GDT: Hawks vs Avs 7:30PM CT on NBCSCH - Nightmare (six days) Before Christmas

[Pez68]

Bedard - leads all forwards in ice time and it's not even close, has taken 277 faceoffs on the season

Reichel - longest leash on the team (AINEC), gets promoted to 1st line when any team remotely trying would have had him sent to the AHL weeks ago

The gang of jokers will whine about anything. It's become weirdly personal, the coaching staff will likely be different by the time the Hawks are hopefully contending, for now they are placeholder like everyone else. You'd think Bedard is playing 4th line wing with all this talk that he doesn't take enough faceoffs (hey newsflash, he's not taking defensive zone draws because he's 41.2 % on the season, he is and will continue getting more opportunity to grow and improve in that department, he doesn't need to do every single thing at a rate higher than anybody else 30 games into his NHL career, he is human like everyone else... for now he is being put in positions to succeed based on his strengths and excelling)

What's weird is how personally you take the criticism of the coaching staff. There are valid criticisms to be made and all you do is talk shit to and about those criticizing them.

 

[Crow]

-225 for the avs. I don’t usually like favorites this much.

Wow I suck. That was a great game by the hawks. Love what I’ve been seeing from 27 lately.

Am I the only one who watched the hawks cast? I thought it was awesome. Bickell, bolig and big John Scott were all very entertaining. ISO cam was kind of annoying.

 

[Hawkaholic]

Blackwell could be a real player for us, IMO. I really liked him a few years ago when he was with the Rangers. Not sure if he was suffering through injuries while playing last year, but hopefully he continues to be more like the Rangers player than the Hawks player he was last year.

 

[shakes the clown]

Reichel - longest leash on the team (AINEC), gets promoted to 1st line when any team remotely trying would have had him sent to the AHL weeks ago

T

I don't agree with that. If he had a long leash he wouldn't be getting jerked around the lineup left and right like he has been. If he had a long leash he wouldn't have been yanked off the first line halfway through a game like he was a few weeks ago. If he had a long leash he wouldn't have been a healthy scratch vs Minnesota.

I would say he has a ridiculously short leash this year, especially when compared to Bedard and Korchinski. Now those two have the longest leashes on the team and rightfully so. Reichel should be given the same treatment by the coaching staff as the other two hot shot recent lottery picks.

Put Reichel on Bedard's line and just leave him there all year. That's what should've been done a while ago.

 

[shakes the clown]

Wow I suck. That was a great game by the hawks. Love what I’ve been seeing from 27 lately.

Am I the only one who watched the hawks cast? I thought it was awesome. Bickell, bolig and big John Scott were all very entertaining.

I didn't buy a beautiful 80 inch TV to have half the screen taken up by two dudes sitting in a room watching a game. So stupid.

 

[shakes the clown]

He's been in the running for worst forward in the NHL this season. The fact that he's still averaging over 16 ATOI on the season is pretty remarkable. Bedard, Korchinski and Reichel all have some of the longest leashes in the NHL.

He hasn't been given nearly as long a leash as Bedard and Korchinski. Agreed?

 

[Crow]

I didn't buy a beautiful 80 inch TV to have half the screen taken up by two dudes sitting in a room watching a game. So stupid.

To be fair I watched the game regular and then after the game I watched two periods of the hawks cast.

 

[shakes the clown]

To be fair I watched the game regular and then after the game I watched two periods of the hawks cast.

<insert "ain't nobody got time for that" GIF>

 

[Hawkaholic]

He hasn't been given nearly as long a leash as Bedard and Korchinski. Agreed?

Definitely not, but he shouldn't be either. Both those other guys have looked great (at times for KK)

 

[shakes the clown]

Definitely not, but he shouldn't be either. Both those other guys have looked great (at times for KK)

there's a bit of chicken egg there though. Especially when dealing with a young players psyche.

I disagree that the results should dictate the amount of leash they are given at this stage of their career as well as where the team is headed this season.

 

[Hawkaholic]

there's a bit of chicken egg there though. Especially when dealing with a young players psyche.

I disagree that the results should dictate the amount of leash they are given at this stage of their career as well as where the team is headed this season.

He has looked terrible (previous to the last handful of games). You can look good without getting points, and earn your ice time, Reichel definitely didn't do that earlier in the year.

