Initial impressions: How are you feeling?

[Kurtosis]

Didn't our offense start off really slow last year as well? Or am I thinking about a different part of the season?

http://www.foxsports.com/nhl/chicago-blackhawks-team-stats?season=2014&seasonType=1&type=3

 

[OhCaptainMyCaptain]

Thanks for that.

PS-I totally forgot how terribad we ended the year last year. I guess winning a cup will have that impact.

 

[Backyard Hockey]

The Hawks had scoring droughts last season as ell. Especially after Kane was injured, but even before that as well. I'm not worried at this point.

Yeah but that team included Saad, sharp, Richards, vermette and Versteeg.

Bottom line is that this current roster lacks scoring firepower

 

[BK]

Yeah but that team included Saad, sharp, Richards, vermette and Versteeg.

Bottom line is that this current roster lacks scoring firepower

Saad was basically the only one really producing when Kane was out.

Bottom line this team needs to gel more than anything. The had chances to score tonight and didn't. The game easily could have been 3-1 Hawks.

 

[DontToewzMeBro]

I Dano what the Hawks Kane do to fix this. It's been a Daley problem,

Seriously though call up Dano.

Dano-Toews-Hossa
Panarin-AA-Kane
Danault-TT-Shaw

 

[Backyard Hockey]

The more I see, the less comfortable I feel. Sure, many will say 'hey, its the Hawks, we've seen this before. They'll turn it on and they'll be fine'

While yes, they do posses 3 of the best players in the NHL and one of the best coaches in the NHL, the REALITY cannot be ignored.

- 40% of the scoring firepower is gone from this team. Those players weren't replaced by proven veterans (ala Richards or Vermette). They were replaced by rookies and/or unknown commodities. Some players are getting 1st line shifts (i.e., Tikhonov) when they are effectively 4th line players.

- A key cog in the defense was replaced by one of the worst defenders statistically in the league (and is showing no offensive upside we were promised).

- The first line has been horrible. The loss of Saad is beyond significant. We are talking about a 52 point player. One who had 8 goals in the playoffs and carried much of the load with Kane out. The Hawks lost a critical piece of arguably the best line in the NHL. His absence is showing.

- One of the trade deadline surprises - Desjardins - has come back down to Earth and looks blah.

- One of the key cogs (TT) appears to have regressed. Hopefully that changes and is a symptom of playing on a horrible line.

- At least 2-3 of the forwards are worthless and, as of now, offer no threat to score - Garbutt, Tikhonov and Bickell. Jury still out on whoever is playing on that 3rd line.

- Toews has been bad. Sorry, but I can't get excited about 2 goals in 3:3 hockey. There are dozens of guys who can bury pucks in 3:3. Yes, he gets off to slow starts, but his play in 5:5 has been lackluster as well as taking penalties. It's obvious that the absence of Saad is greatly effecting his game.

- Hossa seems to have lost his shot. I absolutely love his game and put his game (and Datsyuk's) as the example to my sons of playing great two way hockey. That said, he's 36 and this is what happens as players age - they lose their shot.

- #5 is playing every night but is still not an NHL player. #6 is 31 years old and should be better. His hockey awareness is abysmal. Watch the 'hockey awareness' of Hammer and then compare to Daley. It's night and day. That #5 and #6 pairing should never see the ice again.

- Most importantly - they play in the hardest division in sports. STL, NASH and MN will be in the mix. Dallas is vastly improved team.

I'm hoping this is just a 'players have to gel together' thing, but I don't think it is. I can be confident in a Conn Smythe winner like Brad Richards 'gelling' or a guy one season removed from 34 goals like Sharp 'gelling'. I don't have any confidence in unproven players like Tikhonov gelling or cast offs like Garbutt or Daley.

It's very simple - team won a Cup. Has big salaries kicking in. Had to dump salary which means dumping talent. Replaced with lesser talent. The current Hawks roster lacks talent outside of the core.

 

[Backyard Hockey]

I Dano what the Hawks Kane do to fix this. It's been a Daley problem,

Seriously though call up Dano.

Dano-Toews-Hossa
Panarin-AA-Kane
Danault-TT-Shaw

It is a Daley problem. Not to mention, certain goalies have their number and make a lot of Soews.



But you are right. Dano and TT appear to be the future of this team. No idea why they aren't on the ice and guys like Tikhonov are.

I'm hoping with Dano it's just him getting some reps in the Hawks system to learn their way of playing the game (spacing, assignments, etc). It's been 10 games or so in Rockford. Get him up here now.

