Playoff Push Thread
- Thread starter DontToewzMeBro
- Start date
Blackhawks
Registered User
- Jul 25, 2007
- 5,679
- 1,137
Its obvious what JD is saying, it’s very understandable and logical, imagine a player like Jack Hughes added to the offence which is Toews, Kane, Strome, Cat, Panarin, that’s unmatched top 6, yes you win cup with that kinda offense. Remember the top pick comes at a very low cap hit for 3 years which makes the deal even sweeter and allows the team to have much more depth. I would prefer Hughes or Kakko as well over playoffs but I can’t naturally root for the team to lose it’s not in me and I am sure he feels conflicting feelings too but it’s essentially for the long term health of the team which makes sense. That all said am I excited for the playoffs? Who wouldn’t be?
BobbyJet
watch the game, everything else is noise
What a great post. I'd like to add that many 19-year-olds are quite immature and have only begun to tap their potential at that age. Scouting is obviously a difficult occupation. I get a good chuckle every time I hear folks say there is little available after the first round of any draft. Hoping for a team to fail may seem logical to some but ... well never mind, some will never get it.
goldenbladz1
Registered User
- Feb 11, 2015
- 1,598
- 803
This exactly, the Hawks are not going to finish in the bottom 5-6 worst teams, so picking 7-15 really that different? And even the worst team isn't guaranteed Hughes.
Hawkaholic
Registered User
Both Pez and JD are right in their stance. Adding a top 5 pick to this current team can do wonders, moving forward. We already have the deeper draft picks (Boqvist, Mitchell, Jokiharju, Debrincat), and we have made some good trades (Strome, Murphy, Saad) and we already have past top picks (Toews, Kane) so adding a top player like a Hughes or kakko is much better than gaining experience in the playoffs at this point. Yes, you need your depth draft picks to pan out, but you also need that top player on your team too. Getting a Hughes or Kakko is much better than not getting them this year, and it's better than making the playoffs just to lose in round 1.
I won't actively cheer for the team to lose, and want them to win as it is exciting to watch now compared to last year, but moving forward, a top pick this year is far more important than simply scraping to make the playoffs.
I won't actively cheer for the team to lose, and want them to win as it is exciting to watch now compared to last year, but moving forward, a top pick this year is far more important than simply scraping to make the playoffs.
ChiHawks10
Registered User
Terrible example.
They haven't won anything yet, and the FO is blocking them from doing so with atrocious cap/contract management. I wouldn't be shocked if they don't even win a single one with this core they have.
Their D is bad outside of one or two guys, and their goaltending is mediocre, at best. They aren't winning a Cup with that. And after these big contracts, they aren't filling those holes, either. At least not with solid FA talent.
Last edited:
I am really coming to hate the notion that the only thing that matters in modern sports is winning a title. Yes, winning championships is the single most important thing out there, I am not disputing that. However, I think people forget that sports, at least from my point of view, is about entertainment and the moments of glory and jubilation that we experience when our teams do something incredible. That can happen in game 7 of a championship final or it could happen in a regular season game. If you're a Cubs fan, you'll remember the David Bote grand slam this year for the rest of your life, even if the Cubs ended up going out horribly to end the year.
Earlier in the season I was all for the Hawks tanking it out and getting a top 3 pick, but that just isn't realistic anymore and I think would hurt the team. Yes, having a Jack Hughes would be nice, but even if the Hawks finished last in the league, they'd have a 80%+ chance of NOT getting him. To me the most important things for the team right now is to build momentum for next year. If the Hawks finish top 3 this year that probably means some of the following have happened...
-Colliton has gone from looking great to poor
-A significant injury has occurred to at least one key player
-The younger, developing players have taken steps back
-Delia has regressed
-The powerplay has regressed
All of those things would be BAD for the future of the Hawks. I want this team to go as deep as they can this year (now that they have put themselves back in the discussion) so there is momentum and optimism for next year. I want Colliton to be looked at as the answer, I want our core players to continue to be elite, I want Delia to continue to emerge, I want our young players to continue to get better. If all of that happens, that is undoubtedly going to create more wins for the team next year than Jack Hughes would. The team has a real shot, with a couple additions, at being a contender next year.
