Toews and Kane

[yave1964]

  I watch a lot of Hawks games during the regular season and post season because I love skilled hockey and there is no better combo in the game today that the serious captain and the impish faced Kane.

  Jonathan Toews is one of my favorite players. He can drive a dagger through your heart and enjoy the look in your eyes as you realize that he just killed you before you fall over. The best Captain in the game today, the Steve Yzerman of the Hawks whose face is always drawn so tight that it looks like the skin is going to crack.. Even when he scores and is in the congratulatory hug with his mates he looks as if he is looking around at the other team and the scoreboard seeing what is going on in the game, and even if his goal is the dagger which ended this particular game, be it an overtime winner or a goal that simply puts this game out of reach after allowing himself about three or four seconds tops to celebrate his face goes serious again, you can almost see behind his eyes that he is thinking of the next night, the next game and what it will take to win that one. He looks like a shrink's dream, getting him on their couch and attempting to get him to relax would be a career goal for any shrink, but most if not all would fail trying to get him to relax. His next opponent etched upon his mind. His next game. His next shift. His next faceoff. It consumes him and an inner fire pushes him harder than most of us would ever dare. He contests every inch of ice all night long never giving an inch, he makes me think that he would try to beat his own kids at an Easter egg hunt.

 

  And then there is Patrick Kane, who cannot hide his sheepish grin as if he were a kid who snuck into the arena and somehow onto the ice and cannot keep his emotions in check. He is just so happy to be on the ice, he talks to his opponents with a grin between faceoffs and has fun with every shift. He has a dagger too, and when he delivers it his explosion of pure joy is bigger than anyone in the game today, he erupts in an explosion that surprises you. He is the kid who the teacher makes sit in the first row so that she can keep a weary eye on him, he keeps his sheepish somewhat angelic grin on his face but she knows better, and when she turns her head Kanepasses a note or pulls a pigtail or lets fly with a paper airplane and when she quickly turns her head back, almost catching him but not quite, his angelic look back upon his face as she stares a hole through him.

 

So Toews delivers his dagger and stands over your corps and watches the light leave you and makes certain you are dead before he moves on, taking one deep breath of relaxation before resetting his countenance and thinking of the next game, yes he smiles broadly but look at the eyes. And Kane the kid who refuses to grow up who scores and then jumps for joy into a teammates arms and then looks at his opponent almost apologetically as if he really did not want to end the game, he wished they could play all night but his captain would have been mad at him if he hadn't finished the game off and besides, there is a plane to catch.

 

  The two of them make up the best duo in the game today bar none. Kane was tried at center a few years ago and the experiment failed because the fun is on the fringe, on the wing and that is where he belongs. It is almost as if he belongs on Toews wing, Toews can only play center, overseeing the game from the middle of the ice watching every move by every player three moves ahead.

Edited May 31, 2014 by yave1964

[flyercanuck]

 Definately the best captain in the game. Plays the entire surface, game in game out.

 

 At 18 he goes 3 for 3 in the shootout to defeat the US and go on to win gold, then a few months later he's a ppg players on the Canadian Mens gold winner at the Worlds. He's prpbably been Canadas best player over the 2 Olympic golds and you could likely say the same about Chicagos 2 cups.

 

 Kane and Toews both joined the Hawks the same year. Kane averages .95 ppg, Toews .91 Kane is a plus 34 over his career..Toews is a plus 141 Pretty damn good pairing.

[yave1964]

 Definately the best captain in the game. Plays the entire surface, game in game out.

 

 At 18 he goes 3 for 3 in the shootout to defeat the US and go on to win gold, then a few months later he's a ppg players on the Canadian Mens gold winner at the Worlds. He's prpbably been Canadas best player over the 2 Olympic golds and you could likely say the same about Chicagos 2 cups.

 

 Kane and Toews both joined the Hawks the same year. Kane averages .95 ppg, Toews .91 Kane is a plus 34 over his career..Toews is a plus 141 Pretty damn good pairing.

So many players in today's game are devoid of personality and interchangeable, Kane and Toews have established themselves nicely as unique talents in the game. I love both of them and when I watch them play live my eyes are glued to the two of them. I have a hard time thinking of one of them without thinking of the other, they complete each other and to me they are like the Sedin's, I have a hard time thinking of one playing on another team with the other.

[Vanflyer]

Toews can only play center, overseeing the game from the middle of the ice watching every move by every player three moves ahead.

 

Great post. I think Toews is my favorite player in the game today. Datsyuk is second, but Toews does some stuff leadership wise that no other player does. 

