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They had the Hawks penned in for 1:19 before the goal. … Arty is showing em during HNIC. Kid is starting to show why you had to take him over the freakishh Demidov. .. KD just keeps banking the right choices.
4th line had em pinned in for over a minute. The goal is a cherry on top…….. Woll is outa The Program as well. Kid is a player……. Man, TOR looks like they need to be blown up. Old and slow.
Just saw this. The Hawks are tied for 3rd with ANA for league best goal differential behind COL and CAR………. No matter the fancies this is incredible 17 games in.
Thanks my friend….
Frenchy, Boilermaker was posting links to you for a long time. I think most found you clicking one of his links…… You as a scout blogging about our team is such an incredible resource it’s just a shame the hoops a poster has to go thru to post. And worse, it probably ain’t gonna get better.
I can’t believe you’re not behind a paywall so we’re all kinda stealing anyway.. If you can answer, is there another place we can read your work?
Thanks, Frenchy. …. Love the possession numbers. For me that’s the measuring stick for the group to sustainably advance to the next step/challenge to becoming a playoff club.
Loved the response…… Hawks run into a veteran laden LA club and responds with 7 goals in a win over the Sens. Peg schools the youthful Hawks and they respond with a fine dogged nose over the puck effort at EDM…. Missed the 1st but it looks like it was a bad period and they responded in the 2nd and 3rd periods.
As hard as it is to project player’s skill it’s harder putting together a group that is selfless and will respond to countless adversity a season and playoffs bring. Even if you draft loads of kid’s who wore a letter as prospects a lot of what kinda heart the whole group will have is not knowable at the NHL level.. …… KD might have found something on that account.
Great response.
Greene is putting a couple 200 ft good games where he’s dangerous at times and his IQ is starting to translate to having impact on a game……..
Dach seems to be scratching at the door. A 1 step forward 1 step back developmental yr so far but the glimmers are getting brighter.
re: Burko
Could some of that 0.54/game be due to his injuries?
Has “coming back from” or “dealing with” injuries been an ongoing factor with him?from NHL dot com:
“Injuries limited him to 64 games in 2016-17 and 56 in 2017-18, though he had 60 points (24 goals, 36 assists) in the 120 games he did play.”
If he’s regularly dinged, maybe that has limited his effectiveness?Mentions of his playoff success:
“Burakovsky was one of the unsung heroes in the Washington Capitals’ first Stanley Cup championship. After missing most of the first two rounds of the 2018 playoffs with an upper-body injury,
Burakovsky scored two goals in the second period of Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Final to help the Capitals defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-0 and advance to the Stanley Cup Final
for the first time since 1998. He also had four assists in Washington’s five-game victory against the Vegas Golden Knights in the Final.”
and with the Avs:
“a pivotal overtime goal against the Lightning in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finaloverall playoff stats look pretty good:
“In 93 career playoff games, André Burakovsky has 20 goals, 27 assists, and a plus-minus rating of +14.
He has also scored 3 game-winning goals in the playoffs and has 2 goals and 5 assists in 7 Stanley Cup Finals games.”Hopefully he’s Mikheyev 2.0 for the Hawks.
MH, I don’t think Mikhayev has the same class of hands and skill as Burakovsky. We’ve seen some quick good hands outa Mik every once in while but we see that every game with Burakovsky. I have Mik as middle 6 at best and Burakovsky as a legit top 6 talent. …. And I do like Mik, a lot. When slotted on L3 he’s impactful and as we’ve seen he can slot up reasonably well.
And, T thought of that with Burakovsky that injuries had to have to be a part of why his numbers are underwhelming. But, I’m not talking about pt totals being underwhelming I’m talking about pts per game and it’s over 700 games. A huge sample size. ….. Like Haru says Burakovsky can play at pace. I’d add his feet, hands and brains all work together at pace. He can make high end plays at pace and really is a fine mate for Bedard. … I still say he’s the most skilled Hawk Bedard has skated with other than TT. Good fit and it looks like the Hawks got the good Burakovsky, so far.
And Lou mentioned he’ll hit 60 pts this yr skating with Bedard and playing on the 1 PP if he stays healthy. Agreed, and 60 might be a low number.
I guess this is a good time to ask. I mentioned following Burakovsky since he came up with WSH and that the dude showed real skill with good size and the guy can skate. He’s shown that as a Hawk…….. Yet in 700 NHL games he’s averaged .54 pts per game. You’d think he’d be a top 6 NHLer putting up at least 60 pts per but for some reason it seems he’ll never reach his ceiling.
Love to see you chime in Frenchy but would like to see what Hawk fans feel as well…… Either way, great signing by KD. I thought with his skills he’d fit with Bedard and he sure has. Going by his stats over 700 NHL games seems we got the good Burakovsky.
I liked the push back, there was some gaps in their D, i can’t wait till the young D learn when to pinch and not to.
Dots, that’s the thing I liked the first time I saw Kaiser in jrs. Kid’s reads were pretty good but what drew me in was he acted on his decisions immediately, No in between with the kid. He reads and goes and usually his reads are at least ok. ….. Dmen make 100 reads a game. They’re fun to watch cuz man, it ain’t easy dealing with the high skill the league has. Watching a Dman read and react is fun.
I do like that Blashill allows mistakes to make plays and then coaches em up on those mistakes.
It’s just how I am…we start losing, and I find someone to be peeved about:
This new play by play Rick Ball is hyping Louis Crevier in the late second period…
Louis made me mad with his being caught out off his position on that earlier goal would have been enough to not hear name, he was an unmentionable after that goal against.
