GDT: Game 39: CHICAGO at Colorado | 7:00 PM CT | CSN-CH,ALT | Last Game of 2015 Edition

[SimpleJack]

I wouldnt have Rasmussen in our lineup come playoff time, not after what I've seen of him the past few games. I think he overachieved in his first 2 games as a Hawk, its been downhill ever since.

 

[Toews2Bickell]

Let Danault center the third line with TT at RW. Hopefully they acquire another LWer to slot in on that line.

 

[tdfxman]

I liked Q putting Gus with the top 4. Competition between him and TVR is a good thing and will help with the decision making come the playoffs. TVR has been pretty solid, but it's conceivable that Gus could be better. Time (40+ regular season games) will tell.

Yeah was thinking of starting a thread about who is better at this time, TVR or Gus?

I mean Gus has been all world in all his games. he gets a minus becauase our AHL G can't stop a shot along the ice from the corner. I bet $1000 I stop that. And I am a C not a G lol.

Gus could be really nice for us. He had 18+ minutes in the Col game. Q likies.

 

[Toews2Bickell]

I like Gus upside more because he's a better skater. If TVR was a better skater then I'd love his game. Doesn't make many mistakes and he's underrated in the o-zone.

 

[bwana63]

I like Gus upside more because he's a better skater. If TVR was a better skater then I'd love his game. Doesn't make many mistakes and he's underrated in the o-zone.

Agreed. Barring injury, the D this season isn't going to be totally reliant on the top 4 come the playoffs. TVR/Rozy is a pretty good 3rd pair.

 

[Toews2Bickell]

Agreed. Barring injury, the D this season isn't going to be totally reliant on the top 4 come the playoffs. TVR/Rozy is a pretty good 3rd pair.

Forward has been my concern for a while now. The LW issue is very glaring and they need to fix it to be a top contender imo. Dano not working out has left a sizable hole. If they didn't have Panarin it would be real ugly.

 

[bwana63]

Forward has been my concern for a while now. The LW issue is very glaring and they need to fix it to be a top contender imo. Dano not working out has left a sizable hole. If they didn't have Panarin it would be real ugly.

Marleau is atop my list. Not sure how the Hawks could deal with (fit him in) next season though. Trade him for nothing, I suppose?

 

[Hawkaholic]

Saw the GA vs Darling...ugh. This guy is not NHL caliber this year, glad we still have Crawford.

 

[BK]

Saw the GA vs Darling...ugh. This guy is not NHL caliber this year, glad we still have Crawford.

He is NHL caliber. He needs to play more. He made some really nice saves during the game as well.

 

[Hawkaholic]

He is NHL caliber. He needs to play more. He made some really nice saves during the game as well.

His play doesn't tell me he needs to play more, and those GAs were brutal. I expect every goalie to make great saves in a game, but not give up a couple bad goals every single game. He is making me think that we should think about an alternative back up if it continues.

 

[BK]

His play doesn't tell me he needs to play more, and those GAs were brutal. I expect every goalie to make great saves in a game, but not give up a couple bad goals every single game. He is making me think that we should think about an alternative back up if it continues.

His play tells he is rusty. The 3rd goal is proof of that. Does he need to improve? Yes but that will only come game time.

Crow needs some more time off and his play against AZ shows that. Ideally we would have a split of 57/25.

 

[Hawkaholic]

He doesn't look rusty, he looks out of position and slow. Looking rusty is an excuse. Yes, Crow needs more rest, but hard to do when you can't trust your back up. Luckily the offense came through last night.

 

[Any Colour You Like]

He doesn't look rusty, he looks out of position and slow. Looking rusty is an excuse. Yes, Crow needs more rest, but hard to do when you can't trust your back up. Luckily the offense came through last night.

At the same time, how can you trust your backup when you never play him to let him get the playing time he needs?

Darling was as good as he needed to be last night, and will only get better with more playing time.

