Weekend leftovers
Wonder if Dale's phone rang at all Sunday with some Khabibulin interest after the way Nik played in Washington. Nik was very good, even with the soft Ovechkin first goal...
By the way, how good is Ovechkin? He's on his way to being one of the best players ever and has maybe the best personality in the NHL. Just a total package. If you gave me a choice between Sidney Crosby and Ovechkin, give me Alex the Great. Even bought an Ovechkin t-shirt for my son at the Verizon Center...
The power play is 0-for-8, but I think it's going to be fine. I think. If it's not after the addition of Campbell to go with Kane, Toews and Havlat, then it's coaching. Assistant coach John Torchetti runs the power play...
You can't panic after two losses to start the season, particularly road losses. Now, if the Hawks start losing home games, then we have a problem. The Hawks need to win at least 30 of their 41 home games to make the playoffs.
Maybe I am being to quick to say dump Havlat,,,but if he doesn't start scoring,,,then what good is he to us ? He brings no toughness and very little back checking,,,I would just as soon see a Brouwer or Blunden be brought up in that case. But I will have patience with Marty.
I'll be the first to admit there's a reason I sit in the stands rather than behind the bench, however I just cannot understand the rationale of having Havlat on the point for the PP. The guy doesn't posses a slap shot and Campbell is a pass first guy. There is no threat from on high and teams know this. Havlat belongs down low where he he is a major threat and will force teams to concentrate on him, there by opening up chances for his team mates.
Why the coaching staff isn't using players in their stongest roles is beyond me.
The Hawks got caught with their pants down on not moving Khabibulin while signing Huet, to be sure.
But why move/dump Havlat? It's not like there's any team in the NHL willing to takea gamble on his shoulder, and if he gives the Hawks any number of healthy games, he'll outscore anyone the Hawks could bring up to take his place.
This is still a team in the building process. Patience.
Not big enough, but we send Beach, and Aliu back to juniors and Blunden, Bickell stuck in Rockford the rest of their careers. It's funny, we draft these big kids just to become stronger and then we go and pick up smaller guys like Ladd. Even on defense we really don't have a monster back there to scare the heck out of opposing forwards.
Dale needs to re-strategize and very quickly. Get rid of that 6.5 million khabibulin,,,and while you're at it,,,dump Havlat now. Bring up one of the big kids and get ready to spend that extra 11 million smartly next free agency.
While the Hawks did have a good pre-season record, their weakness was clearly evident. You can push the Hawks around. The Blackhawks have basically been trying to follow the Red Wing formula with lots of skill and speed. You still need size to compete. The Red Wings are a puck control team who waits for you to make a mistake or exploit a poor matchup. To say the Hawks have been sloppy is an understatement. Either the guys are trying too hard or there just is not time to gel since captain line change can't leave a line together for longer than two minutes.
Tim, we know you love Alex. I would love to have him too. Toews is a heart and soul player. He does not seem comfortable to me yet, but then again I wouldn'r be too comfortable if my team started out 0-2.
The time to panic was this right after the Lang salary dump. Without veteran forwards it is impossible to contend.