A tale of 2 contracts..

[hawksfan50]

Much ballyhoo about how much home discount Desjardins took to stay in Chicago..About how he loved it here and wanted to stay so badly..Yet he rewards I'd with Zero points in 15 GP and -7..On contact NJD gave a 1 year contract for just $850k to long-time Hawks nemesis Lee Stempniak...What does he do? 3g and 9a ...already! Looks like Stan made tge wrong choice in the value for price range paid..
And surely around the league there must be other bargains paying off to their clubs ...Instead we get Garbutt in trade plus re-sign Desjardins and sign Tikhonov cheap..But what do we get from this ...just about zippy! Further Daley has not provided the offense expected...we have too many guys having poor years...not that any of them would ever be stars of course..but we did expect a lot better than this from them.

Click to read more...

 

[BobbyJet]

Much ballyhoo about how much home discount Desjardins took to stay in Chicago..About how he loved it here and wanted to stay so badly..Yet he rewards I'd with Zero points in 15 GP and -7..On contact NJD gave a 1 year contract for just $850k to long-time Hawks nemesis Lee Stempniak...What does he do? 3g and 9a ...already! Looks like Stan made tge wrong choice in the value for price range paid..
And surely around the league there must be other bargains paying off to their clubs ...Instead we get Garbutt in trade plus re-sign Desjardins and sign Tikhonov cheap..But what do we get from this ...just about zippy! Further Daley has not provided the offense expected...we have too many guys having poor years...not that any of them would ever be stars of course..but we did expect a lot better than this from them.

I'd like to think it's early, too early to come to conclusions, but it is quite obvious that the team in general needs to play a lot better. The built-in excuse of missing Keith can only go so far, and Bickell can't be blamed now.

 

[Marotte Marauder]

I'd like to think it's early, too early to come to conclusions, but it is quite obvious that the team in general needs to play a lot better. The built-in excuse of missing Keith can only go so far, and Bickell can't be blamed now.

Except that Bicks is in RFD and his cap hit is still in Chicago.

 

[IU Hawks fan]

Why did Stan keep together the best 4th line in the playoffs when he could've had points in October & November?

That's essentially what you're asking Fiddy.

 

[BobbyJet]

Except that Bicks is in RFD and his cap hit is still in Chicago.

So Bickell is to blame. Perfect! That should keep some people happy.

Irrelevant that the bottom 6 (other than Garbutt and sometimes Shaw) can't (or won't) throw a decent body check to slow down the ops ..... and none of them can the puck in the ocean so far this season.

 

[Marotte Marauder]

So Bickell is to blame. Perfect! That should keep some people happy.

Irrelevant that the bottom 6 (other than Garbutt and sometimes Shaw) can't (or won't) throw a decent body check to slow down the ops ..... and none of them can the puck in the ocean so far this season.

Not irrelevant just additionally, you know I don't have much use for Kruger.

 

[hawksrule]

I'd like to think it's early, too early to come to conclusions, but it is quite obvious that the team in general needs to play a lot better. The built-in excuse of missing Keith can only go so far, and Bickell can't be blamed now.

Missing a sure hall of famer and arguably the best defender in the league only goes so far? What did you expect during this stretch with Keith out of the lineup?

 

[Hawkaholic]

Not irrelevant just additionally, you know I don't have much use for Kruger.

Not much use for the best 4th line C in hockey last year, who plays against the other teams top players most nights? You must not like winning.

 

[bwana63]

Why did Stan keep together the best 4th line in the playoffs when he could've had points in October & November?

That's essentially what you're asking Fiddy.

+infinity

 

[hawksfan50]

The stats speak for themselves..Desjardins and Kruger's 4th line play in 16GP so far is not just poor play. .it is beyond wretched...beyond abysmal...Even if they do not score to help the offense you cannot go -7 in 15 GP. .you simply cannot and Q would never tolerate that if they were rookies...but as NHL vets and the cap he has no choice but to hope they improve..They had better improve over the next 67 games remaining or we are toast..If they are both -35 at the end of the regular season...no way do we make the playoffs...For those who say 4th line is not a big concern,just think of what -35 or worse means ..how does a team play with that on the books? SO they had better wake up and show interest that they still want to be NHL calibre players...calibre like we have seen so far from them
..we just do cannot accept.