 

[shakes the clown]

He has looked terrible (previous to the last handful of games). You can look good without getting points, and earn your ice time, Reichel definitely didn't do that earlier in the year.

counter point: you can ruin a kid's confidence if you punish him for every mistake. When he was looking terrible he was playing center and being punished for mistakes at a much greater rate than our other two hot shot young players.

Once again, chicken egg argument.

Also, earlier in the year he was exclusively at center which is a much tougher position to play than wing.

 

[Pez68]

counter point: you can ruin a kid's confidence if you punish him for every mistake. When he was looking terrible he was playing center and being punished for mistakes at a much greater rate than our other two hot shot young players.

Once again, chicken egg argument.

Also, earlier in the year he was exclusively at center which is a much tougher position to play than wing.

I don't think people realize how difficult playing center is for a rookie in the pros. It's absurd they even tried in his first NHL season, to be honest. Did he even play center in Rockford? I thought he was primarily on the wing.

 

[hawksfan50]

The faceoff losses to the Avs in the 3rd period kept us in our zone too long and gave the Avs too many chances off their winning draws.... It was mentioned that Bedard had taken very few draws in the game (because he loses too many)...There IS a solution to this for next season..

SR. Gabriel Seger a C with Cornell and a top scorer for them this (he was a lintvavgane pkaysr lsst season for them) isxa master on faceoffs...63% last season and Iast tomevI looked he was just under 62% this season so far..Takes a lot of faceoffs..Certainly one of the best in the NCAA and also a good scorer and 3zone player ...The Big Swede is 6'5 and over 200lbs..A very goid hockey player...certainly will attract NHL attention as one of the top college free agents after this season finishes..

Hawks should try to sign him. Mature at age 24..

Yes guys can get bstter on draws with more experience.. but ifvyou already are naturally great at them,and are a goid player too,you should be trying to sign such a solution.

 

[Section88]

Hopefully that game was a big confidence booster for Reichel and can get him going a bit, but I wouldn't expect the hawks to get the same amount of scoring chances and odd man rushes as yesterday in the next 3 games combined.
No clue what the Avs were doing but they really looked like they just did not care at all to defend.

 

[Hawkaholic]

counter point: you can ruin a kid's confidence if you punish him for every mistake. When he was looking terrible he was playing center and being punished for mistakes at a much greater rate than our other two hot shot young players.

Once again, chicken egg argument.

Also, earlier in the year he was exclusively at center which is a much tougher position to play than wing.

His play was garbage, so why would you play someone who isn't showing the willingness to do what is needed to play in the NHL? He was coasting, not showing any drive, etc. whereas Bedard and Korchinski were quite the opposite. Mistakes are one thing, not being aggressive and playing like you're scared is another thing.

More is expected of a guy with 2 full seasons in the AHL and 40 games in the NHL than 2 ripe rookies. And if he is that fragile, he's going to have a tough time in the NHL.

 

[Hawkaholic]

I don't think people realize how difficult playing center is for a rookie in the pros. It's absurd they even tried in his first NHL season, to be honest. Did he even play center in Rockford? I thought he was primarily on the wing.

He mainly played C. And by the sounds of it, Reichel wanted to play C, and the Blackhawks rewarded his off season work he put in to give him that spot, but weren't convinced he would be a C.

Inside Lukas Reichel's important offseason and how the Blackhawks are rewarding him

Reichel spent the offseason getting stronger, heavier and more dynamic, and it's resulting in more opportunity with the Blackhawks.

theathletic.com

 

[WarriorofTime]

The Hawks are going to have an awful culture if every semi-decent prospect gets a full 82 game stint at 1st line/PP1 and gets to pad some points playing with Bedard with no shakeups if they are playing terribly, leading the league in minuses, not showing consistent effort, etc. That's exactly why you have these tank team veterans there in the first place. Or else what? The wave in the following years look at Lukas Reichel as their leaders/motivators of how to behave and what cause/effect it results in if you went 17th overall and put up some points in the AHL? That's just a recipe for disaster.

 

[bwanajamba]

The Hawks are going to have an awful culture if every semi-decent prospect gets a full 82 game stint at 1st line/PP1 and gets to pad some points playing with Bedard with no shakeups if they are playing terribly, leading the league in minuses, not showing consistent effort, etc. That's exactly why you have these tank team veterans there in the first place. Or else what? The wave in the following years look at Lukas Reichel as their leaders/motivators of how to behave and what cause/effect it results in if you went 17th overall and put up some points in the AHL? That's just a recipe for disaster.

