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1- The Chicago Blackhawks are looking to turn the page quickly after a difficult loss in Toronto, one that lingered in the room longer than most. Foll[See the full post at: Hawks Notebook: Resetting & Big Decisions]
Frenchy, do you really think they would retain on Broissart? That only leaves one retention spot left. As I mentioned in the general comments, with the new rules of teams having to be cap compliant for the playoffs (and a players salary is not apportioned as it is if the player is acquired after the season starts), how could KD move a Mikhayev, Dickinson, Murphy, etc. without retention, or taking back an overpaid/bad contract to go with a draft choice.
With the new cap rules of teams having to be cap compliant for the playoffs, and there is no proration of salaries for players traded, it will be interesting to see how many of the overpaid vets KD is going to be able to move.
He has 2 retention spots available, and 4 overpaid vets going UFA (Murphy, Foligno, Dickinson, Mikhayev)
Gryzlek probably has the most value, as he is only getting paid $1 million.
Conversely the Hawks will be approx $30 million under the cap next season minus whatever deal Bedard signs. The remaining UFA’s left (Panarin,
Is probably the top) are pedestrian at best. Does KD go the offer sheet (or trade) using his draft capital for a Jason Robertson, Cole Perfetti, Dylan Holloway), or does he fill out the roster with a TT, Bertuzzi type like an Oliver Bjorkstrand.On the bright side of tonight’s game,the Kid line was the best line tonight.
Although the team record doesn’t show it, IMO Kaiser has been fantastic, and has been the best overall D on the team.
So i guess the timeline only matters to you but not the 2 completely directions both clubs were going in at the time both GMs took over, cool.
So i guess the timeline only matters to you but not the 2 completely directions both clubs were going in at the time both GMs took over, cool.
What trades did Murray make that brought back any draft capital of significance? You don’t have to look it up, it was zero.
I guess if you have a bad record that means you are rebuilding. If that is the case then under your theory the Hawks are in year 10 of the rebuild.
As a guy who doesn’t follow the whole league, how did the Ducks rebuild so fast?
8 years isn’t so fast. That’s what it took for the Devils
Verbeek took over 2 months after Davidson in 2022. There is exactly one player (Terry) on the roster that preceded the “Little ball of hate”.
Man every time I see Senecke I wonder how he was not considered a top 10 pick. What a fine young player.
On another note you had to figure about this time the Hawks were going to wear down. How many have played this many games/practices in a season ( the college guys primarily) that they have already played in the season this far.
Thanks for your comment — I totally understand your point of view, and honestly, it makes a lot of sense. But here’s where I see things a bit differently.
Tampa could run an 11/7 because they had elite depth and experienced defensemen for years. Chicago isn’t in that situation right now. At some point this season, Blashill will have to go back to a 12-forward alignment. He’s already running games where only 8 or 9 forwards get real minutes, and that’s not sustainable. You can’t keep shortening the bench every night.
If the goal is truly about development and evaluation, then Rinzel and Levshunov need to be playing 17–18 minutes per game, not being sheltered forever. Even giving them 30 seconds of PK time helps them grow. You can’t expect these young guys to take on bigger responsibilities later if you never give them small steps now.
Winning games is important — no question — but for a rebuilding team like Chicago, the long-term success depends on getting these young defensemen experience in all situations. At some point, Blashill has to recognize that.
I agree, both should be playing in Rockford in all situations, like Korchinski is.
Will be interesting to see as the schedule gets into games 40-50 if the youngsters that haven’t played as much playing college (Lev’ Rinzel, Moore, Greene) hit a wall as the games get more physical as the season goes along.
Frenchy, I agree the 12/6 alignment would help the forwards, but Blashill does not use Grzrlcyk, Rinzell or Lev on the PK, plus the 3 of them start less than 10% of their zone starts in the defensive zone. Since Grzelcyk is your third left handed defenseman, unless you stop sheltering either Lev or Rinzel, one of the 2 would have to sit IMO if you only dress 6 D.
Right now Vlasic, Murphy, Crevier are your 3 primary PK er’s then Kaiser is used if Vlasic needs a rest. Obviously Blashill doesn’t think either of Lev or Rinzell are ready to join the PK.
Based on the above, unless an injury, or the Hawks struggle going forward, I see Blashill using the 11/7. Tampa has used the 11/7 often the last few years, so Blashill is comfortable using that alignment.
Frenchy, this write-up is the best piece of journalism that I have read from a blogger or that matter from traditional media that covers the Hawks in a long time.
So, here is a suggestion for the NHL. Institute a rule that reads Any contact with the head, whether intentional or incidental, will result in a game misconduct. Then let’s see how often it happens.
I am fine with any rule change that enhances public safety. But the start of this conversation was about the ref’s cheating cause every call or non-call goes against the Hawks. I guess the Hawks are the only team in the league that complains about the refs
Maybe they still remember when Tom Lysiak dumped a linesman on his ass on a face off cause he didn’t like a call? Or when the old stadium was chanting Ashley is a bum (a very common trait) and Mikita stood in front of him making a conductor’s gesture?
IMO if Bedard wouldn’t have got in the ref’s face, and just skated away and said what he said, no call would have been made. I also thought that instead of a 2 minute penalty, he should have gotten a misconduct. Punish the player, not the team by putting them shorthanded in that instance.
I don’t know what you were looking at, but it was a direct hit to the head with the top of his arm. You can see his head rock back. The problem with this, the NHL doesn’t care. Twice in two games and the NHL hasn’t taken any action. This is deplorable. They need stricter rules on hits to the head. Whether it was intentional or not, it is not acceptable. These are players’ lives. You would think the NHL would care a little about that.
Ryan Lindgren was not suspended for his hit on Andre Burakovsky during their November 20, 2025 game because the hit was determined to be unavoidable head contact under NHL rules.
The hit was reviewed by the NHL Department of Player Safety (DoPS), who found that while there was significant head contact, Lindgren was tracking the play with a proper angle of approach and did not extend his body upward or outward to target the head. The determination was that the primary point of contact was the body, and the head contact was a result of the dynamic nature of the play and Burakovsky’s body positionSo DOps did look at it, and this is the answer.
He has to get away from the 11/7 split. We played two periods with 10 forwards. They were gassed in the third period. If you have to worry about these defenseman so much, maybe they don’t belong in the NHL.
Yep. The forwards were spent come the 3rd period. They had 5 forwards that skated over 20 minutes and they have a 6:00 puck drop 1,000 miles away the next day. ……. I absolutely loved how the 11-7 format has worked for THIS roster. It perfectly acclimated 3 green Dmen to the Bigs thru sheltered minutes. But, it might have run its course to an extent.
We all know, and especially the organIzation knows, that every young player hits a wall in their first full season and running an 11-7 format for too long will exacerbate this. Think how the group didn’t (couldn’t) move their feet in the 3rd. Now imagine an over taxed young group will look in games 60-70-80?
Looked at the lines and loved the fact that TT was bumped to L3 with Mikahev and Donato. With L1 and L2 able to score that L3 is not only dangerous, and will give then secondary scoring, but they can shut down as well. This is what we all clamored for. A fast dangerous top 6 with a legit difference making bottom 6. Depth! ….. Losing Burakovsky is gonna hurt but less so when you have Dickinson coming back bumping TT back up to the top 6.
I know I am not the only one that watches games that do not involve the Hawks, Mackinnon, McDavid, Hughes (often injured) get hacked and whacked in prime scoring positions with no penalty called.
Interesting about head hits too, I remember on the old board when Hagel ran Barkov with a direct head hit in the playoffs without the puck and Barkov was called soft.
