Are we the poor man's version of the Chicago Blackhawks?

[hullsy47]

More like homeless man's version of the Blackhawks.

my wife and i lofasses off

 

[Faltorvo]

There is nothing poor here, our guys are being paid the same as the Hawks.

 

[Bluejaysfan*]

I disagree.

JVR is probably closer to Hossa than Lupul, but our forwards are not similar to those two at all. Sharp is a strong two-way forward and is extremely durable. Hossa is incredibly strong on his skates and is probably more like an offensive version of Kulemin.

Phaneuf and Seabrook, I don't see it. Their similar in size, but Phaneuf is much stronger. He can actually carry a shut down pairing on his own and produce similar numbers. Having a partner like Keith helps as well. What needs to be noted is that Chicago's top pairing doesn't mop the tough minutes, but rather their mid-pairing does.

Reilly is not going to develop into an all-round defenceman. Keith could easily be slotted into that role and that cerebral playing style helps. I just don't see that in our potential top pairing PMD, but rather see a Letang-esque upside. There is very little indication that he has the high defensive IQ of Brodin or Mcdonagh.

It takes time, are we seriously going to say Rielly is not going to develop into an all-round defenceman after forty games or so? Brodin plays with Suter and it took McDonaugh a while before he became the defensmen he is. Ultimately I see Rielly turning into a mix between Karlsson and Kieth. He has all the offensive ability of Karlsson but he seems to have strong work ethic so I believe he can become well rounded as well like Kieth.

 

[mulefarm]

Let's see , the Blackhawks have 7 fighting majors and that ranks 27th in the league. The Mapleleafs have 32 fighting majors and rank 1st. The Blackhawks rank 27th in the league in penalty minutes and the Mapleleafs rank 2nd. I would say it comes down to the coaching philosophy and instilling discipline in your team. The Blackhawks have 67 points and the Mapleleafs have 47 points. We know the Blackhawks have more talent, so why would a team with less talent want to take more penalties and put themself in a bigger hole? This would seem to fall on the coach to change this behavior. Not sure if Carlye is willing to change?

 

[Al14]

Let's see , the Blackhawks have 7 fighting majors and that ranks 27th in the league. The Mapleleafs have 32 fighting majors and rank 1st. The Blackhawks rank 27th in the league in penalty minutes and the Mapleleafs rank 2nd. I would say it comes down to the coaching philosophy and instilling discipline in your team. The Blackhawks have 67 points and the Mapleleafs have 47 points. We know the Blackhawks have more talent, so why would a team with less talent want to take more penalties and put themself in a bigger hole? This would seem to fall on the coach to change this behavior. Not sure if Carlye is willing to change?

Carlyle is stuck living in 2007. Phaneuf and Franson are his Niedermayer and Pronger! He just isn't able to see the truth, due to advancing age, and, maybe a touch of alzheimer's disease.

 

[Peter Puck]

Dude, I don't think you understand what "a poor man's version" means.

We're the ones with the more expensive model. The blackhawks don't have our kind of money to splash around to get one of the elite model teams.

 

[My Sweet Shadow]

A very, very poor man's Chicago.

As with most teams, there are some similarities in terms of type of player / role, but I wouldn't say Chicago is a perfect comparison. The Kessel-Kane, Shaw-Kadri, and Gunnarsson-Hjalmarsson comparisons seem pretty reasonable to me. However, I don't seem any good comparisons for JVR, Lupul, Bozak, or Phaneuf on their side or Hossa, Toews, Sharp, Keith, or Seabrook on our side. I guess you could say Bozak lies somewhere between Toews and Handzus, but that's about it.

Bottom line; we've got a long way to go before we can call ourselves even a poor man's Chicago.

 

[Purity*]

Sharp
Toews
Hossa
Keith
Seabrook

Great players who get it done on both sides of the ice and set the mark for leading the team to success.

We don't have players like those, we have players like Lupul and Franson who have decided the defensive zone is a waste of their time and effort.

 

[613Leafer]

All we're missing is a perennial Norris contender and a PPG perennial Selke contender.

