Monahan plays a style similar to Toews. I would say Barkov would be a great fit in the 2c because he is a big center. Plus with TT coming up there could be a finnish connection (TT switchs to wing).
Drouin plays a style similar to Kane so if I had to pick between him and Barkov. Id choose Barkov for need
Monahan plays a style similar to Toews. I would say Barkov would be a great fit in the 2c because he is a big center. Plus with TT coming up there could be a finnish connection (TT switchs to wing).
Drouin plays a style similar to Kane so if I had to pick between him and Barkov. Id choose Barkov for need
Well if there is a short season now--is everyone assuming the Blackhawks will get out of the gate poorly and not be able to recover and thus finish bottom ten?
Seems unlikely--but who can really know how our players will react when playing again (especially the ones not in Europe or the NHL --we probaly sHOULD expect less than the best from the "idle" group (Toews,Keith,Seabrook etc...) Kane Stalberg,Frolik,Bickell ,and some in the aHL--Kruger,Leddy, Shaw ,Smith and/or Hayes etc... should allbe in better shape than the idle ones --but it should be the same all over the league --but the issue is that some teams have more "key" stars idle than other teams so the break-down of which players--stars or support players have been playing and are in better shape from the getgo willbe fascinating to analyze in tracking teams with fast or slow starts,,the point is one really bad start month in such a short season could mean a team simply cannot recover to a playoff finish ...I would not expect the Blackhawks to start say 2W-10L--but SOME TEAM probably does and MAY quicly out of the playoff race --if the 2nd set of 12 games is better but only say 5-7 then such a team with only 14 out of the first 48 pts up for grabs is surely not going to make it and then you wish they would finish the final 26 games as a bottom feeder drafting top ten rather than "rising" to some mid to late teens spot..
One good and one bad consequence of such a short (50 games?) season:
Bad: player injuries probably rise (less recovery time between games) ...
Good: the games ought to be more intense --less lee-way to SLACK ...coaches wilbe less lenient with any slackers...
There will be ANOTHER CONSEQUENCE --not of a shorter season but as a result of thenew CBA (if the deal gets done to allow this short season):
THAT willbe that the "fat cats" under long term deals --mostly made whole-- will tend to loafing (not all but surely some) while those looking for new contracts have a much shorter time to impress to get a new contract than they normally would get over 82 games in the final year of a contrct or even with one or two years left (the latter cases--1 to 2 years remaining on their contracts --IF THEY SLACK in the short season and thus cost their team from expected success--management may not wait for a rebound year in the next year or one after--they may BLAME such slackers and decide to trade them for such a betrayal of effort ...so instead I expect BOTH guys in their final year of a contract plus guys with one or two more years remaining after this short season to both put out the max to impress when the games will by the nature of the short season be that much more intense anyway.. ALL this should make for GREAT GAMES and interesting analyses to see if the theory of longer term guys vs. hungrier expiring or shorter term contracted players (fat cats vs. the need to show it guys) holds per expectation.
IF you see KEITH or HOSSA for us,or say Parise and Suter for Minn ---dogging it as fat cats --but guys with expiring (Bickell),1 more year (Carcillo) or Kane or Toews (2 years more after this short season) contracts, who are putting it all on the line -then the theory will be proven.. Of course one needs a league wide sample much larger than this for proof ,but the data can be gathered..IF the guys with 2 years left afterthis (eg. Kane and/or Toews) dog it --then TOEWS has excuses--still leery fom the concussion? Time off in idle/not playing in Europe;KANE though will have no exciuses AND a REBOUND YEAR WAS ALREADY EXPECTED FROM HIM--another sub-par season (albeit shorter) from him and the Hawks top brass may blame him for a team fail iF such a thing happens...SO we EXPECT a lot better showing from Kane -it had better show well --or HE may take the fall unless the TEAM covers for him and succeeds anyway ..It willbe interesting to watch what plays out--but a motivated (we hope) KANE reaaly SHOULD help us succeed...
