Confirmed with Link: 2019-20 Opening Night Roster

[ChiHawks10]

It's obvious that you don't know what constitutes a balanced line, or lines. You like to compare arguably the best line in hockey to Hawks number one line, fine, the Colorado 1st line is excellent .... don't look now but it is Landeskog who is the guy who makes it all work playing with two of the top offensive players in hockey.

Not to mention, that line probably won't be together this season, so it's a silly comparison, anyways. Bednar likely splits them up to balance his lines more, and provide more production from multiple lines, similar to how the Hawks have always done it...

One line teams do not go far in the playoffs. We should know. This team dealt with it after every Cup win with the cap purges, and for a couple years since the 15 Cup, especially, where we got bounced in the first round by both St. Louis, and Nashville. Both of those losses, IMO, were due to being a one-line team. There was no depth beyond the first line. Now there's a lot more than there has been in a while. So I'm excited to see what they can do.

 

[BK]

Who said anything about offensive production?

I want them to outplay their opponents. Nylander can outplay AHLers, Caggiula 4th liners. But they are in over their heads playing against Ovechkin, Kucherov and Connor McDavid on a daily basis.

This not a video game. Lines need balance between skill and guys that go get the puck and play in the dirty areas. This is especially important playing with Kane. Toews can do it when Nylander plays with them (Nylander plays around the net as well) and then when Cags is with them Toews can modify his game to play with more skill.

 

[ChiHawks10]

This not a video game. Lines need balance between skill and guys that go get the puck and play in the dirty areas. This is especially important playing with Kane. Toews can do it when Nylander plays with them (Nylander plays around the net as well) and then when Cags is with them Toews can modify his game to play with more skill.

Nah... My NHL20 squad destroys every team, and it's only one line of l33t skillz guys.

 

[bwana63]

It feels like Murphy has played 20 games as a Blackhawk and has spent his entire rest of his time here being injured

Late to the party, but, no, it doesn't.

 

[BK]

Late to the party, but, no, it doesn't.

this

 

[Toews2Bickell]

it could feel that way since Murphy has missed two consecutive season open games

 

[ColbyChaos]

Who cares about Perlini as 13th forward when the Hawks don't have a top line. The #1 LW spot is either going to a 4th line grinder (Caggiula) or an AHL talent (Al Nylander).

How are they going to match up against the Taylor Halls, Blake Wheelers and Mikko Rantanens of the league, playing head-to-head. Now that's what I'd worry about.

Holy **** what a dumb take lol. Good thing Kane, Debrincat, Strome, etc will get to slay whatever bums those oneline teams ice through the rest of their lineups..

Pretty clear you have the video game goggles on since real life its not always about stacking your top line. Depth and scoring matters too if not more than having a three headed dragon top line...

Pizza line Sens, Legion of doom Flyers, Current Bruins, and the Sharks when they relied solely on the Heatley-Thornton-Marleau line to do all their scoring are prime examples to why one line teams or near one line teams never work. 2/3 dangerous lines are better than one über line

 

[deytookerjaabs]

Cat/Strome/Kane could also slay a line with 2 5v5 goals on a given night and still end up a -2 against said bums, seen it happen before.

We have no shortage of talent, IMO, these guys just gotta go in with the idea that the Blackhawks actually need to out work the other teams to get some more wins.

 

[Toews2Bickell]

Cat/Strome/Kane could also slay a line with 2 5v5 goals on a given night and still end up a -2 against said bums, seen it happen before.

We have no shortage of talent, IMO, these guys just gotta go in with the idea that the Blackhawks actually need to out work the other teams to get some more wins.

Hawks never rebuilt their top 4 from 2015 and thats the primary reason they're a bubble team atm. Look at a team like Boston. They didn't turn it around until they struck gold with McAvoy and Carlo to take some burden off Chara. We need Boqvist and Mitchell to be that combo to help Keith.

 

[BobbyJet]

Cat/Strome/Kane could also slay a line with 2 5v5 goals on a given night and still end up a -2 against said bums, seen it happen before.

We have no shortage of talent, IMO, these guys just gotta go in with the idea that the Blackhawks actually need to out work the other teams to get some more wins.

It's been quite a while since Hawks outworked ops on any kind of consistent basis. In fact quite the opposite. It's JC's biggest test to ice a hungry team!

