Official Chicago Blackhawks Thread: Bedard Era

Discussion in 'The Mainboard' started by Illinihockey, Apr 9, 2015.

  1. Illinihockey

    Illinihockey Well-Known Member
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    Just LTIR him for eternity
     
  2. Fran Tarkenton

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    says he had trouble walking, getting out of bed before Xmas

    will need a hip replacement at some point. Damn man.
     
  3. Bankz

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    I thought he did both hips last year?
     
  4. Fran Tarkenton

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    It was not a replacement. He would not be playing ice hockey if that were the case.

    Probably shaved off some bone or something to relieve the arthritic symptoms.
     
  5. Bankz

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    Poor guy. What a beast. Agree with the take above opening night next year 3 numbers need to be raised to the rafters.
     
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  6. Illinihockey

    Illinihockey Well-Known Member
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    We'll always remember the good times


    [​IMG]
     
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  7. Illinihockey

    Illinihockey Well-Known Member
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    Can someone post this
     
  8. RoderickJaynes

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    Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton realizes where his team is at right now.

    On the one hand, his players are tired. The season has been a grind. It wouldn’t do them any good to be on the ice too long for practice. It might even have a negative effect.

    On the other hand, the Blackhawks have struggled of late. They returned to Chicago after winning just once on a six-game road trip. They’re a team that could probably use some practice. They have a quick turnaround again before hosting the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.

    Colliton’s goal Monday was to have a practice to fit his team’s needs. After the players worked within their position group on one ice sheet at Fifth Third Arena, they skated over to the other sheet and practiced for a tight 30 minutes. Colliton chose specific drills to address what he had seen lately from his players and what they need to do to prepare for the Panthers.

    “It’s both,” Colliton said. “There’s things that we feel are important and we’re trying to build in our team habits and just the standard that we want our team to play with and what we feel is important, so we’re always getting back to those things: pace and work ethic and execution. And then obviously in our team game, there’s things we feel like we’ve got to sharpen up on. That’s when we’re putting the practice together, that’s how we break it down.”

    Here’s what the Blackhawks did in those 30 minutes:

    The Blackhawks’ first drill was a basic shooting drill. It begins with players in two lines at diagonal corners of the rink. When the whistle blows, two players from each line take off. As they round the blue line, the second player receives a pass from the other line. The second player then passes the puck ahead to the first player in the neutral zone, and the first player advances to shoot on the goalie. The second player circles the other blue line, receives a pass and then advances to shoot on the opposite goalie. The players later moved their lines to the opposite corner and ran the drill again. The drill lasted about seven minutes in total.

    Colliton ended that drill and had his players sprint one lap around the ice. He then met them at the glass to go over the next drill.

    The second drill was a 2-on-1 with a backchecker. Two players would start with the puck in the defensive zone and begin with a 2-on-1 rush against a defenseman. A forward is released from behind the play and has to skate from behind the rush to defend. It’s a continuous drill where one forward from the previous rush begins the next rush. Three players step in from lines on each rush.

    There are many purposes to the drill. Colliton wants his players to capitalize on their chances, but it’s also about skating and the work ethic he’s been trying to reinforce throughout the season. The second drill was about five minutes.

    After the second drill, the players got some water and Colliton again had them at the glass to go over their next drill.

    In the third drill, five players, three offensive and two defensive, began at the blue line facing the far net. A puck is knocked into the neutral zone. A defenseman retrieves it as quickly as possible in the neutral zone and begins a 3-on-2 rush. On some reps, a fourth forward and a third defender are added to make it a 4-on-3 chance.

    “We feel like we’re leaving a little bit on the table in transition, being able to take advantage of our work ethic and pressure on the puck,” Colliton said explaining the drill. “I think we can execute better and have more of a killer instinct in those situations. Be clean, be quick, play fast and take advantage of those 3-on-2, 4-on-3s that hopefully we’re going to create. We feel like we can get more out of our work ethic when we force turnovers, so that was a focus.”

    Defenseman Calvin de Haan gave his perspective of the drill, too.