No need to invent disaster scenarios. Reichel was playing (relatively) well with Bedard in the short stint they had together earlier this season, still looked pretty lost at times but was making plays with skill and speed because, realistically, for the first time all year he had guys who could complement his skill set. He probably should have gotten a longer look on Bedard's wing than 3.5 games. Now he's back with Bedard and has looked good (not just relatively) in back to back games. I think it's fair to say with hindsight that the leash was a bit too short when Richardson broke them up before, even if it's mostly on Reichel to be much better than he was showing.

On the other hand, it's also fair to say that some of the problems with his game crept in when he had too long of a leash at C to start the year. Shit is much harder to properly manage than many like to acknowledge. I just hope he can springboard this into a period of sustained good play because him recovering is one of the most important things that can happen for this team for the rest of the year

 

[shakes the clown]

His play was garbage, so why would you play someone who isn't showing the willingness to do what is needed to play in the NHL? He was coasting, not showing any drive, etc. whereas Bedard and Korchinski were quite the opposite. Mistakes are one thing, not being aggressive and playing like you're scared is another thing.

More is expected of a guy with 2 full seasons in the AHL and 40 games in the NHL than 2 ripe rookies. And if he is that fragile, he's going to have a tough time in the NHL.

fair enough. You're right that he should be judged to a higher standard based on the 2 full seasons in the AHL. But jerking him around the lineup and playing him out of position at the start of the year wasn't the right way to treat any rookie no matter how much AHL experience they've had.

 

[Hattrick Kane]

He hasn't been given nearly as long a leash as Bedard and Korchinski. Agreed?

We shouldn’t be talking about long leashes unless it’s about Tyler Johnson. My god I can’t emphasize how much he sucks. He’s soft, not a great skater, couldn‘t handle the puck from day 1 this year. He‘s only been promoted since then.

That my friends is egregious.

 

[BobbyJet]

No need to invent disaster scenarios. Reichel was playing (relatively) well with Bedard in the short stint they had together earlier this season, still looked pretty lost at times but was making plays with skill and speed because, realistically, for the first time all year he had guys who could complement his skill set. He probably should have gotten a longer look on Bedard's wing than 3.5 games. Now he's back with Bedard and has looked good (not just relatively) in back to back games. I think it's fair to say with hindsight that the leash was a bit too short when Richardson broke them up before, even if it's mostly on Reichel to be much better than he was showing.

On the other hand, it's also fair to say that some of the problems with his game crept in when he had too long of a leash at C to start the year. Shit is much harder to properly manage than many like to acknowledge. I just hope he can springboard this into a period of sustained good play because him recovering is one of the most important things that can happen for this team for the rest of the year

Let's remember that Hawks are in a complete rebuild and that is going to take time for the team and for the young players to find their way. Perhaps Luke's mindset (that I agree with) is to not gift any player and have each of them earn their ice time. The way Reichel has played this year he is fortunate to still be playing in a regular role but the coach has shown a great deal of patience with him.

It seems inevitable the two most offensively talented Hawks players will end up as linemates one day but there is no rush - and not before Riechel can earn his way to the top line. At this stage in his development relying too much on the talented Bedard could do him more harm than good.

On the flip side, I'm sure Reichel is gaining confidence in his game based on his play in the last two games. For the time being, I reckon Richardson will likely extend the Reichel/Bedard time together and see where it goes.

 

[Hawkaholic]

fair enough. You're right that he should be judged to a higher standard based on the 2 full seasons in the AHL. But jerking him around the lineup and playing him out of position at the start of the year wasn't the right way to treat any rookie no matter how much AHL experience they've had.

C is his position, he grew up playing C, drafted as a C, played C in the AHL, and wanted to play C in the NHL.

 

[shakes the clown]

C is his position, he grew up playing C, drafted as a C, played C in the AHL, and wanted to play C in the NHL.

I've seen NHL centers, he's no center. At least not at this point.

 

[Hockeyman1962]

Joel Quenneville was trying to win games above all else, and he handled the young players better than this coaching staff has. And developing the young players is the only responsibility these coaches have. It's not about winning, but Richardson consistently favors veterans in crucial situations, because he doesn't trust the young guys... It's ass backwards for what this team is trying to do.

Let's not even talk about Tyler Johnson and his infinitely long leash.

all he did was score the game winner