GDT: Game 5: Hawks vs Blues - 7:30 CT on NBCSCH - Keiths 1000th Game

[BK]

Can Toews put Saad in touch with his trainers? Whatever Toews did, Saad needs to follow his exact regimen. Toews is a monster on the puck again. Don't care about the goals ... this is the Toews I'm used to. Just dominating opponents on both ends of the ice. His quickness is off the charts again.

Adam Oates

 

[BobbyJet]

Can Toews put Saad in touch with his trainers? Whatever Toews did, Saad needs to follow his exact regimen. Toews is a monster on the puck again. Don't care about the goals ... this is the Toews I'm used to. Just dominating opponents on both ends of the ice. His quickness is off the charts again.

I was thinking the same thing last night as I watched Toews looking like he did in his best years.

 

[BobbyJet]

Did you literally not read what I wrote? I literally said 8 not trusting 84 does not justify it. This means it is not valid excuse for 8 passing up 84 to pass to 88. I would give 84 a few more games on their wing so the line can gel.

Schmaltz is just fine north south. They are a skill line in the NHL and this where the game is going. he just needs to shoot more and the crying will stop.

Note to Q: 8/88 should be together but you need to find the right wing to play with them. Kane is playing at 1.60 ppg clip and has more space to operated.

Until Schmaltz learns to play a simple north/south team game offensively and to quit looking for Kane literally every shift, he will underachieve. He's no longer a rookie. Q needs to take the kid gloves off in his treatment of him. If not a move to the third line, I repeat, perhaps a 24/8 swap may be worth a try.

 

[BK]

Until Schmaltz learns to play a simple north/south team game offensively and to quit looking for Kane literally every shift, he will underachieve. He's no longer a rookie. Q needs to take the kid gloves off in his treatment of him. If not a move to the third line, I repeat, perhaps a 24/8 swap may be worth a try.

He will never be a simple player. He just needs to f***ing shoot.

24 to C or 15 to C and 24 on wing?

Schmaltz would make the 19 line even more dangerous.

 

[BobbyJet]

Not sure if Kahun has ever played center. If not then AA at between 24 and 88.

I think Fortin could be a top 6 one day but there's no need to rush him if you don't have to. There's plenty of time for him to get comfortable in the NHL.

 

[BobbyJet]

He will never be a simple player. He just needs to ****ing shoot.

Never say never.

 

[migi]

Not sure if Kahun has ever played center. If not then AA at between 24 and 88.

I think Fortin could be a top 6 one day but there's no need to rush him if you don't have to. There's plenty of time for him to get comfortable in the NHL.

Played center in Traverse City, DEL in Europe and with his national team.

I’m all with separating Schmaltz and Kane if we add another winger + Sikura. Schmaltz needs to play center and he needs wingers who shoot the puck. And while Kane can carry a line, I want there to be some kind of skill too.

So as of today they wont be separated.

 

[featherhawk]

Until Schmaltz learns to play a simple north/south team game offensively and to quit looking for Kane literally every shift, he will underachieve. He's no longer a rookie. Q needs to take the kid gloves off in his treatment of him. If not a move to the third line, I repeat, perhaps a 24/8 swap may be worth a try.

yes schamltz seems to think that his purpose in life is to try and pass the puck to Kane at any and all times throughout his career. That will never end IMO until schmaltz is off Kanes line.

Put schmaltz on toews line if you want but I would not want to break that trio up however I do think that it would be beneficial to Schmaltz, as would him being the glue that holds a great third line together if he was given the correct wingers and the correct ice time. I think the best interest for the team is to have schmaltz be a league best tier 3rd line C that his line mates and he can feast on weaker opponents.

scenario one

cat-toews-schmaltz
hayden/kahun-anisimov-kane
saad-hayden/kahun-sikura/fortin
johnson-kruger-kampf

scenario two

cat-toews-kahun
hayden-anisimov-kane
saad-schmaltz-sikura/fortin
johnson-kruger-kampf

 

[AmericanDream]

Kane has 8 points in 5 games, 6 EVS points, and people want to break up Kane and Schmaltz??? I don't get this board at times...