 

[BK]

He doesn't look rusty, he looks out of position and slow. Looking rusty is an excuse. Yes, Crow needs more rest, but hard to do when you can't trust your back up. Luckily the offense came through last night.

Slow? No not at all. His angle are wonky but that is rust.

 

[tdfxman]

He is NHL caliber. He needs to play more. He made some really nice saves during the game as well.

Love your posts BK, but in a lot of games he just isn't RIGHT NOW. It's like whatever he had going, he is not CLOSE to that this year. I don't think he is NHL caliber. Each game there are bad goals. he makes saves, but they all will get hit with it.

The sign of an NHL G is not the big saves, but he makes all the saves he SHOULD make and then some he shouldn't. Darling, this year, is making some saves he shouldn't be HE IS NOT making all the saves he should. That shot from the corner, goalies in my leagues would stop 90+-100 times. NHL goalies make that save on the 3rd done. The 2nd curved he said so that not as glaring as the brutal last one.

hopefully he gets better this month with some games and you end up being right. He doesn't seem "big" in these games in the net, folded over playing small. Anyway, I hope he gets better and can get back to what he was.

 

[JaegerDice]

I mean, he would not be the first goalie in the NHL to have a rough second year. The 2nd year, the book gets out on you. Coachs and video coaches have time to scout you. The fact is Darling has never been great at keeping his net when teams get him moving laterally.

People swooned over big split saves last year, nobody asked why the where necessary. He was forced to make those heroic saves because he lost his angles. A lot.

Teams are getting him moving back and forth a lot more this year. In part because they've figured out that's a weakness, in part because the defense isn't strong enough to stop them as much as they could last year.

Marleau is atop my list. Not sure how the Hawks could deal with (fit him in) next season though. Trade him for nothing, I suppose?

Marleau on Toews' wing would be godly. Those two ate up the competition in possession at the Socchi olympics and Marleau can still go.

Only way it works is if SJ eats some salary though. And wasn't the rumor that Marleau already gave some teams he was willing to move to: Anaheim, LA and NYR?

 

[BrianE]

Marleau is atop my list. Not sure how the Hawks could deal with (fit him in) next season though. Trade him for nothing, I suppose?

Would love to have him but i think he would be among'st the highest priced lw available on the market. Stan would have to be very creative to pull that off, besides have to give to get quality, what would Hawks have to give up?

Imagine first line though.....

Marleau - Toews - Hoss

 

[BrianE]

I mean, he would not be the first goalie in the NHL to have a rough second year. The 2nd year, the book gets out on you. Coachs and video coaches have time to scout you. The fact is Darling has never been great at keeping his net when teams get him moving laterally.

People swooned over big split saves last year, nobody asked why the where necessary. He was forced to make those heroic saves because he lost his angles. A lot.

Teams are getting him moving back and forth a lot more this year. In part because they've figured out that's a weakness, in part because the defense isn't strong enough to stop them as much as they could last year.




Marleau on Toews' wing would be godly. Those two ate up the competition in possession at the Socchi olympics and Marleau can still go.

Only way it works is if SJ eats some salary though. And wasn't the rumor that Marleau already gave some teams he was willing to move to: Anaheim, LA and NYR?

JD someone mentioned here on HF that Chicago was also on that list but don't know if that's true.

 

[bwana63]

Would love to have him but i think he would be among'st the highest priced lw available on the market. Stan would have to be very creative to pull that off, besides have to give to get quality, what would Hawks have to give up?

Imagine first line though.....

Marleau - Toews - Hoss

Fever dream.

 

[BK]

Love your posts BK, but in a lot of games he just isn't RIGHT NOW. It's like whatever he had going, he is not CLOSE to that this year. I don't think he is NHL caliber. Each game there are bad goals. he makes saves, but they all will get hit with it.

