17-18 Blackhawks 2.0

[ChiHawks10]

Kane, Hossa, and many others have benefit a lot from adding upper body strength. When Toews started to get jacked is when the Bruins/Kings went all the way, the Hawks came into 2012/13 with a focus on board play, defensive schemes, and battling around the net, Toews was exemplary of this. It did him/us some good for a while but it's 2017 and time to get back to speed.

I'm more worried that Toews won't be able to adapt to his own training in that he's just not one for top tier reflexes or creativity etc.

It has to be proportionate to your body/frame. Didn't he realize he was already one of the strongest players in the NHL?(at least in my opinion) The inability for opponents to win board battles, or knock him off the puck should have been a good indicator of that.

Overworking your upper-body to add muscle mass, just for power/strength up top... was not a good idea for him. And it was obvious to pretty much anyone who frequents here that he added too much mass, and it slowed him down.

 

[LDF]

My opinion? Yes, he's a moron. The best players are on the ice, and on the ice all the time working on their skills? Not in the gym, getting ripped? How is this a revelation to him....? Why would he think being in the gym instead of on the ice was a good way to approach the offseason? Why would he think focusing on power and strength was better than focusing on speed and agility? And where the **** are the Hawks while he's destroying his game by training the wrong way and bulking up? Most guys are looking for ways to get leaner and faster. Being shredded really doesn't do you any good as a hockey player.

not only he but the team around him are getting older. they can not continue with the same physical exertion as they were younger .... they need to get stronger.

 

[ChiHawks10]

not only he but the team around him are getting older. they can not continue with the same physical exertion as they were younger .... they need to get stronger.

They don't, though. They're already strong. Maintaining muscle is different than adding. They may have to work harder to maintain that strength. But they don't need to add it. Not 10 years into your NHL career. Hell... he's 29 years old, not 40. He shouldn't have any issues with strength right now. He's still basically in his physical prime.

When has he ever had a strength issue? Never, as far as I know. And being 29 instead of 27 isn't going to change that.

 

[LDF]

They don't, though. They're already strong. Maintaining muscle is different than adding. They may have to work harder to maintain that strength. But they don't need to add it. Not 10 years into your NHL career. Hell... he's 29 years old, not 40. He shouldn't have any issues with strength right now. He's still basically in his physical prime.

When has he ever had a strength issue? Never, as far as I know. And being 29 instead of 27 isn't going to change that.

and you make a very valid point i can not dispute.... in the most of what we were talking about.

 

[Aestivalis]

i have read where the pro players have said, that they all need to get into weight training as they got older. i personally don't understand the full concept on why, beside the strength need as people gets older. but i trust he has the best advisors money can buy and the Bhawks have spent their share on getting the best physical advisors ....

From what I understand, most hockey players lose significant amounts of muscle mass during the season, since they can't train, eat and rest enough with a very tight schedule. Toews might have been trying to bulk back up, but if he didn't focus on functional strength at the rink, it may have been detrimental. Also, it sounds like he over-trained and injured himself as well, then took a while to heal.

 

[LDF]

From what I understand, most hockey players lose significant amounts of muscle mass during the season, since they can't train, eat and rest enough with a very tight schedule. Toews might have been trying to bulk back up, but if he didn't focus on functional strength at the rink, it may have been detrimental. Also, it sounds like he over-trained and injured himself as well, then took a while to heal.

excellent point

 

[DontToewzMeBro]

Toews and his trainers aren't stupid.

This is (unfortunately) a cop-out or excuse. Probably trying to have less heat on him and his contract.

 

[JaegerDice]

Toews and his trainers aren't stupid.

This is (unfortunately) a cop-out or excuse. Probably trying to have less heat on him and his contract.

Nobody has to be stupid to make a bad decision.

Toews' training regime up to this off-season is the same one he was using while he was winning the 2nd and 3rd of his 3 cups. Nobody was complaining then.

Two things happened. The league got faster, he got older. He and his trainers didn't adapt fast enough, and when the bulk of your gym training is done in the off-season, you're basically going 'oops' too late.

They were training with a greater emphasis on one part of Toews game (battling on the wall and in front of the net), and that had an impact on the facets of his game that became more important in the league as a whole.

It was a miscalculation. They happen.

If they're correcting it, good.

 

[Kaners PPGs]

I was listening to a Hawks podcast recently and they were discussing the Hawks making a trade with Vegas for defenseman once the Hossa goes on LTIR. This makes a lot of sense. Vegas has more NHL dmen then they will roster. Maybe the "Future Considerations" from the Kruger trade actually means something. Either way if the Hawks land Merrill or McNabb to play on the 3rd pairing that would be somewhat of an improvement.

