Hawks part ways with Campoli
Unfortunately for Chris Campoli, his lasting impression from the brief time he spent with the Blackhawks will be turning the puck over in overtime in Game 7 against Vancouver last spring.
Alex Burrows ended the Hawks' season when he picked off Campoli's clearing attempt, walked in and fluttered a slap shot over goalie Corey Crawford.
The Hawks said goodbye to Campoli on Friday when general manager Stan Bowman ended negotiations with the restricted free agent defenseman after the two sides couldn't agree on money.
Campoli was the Hawks' last unsigned restricted free agent after Michael Frolik agreed to a new three-year, $7 million deal on Friday.
It's believed Campoli was looking for the same kind of deal the Hawks gave free agent defenseman Steve Montador, whose four-year contract is worth $2.75 million per season.
Bowman said no chance.
“We tried to work it out with Chris,” Bowman said. “We made him our best offer and it didn't work for them so we indicated we're going to have to go in another direction.”
To replace Campoli, the Hawks signed free agent defenseman Sami Lepisto to a one-year deal worth $750,000.
“He's a guy who has some growth to his game,” Bowman said. “He fits in with what we try to do because he's able to play a few different ways. He can move the puck, kill penalties and has a bit of an edge to him.
“In a lot of ways, Sami is a similar player to Chris.”
Bowman will now try to trade Campoli, who still has an arbitration hearing scheduled for next month.
“It was apparent from the beginning that their salary demands were just not in concert with where we see him fitting in with our team,” Bowman said. “He obviously played well for us in the short time he was here and we wanted to bring him back, but it didn't work for him. He sees himself in a different category than we did price-wise.”
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WEG
sitting here in the mid-90's for the week...tough to think about hockey.
Even tougher is to read the nasty brawl going on over dump & chase vs. chip & chase and it's place in hockey as a strategy or tactic vs. it isn't a strategy or tactic. Man are these people bored. September camp can't come soon enough.
I'm tired not bored. Can't you get anything right!?!
delete
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The blog is getting boring now that the team appears set going into camp in September.
So let's start a rumor......
I heard some guy named Jesse Rogers say Kane hurt his wrist in a threesome and it was videotaped.
Always talk football now that this lockout appears to be ending. Bears!!!
The NFL is a rigged game.
No longer a pure sport, and it is populated by felons.
Bears Schmears!
Drop the puck already.
Say it ain't so Cheese, say it ain't so...........
Where have you gone Johnny U, Jerry Rice, Randy White, and Doug Atkins?
Replaced by Pacman Jones, Michael Vick, Cedric Benson and the challenge flag!
Gahbage! All gahbage!
Cheese.....
Not sure I agee about the NFL, but the NBA might as well be called the WWE. That sport is a joke...yes....even when the Bulls were in their prime. It's a complete sham of a sport and by far the easiest to fix.....wasn't an official jailed?? And if you think he was the only one.....think again....he was the only one caught!
The NBA is a complete travesty and should not be classified as a sport, but rather entertainment!
Rigged? Wow, you are in the minority on that. Most sports fans love football....count me as one of them. Also love hockey too.
You would be really, really surprised, and you would totally understand what I am saying.
Think about it.
The rules in the NFL change every ten minutes, and some of the rules are subject to interpretation by the referees from game to game......
Answer honestly:
How many times have you scratched your head after a video ruling and said, "huh?"
To not see my point is to not want to see my point.
The NFL is sports entertainment....not pure sport.
But it is a revenue stream that employs many. So I salute that.
I just no longer watch.
..I could never seem to win my sports select ticket. The worst was when I had all my games won and I just needed one more. I was set up to win it but...my memory is vague here...but one of the teams WALKED off the field near the end of the game and the other team said 'thank you' and Loags swore and swore some more. I think the game involved Buffalo....aboot 8 to 10 years ago.
You're killin me Cheese, who filled out that threesome? McGuire and Shantz?
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It was actually me , kaner, mikoo lee & kobe Thai in a massive tequilla filled sex fest at " Casa de swiss cheese " in the jungles of the Dominican Republic. Sheesh Dunlop get your facts straight.
And you were doing so well the last few weeks on the blog. Please stay out of the sun for a few days Shantz.
