As for Handzus, it's good in hindsight that he went down because had he played that whole season the team would've done, at least seemingly, at least somewhat better in the standings and thus may have missed the chance to take Kane first overall.
Yeah, it absolutely worked out for the best. Not something you think about at the time, though.
Daze wasn't a power forward but was a great goal scorer. What was the change? Getting T and K, the whole dark ages I waited for us to finally make use of our high picks. Dale came in and it happened; Smith changed course at the end of his tenure from mostly Euros to mostly NA's.
I remember a season opener years ago at Nashville where the Hawks won, 8-6, or something absurd. Handzus had a good game. They had some awful and odd games over the years.
That was when I thought they had some pieces. I loved the Havlat trade but hated the contract. I was thinking they might do something that year and then they gave up a 4 goal lead in about 7 minutes to lose (something like that) against Dallas and then Handzus went down for the year and the season was over.
Then we got to watch Arkhipov, Holmqvist, Hamilton, Salmelainen, etc. get way too much ice time. I hated seeing all the rookies getting shifts in ridiculous situations fighting for ice time instead of working on their games. Plenty of damage done to development that year, but it was established tradition by that point. My favorite moment was trading Kukkonen to get Calder back.
Bad memories but then PHI lost the 1st overall pick to Chicago.
Was this why the Blackhawks forum here has so few posts, so many bad years before the current team was assembled? In terms of number of topics, Blackhawks are 6th from the bottom. Teams like the Panthers, Blue Jackets, Ducks, Coyotes, Islanders, and Senators have more topics in their forums (which all go back to 2003). Only the Blues, Hurricanes, Lightning, Wild (strangely), and Stars have less posts. One would think the Blackhawks forum should at least be as active as the Red Wings, Penguins, or Flyers.
I know the Blackhawks' previous owner was an out of touch idiot, but was it so bad to gut fan support so much that there was just so little to discuss over the past decade before Toews, Kane, and the Stanley Cup run?
Was this why the Blackhawks forum here has so few posts, so many bad years before the current team was assembled? In terms of number of topics, Blackhawks are 6th from the bottom. Teams like the Panthers, Blue Jackets, Ducks, Coyotes, Islanders, and Senators have more topics in their forums (which all go back to 2003). Only the Blues, Hurricanes, Lightning, Wild (strangely), and Stars have less posts. One would think the Blackhawks forum should at least be as active as the Red Wings, Penguins, or Flyers.
I know the Blackhawks' previous owner was an out of touch idiot, but was it so bad to gut fan support so much that there was just so little to discuss over the past decade before Toews, Kane, and the Stanley Cup run?
There are a lot of places where fans can talk hockey on the internet. Which places get the most groups of which fans is mostly random. This just isn't a primary place for Blackhawks fans.
The 01-02 team was pretty good with guys like Amonte, Zhamnov, Sullivan, Daze, Housley, Calder, Nylander, Klemm, Thibault, etc. But of course they got their ***** kicked by the Blues in the first round and scored like 5 goals the whole series. And Q was coaching St. Louis
That was when I thought they had some pieces. I loved the Havlat trade but hated the contract. I was thinking they might do something that year and then they gave up a 4 goal lead in about 7 minutes to lose (something like that) against Dallas and then Handzus went down for the year and the season was over.
Then we got to watch Arkhipov, Holmqvist, Hamilton, Salmelainen, etc. get way too much ice time. I hated seeing all the rookies getting shifts in ridiculous situations fighting for ice time instead of working on their games. Plenty of damage done to development that year, but it was established tradition by that point. My favorite moment was trading Kukkonen to get Calder back.
Bad memories but then PHI lost the 1st overall pick to Chicago.
That was on my birthday. Havlat got hurt that game too. I remember sitting in my living room in stunned silence with my then gf rubbing my shoulders.
The 01-02 team was pretty good with guys like Amonte, Zhamnov, Sullivan, Daze, Housley, Calder, Nylander, Klemm, Thibault, etc. But of course they got their ***** kicked by the Blues in the first round and scored like 5 goals the whole series. And Q was coaching St. Louis
Sutters plan was to use an Igor Korolev checking line to shut down Weight Tkachuk and Demitra. Brent Johnson had like three shut outs that series.
Actually the reason for turn around was Mike Smith prospect pool as foundation of team and some luck (2007 draft lotto)
Almost every Tallon draft pick/FA signing was failure
He did make a few nice trades ,, I will give Tallon props on that
While thats fact nobody can take away what he did with what he was given. He built around what he had and is the main reason a SC banner hangs in the UC.
Look at what he has done with the Panthers, the guy knows what hes doing.
I know the Blackhawks' previous owner was an out of touch idiot, but was it so bad to gut fan support so much that there was just so little to discuss over the past decade before Toews, Kane, and the Stanley Cup run?
It's tough to talk hockey when the owner blacks out the games.
It's tough to talk hockey when the owner blacks out the games.
I talked plenty of hockey, 'cuz I was frequently able to scrape together ten bucks to actually attend a hockey game. Actually, eight bucks when I was in school.
I talked plenty of hockey, 'cuz I was frequently able to scrape together ten bucks to actually attend a hockey game. Actually, eight bucks when I was in school.
Two young Defensemen grew and became a top pair around a bad team that added some sensational rookies along with a strong group of prospects graduating and adding one and then another big free agent acquisition.
