The Deck reshuffled

[yave1964]

The Hawks won the cup this year with teams and fans gleeful that the team was going to be blown up after the huge matching contracts signed by Kane and Toews crippled the team against the cap. Lets take a look at the team now as compared to the end of the season:

Gone:

Brandon Saad a 22 year old super sniper who is thought of as a future star.

Patrick Sharp: an aging scoring winger.

Antoine Vermette: a faceoff specialist who came over at the deadline

Keemu Timmonen: an aging d-man who played bottom group minutes after coming over at the deadline

Johnny Oduya: A solid, unspectacular third pair d-man

Aanti Raanta: A third string goalie

Brad Richards: An aging second line center

Michael Rozsival: A smart aging veteran d-man

That is a lot. Two top six wingers, the second and third line center and a couple of d-men. For nearly every team this would have crippled them but if you look at the job Stan Bowman has done they are still remarkably a contender and are set to go deep for the foreseeable future. Additions are:

Marko Dano: Not nearly the prospect that Saad is but not bad, put up nearly a point a game for the Jackets in half a season. Plays center or wing, solid player.

Artem Anisimov: The only knock on this big guy has been his health, if healthy he is an upgrade over Richards and signed a 5 year deal.

Teuvu Teravainen: Cheating a bit here mentioning him and the next guy but will play a huge role as a top nine, probably a top six forward on the wing.

Trevor Van Reimsdyk: Injuries robbed him of his coming out party, will play bottom grouping minutes to start the year with a good shot at being a top four d-man.

Ryan Garbutt: A favorite of mine, nasty, hard hitting forward who scores a bit.

Viktor Tikhonov: Once a highly thought of prospect for the 'Yotes career got offtrack went to Russia and now back looking to be a middle six winger.

Trevor Daley: Puck mover with skill, an upgrade on defense over any of the three that they lost.

Cameron Schilling and Ryan Haggerty are low risk, middling reward guys added as well.

In short, I think the defense is better, Daley and TVR are an upgrade over what they lost, Sharp has been slipping and is replaced by Teravainen, Garbuttand Artisimov are at least equal to and likely better than Richards and Vermette. The only thing they are significantly down in is Saad and Dano and like I said, Dano can play for me any day of the week.

So turning over 35-40 percent of the roster Bowman has not only kept them in the playoff conversation but in cup contention as well. Brilliantly. And he got the Stars to pay half of Grabutt's salary and so the team is a million dollars under the cap for when it is time for an acquisition in March.

One thing, looking long term that I see is next year I see no way that they will be able to sign Seabrook, it is simply not going to happen, he will have to be dealt. But for this year, the team trimmed a half a dozen thirty somethings off the roster and got younger and hungrier. Bowman did this with the proverbial back to the wall, he went in and drew to an inside straight. The Hawks are still the Hawks. God help the rest of the West.

[Podein25]