The sign of an NHL G is not the big saves, but he makes all the saves he SHOULD make and then some he shouldn't. Darling, this year, is making some saves he shouldn't be HE IS NOT making all the saves he should. That shot from the corner, goalies in my leagues would stop 90+-100 times. NHL goalies make that save on the 3rd done. The 2nd curved he said so that not as glaring as the brutal last one.

hopefully he gets better this month with some games and you end up being right. He doesn't seem "big" in these games in the net, folded over playing small. Anyway, I hope he gets better and can get back to what he was.

The issue is and will continue to be rust if he does not play more. Angles are really difficult to maintain with out playing in games. It is the speed that cannot be replicated in practice.

I mean, he would not be the first goalie in the NHL to have a rough second year. The 2nd year, the book gets out on you. Coachs and video coaches have time to scout you. The fact is Darling has never been great at keeping his net when teams get him moving laterally.

People swooned over big split saves last year, nobody asked why the where necessary. He was forced to make those heroic saves because he lost his angles. A lot.

Teams are getting him moving back and forth a lot more this year. In part because they've figured out that's a weakness, in part because the defense isn't strong enough to stop them as much as they could last year.

Italicized part: The book part is true. Goalies typically struggle in their second year. Darling does lose his net with big desperation type lateral moves but that is normal. Darling actually moves laterally very well on the typical non desperation type moves so I disagree with you on the this.

Red part: This is not correct. His split saves in the playoffs were desperation saves that we are a result of the our forwards/defenseman losing there man or a backdoor pp play. They actually had nothing to do with him losing his net.

Bold Italicized part: His angle are rough this year but teams are not attacking weaknesses. His issue right not are his angles and that is caused a lot by rust/lack of playing time. If I recall correctly he has been hung out to dry a lot this season. Rust is his issue. I am willing to bet that if he get more playing time we will see these issues with angles and the weak goals will go away.

 

[CourtneyDagger50]

I really hope that we see some improvement in his game play this month with a few B2Bs.
Aside from him being one of our goalies and obviously wanting him to do well so we win, how can you not like this guy and not want him to succeed?
Hopefully its just a sophomore slump/lack of playing time

 

[OhCaptainMyCaptain]

I don't know how you can't cut Darling a little slack and say he doesn't have some rust. Of course he does. He never gets to play. You're going to have rust, that's just human nature. Now it doesn't excuse it all, because he's a backup goalie and they are supposed to play well when not playing for a while, but the length of time he has gone without starts definitely gives him the benefit of the doubt in some situations because it's damn hard to do that.

 

[Salvaged Ship]

I don't know how you can't cut Darling a little slack and say he doesn't have some rust. Of course he does. He never gets to play. You're going to have rust, that's just human nature. Now it doesn't excuse it all, because he's a backup goalie and they are supposed to play well when not playing for a while, but the length of time he has gone without starts definitely gives him the benefit of the doubt in some situations because it's damn hard to do that.

You know why people can't cut Darling any slack in here? Because that's what people in here do, expect you to be better then your best every minute of every game or else they are moaning. Don't you know the people that moan constantly in here are perfect and performing 100% in every aspect of their lives every day? Why shouldn't they expect anything less then 100% perfection at all times.........

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

Darling play has been poor since moment camp opened

To say its because he isn't playing enough is being dishonest. He was a wreck in preseason/camp and started year out just as bad

 

[BK]

Darling play has been poor since moment camp opened

To say its because he isn't playing enough is being dishonest. He was a wreck in preseason/camp and started year out just as bad

Dishonest? Not at all he needs to play more. This is how hockey and goalies work. He has not been half as bad as some have said. While his save percentage is lower than ideal (91.7% + would be ideal) his stats are actually not that bad. He has been hung out to dry 2-3 times this year. You want a wreck in net? Look at Arizona. Rust is a real thing for goalies and it can have a huge impact. I don't get why this concept is so hard to understand.

Let's take a simple look at his stat line.

3-3-2 .907 Save Pct. 2.79 GAA