From the home office in Cedar Rapids.....Some guy named "Angs" has concrete proof that Kaner started taking steroids right after the season ended.....He has the needles and DNA to prove this claim! And here we all thought he was hitting the gym this offseason....he broke his wrist playing PS3 til 3AM two weeks ago. He was playing the Car Bomb in NHL11, and he couldn't beat him, so he threw a temper tantrum and fell when he went running for a warm glass of milk before bedtime!
....now there's a rumor for you....
But I liked yours for style points!
lol
it ratchets up the rivalry even more.
Read that it's rumored he could be on the move to Boston.
Also read some quote from Keith, talking about how he is hoping the long summer will give them more rest and how he wants to keep his minutes down and take shorter shifts. I hope he finds his groove again this year.
If the Hawks have to chip and chase a few more times in lieu of their puck moving game re-evolving (or not), that's all good. They'll be a fun, interesting and I think, an efficient & productive team to watch chasing down pucks and setting up 2 man cycles instead of 3 man with one guy flying around looking for open ice and one or 2 eliminating opponents from the flow. They have some size and skill in front of the net this season. It's a different game. Also, chipping and chasing is condusive to improvisation, and it works better if you have skilled players with those abilities.
The object is the same...get to the puck first and then everyone has an area and a responsibility. I know chip and chase may bring back flashbacks to some of the longer tenured Hawk fans but these guys have some speed (and are allowed to use it!!) and with the added grit, I think it's gonna give opponents a different look each time up the ice...at least they won't be predictable.
When speedy skillful and dominant forwards started being the norm in the league and caused an abundance of odd man rushes someone changed the defense and dropped an extra player back to pick up that wing as he entered into the offensive zone. Actually it happened in order to defend against the Russians back in the 70's. A NHL team redefined it 20 years later and started using it. Now everyone uses it when applicable.
The game evolves and producing efficiently without an abundance of puck moving defensemen will happen as well. Yes, the PMD has allowed the Hawks' system to produce efficiently, but it doesn't mean it's the only way to make it happen.
Dump-and-chase (as it is called) isn't a strategy or an alternative to passing the puck through the neutral zone, but rather a last resort when carrying the pick into the offensive zone is thwarted. No team wants to dump-and-chase first and foremost -- it's a last resort. The Hawks dump-and-chase their fair share.
It's been called chip and chase as well. It means the exact same thing. Like I posted, if they have to play that style then it's all good. They have the speed and the smart hockey players to to turn it into something productive. I suggest you do a little research on it because it is a strategy. It's not a last resort thus the "chase" part of it. It keeps the puck and flow of the game moving. Hocckey isn't all tape to tape passing and scoring. Chip and chase is a strategy and if you want to turn this into semantics again, go for it. I won't.
what I answered.
The chip and chase is a secondary tactic necessary if your quick transition opportunities close, or your defenseman cannot make the pass, or feels the opening close.
By no means will ANY NHL team EVER look to the chip and chase over the quick outlet on to a stick to break soemone in.
I hardly think i need to research it is
alternative route, such as say a QB in football having the window to where he wanted to go close.
Winning NHL hockey is based on speed from the minute you get the puck back. ONLY TEAMS unsuccesful with freeing and getting the puck there resort to as their way.
The STRATEGY is to try and outlet long and get that guy to break and have 3 more guys jump in.
Various middle zone coverages take away many of those chances so teams RESORT to chip and chase.
The only semantics were in your original post, which I very well might have misunderstood, which they way I read it, said teams are being coached this alternative strategy now.
They are NOT. Everyone wants in fast but chip and chase to remedy what maybe a lack of opportunities in a game, so they spend time cahnging the attack up some.
If you thought I was misconstruing think you were talking dump and cahse to the corner, I was not. I understand the tactic of using the boards and wall as a means to have wings receive the puck on the fly.
If a team is down a goal in the last 15 minutes no coach is going to his players "chip and chase."
He is gonna want his best up ice defenseman breaking out and looking to DIRECT pass, and then they resort to the alternative.
I am not sure if you posted the chip and chase as a sort of "we will be ok with Campoli and Campbell making the transition so dangerous..." and that the league was now changing to this "scheme."
Believe me if the guys playing behind Keith, who will be asked to replace Campbell's skills (and to some extent Campoli's) in quick transition DO NOT BECOME really GOOD players in doing do, the chip and chase isn't gonna make up for it, the staff is not going to cahnge their approach.