[jammer2]

 There is a reason why Toews is on the Windsor Warrior protected list. Is there a better face-off man on the planet?  6 different times last year, he won 20+ face-offs in a single game!! There is only a handful of players who play on the top line, top power play and top penalty killing units. One is Towes, Eric Stall is another....not many others, I'm not sure if Datsuyk is on the top pk in Detroit, he might be another one....but a very short list nonetheless.

[yave1964]

@jammer2

I know I have gotten a bit corny with this post but hey, its what I do.

 

  To me I always picture Kane with Toews, they complete each other in the same way as the Sedin's. Kane playfully, joyfully loving every minute on the ice, Toews keeping a weary eye upon his overjoyed linemate and keeping it in check and reminding him that they have a hockey game to play. I read that a few years ago the Hawks veterans had a sit down with Toews to try to get him to relax a bit and enjoy the game. I love Toews and I am envious of the Hawks fans for getting to watch him play night in and night out. Like Yzerman he wont win a lot of individual hardware but he does not need to, he is the ultimate team first player. I see him out there with his number 19 and his baby face and cannot help but think of Stevie Y. Toews in the end may even end up better.

[TedZep]

But $12,000,000 a year each?  One third of the cap eaten by just two contracts!

[yave1964]

WAAAAAYYYYYYYY too much. Great players, two of the best in the game, as a Wing fan I am envious and jealous, My God man, 12 mill a year??? No. Simply no.

[nossagog]

Wow, $12M a year?   No home town discount there at all.

[J0e Th0rnton]

Holy Jesus. 12 million a year is too much for any one player. A little hometown discount is expected if they want the team to be able to have the depth to remain competitive. I figured they would get 8 million over 8 years or something like that. But 12? it will cripple the team.

 

What the hell? Do they feel they won the team 2 cups and now is time for their big payday?? To hell with team depth?

[brelic]

I think they've earned it. They brought the Hawks back to respectability. They brought TWO Cups in four years. They could bring a few more.

 

The $12M might be more about "pay us what we've earned and for the aura of success and envy we've brought to the Hawks."

[flyercanuck]

If Giroux brought ONE cup to the Flyers I'd be OK with THEM paying him $12 million a game.

[J0e Th0rnton]

I think they've earned it. They brought the Hawks back to respectability. They brought TWO Cups in four years. They could bring a few more.

 

The $12M might be more about "pay us what we've earned and for the aura of success and envy we've brought to the Hawks."

Dude, if they tie up 24 million dollars in two players, then they lose depth.

8-9 Million is plenty for top players if they want to keep the team competitive together. Unless the players don't care if they win anymore because they have already won two and want a payday, they would take a discount to ensure the team can remain competitive.

 

4 million dollars each is the going rate for top 4 defensemen. 6 million dollars is the going rate for top line forwards and first pairing defensemen(but not elite). The cost of them taking 12 million each would be the ability to retain guys like that. Guys like Seabrook, Hjalmarsson, Hossa, Sharp etc

 

If they don't care about the team winning anymore, then by all means, take the money lol. But the cost of their raise in capland will be bumping other key players out of the picture

[brelic]

Dude, if they tie up 24 million dollars in two players, then they lose depth.

8-9 Million is plenty for top players if they want to keep the team competitive together. Unless the players don't care if they win anymore because they have already won two and want a payday, they would take a discount to ensure the team can remain competitive.

 

4 million dollars each is the going rate for top 4 defensemen. 6 million dollars is the going rate for top line forwards and first pairing defensemen(but not elite). The cost of them taking 12 million each would be the ability to retain guys like that. Guys like Seabrook, Hjalmarsson, Hossa, Sharp etc

 

If they don't care about the team winning anymore, then by all means, take the money lol. But the cost of their raise in capland will be bumping other key players out of the picture

 

 

That's why I said the payday is for services rendered - TWO Cups. They still want to win, I'm sure, but they probably also want their big payday. They may opt for the hometown discount.

 

I don't think they see money the same way we do. To me, $8M per year for 8 years gives me $64M guaranteed, and I'm happy as a clam with that. I can support both sides of my family for life and their kids, and probably their kids' kids. I don't NEED more than $64M.

 

But ask someone who has earned and expects to get $12M to take a $4M/year discount, and the agent probably says "the team wants you to give them a $32M discount." That sounds kinda steep, doesn't it?

 

Shouldn't the top players on one of the top teams be able to ask for top dollar without blinking? 

 

Keep in mind I'm just playing devil's advocate. 

[Irishjim]

if they do end up getting 12 mil each the hawks will only be able to afford the Ice Girls to fill out the roster..on sec. thought that might not be such a bad idea