Quiet about him, Mr. RickWiz, Ball is ok but I’d rather not listen to him. You’re not gonna get good hockey sense IQ comments outa Ball. He’s got too much homer in his call as you point out with My Guy Crevier. Very generic, a vanilla call that promotes the Hawk’s company line. You can be sure Ball will never ruffle any feathers …… And, Pang makes him worse although there is no telecast that is good with Pang as a part of it. Crazy that an NHL goalie knows so little about what he’s seeing. A nerd that insists you allow him into the crowd with the fellas.
Bad pinch by Crevier. Kaiser had one last game and both pinches started the sequence of a goal against. .. Bright side is you can see Blashill allows (wants/encourages?) them to make plays. That it’s ok to take a chance and we’ll coach up bad decisions as they come. But, go make a play. ……… You see Rinzel do the same drag in front of an opponent at the opposing blueline, same spot to, that turned into a turnover and goal against LA? He coughed that puck too but it wasn’t fatal. Point is he wasn’t scared to do the same thing that led to a goal against he had last game… Coach is letting them learn and make mistakes while encouraging them to make plays.
They are getting absolutely schooled by the Jets. 4-1 in the second. I can’t watch anymore.
Exactly right, perfect word, schooled. WPG is the oldest (vets) in the league and are a playoff team with a top goalie. They can neutralize speed and can exploit youth/weaknesses. ……. As the season goes by these games will happen especially if Knight isn’t playing crazy good.
Expected and ok. Learn and respond. No team doesn’t go thru this…. The roster is littered with inexperience and is in the process of learning just being the fastest super skilled team ain’t enough. LA and Peg showed em that and that’s expected and ok. … Let’s see the response(s), that’s what matters.
I also really like how they are fighting constantly throughout the game to get on the right side of the puck, the little things repeated over and over and over again.
We’ve been told since Blashill has taken over he teaches defense spurs offense. And as you point out the effort off the puck to get on the right side of it by the group makes you think they are taking the coaching. There are rarely enough like that on one roster (those that do like FLA, CHI, LA win cups), especially a roster full of speed/skill, and it looks like the Hawks might have quite a few of them….. And you got Knight standing behind it all with Commesso gettin jiggy wit it at RKF and Gajan gettin down with his bad self at UMD. .
I also really like how they are fighting constantly throughout the game to get on the right side of the puck, the little things repeated over and over and over again.
Completely agree. Every player plays with a strong work ethic and makes it as hard as possible to play against on the opposing team. They get after every puck and tag team on the board battles. Fun team to watch and love the grinder mentality.
It’s a time and space thing, AssMan. There is speed all over the roster and most, if not all, of these guys were fast as 8 yr olds and learned a long time ago their speed would eliminate time and space for the opponent and good things followed. … Don’t have to sell this roster on that. They’re bought in.
But, as you climb the ladder you realize just being blazing fast ain’t gonna do it. Good jrs teams can handle opponents speed and you then start learning to use that speed wisely and within structure/systems cuz speed not used properly takes guys outa plays and a team like LA will make you pay.
Yea man, watching a fast roster take away time and space is damn fun. Hemming teams in, jumping passes, knocking a puck loose and a mate supporting the play gets a puck at pace, 50/50 wins, passes to areas for a mate to skate into, opponent’s hurried decisions and when it’s done within the structure it’s like having 6 skaters on the ice. A roster like that is dangerous on every inch of the surface … Hell, those cup winning Kings were average speed at best but anything you did you had a King in your face jabbing at your puck with no outlet for you as if they had 6 men on the ice.
And we’re in the really early stages of this brand at the NHL level and it’s being played by a damn young group. … Not only do I like the results I like the trend with another wave of skilled speed merchants waiting their turn down on the farm….. Sure looks like KD is holding aces.
Pure Evil
It’s amazing how bad these 2nd periods have been.
The team was much more poised and mature in the 3rd period, like they flipped a switch.Keeping in mind LA and OTT play different styles the responses in both 3rd periods were different. OTT does have the 8th best GF% in the league so they are a good club but the Hawk speed, hunger and Bedard won that 3rd period with the LA game fresh in mind. ……
Guys like Frenchy are gonna use the term response a lot this yr with the Hawks. They’ve shown they’re good enough to win on any night so finding consistency as they respond to many bad results/periods/shifts thru a full season will be frequent…
Just wanted to add, the thing I liked tonight, it was better management of the puck to me. Lots of small space passes to players and more poise with the puck on the stick tonight as a group. I didn’t think that after 10 games we’d have 33 goals for and only 25 against for +8. The team hasn’t had to trail very often usually had the lead or tied. Actually approaching the middle of the pack for shots against per game now, they’ve brought that average down under 30. -4.9 shot differential per game right now, which is still not great but this is where the small things get important. Win a couple more shifts a game, and suddenly that differential will start to even out. That might come from more guys selling out to block shots, getting more sticks in lanes, winning more draws or improving the cycle on the attack to get more offensive pressure as examples.
Rinzel deserves so much credit too as a guy in his first real season playing the role he does on the top pair. Vlasic and Rinzel have been facing the other team’s top players (the numbers strongly back this up) and they’ve been a generally solid pair. They might become a pair that teams around the league hate to go up against.
The Hawks have hit their ceiling with the way they manage the puck. Just went to check their fancies and see they have the top PDO number in the league. Zero doubt a correction is coming, the degree to which will be determined by puck management (possession). ….. But it all fits, really. A hungry, fast, highly skilled group (4 lines of it to some degree) is out playing the fancies.
I think it’s logical to expect the possession numbers will only improve. That they are at their floor on that account. The kids will only gain experience thru each game and improve on Blashill’s wants. … And I’d add IMO their structure is exceptional to the degree of all the youth on the ice on top of learning aa new coach/systems. ………