They will go out and get soemone who can.
No semantics : quick transition game is what the sport is and all other "facets" just tweaks including what you suggest. I will not debate it further, because it is fruitless discussion.
Like that one Wiz.
Dumping it in is forced by either the defense or the need for a line change. I don't need to "research" it, because I lived it -- this is what all forwards are schooled to do from a very young age in organized hockey.
What the Hawks need to do strategy-wise is closely examine the breakout plays Vancooter used against Nashville last playoffs for getting through the trap and into the offensive zone while possessing the puck so that they don't have to dump-and-chase when facing organized neutral zone traffic. They need situational breakout plays and off-the-puck movement.
The top lines of the Hawks are at their best when they keep possession of the puck, not when they dump it in every time there is a dman between them and the zone. When they get lazy and don't work together to crack open the trap, this is when they fail to generate offense.
The Blackhawks forwards are also rather smallish, even with the newly added forwards (all of which are below average size despite their grittiness), so they can't really punish the opposition's D the same way that the Boston Bruins can. Without bringing the punishment, you aren't getting the biscuit back.
Your point to me was "It's called dump and chase and not chip and chase". That was your point and you were wrong because it is called that (If you aren't too self absorbed, look it up). Your other petty arguementative point was that chip and chase is not a strategy". Yes it is, especially when you've had a plethora of puck moving defensemen for a few years and haven't had the need to use it alot so in the context of my remarks it is a strategy.
Do the research, don't change the subject and see that it's been called chip and chase (it has and still is called that) and use your head to realize that if it is a play used over and over again as part of a game plan that it is a strategy and part of the game plan. It's a no-brainer if you lack puck movers that you will have to use the strategy of chipping the puck into the zone more often so it's a strategy, no matter when you learned it the first time.
No matter what label you call these things it doesn't change my point does it? Sounds like you just want to argue.
I have never heard dump-and-chase called "chip and chase," and I played organized hockey for about 18 years, about half of them in the Chicagoland area.
Petty semantics -- perhaps regional slang? Sure, okay.
Do some golfers refer to "dumping" as "chipping?" Apparently so based on your posts, but does that make the terminology correct? Not at all.
Does it matter? Nope -- I don't care and I'm sure no one else reading this does.
Back to your main point, however. Is dumping the puck a team strategy? No. No more so than a body check or a slap shot. Dumping the puck is something a player does when they don't have the option to move the puck into the zone by carrying it in. Plain and simple.
The Left Wing Lock is a strategy. The 1-3-1 is a strategy. The 2-1-2 is a strategy. The Torpedo system is a strategy. A strategy requires a plan -- dump-and-chase inherently implies the breakdown of the original plan.
Done debating this.
It's hilarious that you took 2 things I posted and turned them into golf and whatever else. I described the left wing lock in my original post and the chip and chase is no different. I didn't name the strategy but I described it. It's a strategy plain and simple. I guess I have to post a link where coach Q said "Use this if..." then it would be a strategy right? You'd argue and probably bully someone if they called "dinner", "supper".
Any long time Hawk fan (not the new bandwagon types who are so easy to pick out online by their snobbish over analyization of the game and their lack of the simpliest insight), knows that back to Billy Reay, the chip and chase was a strategy. I felt vindicated in 1972 when Canada would have lost to the Russians if it we'ren't for Bill White and Whitey Stapleton. I always wondered why they weren't allowed to play that way during the season games.
It's always freaking hilarious online, to me, when someone bullies someones comments and then has the audacity to call it a "debate"...like that makes it alright. Go f*ck yourself you little snob. There's no debate. Everything I posted was 100% correct. Maybe you should broaden your hockey horizons past the house league. If the chip and chase is the plan then there's no breakdown. You outta learn learn to read comments from somebody else's perspective besides your own arrogant self. It's ok to admit you don't know everything dude. The fact that you chose this insipid arguement tells me you got something else going on. Don't bring it here because as usual, the result is predictable. Go bully someone else online you little jerk!
Sun, I just read what he is saying and he is just trying to explain as I have to you.
He wasn't name calling. he told you he played and I thought he said what he meant and explainned why he thought that doing waht you said was just PART of the plan that starts with QUICK TRANSITION, and if possible that superb long pass.
I posted above to you and then saw this thing with you and him.