What everyone should want is Hayden on their wing as it is painfully obvious that he opens up the ice, drives to the net and gets some shots on goal..move Fortin down to play with AA...that would be the best thing we can do right now.

 

[BobbyJet]

Kane has 8 points in 5 games, 6 EVS points, and people want to break up Kane and Schmaltz??? I don't get this board at times...

What everyone should want is Hayden on their wing as it is painfully obvious that he opens up the ice, drives to the net and gets some shots on goal..move Fortin down to play with AA...that would be the best thing we can do right now.

Schmaltz has been a minus in 3 of the 5 games. He's better than that.

 

[AmericanDream]

Schmaltz has been a minus in 3 of the 5 games. He's better than that.

I am not saying he cant be better, we know he can....but the thing that many seem to be forgetting here is KANE WANTS TO PLAY WITH SCHMALTZ...this is the guy he wants to be his center and he has said it many times...if that is the guy Kane wants, that is the guy who stays with #88...PERIOD.

 

[BK]

Schmaltz has been a minus in 3 of the 5 games. He's better than that.

Is that driven by him or the people he is on the ice with? +/- is a bad metric imo.

 

[hawksfan50]

Lane is shooting around 15% which is quite normal ...D-Cat is shooting 31.6% which is not sustainable ...Mathews is shooting 50% which is ridiculously unsustainable ...D-Cat is 4 behind Mathews in goals but has 1 game in hand...Mathews has 4 of his 10 goals on the pp ...to just 1 pp goal for D-Cat...OF the Hawks ever figure out how to get their pp to function even half as well as the Leafs pp ...maybe D-Cat closes the gap ...If the league finally figures a way to cut Leafs pp success by half ..that too should make it tougher on Mathews to sustain his incredible goal scoring pace ..or at least not give him automatic (it seems) gifts of no checkers con him due to the man off and more space with less pressure on him.
I do not think either 50% shooting or 31.6% shooting is sustainable for either Mathews or D-Cat ...but I can see the law of averages tilting up for at least a bit more success on Hawks pp and tilting down on Leafs basically scoring at will on their pp..It cannot stay that hot for the Leads on the pp all season nor stay as cold for the Hawks on their pp.. Not saying the Hawks will overtake Leafs on pp goals not that D-Cat will overtake Mathews in goals for the season. ..but if the League starts cooling the Leafs pp to some lower success rate and if the Hawks pp picks up the success rate from its early cold start then Mathews should lose some benefits and D-Cat probably gain some goal scoring from his pp ..Just logical thinking. .it should happen ..but we shall see.

 

[Kevin Musto]

DO NOT TOUCH THE FIRST LINE

As for the second line, they should try Hayden-Schmaltz-Kane and Schmaltz-Anisimov-Kane. See which one works best.

 

[BobbyJet]

I am not saying he cant be better, we know he can....but the thing that many seem to be forgetting here is KANE WANTS TO PLAY WITH SCHMALTZ...this is the guy he wants to be his center and he has said it many times...if that is the guy Kane wants, that is the guy who stays with #88...PERIOD.

Oh yeah, silly me for forgetting the country club mentality.

 

[Blackhawks]

I like Shmaltz’s game, I think it’s excellent, if he only turned 2-3 of his passes into shots that would be perfect, I don’t think they should interfere and change the way the kid plays otherwise.

 

[BobbyJet]

Is that driven by him or the people he is on the ice with? +/- is a bad metric imo.

Yes it's a bad metric like most are without the eye test. But, we have witnessed the chances that 8 has passed up in this early season.... in every game.

BTW ... Saad was minus in two of the games and is +1 overall and he gets all the criticism. Meanwhile Schmaltz is even overall. Kane is +3 and has not had a minus game.

I want him to succeed and playing with Kane may not be the best option, IMO.

 

[pvr]

Played center in Traverse City, DEL in Europe and with his national team.

I’m all with separating Schmaltz and Kane if we add another winger + Sikura. Schmaltz needs to play center and he needs wingers who shoot the puck. And while Kane can carry a line, I want there to be some kind of skill too.