I'll be at the vs. LA game on Monday night. I'd better see 56 in the lineup.

 

[mintsauce]

The more I see, the less comfortable I feel. Sure, many will say 'hey, its the Hawks, we've seen this before. They'll turn it on and they'll be fine'

While yes, they do posses 3 of the best players in the NHL and one of the best coaches in the NHL, the REALITY cannot be ignored.

etc etc

Spot on with every bullet. Depressing reading, but you can't deny any of it.

 

[b1e9a8r5s]

Last night made me feel better about this team. Obviously not losing, but in the, where this team is right now sense of things. They dominated play for long stretches and just couldn't solve Hutch who continues to have their number. When the Hawks are generating 46 shots, they are going to win most games. Hossa looked very dangerous and Kero showed more than Hinostroga or Baun had. I think the 1st line's production will come eventually. Its the 3rd line that needs to get going. I'd give Kero and TT a shot together.

Doesn't mean it's all roses, because it's not (Runblad dear lord!). But I haven't seen anything to make me concerned (read: miss the playoffs) at this point.

 

[Hawkaholic]

http://www.foxsports.com/nhl/chicago-blackhawks-team-stats?season=2014&seasonType=1&type=3

if my math is correct...

Last year in 10 GP we had 19GF
This year we have 20GF

 

[Ace Rothstein]

if my math is correct...

Last year in 10 GP we had 19GF
This year we have 20GF

I'm coming up with 25 GF last year.

 

[TorMenT]

if my math is correct...

Last year in 10 GP we had 19GF
This year we have 20GF

I'm coming up with 25 GF last year.

I got 24GF in the first 10 games. 25 if you count the "goal" we got for one of the shootout wins. I only counted actual goals scored through the OT periods.

 

[Hawkaholic]

I'm coming up with 25 GF last year.

Yup, I looked at the OTT game as the cut off of 10GP, problem was, we played them in the 8th game too.

 

[Kshahdoo]

No, we need a guy like Saad.

We already have a guy 'like Dano' and his name is Dano. He didn't impress in training camp/preseason. He has one goal in 8 games in Rockford. He needs to season more.

What we really need is a guy like Dano...who can give the same production as a guy like Saad.

Saad doesn't look that great as well. Of course you can say that the whole Columbus looks terrible. But doesn't Chicago have the same problem? Saad isn't a player who can play great, while his teammates suck.

 

[Hawkaholic]

Saad doesn't look that great as well. Of course you can say that the whole Columbus looks terrible. But doesn't Chicago have the same problem? Saad isn't a player who can play great, while his teammates suck.

People forget last year, Saad didn't help Toews or Hossa when they had poor starts.

First 9GP in 14-15

Toews 2G 4A
Hossa 1G 2A
Both broke out in Game 10, with 2pts each.

First 9GP in 15-16
Toews 2G 3A
Hossa 1G 3A

 

[The Toews Era*]

I dont think the issue is with the forwards. You cant think saad is better than panarin. And its not a stretch to think Tikh Dano whoever can offset what Sharp and Versteegproduced last year. And Anisimov is better than Richards. The problem (other than small sample scoring issues) is that Daley is a noticeable tire fire in every way offensively and defensively.

 

[Backyard Hockey]

I dont think the issue is with the forwards. You cant think saad is better than panarin. And its not a stretch to think Tikh Dano whoever can offset what Sharp and Versteegproduced last year. And Anisimov is better than Richards. The problem (other than small sample scoring issues) is that Daley is a noticeable tire fire in every way offensively and defensively.

Why can't we think Saad is better than Panarin? Saad is a fantastic two way player, a 52 point player and one who scored 8 goals in the finals. He was a critical piece of the best line in hockey.

Don't get me wrong, I love Panarin's game, but let's hold off on those comparisons just yet. His NHL career consists of 10 games playing on a line with a hot Patrick Kane.

As for Dano/Tikh - at this point, it is a stretch. Vesteeg and Sharp had like 80 points between them and that includes Versteeg missing significant time and Sharp battling through his demons with Reif, etc. Sharp was one season removed from a 34 goal campaign. Dano is playing in Rockford and Tikhonov has zero points in 10 games playing on the 'lottery line'.

So, as of now, yes it is a stretch to think that Tikh and Dano will give this team 80 points. I hope we see that eventually, but it's no where near that now.

 

[stahl]

The fact that only the Kane line is scoring should be a concern to the team. The Defense is surprisingly solid though.