I find it interesting that both he and I said it isn't a debate.
I think sometimes it is difficult to get over what you mean (I mean...I never seem to type or correct point to my thinking due to rambling and bumbling....) when we all post.
We are pretty sure that Chip and chase will never be as an essential part as the transition outlet, and that is why we don't want to debate it. We think it is reasonabale to stop talking about it without calling anybody names...I wasn't trying to bully you and I don't he was, so please don't take offense or start thinking anyone is out to get you. we all are here because we love the hawks and it gets bad when start killing each other over the rpinted word. Sorry.
Anyone who has really played the game of hockey and knows the game and has studied it outside of their own little world, knows that the chip and chase is a strategy. How could anyone who has really played the game, NOT KNOW THAT? You chip the puck in and try to use your teams speed and checking and smarts to create an opportunity to posses the puck and set something up. It's a low risk type of offense and it is not giving up. It's an conservative attac that can lead to good things if the effort is there.. It's as far from giving up as you can get. It simply mistifies me that someone who says they have played almost 20 years doesn't get that. You made a great point Hockey Fan In The Sun. I like your posts. Mr. Caution, your are a head case. Go crawl back under your house league rock. Anyone who turns a post like that into what you did has personal problems. Maybe your Daddy and Mommy were drunks like angs parents were and you have the need to bully everyone AND get the last word word over the most simplistic topics. As a matter of fact you two seem an awful lot alike. Keep fightin' the good fight HFITS. I got your post. Most of these guys are brand new hockey fans and or they lurk online to hate and argue and try to use a cursory knowledge of hockey to cover that up. You can tell by the subjects they choose to post about. Your's are friendly and low key. You are ok in my book and others ;). You are one of the few on TSN who realizes that Bettman is an employee and doesn't run the league and you are one of the few who respects the players at all times. That is a tell all brother! Don't worry about these jerks. You are 100% A-OK. See you around bro!
Before the lockout dump and chase was a tactic most of the teams used. With all the hooking and holding that was allowed, it was sometimes the only way to enter the attacking zone. Keenan used it and I was amazed at how often the hawks got the puck back after they dumped it in. It's ugly, but it can work if done as part of a system with guys who are on the same page.
Well, if you watched the Hawks at all for the better part of the last half century they pretty much played dump and chase exclusively. So, semantics or not, it seems like a strategy for entering the offensive zone, at least. Since I've never coached hockey I can't comment on the finer points of terminology, but much of what you cited as "strategies" in your comparison are clearly defensive strategies, so I don't know if you are correct in suggesting that dump and chase inherently implies a breakdown of the original plan when you are clearly comparing apples to oranges. Plus, this discussion is boring and pointless anyway and seems to have simply been used for guys that "used to play the game" to puff up their chests about their glory days. Most of the meatheads that I've played hockey with and against couldn't care less about what you call it as long as you call it a goal when it enters the net, so I don't know that playing or not is really relevant in this particular discussion.
Great post Hockey Fan in the Sun It brings back memories. Chip and Chase is a fun way to play the game. When teamates get injured and a part of the team goes missing, coaches adhere this strategy because it's conservative but we always loved it. As forwards, we looked for open ice but we could always find an opponent to crunch. To fans who have never played the game it seems boring but to players it was a way to get away from the structure. I hated hearing "Get a whistle" to kill the clock. When you have speedy players like we did it was alot of fun. The defensemen played conservative and we looked for open ice. You are 100% correct when you say that improvisation takes hold. It also takes opponents by suprise especially when they expect you to set up a cycle for instance. It also lulls opponents to sleep. Nobody executes the long outlet pass everytime it is tried. We always found that short crisp passes up the ice worked just as well and it kept us in the game mentally. Plus it's a challenge and a heck of alot of fun. I keep saying that but it's so true. You don't need speed at defenseman to bring the puck up the ice and you are correct that efficient play does the job as well. That's what teamates are for. Forwards drop back and help out, skating tight circles until a play ensues. Nobody can tell if a team is better when they change players in the off season but you can certainly tell by each players stregnths, what type of game they will bring. Same with Chicago at this point but when something goes stagnant you change it up. Very heady post and it's apparent that you've played because those who haven't tend to over analyze the game. Nice job!
It is great.
it just is a change.
Not bread and butter for any NHL team.