The Hawks won the cup this year with teams and fans gleeful that the team was going to be blown up after the huge matching contracts signed by Kane and Toews crippled the team against the cap. Lets take a look at the team now as compared to the end of the season:Gone: Brandon Saad a 22 year old super sniper who is thought of as a future star.Patrick Sharp: an aging scoring winger.Antoine Vermette: a faceoff specialist who came over at the deadlineKeemu Timmonen: an aging d-man who played bottom group minutes after coming over at the deadlineJohnny Oduya: A solid, unspectacular third pair d-manAanti Raanta: A third string goalieBrad Richards: An aging second line centerMichael Rozsival: A smart aging veteran d-manThat is a lot. Two top six wingers, the second and third line center and a couple of d-men. For nearly every team this would have crippled them but if you look at the job Stan Bowman has done they are still remarkably a contender and are set to go deep for the foreseeable future. Additions are:Marko Dano: Not nearly the prospect that Saad is but not bad, put up nearly a point a game for the Jackets in half a season. Plays center or wing, solid player.Artem Anisimov: The only knock on this big guy has been his health, if healthy he is an upgrade over Richards and signed a 5 year deal.Teuvu Teravainen: Cheating a bit here mentioning him and the next guy but will play a huge role as a top nine, probably a top six forward on the wing.Trevor Van Reimsdyk: Injuries robbed him of his coming out party, will play bottom grouping minutes to start the year with a good shot at being a top four d-man.Ryan Garbutt: A favorite of mine, nasty, hard hitting forward who scores a bit.Viktor Tikhonov: Once a highly thought of prospect for the 'Yotes career got offtrack went to Russia and now back looking to be a middle six winger.Trevor Daley: Puck mover with skill, an upgrade on defense over any of the three that they lost.Cameron Schilling and Ryan Haggerty are low risk, middling reward guys added as well. In short, I think the defense is better, Daley and TVR are an upgrade over what they lost, Sharp has been slipping and is replaced by Teravainen, Garbuttand Artisimov are at least equal to and likely better than Richards and Vermette. The only thing they are significantly down in is Saad and Dano and like I said, Dano can play for me any day of the week. So turning over 35-40 percent of the roster Bowman has not only kept them in the playoff conversation but in cup contention as well. Brilliantly. And he got the Stars to pay half of Grabutt's salary and so the team is a million dollars under the cap for when it is time for an acquisition in March. One thing, looking long term that I see is next year I see no way that they will be able to sign Seabrook, it is simply not going to happen, he will have to be dealt. But for this year, the team trimmed a half a dozen thirty somethings off the roster and got younger and hungrier. Bowman did this with the proverbial back to the wall, he went in and drew to an inside straight. The Hawks are still the Hawks. God help the rest of the West.

Good post. I think the loss of Saad week be felt in the short and certainly long term. The only thing I'd say about the D is that younger equals more mistakes.

[yave1964]

@Podein25

 

With the speed of the game today, younger is taking over like never before, 35 is the new 40. Daley is an experienced d-man to replace one of either Oduya or Rozsival and he is miles better than either, TVR is a kid and will make mistakes but his youth and speed will more than make up for it. Plus in Chicago the forwards backcheck and play the game right and will do their best to not leave the kid high and dry. Eliminating all the old guys and getting much younger and still maintaining a balance of talent was masterful. Like I said, my hat is off to Bowman. I am certain he would have rather returned everyone on the team but the cards he was dealt he did a brilliant job.

[J0e Th0rnton]

@Podein25

 

With the speed of the game today, younger is taking over like never before, 35 is the new 40. Daley is an experienced d-man to replace one of either Oduya or Rozsival and he is miles better than either, TVR is a kid and will make mistakes but his youth and speed will more than make up for it. Plus in Chicago the forwards backcheck and play the game right and will do their best to not leave the kid high and dry. Eliminating all the old guys and getting much younger and still maintaining a balance of talent was masterful. Like I said, my hat is off to Bowman. I am certain he would have rather returned everyone on the team but the cards he was dealt he did a brilliant job.

I dunno man. Stars fans everywhere seem to be rejoicing that Daley's arse has been traded and could care less about Garbutt.

 

Most Chicago fans say they would take Oduya and John's easily over Daley

 

Most Chicago fans are not happy with this trade, as they liked Johns as a prospect a lot and can't believe they had to use him as a throw in to dump Sharp.

 

Most are crying that the other 29 teams are colluding to retaliate over the Hawks putting Kane on LTIR to circumvent the cap and make the trade deadline moves.

 

but we will see.

 

Overall, cap hell or not, the Hawks won 3 cups based on Tallon's picks and then Bowman's cap maneuvering. They have to be happy. But the team is in the John a bit with the losses this offseason. If they even make the playoffs, they will have a few years of 1st round exits again like the last cap purge and their players get older.