    “We’re just trying to practice our quick ups — not really stickhandling and just trying to move the puck forward as quick as possible,” de Haan said. “It’s a transition drill. It’s a good drill. Even if the offensive team has an extra guy, it’s still hard to make a pass at times, especially if the forecheckers have a good position. It works on that aspect of the game as well — it works on the defensive side of things, too.”

    Here’s the same drill beginning on the other side of the ice:

    “I think we can be a little bit sharper,” Blackhawks forward Mattias Janmarksaid. “I think it was there against Tampa. There was a lot of room. We weren’t able to finish it off whether it was scoring a goal, him making big saves or we weren’t sharp enough. There’s space there. If we can practice to win the puck back, I think that’s what we wanted to work on.”

    The drill went on for about nine minutes. From there, the Blackhawks ended practice by playing 3-on-3 in the offensive zone from the circle down. The defensive side played man-on-man and had to clear the puck out of the zone to end the rep. Players subbed in then.

    “And then typical 3-on-3 down low, working to get pucks back, staying on the D side, switching when we can and when we do win the puck back, be clean with it, find a way to exit clean, reaction can be an option and get out is really important so you don’t have to defend too long,” Colliton said.

    “We’re just looking to stay with our man,” de Haan said. “You don’t want to give up high-grade chances in those types of drills. It’s an effective drill to coach positioning and how we want to play defensively.”

    The Blackhawks played 3-on-3 for about nine minutes and wrapped up practice.
     
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  9. Bankz

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    Listening to the Chicago Blackhawks podcast. And they were hinting about 19 and i took it as it’s possible he’s going to retire.
     
  10. Illinihockey

    Illinihockey Well-Known Member
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    stan was just talking like he was going to be back
     
  11. ohhaithur

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  12. Bankz

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    idk they were talking about respecting his privacy and that they have heard rumors and even got photos sent to them of him at some medical facility. To me that convo didn’t sound like two guys talking about the return of Toews. Hope I just got that all wrong.
     
  13. Illinihockey

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    Sad but happy he’s doing this
     
  14. wes tegg

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    He’ll go down as one of my all time favorites.
     
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  15. Bankz

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    Same, he clearly could still play if he was healthy. But you can't keep rolling the dice with brain trauma
     
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  16. Illinihockey

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    If Stan doesn't launch Colliton before next year, he should be fired too. I'm praying they end this season on a 9 game losing streak
     
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  17. ohhaithur

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    I hope colliton leaves too but they just gave him a two-year contract extension and I don't think the team really underperformed that much
     
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  18. Illinihockey

    Illinihockey Well-Known Member
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    They've been bad his entire tenure here and there's no improvement. His defensive system is a wreck and the more they play the worse a lot of the young guys look (besides Debrincat). You're going to ruin all of these prospects.
     
  19. ohhaithur

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    I agree but how common is it to get an extension, be exactly what is expected of you, then get fired anyway?
     
  20. ohhaithur

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  21. Fran Tarkenton

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    I have never been high on Boquist so confirms my priors. But I am certainly hoping he develops.
     
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  22. Illinihockey

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    Can someone post this
     
  23. Fran Tarkenton

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    Marian Hossa’s contract presented a problem for the Blackhawks after he announced he was done playing due to a skin allergy in 2017.

    Hossa had four years remaining on his contract and a $5.275 million cap hit. That was a significant chunk of change with the cap ceiling at $75 million for the 2017-18 season. The Blackhawks were also still in win-now mode and often spending to the ceiling. They could use every dollar they could get.

    Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman had a few options then. One, he could build his team with Hossa’s cap hit, get as close to the ceiling as possible and then place Hossa on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) once the season began. That would allow the Blackhawks to maneuver players up and down from the AHL and leave the possibility of adding a top player at the trade deadline.

    The second option was to place Hossa on LTIR during the offseason and free up that cap space to spend in free agency. They could immediately add a player who could help fill Hossa’s void. The drawback to offseason LTIR is it limits roster flexibility during a season because a team is already technically at the cap ceiling. It has to be dollar out to bring dollar in.

    At the time, Bowman was firmly against offseason LTIR.

