing the time to get his game to that level and gain some confidence. He was clearly putting the effort in on that forth line and working hard to make hits. I don't think we can fault his effort.
There were many that said Skille's game was comparable to Bill Guerin. That is who he was constantly compared to. At the time wasn't a bad draft pick. Still wouldn't give up on him yet unless he isn't coachable. If he isn't taking instruction, taking it into the game most importantly, then you trade him.
And there were some scouts who said he shouldn't have been a first rounder based on a lack of hockey sense. And they were right.
Bill Guerin took seven years before he finally broke out and became a nhl scorer. The first two full years he did nothing and improved in year three. He then was just average until he broke out when he was 27 or 28. Now I am not saying Skille will be a Guerin as that is up to him and how he develops but my point is he has had little opportunity. Many of you are slamming this kid but I say it is premature to call him a failure. He also has put up with the crap and not demanded a trade and seems like a great kid to me. I actually hope he does get traded so he can get a fresh start somewhere else because even though not all agree I think he can be a top six forward one day. I know one thing for sure he can skate like the wind and has a dandy wrist shot. As for his hockey sense I am not sure but put him on a line with Toews and Kane and I bet he scores. Once he pots a few and confidence builds he could become a Guerin. I say trade him and wish him all the best somewhere else. If we are not going to use him let's move him. There would be interest from several teams based on his potential.