So as of today they wont be separated.

Some people here keep on asking for Sikura. The team defense sucks right now, and Sikura doesn’t have a clue in the defensive end. The offensive output currently is more than acceptable. Leave him in Rockford to learn, and bring him up later in the year when he’s more reliable and the team needs an offensive boost.

 

[RememberTheRoar]

Yes it's a bad metric like most are without the eye test. But, we have witnessed the chances that 8 has passed up in this early season.... in every game.

BTW ... Saad was minus in two of the games and is +1 overall and he gets all the criticism. Meanwhile Schmaltz is even overall. Kane is +3 and has not had a minus game.

I want him to succeed and playing with Kane may not be the best option, IMO.

Would you be opposed to loading the the first line with DeBrincat-Toews-Kane?

Kane doesn’t really need people to set him up as he’s basically his own playmaker, he needs guys who will shoot when he sets them up. Toews and DeBrincat would, and you’d have one of the league’s most dangerous and fun lines.

The new usage the Toews line is getting looks similar to what we usually see for the Kane line, so zone usage and QOC wouldn’t change much for Kane.

That then forces Schmaltz to lead a second line and make plays for people other than Kane. He’d do it while seeing softer competition than he’s currently seeing. Maybe he gets some combo of Kahun, Saad, Fortin, Hayden and Sikura when he comes up. I’d expect Schmaltz to be able to lead at least an average second scoring line, and I think it could be good for his long term development to not rely solely on Kane.

3rd line still must be figured out, but it’s not like we have it figured out right now.

Doing this:

-pulls Kane away from Schmaltz so Schmaltz can grow.
-ensures Schmaltz still gets top-6 minutes.
-keeps DeBrincat and Toews together.
-hurts second line scoring, but makes the first line one of the most dangerous the Hawks have had in the Toews/Kane era.

 

[AmericanDream]

Oh yeah, silly me for forgetting the country club mentality.

you don't switch a combo that is producing at a ppg rate...that is asinine...Saad just didn't fit there, not seeing why you would move Schmaltz from Kane this season.

 

[RememberTheRoar]

you don't switch a line that is producing at a ppg rate...that is asinine...

Is the conversation more about the current production levels, or Schmaltz’ long term development?

Right now things look nice, but do we want Schmaltz developing to solely rely on Kane?

 

[ClydeLee]

you don't switch a combo that is producing at a ppg rate...that is asinine...Saad just didn't fit there, not seeing why you would move Schmaltz from Kane this season.

What line is producing a ppg rate? Because if you're talking about Kane and Schmaltz. How many of those points are 5on5 they produced or penalties have they drawn?

 

[AmericanDream]

What line is producing a ppg rate? Because if you're talking about Kane and Schmaltz. How many of those points are 5on5 they produced or penalties have they drawn?

all but 2 are even strength

 

[AmericanDream]

What line is producing a ppg rate? Because if you're talking about Kane and Schmaltz. How many of those points are 5on5 they produced or penalties have they drawn?

If we land Jack Hughes at the draft, then yeah I am cool with moving Schmaltz to wing lol..

Honestly, Schmaltz and Kane can do so much more together, but saying Schmaltz can be better elsewhere away from Kane is just wishful thinking,. You just don't move these two right now, there is no reason to as Schmaltz will not start shooting more magically on a different line. He is who he is and has been for years, take the good with the bad.

 

[RememberTheRoar]

If we land Jack Hughes at the draft, then yeah I am cool with moving Schmaltz to wing lol..

Honestly, Schmaltz and Kane can do so much more together, but saying Schmaltz can be better elsewhere away from Kane is just wishful thinking,. You just don't move these two right now, there is no reason to as Schmaltz will not start shooting more magically on a different line. He is who he is and has been for years, take the good with the bad.

Right, and he’s not going to with Kane either. Despite how many times people keep hoping for it and saying it.

Isn’t it his playmaking that is now being hurt though since he’s simply ignoring other guys any only looking for Kane?

I thought that was the argument.

Also, Kane needs shooters who will rifle one when the defense starts focusing on Kane.