 

[Hawkaholic]

They aren't going to be -35 by the end of the year, good lord.

 

[BobbyJet]

Missing a sure hall of famer and arguably the best defender in the league only goes so far? What did you expect during this stretch with Keith out of the lineup?

... better.

Keith is obviously a difference maker but it is too easy to make his absence the excuse for the fact that Hawks at the moment, are a one line team with an inconsistent PP.

 

[Salvaged Ship]

The 4th line has been poor this year but with their performance in last years playoffs I am willing to be patient. Desjardins and Kruger have struggled the most, Shaw has looked better these last few games.

 

[Enyaw]

I knew Desi was the reason this team sucked

[sarcasm font now off]

 

[rick hawk]

If you want to criticise contracts I suggest you use the Rundblad example instead of the Desjardins one.

 

[bwana63]

If you want to criticise contracts I suggest you use the Rundblad example instead of the Desjardins one.

What? Worst case: Hawks take a $50,000 bath on Bladder?

 

[JaegerDice]

Why did Stan keep together the best 4th line in the playoffs when he could've had points in October & November?

That's essentially what you're asking Fiddy.

Seriously.


People *****ed and moaned about the lack of production from the 4th line all last year too.

They're not a scoring line! They will never be a scoring line. They are an elite shutdown line, and yes, they are not playing up to the level they demonstrated in the playoffs last year, but they didn't forget how to play hockey. It's early in the year after a short summer and the defense backing them up has been mediocre.

The 4th line will be fine.

Garbutt is a redundancy. We already have a player like him in Shaw. Whether that means one of the two is gone by the deadline in search of another D, is anybody's guess. Q seems to adore both of them.

But he hasn't really been playing poorly, and neither has Tikhonov. They have PDO of 90.28 and 90.24 respectively. Average/normal is 100. They're not going to be unlucky forever. They're both generating a ton of scoring chances, they just can't finish at the moment.

 

[LordKOTL]

They aren't going to be -35 by the end of the year, good lord.

Like I told Courtney...I ain't that good.

Seriously though, I agree... Yeah, the 4th line hasn't been tearing it up but IMHO it's more than just those three. You're not expecting them to light it up and if the D's been the problem the two guys playing behind them haven't helped issues.

If I was a betting man (which I'm not), I would gamble that the 'hawks are most likely going to improve rather than stay stagnant--and that includes the 4th line. We're less than 1/5 of the way through the year and are still missing a fHoF defenseman.

 

[kmwtrucks]

The market fell on bottom pairing and 3 an 4th line players. santorelli $875K Tlusty 800K Schlemko $625K Erhoff 1.5K stempianak, Eric Fehr was a 29 year old 6-4 coming off 19 goals and only got 2 mil per season. Odoya only got mil per year. The market dried up quick. Stan should have moved Sharp and Steeg at or before the draft for cap space and waited out the market. I doubt he ever makes that mistake again. He will move somebody before the draft next year. But I have the benefit of hindsight. All Stan can do is learn and every off season is not the same.

 

[EbonyRaptor]

The unending lamentations. Woe is us. If only we had a team and GM that could win something once in a while. But no, everything the GM does is wrong. Every single player doesn't meet expectations, let alone worthy of their contract. It's gut wrenching to stand by and watch the country club attitude knowing that it shouldn't be that way. Being a Hawks fan means suffering through the indignity of being powerless to stop the team from falling into the abyss of mediocrity and obscurity. Oh the humanity!

 

[hawksrule]

... better.

We'll have to agree to disagree. The defense already had no depth, so removing it's best player has left us pretty much as I expected it would leave us - some good games, some bad, but far from dominant. When healthy, this Hawks team can beat anyone. But I don't think you're appreciating the fragility of our ecosystem.

 

[jaysoneil]

We'll have to agree to disagree. The defense already had no depth, so removing it's best player has left us pretty much as I expected it would leave us - some good games, some bad, but far from dominant. When healthy, this Hawks team can beat anyone. But I don't think you're appreciating the fragility of our ecosystem.

You mean the ecosystem that half the NHL wish they had?

 

[hawksrule]

You mean the ecosystem that half the NHL wish they had?

Are fragile and undesirable synonyms?