Blackhawks Call on Prospects to Help them get Back to the Top

[hf101]

Quote

Blackhawks say they’re ready for another run at the Cup with a revised, younger roster. The NHL’s salary cap, set at $73 million for next season, once again forced GM Stan Bowman to trim key players, most notably forwards Andrew Shaw and Teuvo Teravainen.

 

Bowman thinks his kids, and team, will be all right. He expects top prospects, who skated in a camp in Chicago this week, to jump in and fill in several spots, especially at forward alongside stars such as Kane, Jonathan Toews and Artemi Panarin, last year's Calder Trophy winner as rookie of the year.

 

No worries for coach Joel Quenneville, either.

 

"I'm very comfortable with it," Quenneville said. "I see more depth on our team. I see more speed on our team."

Bowman said the prospect camp, which ended on Friday, was "the best we've had in terms of the calibre of player and level of play."

The GM called out forwards Tanner Kero, Vincent Hinostroza and Ryan Hartman, who have played just a handful of NHL games, as "exceptional."

 

"They've taken their game to another level," Bowman said. "You can put Tyler Motte and Nick Schmaltz in there."

Motte and Schmaltz, collegiate scoring stars last season, signed contracts with the Blackhawks last spring and left Michigan and North Dakota early. Schmaltz, a sophomore with the NCAA champ Fighting Hawks, said he sensed a real chance.

"I think I'm at the point in my game where I'm confident and ready to take this jump and do everything to make the NHL next year," said the rangy 20-year-old centre.

 

"I think there's a good feeling all around in that there's opportunity that might not have been there in the past," said Hartman, a 21-year-old right wing. "It's kind of a good time to be here. All of the prospects are the same boat, trying to earn a spot."

1

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/blackhawks-call-prospects-help-get-back-top/

 

A new working NHL model ?  Get rid of a few spots each year to make room for youthful talent?  hmmm.

[flyercanuck]

Kero is 23. Hinostroza is 22. Hartmann and Motte are 21. Schmaltz is 20.

 

The only one of the Flyers top prospects that fits in that age group be Morin, who is 21. He's also a defenceman, which none of the Hawks young guys are. Sanheim is 20, but younger than anyone in that group....and a defenceman.

 

I also think it's easier to bring in kids when you have a rock solid group of veterans surrounding them who know how to win. Obviously you'd better be good at drafting as well, which the Hawks are. 

 

I don't think Hextalls philosophy is much different...he's just going into his 3rd year that's all. 

 

"I think it's dangerous to try to label guys to fill a role," he said. "One thing I told all those guys, I'm not sure which of you is going to make the team, but don't make that decision easy for us."

 

Bowman may have said that....but who does it sound like?

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Well, obviously the model the Blackhawks are using definitely works for them.

 

You really can't argue with their methods to this point, and more importantly, the results.

Their model puts a premium on thorough scouting and faith that the players picked for NHL duty are the real deal, leaving not too much room for error...though having the solid veteran core they do certainly allows for a miscue in player evaluation here and there.

 

Of course, there IS something to be said for fully developing players before giving them full NHL spots.

It is more time consuming and shifts the focus from individual talent and first impression evaluation to having faith in the 'system' to be able to turn raw talent into NHL capable talent.

No doubt, having a solid minors system with the proper development methods ensures an NHL team will have very good talent consistently ready at any given moment.

 

But still, given what the Blackhawks have accomplished and look to CONTINUE to accomplish, hard to argue that their way isn't the better way.

 

Maybe, in time, things will catch up with the Hawks....where the talent pool just dries up and they DON'T have players to just plug into their lineup.

In that scenario, they then WILL have to have a good solid minor league system in place to develop players...and maybe they do and we just aren't that aware of it due to the way they are doing business now.

 

But for the here and now (and certainly for the past 6 or 7 seasons), they have been damned good at going about contending and WINNING Stanley Cups.

Voted Bowman.

[pilldoc]

@hf101

 

Actually I think both plans are viable depending on what you are trying to accomplish.  If you are starting from scratch and doing a complete rebuild because the GM before you was a complete buffoon then yes, Hexy's plan of "to make sure talented youth are completely prepared before creating a roster spot" I believe is the best rout to go.  You are wiping the slate clean and getting rid of both unnecessary players and contracts slowly until your younger prospects are ready.

 

However, in the case of the Hawks, since they already have a strong veteran core in place, if they have a very talented player all set to go and who will make an impact on the team then yeas you make room for that player, especially if they have the skill set say like a Patrick Laine does, who was just drafted. 

 

I also agree with @flyercanuck, age has a very important component to this thought process.  It is very difficult to compare the readiness of a 18 or 19 yearr old as compared to a prospect who is 21 or 22.  Obviously there will always be exceptions.

 

Honestly, it I had to look at it..... I think a delicate balance between the two thought process would work.  At times you need be very cautious and let them develop more in juniors and the AHL and yet there are times you throw conventional wisdom out the door and let said player play on the NHL roster.

[OccamsRazor]

On 7/17/2016 at 8:56 AM, hf101 said:

Get rid of a few spots each year to make room for youthful talent?

 

 

I have no problem with this as long as said talent is ready.

[yave1964]

I have to admit to being non plussed.

 

A lot of folk wrote the Hawks off last year, I begged to differ stating that I felt they had enough to compete. Compete they did, nobody could have predicted Panarin bursting forth or Kane winning the MVP but I felt they would be around the race. This year, I think the wheels finally fall off.

  Panarin will discover what the sophomore slump is. Kane will not be able to repeat. Hossa continues to erode. And the kids?

 

Hinostroza and Kero are meh at best. Motte is okay. Hartman and Schmaltz are good, not great prospects at the NHL level.

 

  They lost Ladd and Shaw and are relying upon kids who are not the best of prospects to play beyond their means. Yes, playing with the likes of either Kane or Toews will elevate anyone, but I think this is the year they slip into the pack. It helps them that others in the division such as the Blues lost people without replacing them as well, but the Hawks depth is at an all time low during this current run and injuries to any two of Kane, Toews, Keith, Seabrook or Crawford would cripple the team entirely. Even healthy I see them as a 3 seed within their own division tops, with the kids being exposed for what they are, a bunch of overrated players simply because they play for the Hawks.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

@yave1964

 

Lots of ppl write off the Hawks every year the last few seasons.

I was one of those, but I stopped doing that sometime before last season.

 

They are quickly becoming the New England Patriots of hockey.

Not saying they use cameras to spy on the opposing bench, or under inflate hockey pucks, mind you  ,  but I mean to say that they somehow, someway, always find players to plug into positions of need, built around their excellent core, and keep finding ways to not only remain competitive, but win championships!

 

Also, like the Spytriots, people will continue to say "The Hawks are going down, the Hawks are going down"....and when they FINALLY do (10-15 years later!), those same ppl will say, "See, told ya so!"

[OccamsRazor]