NHL defenseman who cannot make that threadneedle pass or whose feet are not as fleet do not have the puck as the transition QB.
And if they aren't, the defenders at the NHL have bags of tricks and abilities to maintain posession and guarantee that their teams gets scoring chances as they bring it out. No debate there.
Thanks for the kudos. I'm happy someone gets it!!!!!
your dee-men MUST be excellent diagnosticians and pin point passers and up ice in a hurray.
If you do, you win.
If you don't you don't.
There is no gray area.
The chip comes if the longer outlet is not there or the defenseman is unable to make it.
There is no debate;the game has changed immensely and every team wants to have quicker up ice guys , but they have to be smart passers too.
There is room for the bigger defenders that need a couple steps to get going, but to think that even the Cup Champion Boston is so happy with Ference, Boychuck or that they wouldn't consider quicker, better passing defenders is plain goofy...that is why they added Joe Corvo. I don't know if they are interested in adding Campoli, but I can't see any reason why a team wouldn't at the RIGHT price...I don't think they want to start a new salary pecking order with him higher than the Cup defenseman, do you?
Granted teams want the brash defenders but you must score and the long pass / quick transistion pust teas on theri heels...
It's more important to be efficient than it is to be fast. It's 100% obvious that the Hawks will be able to give teams different looks this season (that's my point) and if that "long outlet pass" happens, it won't be as predictable as it has been. If the Hawks need to chip and chase, like I said, then it's all good. Sometimes that pass is used to exploit a speed matchup. That's what makes hockey so much fun. It isn't cut and dry but it isn't rocket science either.
Efficient = effective. I have seen lots of guys who could skate like the wind and all they do is follow the play all night long and never catch up. And seen guys who did not skate as well control the play because they understood the game much better. The quicker they are the easier it is to be effective, but you're right that it's not absolutely necessary. Hockey IQ is more important. Without it, all the speed in the world goes to waste. Stan Mikita, good example. Chelios did not possess great speed, either. And on the other hand, Stahlberg. He should be way more effective than he is.
and signing ODonnel and Montador make this team better?
One point being overlooked too much in the banter here about the way the team will play with and without Campbell: flexibility. By playoff time the team needs to be able to play spurts of hockey be that puck control or dump and chase. I don't see this team's top skill players being anywhere above most anyone else, so it is adherance to and execution of plays within a system that counts most. In years previous to the playoffs, this team was often so predictable. Under SaVY THE BREAK OUT WAS OFTEN BOTTLED UP BECAUSE WE WERE SO PREDICTABLE. Now in the third period we can do a dump and chase but keep an extra man back, or apply the puck control system.
What we loose in possibly three pairs where one dman can carry the puck, we gain in the physicality department. How often does a skater breeze right through a stick check from our dmen? I'm not going to say this team is better off without Campbell, but now we do have two different attack mode of operation...and probably more difficulty advancing the puck up ice.
So let's look at something else this Unloading of Campbell's contract brings about.
Players like Olesz, Stalberg, Frolic, perhaps Bickel are cabalbe of producing more offense. They've been around and larned enough, plus they will see their job is on the line if they don't play well. With a Bolland or a Hossa as a linemate, expect less pressure on the top lines to always score. Olesz and Frolic have ability and they weren't first round selections by mistake. Now with years of experience and the right setting, they can score some -- this is not saying they are going to be our leading scorer, ok. But we have Bolland and Sharp and Mayers behind Toewes, so there ought to be enough talent on each line to score. It's not Skille all over again. Remember, too, that Stalberg was playing well when the playoffs ended
I just want to see if due to injury or whatever, can Morin jump in and score a point per game. Not asking for the unrealistic; it is possible when you add another talented player to the mix. But first he must be in shape and then, back in the groove. I'm curious to see this Gilbert, is big and fast and talented (but has issues and is needs AHL time), and RealWiz feels Hayes may make a playof appearance (if he progresses well at Rockford, this is a huge size , physical player). Hey, at lowest moment last year to some, perhaps Beach turns things around?
I see where others now are saying that Lalonde and Olsen are in the mix down the road. Noted: Stanton may be the closest able to play a few minuted each game if we are forced to recall a kid. He woud play a safe game, albeit a physical approach as much as he is able to (that is his style). Can anyone comment on how Birch, Holl and Lavin looked in the practices and scrimmages?
