Sit Toews and Seabrook until Phoenix
The health status of Jonathan Toews and Brent Seabrook will be the first thing Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville is asked about after practice Wednesday.
Of course, we may get our answer sooner if either Toews or Seabrook is on the ice for the workout.
Quenneville is probably getting as tired of the Toews/Seabrook questions as we are of asking them.
It's a long season, not even November yet, so there should be no reason for the Hawks to rush Toews and Seabrook back into action.
In fact, the smart thing would be to hold them out the next two games on Thursday and Friday against Nashville and Montreal, take your chances and let them shoot for a return on Nov. 5 at Phoenix.
The Hawks get a five-day break in the schedule after hosting the Canadiens on Friday night, which would give Toews and Seabrook two full weeks off the ice.
Quenneville said Monday he was hopeful one or both of his stars could play at Nashville, but the Hawks already have defeated the Predators without Toews and Seabrook (last Saturday) and can do it again.
This time of year it's much better to be safe than sorry, especially with the depth the Hawks have.
Who else besides Hasek have the Hawks bread that went somewhere else and excelled??
There aren't many top notch teams until Mid November. Sorry I still don't consider the Avs to be a legit team yet until they play well for 25 - 30 games. They probably have had a good enough start to ensure a playoff spot. Anyway, Hawks can get by without the two and have more than enough depth. We do need them to be 100% and ready to go. I just hope they aren't too far out of game shape when they do return.
It makes no sense to rush them back now and risk losing either one of them long term. It's better have them on the bench wishing they were playing, than to have them laying on the ice wishing they were still on the bench.
100% with Tim on this one. Just keep doing what they're doing and 3 or 4 points out of the next two games are well within reach.
Definitely rest both of them. I will say Montreal is playing as good as anyone in the NHL right now so the Hawks will have a tough game on Friday. We need to capture as many points as possible. Yes it's early, but the Western Conference is going to be a dog fight til the end. We cannot take any game lightly, October or April.
Concussions are wicked injuries and as soon as they pass the tests they should be back on the ice. What the Hawks are really saying is: these two can not play right now. That is a bigger problem. Lots of guys go day to day for weeks and weeks. Some have not returned.
testing for concussion.
I don't think any team can get around it except if the player passes the preliminary checklist and lies about any re-occuring headaches.
You certainly want these two as recovered as well as they can be and with time to regain confidence, and overcome any Duncan Keith-like apprehensions they may have lingering in the back of their heads. It took Dunc a little time.
If you take a good look at the personnel currently keeping the SS B;ackhawk on course and you see that it is the new sailors.
I am not very sure that they can continue to be this offensive minded and dominant against the better clubs, but I guess that is the fun of having a overly long season that means so very little until the end of February...
There is no need to rush them back against these two teams. Neither one of them have a lot of offense and if we continue to play our game we should win them both. Mtl will be a little tougher as they are on a mini winning streak w/ Halak in goal. It seems like Price hasn't been doing the job and Halak has stepped right in and played well. He's a pretty good goalie that could have come cheap!
Oh yeah, Anderson got a shut out for Colorado last night. Really playing well !
Yes, Craig has come into his own as a bona fide NHL goalie. The Hawks seem to breed goalies that excel elsewhere, although I'm don't know sure where Michael Leighton is these days.
As for our concussion guys, by all means give them all the time they need. However the Hawks have adjusted their playing style without those two should work for a good while, especially with Sopel getting over 20 minutes. Every team needs at least one slow, smart defenseman like Brent.
Leighton is Cam Wards back up and has been playing very well the past two years for Carolina. He is not going to unseat Ward who is just an awesome goalie, but who knows what will happen when his contract is up.
Ahhh, Carolina, home of more than one ex-Hawk. I need to look at team stats now. I try to wait till 15 or 20 games before obsessing with stats, but I will look for Leighton's save percentage immediately.
I said it when Leighton, Anderson and Crawford were here: Anderson was the best of all of them.
He needed more time, because he didn't look the part with the Hawks.
What's Ecklund's Campbell rumors all about? It seems everything he reports is just hearsay
What's going on? Is there trade talk? I'd accept a solid journeyman defenseman and a second line forward for Campbell.
Rest 'em.
Even if the Hawks go 1-1, or 0-1-1, the next couple, it's a long season. You don't want to rush players back from these injuries.
Winning also buys more time. Duncan Keith had two weeks to recover and he seems to have benefitted from it after Drew Stafford's crushing hit last year. This shouldn't be any different. I'm all for keeping them both out for these next two games as well.