 

Saad kinda sorta followed Toews and Kane's lead by demanding the max he could get

[teenagemutantninjahertl]

The Hawks won the cup this year with teams and fans gleeful that the team was going to be blown up after the huge matching contracts signed by Kane and Toews crippled the team against the cap. Lets take a look at the team now as compared to the end of the season: Gone: Brandon Saad a 22 year old super sniper who is thought of as a future star. Patrick Sharp: an aging scoring winger. Antoine Vermette: a faceoff specialist who came over at the deadline Keemu Timmonen: an aging d-man who played bottom group minutes after coming over at the deadline Johnny Oduya: A solid, unspectacular third pair d-man Aanti Raanta: A third string goalie Brad Richards: An aging second line center Michael Rozsival: A smart aging veteran d-man That is a lot. Two top six wingers, the second and third line center and a couple of d-men. For nearly every team this would have crippled them but if you look at the job Stan Bowman has done they are still remarkably a contender and are set to go deep for the foreseeable future. Additions are: Marko Dano: Not nearly the prospect that Saad is but not bad, put up nearly a point a game for the Jackets in half a season. Plays center or wing, solid player. Artem Anisimov: The only knock on this big guy has been his health, if healthy he is an upgrade over Richards and signed a 5 year deal. Teuvu Teravainen: Cheating a bit here mentioning him and the next guy but will play a huge role as a top nine, probably a top six forward on the wing. Trevor Van Reimsdyk: Injuries robbed him of his coming out party, will play bottom grouping minutes to start the year with a good shot at being a top four d-man. Ryan Garbutt: A favorite of mine, nasty, hard hitting forward who scores a bit. Viktor Tikhonov: Once a highly thought of prospect for the 'Yotes career got offtrack went to Russia and now back looking to be a middle six winger. Trevor Daley: Puck mover with skill, an upgrade on defense over any of the three that they lost. Cameron Schilling and Ryan Haggerty are low risk, middling reward guys added as well. In short, I think the defense is better, Daley and TVR are an upgrade over what they lost, Sharp has been slipping and is replaced by Teravainen, Garbuttand Artisimov are at least equal to and likely better than Richards and Vermette. The only thing they are significantly down in is Saad and Dano and like I said, Dano can play for me any day of the week. So turning over 35-40 percent of the roster Bowman has not only kept them in the playoff conversation but in cup contention as well. Brilliantly. And he got the Stars to pay half of Grabutt's salary and so the team is a million dollars under the cap for when it is time for an acquisition in March. One thing, looking long term that I see is next year I see no way that they will be able to sign Seabrook, it is simply not going to happen, he will have to be dealt. But for this year, the team trimmed a half a dozen thirty somethings off the roster and got younger and hungrier. Bowman did this with the proverbial back to the wall, he went in and drew to an inside straight. The Hawks are still the Hawks. God help the rest of the West.

Some of your descriptions are not accurate.

 

Saad is not a sniper, he's a plyermaker with goal scoring ability. His career high in goals is 23. Brent Burns had 22 a couple years ago playing with Joe Thornton, and he sure isn't a sniper. Neither is Joe Pavelski after 78 goals in two seasons. He has great positioning, good instincts, and a decent shot.

 

Did you watch Kimmo Timonen? He was not covering bottom minutes. He was playing the minimum so that the other could have a few breaths.

 

Did you watch Oduya? He was fantastic in the playoffs. He is a great second pair defenseman who's biggest mistake was waiting for the 'Hawks to get space for him. Now there is no money waiting for him in free agency.

 

You make Rozsival sound better than Oduya. You really think so?

 

Trevor Daley can move the puck, but can he play defense? Corsi doesn't think so. Neither does Fenwick. Oduya is a better defender. Daley is a defensive liability. Probably better than Rundblad, though.

 

Also, the jury is still out on Saad. He played very well with superstars. How will he fair with less talent? I still think he is a great player, but watch for a drop in production this year.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Hawks win a Cup, have roster turnover, contend again, win another Cup at some point, roster turnover, still contend...win another Cup.

 

What else is new with these guys, eh?

 

 

Anyways, as a Wild fan, I am optimistic that the combination of success, oodles of games played, the cap, and yet more roster turnover of losing good players finally catches up with the team..........but I ain't holdin my breath till I see it.

 

Wild certainly haven't been able to solve the Hawks, and Minnesota simply can't wait around for Chicago to "fall apart" to then consider being able to win a Cup.

Minnesota, and everyone else, best go into the season thinking the Blackhawks will, once again, be the team (or at least one of the teams) to beat in 2015-16.

