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Very true, although I personally don’t really take draft position into account much.
I agree totally with icing the best team, going with who is better, earning TOI, and moving forward with the rebuild as is best, regardless of draft position.
re: KK, I’m specifically saying it would sting a lot more if they:
1) began the tank by trading away a 30-40 goal scorer entering his prime and,
2) used the acquired #7OA pick to draft a D-man and,
3) they spent years waiting for him to develop and,
4) they gave up on him a year or so too early and,
5) then he got good at NHL hockey soon after…..*if* all 5 of those happened (the first 3 already happened)
…that would be a harsh indictment of management, scouting, player development in RFD and CHI, et, etc.You could pass it off as “well KK 7OA and Rinzel 25OA same draft class, 1 hit 1 miss”, but man, you better be sure KK sucks before giving up.
He is still young (as I pointed out w/ the age comparisons a few posts ago)Hey MH, I really don’t think you are going to have to worry about KK getting traded. It appears that the new FO views Rockford as a place to actually develop prospects. If KK does down there (he’s supposed to work with the “NHL” group today) they will push him to break out of his bad habits. They literally said that they would be using Rockford as a place to develop players not necessarily to win the Calder Cup. Obviously, they will hope to combine those two goals, but development is first and foremost.
The only ones to even mention KK getting traded are in this forum, or a couple of the talking heads who have admitted that they are just spitballing and impatient for the Hawks to get better. If Davidson is going to trade KK, it will be because someone blew him away with an offer.
Chunk, typed out a lengthy quote in your response to Bedard and playing wing specifically but the bastard software jacked me…….. In a nutshell I fail to realize as much as I should we got a new set of eyes with his own way of doing things behind the bench in Blashill. Every assumption we had as far as slotting and trust in players is being looked at by new eyes.
I understand the Hawks want Bedard to be a centerman but as is Bedard has never shown he won’t be a liability without the puck in every zone, not even glimpses. I hope Blashill’s fresh, and unbiased as one can be about Bedard. eyes will see that and move the kid to wing. IMO we get the worst version of Bedard as a centerman. He’s horrid without the puck and the energy he uses with centerman responsibilities depletes his offense. Him playing center keeps him farthest from his offensive ceiling.
I’m encouraged in Game 1 under Blashill he indeed had at least one shift I saw with Nazar centering Bedard and I think Moore. … That’s a good sign IMO.
I’m not really advocating for any move of Bedard to wing, but just stating what I think will end up happening. I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that Bedard can greatly improve his defense. Marian Hossa is exhibit A. I just think Frondell is going to be a really good one and that will open the gates for Bedard to concentrate on being a point producing monster. It’s mostly a situational thing in my mind. There will end up being guys that are better equipped to handle that position.
There are plenty of guys that started out big point producers and were horrid defensively that ended up much better in the latter area without sacrificing too much on the former.
Some good and bad news from the scribes:
Anderson is out the rest of the preseason. He’s having a procedure to correct a chronic issue.
Slaggert skated before practice, but will not play in the games this weekend.
Spellacy likely to be ready to go for this weekend. Should get a practice in before hand.
Also, it sounds like Arty had a bit of a struggle today understanding one of the drills.
Blashill said that Group 1 today was indeed the group most likely to start the year in the NHL, but added there are some guys in group 2 that can still push for playing time. (Nightingale ran Group 2 today).
There’s a very real chance of that happening regardless
Yes, I just think if it were to be KK the pain would be even greater due to
his draft position and because they traded away DeBrincat to pick KK.If you traded/waived Allan or Crevier (just for example) and they improved a ton at age 24 or 25, it’d be kinda random (which could be said of Forsling to be fair).
But, giving up on the #7OA pick too early and watching him greatly succeed would be a serious kick in the sack and damaging criticism of management.Very true, although I personally don’t really take draft position into account much. I go more by draft class. If a team can get one good and one serviceable player out of each draft (regardless of where they are picked), I call that a win. The Hawks have Rinzel and Nazar out of that draft. You are also looking at Greene and Thompson, so lots of bullets that can hit the target. 2023 obviously has Bedard and a ton of good possibles. The one I’m most nervous about is last years with Arty. I love him but he’s really a boom or bust type pick. Boisvert and Vanacker both seem like good players, but I’ve got my concerns with how their games will translate. As always, time will tell.
MH, decent enough chance KK doesn’t live up to his draft status but the kid has the traits to be a useful NHL player.
I agree.
To be fair though, you neglected to quote/respond to the info I supplied before that last part, supporting the fact that KK is still very young (compared to Hjalmarsson and Keith).(imho) keep giving him chances until/unless he totally busts out. I don’t want another Forsling situation.