Mostly though, they've been fun. It was an utterly miserable experience watching them earlier in the winter and they've been damn fun to watch. They look good and more importantly they feel good about themselves. You want a winning culture, you don't want to waste more prime years from Toews and Kane.
There has to be more in sports than either winning the title or the draft lottery.
Earlier in the season I was all for the Hawks tanking it out and getting a top 3 pick, but that just isn't realistic anymore and I think would hurt the team. Yes, having a Jack Hughes would be nice, but even if the Hawks finished last in the league, they'd have a 80%+ chance of NOT getting him. To me the most important things for the team right now is to build momentum for next year. If the Hawks finish top 3 this year that probably means some of the following have happened...
-Colliton has gone from looking great to poor
-A significant injury has occurred to at least one key player
-The younger, developing players have taken steps back
-Delia has regressed
-The powerplay has regressed
All of those things would be BAD for the future of the Hawks. I want this team to go as deep as they can this year (now that they have put themselves back in the discussion) so there is momentum and optimism for next year. I want Colliton to be looked at as the answer, I want our core players to continue to be elite, I want Delia to continue to emerge, I want our young players to continue to get better. If all of that happens, that is undoubtedly going to create more wins for the team next year than Jack Hughes would. The team has a real shot, with a couple additions, at being a contender next year.
Mostly though, they've been fun. It was an utterly miserable experience watching them earlier in the winter and they've been damn fun to watch. They look good and more importantly they feel good about themselves. You want a winning culture, you don't want to waste more prime years from Toews and Kane.
There has to be more in sports than either winning the title or the draft lottery.
ChiHawks10
Registered User
Hughes isn't even a guarantee at making the Hawks a contender, or speeding up the rebuild to that status. He could completely bomb at the NHL level. No one knows.
I'm all for getting Kakko or Hughes, but we're not getting a top 2 pick ... unless we get really lucky with the lottery balls.
That's the issue. In a draft that really top heavy 2-3 deep, it's probably best to try to make the playoffs.
The key is to still be sellers at the deadline. We need to shed ourselves of the bad contracts. If the Hawks make the playoffs in the process, so be it.
No one is arguing a high draft pick give a team a better hit rate. However, winning also proves Murphy, Gus, Strome, Cat, Saad, Delia, Kahun, Hayden can play. That's just as important as a lottery pick.
Wishing for a top 2 pick while hoping our youngsters start performing, it's not realistic. If our youngsters perform, the Hawks are going to win.
If the Hawks were winning by just playing their veterans, I'd have an issue. However, the Hawks youngsters are developing. That's just as important.
BobbyJet
watch the game, everything else is noise
Which is exactly what Q would have done and has been doing in recent years. And is one of the reasons he needed to go.
I think we all are hoping that one of JC's best attributes will be knowing how to treat the youngsters in the org. Personally I think he is off to a very good start.
HawkNut
Registered User
- Jun 12, 2017
- 725
- 298
JaegerDice
The mark of my dignity shall scar thy DNA
- Dec 26, 2014
- 25,146
- 9,404
Terrible example.
They haven't won anything yet, and the FO is blocking them from doing so with atrocious cap/contract management. I wouldn't be shocked if they don't even win a single one with this core they have.
Their D is bad outside of one or two guys, and their goaltending is mediocre, at best. They aren't winning a Cup with that. And after these big contracts, they aren't filling those holes, either. At least not with solid FA talent.
We'll see what happens. I think even with their big contracts, they've set themselves up well to be a top-5 team in the league for a good 3-5 year window. No guarentees they win a cup in that time, look at Tampa, but they've put themselves in a good position to contend year-after-year.
ChiHawks10
Registered User
Blue Liner
Registered User
The Blackhawks were not bad on purpose. They were trying to be good and were failing at it. Miserably. They sold a lot off pre-2004 lockout in prep for the lockout. They came out of the lockout spending a ton of money, it was just spent on players who were no longer good in the new league with the new rules and a goaltender (Khabi) who had just come off a Cup and simply fell off a cliff post-lockout. They spent money, they were trying to be good, they just were failing badly at it.
One of the biggest misnomers is that the Hawks "tanked" for Kane and Toews. No, they were just bad at hockey and got lucky to be bad enough to land those two and have them work out to become what they did.
