I will take AA a few games to get back into his grove, but this team will be so different with Bedard, Johnson, Beauvillier and AA back. Instead of being a bottom feeding AHL team the Hawks will now be an AHL team in the hunt for a wild card spot.
- DarthKane

Send AA to the Rock for conditioning, have him play with Reichel like last year, maybe he’ll get #27 going.

I will take AA a few games to get back into his grove, but this team will be so different with Bedard, Johnson, Beauvillier and AA back. Instead of being a bottom feeding AHL team the Hawks will now be an AHL team in the hunt for a wild card spot.
- DarthKane

IDK we're still playing Reese Johnson.

For those frustrated with Hawks rebuild just remember what the Leafs roster looked like before they drafted Matthews.

https://www.hockeydb.com/...ons/teams/0000382016.html

Send AA to the Rock for conditioning, have him play with Reichel like last year, maybe he’ll get #27 going.
- Angotti

It took Teuvo five years to be a real NHL player. Reichel is bigger but still looks weak to me.

For those frustrated with Hawks rebuild just remember what the Leafs roster looked like before they drafted Matthews.

https://www.hockeydb.com/...ons/teams/0000382016.html
- DarthKane

Love that they had both Bernier and Reimer. I always thought they were the same guy.

This will be standard for future young checking line forwards in the rebuild, since many like to jump ahead with our future cap and it's tightrope:

The Detroit Red Wings have signed forward Michael Rasmussen to a four-year contract extension, the club announced Tuesday. The deal carries an average annual value of $3.2 million.
Rasmussen is currently 24 yr.s old..
- wiz1901

I saw that contract and was thinking the same thing. Seems pretty reasonable for a guy that plays about 15 minutes a night and chips in some. It works out right now to about 3.8% of their cap.

I know you're being facetious, but I'm not ready to give up on Reichel. His trade value would be next to nothing, the Hawks might as well do whatever they can to develop him into a full time NHLer. He's likely not a top 6 forward, but he could be a very useful middle 6 forward.

If KD decides to move on from Reichel, I think the best we could hope for in return would be another failing former 1st round pick (i.e. Turcotte, Holloway).
- DarthKane

It's free to qualify him. No harm in seeing how he responds after a summer of training and stuff.

I saw that contract and was thinking the same thing. Seems pretty reasonable for a guy that plays about 15 minutes a night and chips in some. It works out right now to about 3.8% of their cap.
- breadbag

In four years, you can sub in the name Oliver Moore.

It took Teuvo five years to be a real NHL player. Reichel is bigger but still looks weak to me.
- rpeters01

Not really. He had 35 points as a 21 year old and played a big part in a Stanley cup run.

Plus he looked like a professional even though he didn't have a lot of desire to go to the middle of the ice. Positionally very good, defensively excellent. Not a question of if he will be a NHL player but what was actual ceiling. Granted that was with a significantly more talented team - but then you can make the argument that he was able to stick with a very good team vs Reichel who isn't earning minutes on an abhorrent one.

Reichel doesn't look like a NHL player at this point so I don't think thats the best comparison.

IDK we're still playing Reese Johnson.
- rpeters01

Not really though, he only played one game so far in Feb. It's not bad to have him as the scratched/extra for the most part. He is one of those guys that works as depth filler for now.

Anyone else think that Vlasic has hit the wall a bit the past 4-5 games? Not that it's not expected for a rookie to have some bad games, but his decision making and defensive coverage has been weaker recently.

Anyone else think that Vlasic has hit the wall a bit the past 4-5 games? Not that it's not expected for a rookie to have some bad games, but his decision making and defensive coverage has been weaker recently.
- Chunk

That's kind of what I was saying the other day. I think they need to try to reduce some of the load on him and let him focus in on what worked in the early season.

He was averaging just under 20 minutes a night the first couple months of the season, and he was solid. His ice-time climbed starting around Dec 5th and it's been a more up and down ride for him IMO.

He isn't bad, but just that it seems like he is trying to do too much, getting out of position more. They did take him off the PP1 unit in the last few games, which I think is the right move, so he has less on his plate.

That isn’t what I’m saying. We all watch a lot of NHL and routinely see horrible penalties called that change the momentum of a game and result in PP goals.

The NHL allows challenges for offsides which result in goals being overturned b/c a guy is an inch offsides.

The NHL doesn’t allow review or challenges for most penalties, even when we routinely see egregious calls being made.

If the NHL cared about getting it right all the time then penalties would be reviewed. They aren’t b/c the NHL cares about the flow and length of the game not just about getting every call right.
- bhawks2241

I believe we were talking about getting offsides calls right. Like i said i dont make the rules.