Keith/Murphy
Kempny/Seabrook
McNabb/Forsling

 

[BobbyJet]

I was listening to a Hawks podcast recently and they were discussing the Hawks making a trade with Vegas for defenseman once the Hossa goes on LTIR. This makes a lot of sense. Vegas has more NHL dmen then they will roster. Maybe the "Future Considerations" from the Kruger trade actually means something. Either way if the Hawks land Merrill or McNabb to play on the 3rd pairing that would be somewhat of an improvement.

Keith/Murphy
Kempny/Seabrook
McNabb/Forsling

Does make some sense.

 

[Bubba88]

Hino reminds me a lot of Jordan Schroeder - those types of players have tons of skill but seem to never reach full potential to be honest. And with Schroeder who has been up and down for years, he might finally be getting it at 26 years old that you need to be a 200ft player to stick in this league, I think Hino would do himself wonders if he learned from Schroeder that skill and speed are one thing, but when you are undersized you have to fight for everything you get and work both sides of the puck.

Billy Sweatt was just the fastest player on the ice most nights, outside of that he really didn't offer much else which was a shame, always was a big fan of the kid.

I don't see tons of skill when watching Hino. All Speed, not much else. If he can figure out how to get a more accurate shot or work on his D he'll be a hell of a 3rd line scorer or shutdown with Transition Player.

 

[LDF]

I don't see tons of skill when watching Hino. All Speed, not much else. If he can figure out how to get a more accurate shot or work on his D he'll be a hell of a 3rd line scorer or shutdown with Transition Player.

i do not want to be seen as a person who is dog-piling on a topic. but hino has always confused me. taking into consideration his sporadic play and playing time. i look at his stats and that tells me something totally different in my opinion.

his stats are 49 games, 6 g + 8 a and a +/- of -1. i wonder what his stats will show if he played the whole season with a regular shift ??

this tells me he is capable of scoring.... so yeah he has some skill-set.

 

[BK]

I was listening to a Hawks podcast recently and they were discussing the Hawks making a trade with Vegas for defenseman once the Hossa goes on LTIR. This makes a lot of sense. Vegas has more NHL dmen then they will roster. Maybe the "Future Considerations" from the Kruger trade actually means something. Either way if the Hawks land Merrill or McNabb to play on the 3rd pairing that would be somewhat of an improvement.

Keith/Murphy
Kempny/Seabrook
McNabb/Forsling

Assuming Kempny and Forsling take the steps, I would be happy with those pairings.

 

[goldenbladz1]

I think Debrincat should make this team. He can easily score on Kanes wing. He could be on an ELc for cheap (with bonuses) for 3 years. The teams new window to win a cup. From watching every highlight video it's clear to me that Debrincat can score on off angles, slippers, poor one-timers. Kane doesn't even have to be accurate and his winger will still get a placed shot off.

I've seen him score one timers while skating the wrong angle his adjustment is amazing with that small center of gravity.

We gained Saad to replace some of Hossa's two way play.

Added Sharp to help ease the loss of Panarin on the PP.
I would give him his 9 games,

I agree with you, let Debrincat try at 2LW as he will be sheltered with Kane and Anisimov. I would prefer Sharp on the 3rd line with Schmaltz and Hartman. This way Sharp can help out with faceoffs to lighten the load on Schmaltz.

 

[LDF]

I think Debrincat should make this team. He can easily score on Kanes wing. He could be on an ELc for cheap (with bonuses) for 3 years. The teams new window to win a cup. From watching every highlight video it's clear to me that Debrincat can score on off angles, slippers, poor one-timers. Kane doesn't even have to be accurate and his winger will still get a placed shot off.

I've seen him score one timers while skating the wrong angle his adjustment is amazing with that small center of gravity.

We gained Saad to replace some of Hossa's two way play.

Added Sharp to help ease the loss of Panarin on the PP.
I would give him his 9 games,

I agree with you, let Debrincat try at 2LW as he will be sheltered with Kane and Anisimov. I would prefer Sharp on the 3rd line with Schmaltz and Hartman. This way Sharp can help out with faceoffs to lighten the load on Schmaltz.

it would be a exciting training camp, to see how D-cat does training with the pro's. i also can't wait to see the other prospects do as well ....

 

[Flukeshot]

The hype is really starting to grow on Schmaltz having a breakout year with a lot of the fantasy hockey outlets noting him.

 

[BK]

The hype is really starting to grow on Schmaltz having a breakout year with a lot of the fantasy hockey outlets noting him.

While he lacks in goal scoring even though he has a good shot, he should put up points because he is a really intelligent player. IF he plays with Kane he could score 50-60 points this season.