 

[AmericanDream]

Hawks never rebuilt their top 4 from 2015 and thats the primary reason they're a bubble team atm. Look at a team like Boston. They didn't turn it around until they struck gold with McAvoy and Carlo to take some burden off Chara. We need Boqvist and Mitchell to be that combo to help Keith.

yep, and imagine if they actually drafted right in the 1st round of 2015?? lol....they literally passed on the top 3 players in that range - Barzal, Connor and Chabot bwahahahaha...they would be running the league if they didn't f*** that up..Carlo in the 2nd round is the only saving grace there.

 

[SotasicA]

Holy **** what a dumb take lol. Good thing Kane, Debrincat, Strome, etc will get to slay whatever bums those oneline teams ice through the rest of their lineups..

You mean the way they slayed them last season when the Hawks finished sixth in the division?

 

[deytookerjaabs]

Hawks never rebuilt their top 4 from 2015 and thats the primary reason they're a bubble team atm. Look at a team like Boston. They didn't turn it around until they struck gold with McAvoy and Carlo to take some burden off Chara. We need Boqvist and Mitchell to be that combo to help Keith.

The Hawks had 3 bondafide first pairing D's in their prime often allowing us to carry a crap third pair. I'd argue Hammer would have been a 1D on more than half the teams in the league in his prime. Nevermind the Campbell era where it was 4 first pairing D.

Teams with worse D than prime Hawks have gone all the way. This idea that you need an all-star HOF roster to win is silly. The Hawks could walk teams when they "flipped the switch" back then, we can't expect that today as it's a totally unrealistic outlook.

We're not getting 4 or 3 bondafide first pairing D-men back without superb trades/drafting. We do have good depth D now in Murphy/Maata/DeHaan IMO. But, not world beaters. Good enough to win with the right coaching & lack of injuries (uhg).


Many Hawk fans: We need a D-corps better than Nashville and a forward corps better than Tampa Bay to be a contender.

I mean...WTF guys?

 

[deytookerjaabs]

It's been quite a while since Hawks outworked ops on any kind of consistent basis. In fact quite the opposite. It's JC's biggest test to ice a hungry team!

Yeah, I'm thinking Crawford was brought in as assistant to "assist" in getting guys to add that dimension of hunger to the game. The same goes for some of the forwards acquired. We'll see.

 

[Section88]

You mean the way they slayed them last season when the Hawks finished sixth in the division?

They didn't finish 6th because of lack of scoring goals and you know that.

 

[SotasicA]

They didn't finish 6th because of lack of scoring goals and you know that.

Well it's not slaying if you can't keep the puck out of your own net. It's called losing.

 

[ColbyChaos]

You mean the way they slayed them last season when the Hawks finished sixth in the division?

5th in GF

Yea the offense was clearly the problem and not having Ward and Delia as starters half the season. If you want to be counter snarky at least have half a clue what you are talking about

 

[ColbyChaos]

Well it's not slaying if you can't keep the puck out of your own net. It's called losing.

"Colorado's top line is soo good they even play in net too, wow!"

 

[SotasicA]

"Colorado's top line is soo good they even play in net too, wow!"

I don't know about your fantasy world, but I'll take the line that outshoots and outchances their opponent. If you can't do that, what good is "offensive production"? It's a one-dimensional stat in a vacuum.

But sure, Perlini as a 13th forward is a bigger problem than Caggiula on your top line. How about they switch places then? Is Caggiula suddenly the problem then?

 

[Bubba88]

Who said anything about offensive production?

I want them to outplay their opponents. Nylander can outplay AHLers, Caggiula 4th liners. But they are in over their heads playing against Ovechkin, Kucherov and Connor McDavid on a daily basis.

Basic question

Who should Bowman have signed or traded for that you wouldn't say this? Think about Cap Space, future cap space with DeBrincat, Strome and Gus needing new contracts and if it's a trade the team agreeing to a deal.

Don't say getting Neal or Lucic is better...

 

[ChiHawks10]

Lol.

 

[Marotte Marauder]

Watched Blues-Caps last night. We have quite a ways to go before we are at their level. But I look for an improved season this year.

 

[RememberTheRoar]

 

[Rick C137]

All for the patient approach with Dach.

 

[BK]

They are being patient with him and it is the right play. I like that they are keeping him here even for the simple fact they have the best medical care possible for him.