JaegerDice
The mark of my dignity shall scar thy DNA
- Dec 26, 2014
- 25,146
- 9,404
The Penguins absolute tanked their way to Mario Lemiux and both Malkin and Crosby.
The Blackhawks... I don't know if it was intent so much as incompetence, but the result was the same. They were very bad for a long time, and drafted impactful talent as a result.
The Hawks were basically a Michal Handzus being healthy for an extra couple of weeks away from not even being able to win the Kane lottery. There was an insane amount of luck for everything to fall into place as it did.
I have no issue with still wanting to sell at the deadline since the odds of this team going deep in the playoffs are minimal at best. But to want the team to lose, which concurrently means wanting what is the majority of the young core to not succeed for the purposes of getting a 5% better chance of a top 2 pick or something is a bit bizarre to me.
Also I would say that the Hawks were incompetent at the NHL level but smart enough to stockpile draft picks, and then ended up with the perfect storm of generational young talents, numerous depth pieces from the aforementioned stockpiled picks and a decent amount of cap circumvention.
I have no issue with still wanting to sell at the deadline since the odds of this team going deep in the playoffs are minimal at best. But to want the team to lose, which concurrently means wanting what is the majority of the young core to not succeed for the purposes of getting a 5% better chance of a top 2 pick or something is a bit bizarre to me.
Also I would say that the Hawks were incompetent at the NHL level but smart enough to stockpile draft picks, and then ended up with the perfect storm of generational young talents, numerous depth pieces from the aforementioned stockpiled picks and a decent amount of cap circumvention.
Last edited:
They are the previous version of the Washington Capitals. Plenty of offensive weapons that are able to dominate in the regular season, but lacking the defense and goaltending to get over the hump. The difference with Toronto is that they won't have the depth or cap space to fix their holes.
The Penguins were on the brink of being ousted from the NHL / moving. They weren't tanking. They barely had any money to operate since 1999. Then a Hail Mary getting Malkin and Crosby helped them build an arena.
Tanking wasn't optional. They literally had no money with a crumbling arena.
Take a similar look at the Islanders. Years of tanking has them playing in Brooklyn and still looking for a new arena (if not in Elmont, NY).
DontToewzMeBro
Registered User
- May 8, 2010
- 3,033
- 82
Every year Kane and Toews are not 36-37 years old is a year we should be trying to make the post season.
The hawks look like (if) they miss the playoffs they may get picks 5-10 which I don’t give a damn about. I want to watch the Hawks play a 7 game series.
We can debate all year, but nobody knew Vegas could make the SCF with their team. They are an exception, but it’s just one of those “You never know” situations. Sometimes teams put the right tools together and surprise.
Blackhawks might be on to something after Strome, Cagguila and Kahun adding depth.
The hawks look like (if) they miss the playoffs they may get picks 5-10 which I don’t give a damn about. I want to watch the Hawks play a 7 game series.
We can debate all year, but nobody knew Vegas could make the SCF with their team. They are an exception, but it’s just one of those “You never know” situations. Sometimes teams put the right tools together and surprise.
Blackhawks might be on to something after Strome, Cagguila and Kahun adding depth.
DontToewzMeBro
Registered User
- May 8, 2010
- 3,033
- 82
ChiHawks10
Registered User
Explain, please. No player is a guaranteed thing. And no player is going to convert this team to a contender overnight, especially a forward.
Not sure how it's a bad take in any way.
The Hawks absolutely suck. Even when they beat Detroit, the Wings got what 48 shots against them? They play a big physical team like Boston and get absolutely dogged. The Hawks getting the 8 seed and getting smoked in the first round does nothing for this team. I'd take a shot at a top 2 pick over scraping into the playoffs in an awful division any day.
Because in the NHL, like the NBA, its very easy to identify at a young age who the dynamic talents are going to be. Hughes isn't a Crosby/McDavid level talent, but he's in that next tier with guys like Tavares and Austin Mathews.
ChiHawks10
Registered User
That does a good job of proving wrong the argument that no player is a guarantee... and explaining how it's a bad take.
Ad
Upcoming events
-
-
BET ON ONLY ONE HORSE Sheepshead Bay Stakes (Gr. 2) BELMONT (AQUEDUCT) RACE 3Wagers: 2Staked: $159.00Event closes- Updated:
-
-
-