HOWEVER-if we do get a big FAIL and draft top ten --THEN it depends where in the top ten --we probably do not trade down if we draft in the top 5 or 6 --but maybe after that we might--since we only have a first rounder-no seconds or thirds---may also depend on if a goalie first or 2nd rounder is targetted...Maybe the Hawks would never take a goalie with a top ten but would be willing to drop down toget agood one later in round one or in early round two --so if the right combinaion of picks slots is offered to get Chicago to move down from 7,8,9,or 10 to late teens plus a pick in the 31- 39 range (assuming some team has such a combo package of pick slots to give) then I can see such deal happening.. THey could grab maybe the first goalie of the draft in the late teens or take a position player there and wait till that 31-39 pick to grab a goalie they evaluate fits those pick slots...
IF they are so bad that they draft 1-6 -well #1 and #2 are obvious--- JONES and MCKINNON....BARKOV ,DROUIN LINDHOLM and MONAHAN go 3-6 but in what order ?
For sure they willnot trade down from any of these 6...
AFTER that there is BIG (D) NIKITA ZADOROV --not producing a lot of offense--but great+/- ,size skating ,hitter ...so maybe they only trade dOWN from slot #8?
Goalie targets? ERIC COMRIE -probably a first rounder--late teens to late 20's ; JAKE PATTERSON (LOndon Knights) --probably a 31-39 pick or moves up to the late first..He has a better save% than COMRIE but because he shares the London net with vet Kevin Bailey,PATTERSON does not get enough work "grind" to prove if his sav% will hold up (he is .926 ,but only in 12GP; COMRIE is at .915 but in 27GP so far..ALSO COMRIE is a '95,PATTERSON a '94 passed over last draft and so probably won't go in round one -but if he does --probably very late inthe round..the hyped ZAC FUCALE from the Q--still has not put up good enough save% to justify the pre-season expectation of him as the top goalie for the draft..He was .892 last year in 58GP for Halifax and though his GAA is better than last year so far (2.51 vs. 3.16 last season (23 GP to date) and he has a great winning record 19-3-1 so far this season as Halifax is a good teamthis year--- HIS SAVE % STILL STINKS --only .898 !!! He faces not much rubber --only 24.3 shots per game to date this season--so you can't blame the poor save% on being under barrage each night..simply put--so far he has not lived up to the pre-season hype as the top goalie candidate for this draft...
EVEN IF the HAWKS finish 18-22 they might trade the pick down IF a team had the right package of late first + first third of the second package of pick slots...THEY probably could draft PATTERSON with a late first or 31-39 pick ..
WHAT THE HAWKS DO NOT NEED:
- another "small" skilled forward..
-another "safe; NHL'er forward BUT who projects oNLY to the bottm 2 lines..
-another smallish PMD...
NEEDS:
TOP GOALIE/ GOALIE OF THE FUTURE PROJECTION as future stsrting NHL goalie who can be in the top tEN goalies in save% in the NHL..
BIG PHYSICAL HITTER D-MAN who skates and reads /reacts well and who projects as a D-partner for a PMD on the top 2 D-pairings...(Stephen JOhns may be a solution already drafted --BUT you can never have enough of these---ZADOROV is not as nasty as JOHNS on the boards or in the crease clearing game --BUT he is a hard open ice hiitter such that fancy dan skill/spped forwards must keeptheir heads up on rishes or the BOOM will be lowered and they wilbe in LA-lA -land --and he is a better skater and outlet passer/rusher than Johns---2 different types ..
Anyway thatis how i see it now---IF drafting 1 through 7--keep the pick;if drafting 8 on ,considder trafing down for a later first plus a relatively early 2nd -if a team has that to offer in order to move up..
I actually would love them to snag up power forward stud Adam Erne. Kid is a likely 10-15 pick, with almost 6'2 200+lbs..kid is having his way in the QMJHL right now, and has been compared to guys like Tkachuk and Guerin in their prime.
I would love a highend center as a Monahan would fit that bill nicely. Always was a fan of Curtis Lazar and would like that as well...
I really dont see the need for a dman as outside of Jones and Poluck, I dont see anyone really worthy at 10-15 range for us to snag.