I suspect Richards is developing into an emergency recall goaltender...needs to be the #1 netminder at Rockford. Perhaps we'll see him or Toivenen for an odd game or two, so that Salak can perhaps play a few gtames in a row at Rockford. SaLAK DOESN'T IMPROVE MUCH PLAYING limited # of games as Crawford's understudy.
Other: So RealWiz, if you are a top talent coming out of junior but you don't have ideal size/strength, does this mean often that you have to get stronger over the summer for at least a couple of years, before you can compoete better at the NHL level? Using Kane as an example. If Kane had better size and strength, he would have averaged a point per game so far. Yes, no? He was power lifting this summer!
Statsny72: go see or pay for internet feed of some Rockford games and watch the guys you like. For you, guys like Olsen, Hayes in particular excite. Would be smart to compare them throughout the season to study their progress. Keep in mind how well that team, their linemates, etc al is playing.
The guy was overpaid but he did things that very few dmen can do, go back get the puck and skate it out. Anyone can bang it off the glass or ice it. Campbell controlled time of possession and I think we will soon see what a big hole he's left. And worse than missing him is the awful contract they took back. Unless they will send the guy away like Huet, they haven't even opened up much cap space in the big picture.
Worse than stick checks is getting beat with speed. Montador and O Donnel are not quick guys and a slow defense is not going to win.
everyone is asking.but about chris campoli, don't you think stan should have played him aliitle different and tried to get a good center for him?
1 way to look at is, scotty bowman has a knack of finding players that have untapped potential, or for what ever reason like it didn't work out with their former team, ect. ect ect.
guys like frolik & olesz who will get looks in camp at center, but in froliks case he's probably penciled in at wing. kruger put on alittle size and is gonna get a chance, same with smith. he;ll buy time and interchange sharp & bolland around till later in the season ,he has cap room for the deadline and we'll see what other kids could be almost ready. i gotta believe he's got 1 more move down the road in him.
on D, i think their braintrust may feel dylan olsen & lalonde aren't too far off so why spend more cash for another D. now it's time for #4 to start earning that 4 mill a season rather than just being an expensive stick checker & shot blocker. they could get brent sopel to do the same things alot cheaper. this kid was supposed to be the next brian marchment but ever since that experience in buffalo he's been very tenative in the checking department. he's gotta get past that thought and put it behind him or it will hinder his progress.
campoli's agent asked for stupid money, so hopefully some of these other players in the league wisen up if they like where they are at and tell their agents to play the middle of the road when it comes to negotiating their contracts. i'm sure campoli wanted to stay and 1.5 to 2 mill might have got it done. we'll see if he gets 2.5-3 mill some where else. i just wish stan would have not walked away publicly. i wonder if campoli would have been enough to bring anisemov or someone like him back this way. i gotta believe if they are not signed by camp that vinny prospal or madden could be on stans short list. we'll see won't we!
lastly, since when did hockey become such a "politically correct, play nice nice" sport? last year we got pushed around and bitch slapped with no answer back with regularity. all of a sudden you read on some of the other web sites fans worring about dumb penalties. whats the beef with danny carcillo ? you heard stan bowman, the kid could play , and wears his heart on his sleeve and will battle for his teammates till the end! the kid admits he got to smarten up some, give him a chance! i hope he finds his knack and finds a home here in chicago for awhile! kind of like a brad may or kris draper type player down the road! i think a coach will gladly take a chance at killing a questionable penalty knowing that his guy sent a message back the other way rather than stand around and do nothing (bickell & brouwer last year) and a few others. and most of brouwers hits were more rub offs into the boards rather than pure solid open ice checks! put down the skirts boys! the hawks will be fun to watch and probably will win the west this year with a couple of if"s!i'm thrilled about danny carcillo in a hawk sweater! i said it before, WELCOME TO CHICAGO CARBOMB! you just put 40 in patrick kanes pocket this year! i hope!
Makes them better strictly from a monetary standpoint. That's the only reason we needed him gone.
The quicker the "D" gets back to retrieve the puck the more time they have to survey the ice for an outlet pass. Quickness and speed are certainly more important in today's game. Will always need a knuckle draggin crease clearer, but the younger ones better develop their on ice vision and be able to make the quick outlet pass consistently. Nice post.