    “Because if you did (use offseason LTIR), you would be essentially starting the year with an inability to make any transactions,” Bowman said in 2017. “And that’s why it’s a harder discussion to have because you’ve got to give examples of if this happens. But it just doesn’t work that way. I wish it were that simple, but it’s not. It’s a much more complicated provision than people think. It’s not some easy cap solution where we just go sign a player for the same amount and off we go. It’s much more problematic than that.”

    Bowman explained that further.

    “You’ve got to be (cap) compliant Day 1 and you’ve got to have a functional team,” he said. “So there’s never been a team that’s gone all year without having a recall of a player or an acquisition. So you have to have the ability to do that during the season. You can’t start the season with zero cap space and then expect when two guys get hurt to play short-handed all year. It’s not a functional way to run your team.”

    That’s why Bowman opted for in-season LTIR for Hossa during the 2017-18 season. Bowman made some major trades that offseason to address his roster and wasn’t active in free agency. He placed Hossa on LTIR once the season began and never used Hossa’s cap hit fully. The Blackhawks ended up out of the playoff race and turned into sellers at the trade deadline, so the additional cap space wasn’t needed. Bowman traded Hossa’s contract the following offseason and finally freed up that space for good.

    Now Bowman finds himself in a similar predicament four years later with Brent Seabrook and Andrew Shaw both announcing this year that they are finished playing because of injuries. Like Hossa, both players aren’t officially retired and will remain on the books. Seabrook has three years remaining on his contract with a $6.875 million cap hit. Shaw has one more year with a $3.9 million cap hit. The assumption is Jonathan Toews returns next season, but if he doesn’t, he would also fit into the equation. He has a $10.5 million cap hit for two more seasons.

    Bowman may want to handle this scenario much like he did the Hossa situation. Bowman would likely prefer to build his roster with Seabrook and Shaw’s cap spaces included and may not even come near the cap ceiling. With a number of young players, especially Kirby Dach, still on their entry-level contracts, there’s a possibility some of those players trigger their bonuses next season. The last thing Bowman wants is to have a cap overage for the 2021-22 season and be responsible for those bonuses come the 2022-23 season. That would be troublesome because the cap isn’t expected to rise anytime soon. Bowman is also aware he has a lot of valuable players in need of a new contract before the 2022-23 season.

    Bowman may be able to safely maneuver this offseason and not have to spend to the ceiling because the Blackhawks should already have enough cap space to apply to their restricted free agents. They have roughly $9 million of cap space entering this offseason, and that’s already projecting 21 players on their NHL roster. Some of those players can be assigned to Rockford next season. Others might be traded or taken in the expansion draft. Whatever the case, the Blackhawks should have more than that $9 million figure to re-sign any combination of Nikita Zadorov, Pius Suter, Brandon Hagel, David Kampf, Adam Gaudette and Alex Nylander, who are all restricted free agents.

    Here’s an outlook of the Blackhawks’ finances over the next three seasons:

    [hard to copy/paste salary graphic]


    Now, if Bowman does find himself wanting more cap space to hunt for, say, a No. 1 defenseman, he could use offseason LTIR in a way that wouldn’t restrict his in-season roster flexibility as it did with Hossa. Because the Blackhawks have at least two players they know won’t be playing next season, Bowman could place Seabrook or Shaw on offseason LTIR to tap into that cap space during free agency and then wait until the season begins to place the other player on in-season LTIR. The Blackhawks would then have the best of both worlds. That would leave the risk of those young players hitting their bonuses, but that might be worth it if Bowman believes he has a playoff-caliber team next season.

    Bowman alluded to being open to the possibility of offseason LTIR during his end-of-the-season media availability.

    “(Shaw and Seabrook’s contract are) a bit of a challenge, there’s no question about that, but we’re going to have to deal with it,” Bowman said. “LTI is an option for us, we’ll look into that. It may be something we use. We’re hoping to work it a different way. The biggest thing is we don’t have a lot of new contracts to sign. So that should help us from the perspective of not getting some big increases from where players were at this year. That’s coming in the coming years, so it’s never a solved puzzle. We’re going to work on that.

