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Have to think if we don’t see some steady incremental improvement game to game, Blashill might not make it to game 10 of this season. I know they are a young team, but to start the year with this much regression in their play on the ice is concerning. The inability of the coaching staff to make adjustments that yield any pushback. Young players not progressing on errors they continue to make all last season, like the powerplay entries. Forwards not supporting the D to exit the zone, forwards getting caught deep and the team giving up several off man rushes a period. Last season, the team was icing the puck a lot to relieve the pressure, now they seem like they can’t even get that far, as they are just burned in transition. I just think Blashill was only “okay” last season, and this season has been a monumental disaster so far. It doesn’t look like a lack of talent, or just a few guys slumping, it looks like a team not ready to play and with poor structure on the ice.
This is wear the guys wearing the A need to step up. They need Bertuzzi to justify his role and maybe set an example here.
A lot of mishandles of the puck and defensive mistakes, but I was not impressed with Rinzel, Levshunov and Kaiser on the back end against Vegas. Vegas had their way against 44/55. That pair was awful together last year and I can’t understand why Blashill thought going back to it was a good idea. The poor start put them behind the 8-ball with guys taking chances to try to generate some offense. Vegas proved to be much more dangerous in transition and the Hawks couldn’t defend it at all.
One thing that I find interesting lately, is how much more rope Levshunov is being given with the fan base compared to Korchinski. Each one had a rough first full NHL season on a bad Blackhawks team, but the fan reaction in my opinion has been much more light/forgiving on Levshunov’s defensive mistakes. I put together a small comparison of their seasons.
Levshunov – 25/26 – age 20 – Just under 20 minutes TOI – Plux/Minus -41 Most common partner (Kaiser) – came to the NHL after 1 pro-season mostly in the AHL.
Korchinski – 23/24 – age 19 – Just under 20 minutes TOI – Plux/Minus -39 – Most common partner (Megna) – left junior to go pro and played in the NHL.5v5
Levshunov – 1G – 11P
Korchinski 4G – 6PRelative stats
Levshunov -1.01 CF% -3.19 FF% -11.85 GF% -2.81 xGF% 0.976 PDO 65.48% OZone starts
Korchinski 0.98 CF% 0.39 FF% -6.05 GF% -2.42 xGF% 0.966 PDO 57.2% OZone startsLevshunov had 11 Powerplay points to Korchinski’s 7 however is significantly more PP minutes. The Hawks are a slightly better team, so the relative numbers maybe rose a bit. We have a better coach, but arguably Levshunov was worse defensively and that was with a pro season under his belt already, not jumping in from a junior. I like Levshunov, I like his attitude and enthusiasm, but I question if he should start the year in the NHL or if he should (because he is waiver exempt) start the year in Rockford until injuries clear up a spot or he picks up his game at the pro level. With Byram coming in to be PP1 QB, they can take their time with Levshunov a bit more. I don’t know if Korchinski will carve out a role, but he will get claimed on waivers if they send him down, so maybe they give him a longer look with a bit more role now that he is 22 years old. (still so young)
I listened to an interview that KFC did in Toronto about where he stands on Kane. He said that Kane is always welcome back; the door is open if that is what Kane decides. The inflection in his voice tells another story. It’s like, sure, we’ll take him back, but I don’t really want to. He couldn’t wait to get rid of Kane, and no matter what he says now, he doesn’t want him back. I don’t think he will come back; Buffalo is a playoff team. I would rather see another young guy get an opportunity. I hope they get rid of Mangiapani.
Well now Kane is a Hawk for 2 more years to likely close out his career. He will help the offense and give the fans the return to Chicago they wanted.
You know Wiz this is why i like KD, he’s willing to overpay to move up and get his guy, because once your guy is gone he’s gone.
I guess he did the same thing when it came to Byram, but I’m kind of seeing that move as a younger version of Brian Campbell.
This contract is definitely one paying for future performances, the first thing i said was this was an awful trade if they can’t extend him. Now this may be one of the worst contracts, we’ll see.
But I’m going to play a game of would i rather
Would i rather trade for Byram 25 and pay him 12.5 per, or trade for 30 year old Raddysh and pay him 8 yrs at 8.5 per.
Would i rather trade for Byram 25 and pay him 12.5 per, or trade for Nurse and sign Trouba.
Again didn’t like what we gave up and paid him but he’s a way better option than the other 2 moves.
I like the thought process behind the move. It’s true that Byram is a better long term move than Raddysh/Nurse/Trouba, who have all have their best hockey behind them already.
We might see 55+ point per year from Byram as the #1 guy getting prime PP minutes, likely to be playing ~double the time with the man advantage and with the top unit instead of being with unit 2. The Hawks used Levshunov, Rinzel, Grzelcyk on the powerplay but none of them were that effective, which is why they ended the year with a 5 forward PP unit for PP1. Love him or hate him, there has just been such a gap for an offensive minded D since they moved Jones. Of course moving Jones helped us get a young long term option in goal, which is outstanding, now we got a younger long term option for offensive minded D.