If Stan can find a 3C and a D like McNabb or Franson the Hawks could surprise a lot of people.

 

[CallMeShaft]

Yeah, Schmaltz is likely (provided he plays a full season) to get 50-60pts with Kane or around 40 on the third line. If I'm not mistaken, he put up 24 pts in his last 35 games, so expecting at least 50pts playing with Kane isn't expecting much.

 

[ColdSteel2]

I like this forward group better than the 15 Cup team. Schmaltz and Hartman over Versteeg and Teuvo easily. Crawford is still the same guy. It's just the D that has a lot of unknowns. I'd really like to see Seabrook slimmed down and a bit more mobile, one can hope. Even if the D is kinda meh, we could always open things up for our forwards and lean on Crawford to save us in the D zone. It's gonna be a fun year no matter what happens. If the team can demonstrate they are only a D away from being serious contenders, Stan will push the chips in and get him. He knows what he has. It says a lot that he didn't have the confidence to do it last year, despite the regular season record. He knows what he has, that's why we went young. It just wasn't good enough. At worst, with the way he's been drafting D-men, we're a couple years away from fixing that problem. We just need to get the young guys on the roster signed to team friendly 2 or 3 year extensions and then we're set for a really nice 3 or 4 year run. That's gonna be a challenge though, he hasn't really done a good job at getting guys signed cheap. One would hope it had to do with guys winning rings and wanting extra for all the playoff play. You look at that Connor Brown deal and would really like to see something like that for Hartman. I'd happily take even 2.8M x 3 years. I guess I don't really understand why we haven't locked him up this offseason. Maybe they are working on it. We need to start getting in front of things with our RFAs.

 

[migi]

As much I liked younger Doan and appreciate his career, I'm glad we dodged the bullet. Now let's hope Iginla is also long way from Chicago!

 

[TheDoorDoctor]

My memory is a bit hazy of when leddy first came into the league, but how has forsling been played so far compared to leddy's first year? I know they are quite different style wise but does Forsling's one year resemble leddy's first year at all impact wise/or good defender wise...?

I remember a lot of people complaining about Leddy tons (even when he was our 6th d) and Im sure Forsling's 'new rookie patience' will wear off real quick for some!

 

[ColdSteel2]

From what I remember, they played him with Keith a lot in the beginning and that combined with his speed made him look pretty good on a team with Cullimore and Boynton. And then, as the years went on, it never seemed liked he was progressing enough. Forsling, he looked like a 10 year vet front line offensive D-man when we had the puck in the offensive zone. So I think with Leddy, it was more the physical gifts that excited you whereas Forsling, it's the poise and offensive instincts. Yeah, definitely totally different players. If you combined them, you'd have a superstar. Hopefully Forsling can get better without the puck and possibly improve his speed.

 

[JaegerDice]

I was listening to a Hawks podcast recently and they were discussing the Hawks making a trade with Vegas for defenseman once the Hossa goes on LTIR. This makes a lot of sense. Vegas has more NHL dmen then they will roster. Maybe the "Future Considerations" from the Kruger trade actually means something. Either way if the Hawks land Merrill or McNabb to play on the 3rd pairing that would be somewhat of an improvement.

Keith/Murphy
Kempny/Seabrook
McNabb/Forsling

I could see them doing it, but not til the All-Star break at the earliest.

 

[mikee]

The reason Leddy never seemed to progress is that he always had Keith ahead of him in the pecking order. Leddy's best asset was his PP ability and he never got to show that here because Keith/Seabrook and Sharp always got the PP1 time at the point. He was never put in a great even strength position either, because again his strength (skating with the puck) is not something this coaching staff wants D to do, and with 4 better defenders always ahead of him, he was always relegated to the 3rd pair. He "progressed" immediately in NY because of opportunity, not because of improvements in his game. Leddy was effective, just not a perfect fit while here.

 

[JaegerDice]

The reason Leddy never seemed to progress is that he always had Keith ahead of him in the pecking order. Leddy's best asset was his PP ability and he never got to show that here because Keith/Seabrook and Sharp always got the PP1 time at the point. He was never put in a great even strength position either, because again his strength (skating with the puck) is not something this coaching staff wants D to do, and with 4 better defenders always ahead of him, he was always relegated to the 3rd pair. He "progressed" immediately in NY because of opportunity, not because of improvements in his game. Leddy was effective, just not a perfect fit while here.

This is a major problem with the coaching staff, not the player.

You're right that opportunity, not skill development, is what made Leddy great in NYI.

Literally the next season.

Its almost as if he was that good in Chicago, and never given the chance yo show it by an obstinate coaching staff.