    “Part of it’ll be, if we make any changes, cap implications for players that are leaving or coming will play into that. It’s probably a bit early to map that all out. We’ve had internal conversations on that and that’s probably going to be our focus between now and the free-agency opening. It’s a bit of a different timeline this year with the draft and free agency being pushed back. We have a little bit more time to talk it through, but that’s going to be dictated by what we find out when I talk to other general managers about how they’re shaping their teams and which players will be available.”

    The St. Louis Blues are an example of a team using offseason LTIR. The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford wrote about it in detail here.

    According to a source, the Blackhawks are still discussing the best way forward cap-wise. They’re also having contract discussions with their restricted free agents and trying to determine how they want their roster to look next season. They don’t have enough roster space for everyone. Lukas Reichel could also sign and be NHL ready. Vinnie Hinostroza was one of the team’s best players after being acquired and could come back on a cheap deal. Max Shalunov is out there waiting, and the Blackhawks are still looking at other European free agents.

    Ultimately, Bowman could go in a lot of directions with the Blackhawks roster, their cap space and LTIR usage. That should make for an interesting offseason.
     
  24. Illinihockey

    Illinihockey Well-Known Member
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    Its funny Bowman said you can't use LTIR like that and then the Lightning and Vegas both did exactly that this season and are both favorites to make the Cup final.
     
  25. Fran Tarkenton

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  26. Fran Tarkenton

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  27. Fran Tarkenton

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  28. Illinihockey

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    Going to suck so hard next year
     
  29. Bankz

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    I think the front office should take a very long look at trading Kane.

    He's still a fantastic talent. His deal is coming to an end and I think you could get a really great return for him.

    If Johnny bounces back he also would be on the chopping block.

    Its time... being in this middle ground isn't where you want to be.
     
  30. Illinihockey

    Illinihockey Well-Known Member
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    Keith for Caleb Jones and a third round pick. Goodbye to one of the absolute legends of Chicago hockey. One of the 5 greatest Hawks of all time.
     
  31. Fran Tarkenton

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    Absolute legend/warrior.

    Not retaining salary is big there.
     
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  32. Illinihockey

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    it doesn’t matter, the Hawks are going to blow as long as Colliton is behind the bench
     
  33. ohhaithur

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    This trade confuses me so much I'm being gaslighted into thinking there's something I'm missing
     
  34. Illinihockey

    Illinihockey Well-Known Member
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    it probably doesn’t move the needle much for either team. Makes Edmonton slightly better, Jones might end up being a third pairing guy, gives the Hawks a little cap room they don’t need
     
  35. ohhaithur

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    That's a lot of cap room!

    That's like a free Grubauer
     
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  36. Fran Tarkenton

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    plus DK wanted to move to Canada, seemingly demanded a trade b/c he did not want to risk another season of border travel during Covid.
     
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  37. Illinihockey

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    he probably didn’t want to risk another season getting killed with a coach he had no time for
     
  38. wes tegg

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    Going to leave it, but that wasn't the tweet I meant to post. This was:

     
  39. wes tegg

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    I made the mistake of reading too much twitter. Oilers' fans' disrespect of DK is really grinding my gears.
     
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  40. Illinihockey

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  41. Illinihockey

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    they’ll expose DeHaan and stillman I imagine
     
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  42. Illinihockey

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    Also it wouldn’t shock me if Toews comes back, plays a month or so and just can’t do it. Goes on LTIR for the next year plus and retires
     
  43. Illinihockey

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    Protected

    Toews
    Kane
    Debrincat
    Strome
    Kampf
    Hagel
    Borgstrom

    Murphy
    Stillman
    Jones

    Lankinen
     
  44. Bankz

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    Lank had a great start of the season. But finished the year as one of the worst goalies in the NHL. Our talent evaluation is questionable at best.
     
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  45. wes tegg

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    Panarin for Saad -> Saad for Zadorov -> Zadorov to expansion draft

    [​IMG]
     
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  46. Illinihockey

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    Feels like the Seth Jones thing is inevitable. I wouldn’t give more than a first and a b level prospect or an A level prospect and a third. Even that seems steep