 

[JaegerDice]

People here know I'm willing and able to get as crazy as you can imagine come the playoff push or the playoffs proper, but there's no way I can muster the anxiety necessary to worry about this team in October.

 

[The Toews Era*]

Why can't we think Saad is better than Panarin? Saad is a fantastic two way player, a 52 point player and one who scored 8 goals in the finals. He was a critical piece of the best line in hockey.

Don't get me wrong, I love Panarin's game, but let's hold off on those comparisons just yet. His NHL career consists of 10 games playing on a line with a hot Patrick Kane.

As for Dano/Tikh - at this point, it is a stretch. Vesteeg and Sharp had like 80 points between them and that includes Versteeg missing significant time and Sharp battling through his demons with Reif, etc. Sharp was one season removed from a 34 goal campaign. Dano is playing in Rockford and Tikhonov has zero points in 10 games playing on the 'lottery line'.

So, as of now, yes it is a stretch to think that Tikh and Dano will give this team 80 points. I hope we see that eventually, but it's no where near that now.

To me its pretty obvious Panarin is better than Saad whose legend comes from playing with a hot patrick kane in the playoffs. I liked sharp more than most here even when he was struggling but he and versteeg were pretty broadly criticized here. The difference between a good and bad season is not going to be Dano vs Kris Versteeg.

 

[hawksfan50]

THRU 11GP this season Hawks' GF is 24 (2.18 GF/G = 24th in NHL)..

THRU 11 GP in 2014/15 season Hawks scored 25 goals...(I previously counted 29 but that was an error because I started with the 2 pre-season games as the beginning 9f the count of 11..but using the 11 regular. season starts last year we had 25 goals)...So it does appear we are only 1 goal behind our offensive pace to start the first 11 games compared to last year...And that was with Saad and Richards and Versteeg and Keith and Rosival and ODUYA in the lineup... Our record thru 11 GP last year was 6W 4L and 1 OTL...so we had 13 points to our 12 points this year...Do not know if we were standing 6th in the Central Division or 8th in the Western Conference as we are thru 11 games this year..
but it does show we did flip the switch on thru Nov and December to get to the top by the end 9f December...it can be done ...BUT we will need improvement in all areas...Also if the other teams we compete against are stronger this year then what we surged in Nov and Dec last season may not be duplicated
..

 

[massey1984]

People need to chill. They're a notoriously slow starting team.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Lots of new faces. Chemistry needs to be built before this team goes from being good to great. Give it some time

 

[RedBaronIndian]

THRU 11GP this season Hawks' GF is 24 (2.18 GF/G = 24th in NHL)..

THRU 11 GP in 2014/15 season Hawks scored 25 goals...(I previously counted 29 but that was an error because I started with the 2 pre-season games as the beginning 9f the count of 11..but using the 11 regular. season starts last year we had 25 goals)...So it does appear we are only 1 goal behind our offensive pace to start the first 11 games compared to last year...And that was with Saad and Richards and Versteeg and Keith and Rosival and ODUYA in the lineup... Our record thru 11 GP last year was 6W 4L and 1 OTL...so we had 13 points to our 12 points this year...Do not know if we were standing 6th in the Central Division or 8th in the Western Conference as we are thru 11 games this year..
but it does show we did flip the switch on thru Nov and December to get to the top by the end 9f December...it can be done ...BUT we will need improvement in all areas...Also if the other teams we compete against are stronger this year then what we surged in Nov and Dec last season may not be duplicated
..

https://web.archive.org/web/20141104022616/http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm

We were 10th after 12 games played last year. The start was very similar to one this year.


For what its worth, lines at practice today(no Hossa who is considered day-to-day)

Panarin-Toews- Garbutt
TT-Anisimov-Kane
Bickell-Kero-Hartman
Desi-Kruger-Shaw

 

[zac]

People need to chill. They're a notoriously slow starting team.

It's 11 games in. Aside form 12-13 they are typically right around the 6-4/6-5 mark at this point in the season. In most years they have went on a bit of a streak at that point. This year they had a lot of turnover so that may or may not happen.

The only thing I am concerned about is Q being a total ****ing idiot with the lines. There are some things that are obviously not working, but we have several new faces on this roster. I'm sick of seeing lines changed when TT doesn't light the world on fire after 2 games with Toews/Hoss, or seeing the revolving door on the third line. How are players ever going to improve/get comfortable when they are constantly being yanked around? This is especially true for a young team.

We shall see what happens going forward but I'm not too worried. We just can't afford to have a really bad month in this division. It will likely not you out of the playoffs.