There’s a very real chance of that happening regardless as there are only 6 real spots open on the Hawks backend. It is very likely that at least one of the D-men gets traded and turns into a really good player for another team. That’s one of the main issues with having so many draft choices and building everything through the draft. Inevitably, someone is going to be left out and traded, or leave as a FA and lord help us all when that happens.
In the preseason game the one thing i did not like was the forwards not engaging the puck carrier, instead stopping short and guessing where the pass was going, i sure hope that’s not part of Blashill’s approach.
Agreed, they were reacting slowly instead of naturally and likely due to the new systems. The sooner they sort out who’s going where, the sooner they can hammer in the details of the new systems with extra reps to just the ones staying up rather than all the camp bodies. Also, to your point from a previous post about Arty, I also agree he’d be better off going to Rockford along with KK. Not sure who of the two would get paired with Allan but the other will end up with Harding or Mast. If I had to pick one or the other staying up, I’d keep Arty up and hope the vets can whip him into shape.
It’s not really a question of Arty vs KK. I really don’t think they will be asking either of those two to switch sides. The Hawks have Rinzel, Murphy, and Crevier on the right side (and I maintain that the Hawks don’t really want Crevier to play every day). KK is up against EDM and Allan for the last LD spot. Vlasic and Kaiser are the locks. Gryz is there to pick up the slack if they don’t think either of KK or Arty really belong. I think they’ll give Arty a ton of rope though.
Tab over at BleacherNation just posted this regarding how the Hawks are splitting up the practice groups.
No real surprises there in my eyes other than Korchinski who I thought played a good game. I’d love to see Lardis get in a game and see what he can do against some better competition. One thing I do like is that Blashill doesn’t seem to be waiting too long to get the “main” guys going and concentrating on getting that group to iron out the details.
I have no idea why, but I’m really interested to see how Foligno does this year.
Chunk
Well that kind of depends, doesn’t it? After a turnover in your own zone, what are his responsibilities? If I had to guess, he’s not allowed to just chase the puck all over the zone until he gets it back. It was bad, but it’s also preseason playing with a bunch of guys he hasn’t much in practice and who likely won’t be with the club to start the year.Point it out, learn, and move on…
I want to see how he does with Burakovsky and Donato. I’ll also hold any judgement on Nazar until I see him back with TT and Bertuzzi. They both looked very disjointed and unsure to me yesterday.
……….
Chunk, I had a bad feed yesterday. Help me out…… At the sidewall bedard took a pass and it looked like he coughed not got stripped. Which was it….. Then he was so flat footed and unaware he didn’t even move his feet he pathetically reached as the Wing drove thru the circle. Wrong?
And I didn’t see Bedard below his endline much, if at all. Kid was above or at the top of the circles when the puck was below the dots in his zone. Looked to me he had winger responsibilities. Wrong? Anyone have a thought?………. So no Chunk, we don’t know what his resposibilities were on the cough/strip but regardless the attempt and awareness at recovery of the puck was feckless. As he’s been 80% of his time as a Hawk..[/quote]
Hey Rico. No getting around it. It was a crap play by Bedard. I was following the puck after the turnover so didn’t see exactly what Bedard did. I’m not going to fret much that he’s not a Selke candidate. His game is offense. If he can be reasonable defensively (a la Kane) and put up 100 pts, I’ll be a happy camper. If you are expecting him to turn into some greatly improved defensive player, you are likely going to be gravely disappointed.
If I’m handicapping it right now, I think Frondell ultimately ends up the 1C and Bedard will ultimately end up a wing. I just think it will free him up to be the point producer he’s destined to be. Frondell is really impressive on his skates and just finds the right places to be. He’s incredibly solid. I watched his last game on the Flosports app. He’s a lot of fun to watch.
Now that’s the one timer I’ve been waiting to see from Bedard. Glad they finally figured it out
Bedard looked great other than the turnover. Best forward on the ice last night for us.
He did look good. I’m not at all concerned about Bedard’s offense. Especially when he finally gets some actual NHL line mates (which I think Burakovsky can be a really good one as long as he stays healthy). The nice things to see from him last night were the improved back checking, 70% FO, and actually engaging on defense. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but definitely better than what we saw last year.
It’ll likely be ugly to start, but should get notably better as the year progresses.
Watching last night one thing was obvious team speed is nice but the team that played with more discipline and structure won last night. Something i hope Blashill instills in the team.
As is normally the case. The most disappointing thing to me yesterday was that Blashill said he wants to get everyone shooting more. There were more deferrals yesterday than at a college admissions office.
I like Dach, but I don’t think he’ll be much more than a bottom sixer. I just don’t think he can play at the higher pace. (not just based on this game)
Outside of the chance in the 1st, Reichel was invisible to me.
Lafferty is still where puck possession goes to die.
Kaiser seemed to be the most effective defenseman. I think he’s a great partner for Arty.
If this is Soda’s standard game and not the exception, the Hawks are going to be in good hands in net this year.