Well this should be easy

 

[Duffman955]

Not really. Last year's team was feisty, hard working and physically intimidating.

This team is none of those things.

It's a castrated version of last year's team.

This.

 

[The Caveman]

Considering that they have been drafting solid d-men, and larger forwards with grit and size, I would say that in a few years we might be more of a St. Louis model.

 

[BraveCanadian]

Sadly we spend more cap money $$ on salary $66.5 mil verses $64.9 mil then the 2 X Stanley Cup winning Blackhawks do.

Gah.. this is the part that blows my mind.

 

[King Mapes]

This is why people laugh at us..

The only one I remotely agree with is Kessel, though Kane has put a bigger gap between them this year

 

[Mindrust]

Poor mans Blackhawks would be extremely generous. It's a little beyond poor. It's like a starving 3rd world child with flies on it's face, unable to move because of malnutrition & disease. A life so consumed by tragedy & pain that the only shred of hope that remains is the wish for death to come soon & put an end to the eternal suffering.

Best post of the year.

 

[Parkdale]

Gah.. this is the part that blows my mind.

Not to worry, the cap is going up so what we are paying Kessel and Phaneuf will look like peanuts soon enough!

 

[Sonofamitch]

Some of you took this thread a little to seriously, he's not trying to say were as good or comparable to chicago. He's just trying to say we are a worse version of the Blackhawks.

Kessel< Kane Offensive gifted Rightwinger
Bozak< Toews 2 Way Center with great Faceoff Ability
Lupul< Sharp Scoring winger with good Leadership
JVR> Saad Powerforward American Winger
Gunnerson< Hjlamerson Swedish Defensive dman play similar style
Gardiner< Leddy young puck moving American defencemen
McClement>Handzus 4th line pk Specialist
Raymond< Versteeg depth scoring puck hoging winger
Phaneuf< Seabrook 2 way canadian defencemen who play a similar style

We are a really bad version of the hawks

 

[FerrisRox]

It takes time, are we seriously going to say Rielly is not going to develop into an all-round defenceman after forty games or so?

I dunno … are you seriously going to say Rielly is going to develop into Duncan Keith after forty games or so?

 

[The_Chosen_One]

It takes time, are we seriously going to say Rielly is not going to develop into an all-round defenceman after forty games or so? Brodin plays with Suter and it took McDonaugh a while before he became the defensmen he is. Ultimately I see Rielly turning into a mix between Karlsson and Kieth. He has all the offensive ability of Karlsson but he seems to have strong work ethic so I believe he can become well rounded as well like Kieth.

Crosby has ridiculous work ethic, but isn't very strong defensive either. The fact is, Rielly is built like an offensive defenceman. He has shown no indication that he can take tough defensive roles while Brodin and McDonagh demonstrated that day one. It's not like he has to perform at a top pairing level. Outplay Gunnarsson (#4) and problem solved.

I would be conservative with estimates. Dion Phaneuf produced 50 points in his first season. Rielly is approaching 30 despite playing sheltered minutes. We're a high scoring team and I'd be very hesitant to suggest that Rielly is going to be a PPG defenceman.

 

[The Caveman]

I dunno … are you seriously going to say Rielly is going to develop into Duncan Keith after forty games or so?

I'm pushing for neidermeyer But we don't know. Can't wait to see what he will be though. Kid is special.

 

[Ratboy]

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

[The_Chosen_One]

I'm pushing for neidermeyer But we don't know. Can't wait to see what he will be though. Kid is special.

That's what I'm thinking as well. Not necessarily all-round, but could be excellent to have around a defensive-oriented Phaneuf. Niedermayer was so good at controlling the tempo of the game that he doesn't have to be as cerebral as Keith, who, in my opinion, is what McDonagh is going to become.

 

[Cor]

oh right haha, stupid me

 

[Cor]

He stole that from Moneyball.

The only like that is the same was "50 feet of crap" same concept, but hardly stealing.

 

[Leaf Rocket]

so random guests can laugh at this instead of this thread's discusion.

Also since this thread is

And...closed.