 

This franchise from the front office on down have done a masterful job at maintaining a contender and while on the surface, it appears this year they run out of rope, like I said, until it happens, I am not believing it.

 

Still some very good players on the team and some of the returns they got for players lost aren't too shabby either.

[yave1964]

@teenagemutantninjahertl

Saad, IMHO is a future 30-35 goal scorer. With the Jackets where he is not the third or fourth option his goal production will certainly go up. Johansen is not a significant dropoff centering him if Saad winds up on the first line. Sniper was just a word I use to describe goalscorer which I certainly think he will be in Columbus. 30 this year is my bet.

Oduya was very, very average last year. He is okay but to make it sound like he is anymore than a bottom pair d-man is absurd. Easily replaceable. No I do not think that Rozsival is better than Oduya, I just don't think much of either of them and i watch a ton of Hawks games. Just bodies, nothing more. Oduya gets extra attention strictly because he is a Hawk. On an average team he is a nothing player. Watch and see this year.

Daley is a solid puck mover but never known for his defense. Put up career numbers working the power play with Benn and seguin he will likely be a nice contributor with Kane, Toews and the boys. He does not need to be a star, In Dallas with that dreadful defense he was forced into a role that was beyond his skill. With Keith and seabrook he wont have to.

My overall point is the Hawks faced with cap hell in fantastic shape, all things considered. Look at the Bruins and how they crapped the bed and are somewhere between hoping for a bottom seed and rebuild at best. They are a mess. The Hawks took a bad situation and while I by no means am asserting that they are better they certainly came out of things in a lot better shape than anyone could have hoped, losing Saad and all.

[yave1964]

@J0e Th0rnton

I don't know. Sharp saw his goal production cut in half last year, is on the wrong side of 30 and making 5.9 million a year for two years to have gotten Garbutt and Daley and the Stars retained 900K in Garbutts salary was a win. Chicago fans are whining because they thought Sharp was worth more, facts are facts, Bowman is a brilliant GM if a better offer was out there he certainly would have taken it. He took a fading star and filled two holes with it and got under the cap and quieted the rumor that he was going to have to trade Seabrook.

I do think they absolutely screwed Oduya over, he is not much of a player, 15-20 points a year, I watch 20 Hawks games a year and NEVER have I turned off a game and thought he was the best player on the ice. Or the 2nd, or 3rd. Just a spear carrier who fills a role easily replaced. But he loyally waited for the Hawks to move Sharp and in so doing they added Daley which freezes Oduya out. Kind of a crappy move.

I disagree with your assessment that they may miss the playoffs, they are as close to a lock as any team in the game. And with Toews, Kane, Hossa and Keith and spirited role players still in place they will have as good a chance as anyone come April. They may be a first round knockout, that can happen in the age of parity. But they were behind the eight ball and did quite well.

[J0e Th0rnton]

@J0e Th0rnton

I don't know. Sharp saw his goal production cut in half last year, is on the wrong side of 30 and making 5.9 million a year for two years to have gotten Garbutt and Daley and the Stars retained 900K in Garbutts salary was a win. Chicago fans are whining because they thought Sharp was worth more, facts are facts, Bowman is a brilliant GM if a better offer was out there he certainly would have taken it. He took a fading star and filled two holes with it and got under the cap and quieted the rumor that he was going to have to trade Seabrook.

I do think they absolutely screwed Oduya over, he is not much of a player, 15-20 points a year, I watch 20 Hawks games a year and NEVER have I turned off a game and thought he was the best player on the ice. Or the 2nd, or 3rd. Just a spear carrier who fills a role easily replaced. But he loyally waited for the Hawks to move Sharp and in so doing they added Daley which freezes Oduya out. Kind of a crappy move.

I disagree with your assessment that they may miss the playoffs, they are as close to a lock as any team in the game. And with Toews, Kane, Hossa and Keith and spirited role players still in place they will have as good a chance as anyone come April. They may be a first round knockout, that can happen in the age of parity. But they were behind the eight ball and did quite well.

They may still be able to dump bickell and keep Oduya