Buffalo wanted to keep Byram, but the realized he wants a bigger role/$$$ and that wasn’t going to happen for them just because of the depth they have. This to me, was like when the Hawks were cap crunched in that 10-13 time and we sent talent off to play bigger roles on other teams.
KD is starting to take more risks to move things along, and the Byram deal is definitely a risk. He might not live up to the contract, and maybe he is an 8-10 million dollar D in today’s cap, but they had to bring in something. The Hawks fans and beat writers beat the drum of bringing in a top flight winger, which sure, would be nice, but the hole on D was arguably bigger until some of the young guys actually take that step. The forward group will improve their offensive production when they have a D who can actually read the play offensively, join the rush effectively and make skilled plays to generate offense.
We have our goalie, we are closer on D and dare I say really starting to have depth at C. Frondell, Bedard, Nazar can all play in the top 6 at C. Moore has the ability to slot in kind of middle 6 C, but possibly stays winger. Greene can play 3C, We have a bunch of bottom 6C options, Boisvert, Donato, Greeenway can play 4C is needed, Toninato can be a depth/4C option. I think we have the easier spots to fill now, on the wing and there are some real interesting pieces either here or coming.
I think of it in terms of a golf swing. All the players can shoot the puck, but there are a lot of mechanics to how to do it well. I think it was a simple numbers game of helping him be more effective with his shot. You’ve got the top goal scoring D-men in the league scoring on 8-12% of their shots while Lev clocked in at 2.4% with a lot of missed chances and posts. So I think just a focus on helping him get the shot on net more (unblocked) without taking more time or losing velocity. I think they partially focused on his foot positioning. I know the other focus with him has been his puck management, keeping things a little more simple and less risky plays.
Regarding Byram, I get that he did well playing on his offside, but that was on a Buffalo roster where he was behind other guys in the pecking order. Chicago signed brought him in and signed him to be the guy on their blueline. It’s not that they think he is a complimentary piece to fit into a gap, he is the piece they want to build the blueline around. I’m not saying he can’t play his offside, but I think it will be more so where he is comfortable with the Hawks slotting guys around him.
Just to add, why would they send Levshunov down?
1) Roster Management – Give the non-exempt guys like Korchinski/Del Mastro a go before you trade or potentially give them away for nothing (waivers)
2) Development – Lev showed he wasn’t ready with arguably the worst defensive season we’ve seen from a high expectation rookie D on the Hawks in several years. He has the tools, but they got to straighten out the holes in his game a little more.
3) If the expectation is to win more games, that might be more attainable with Lev getting his reps in the AHL to start. He does some things well, but Byram gave the Hawks a guy for the PP1 unit. The reason to have Lev up and learning on the job got weaker and his defensively lapses (especially when playing in too many situations with Kaiser) doesn’t help the team win.I was watching a video about Bowen Byram and I’m guessing he’s going to be paired with Vlasic a lot. The worst statistic that Byram has is puck retrieval in his own zone, but guess who has one of the best in the league, yes that would be Vlasic.
One of the things that confuses me, i think i read in Ellis scouting report, Nick Lardis poor skating????, i think many of them are getting older and confused. Lardis is an exceptional skater and he’s strong for his size i remember him fore checking and he hammered someone and it was fricking impressive,
Nice thing about drafting kids with a good work ethic, the only thing that will keep them from being NHL players is their talent level. Boisvert putting on 15lbs of muscle. I remember Frondell being criticized for his endurance and he ended scoring the best on the endurance test at the combine.
So if you draft kids with a good work ethic that means to me as these kids gain more experience and feel like they belong like Greene and Moore the team defense will only get better and better because it will be like watching a team of Brandon Hagels.
I could be wrong but I don’t know if we will see Byram and Vlasic together much at all. I just don’t think they made Byram the highest paid D to play him on his off side. I see Byram playing LD paired with one of the RD or someone else they want to give offensive zone starts to primarily. The Hawks know Byram isn’t the strongest in his own end, so just can’t see them putting him out there with their shutdown guy when they want said shutdown guy taking the defensive load. To me, Ian Cole is more likely to be playing with Vlasic, essentially the Crevier replacement to take the Dzone starts.
I’m also going to throw it out there that I would not be shocked (barring any trades) if the Hawks leverage the waiver exempt status of Levshunov and start him in Rockford, until someone is traded or injured. Cole, Kaiser, Del Mastro can all play RD. Of course things can change if any of the young D take a big steps and show up in camp with huge improvement. All these guys aged 20-23 could at any time take another leap. Of course things could change with Del Mastro rumored to maybe be on the trade block.
