Why no Bedard to start the overtime? Was it a matchup situation?
- 333inthe3rd

Should be best on best, with the best Hawk at controlling the play. Richardson can’t over think it

Michael Bunting, Carolina, 2 more years at 4.5M. Canes were rumored to have him on the block earlier this season.
- boilermaker100

That’s a good one too, he caught my attention as well.

Carolina is a team formulated around continuity and he was just brought in so think they’re going to hold onto him for a bit longer. He’s also on page for another 50 point season so he’s a good player to have.

Anyone else notice KK missed a few shifts in the second and third period after a bad turnover in the second? Seems LR is tightening the reigns on him the last few games.

Anyone else notice KK missed a few shifts in the second and third period after a bad turnover in the second? Seems LR is tightening the reigns on him the last few games.
- LAHawk

I've thought that the rookies just aren't afraid to make mistakes all yr. Like Phillips, he's a healthy scratch as a rookie for a bunch of games but when he gets in you can see the kid just reading and reacting, not afraid.

KK, sat for a 1/2 period a couple back and he comes back showing no hesitation. Two coughs in the same sequence in 5 seconds allowing a grade a and you'd never know watching him the rest of the game.

Ditto Vlasic, no hesitation to his game. No fear of making a mistake, no signs from the rookies of just keeping it simple. The only one is Crevier and that's cuz he knows he's a level too high will get badly exposed if he doesn't keep his game simple and risk free.

Credit to LR and Crew. They've created an environment where rookies feel comfortable and are encouraged to be creative. ...... These kinds of things help kids reach their ceilings quicker and speeds up a rebuild.

But no LA, I missed KK getting sat for a couple shifts but bet it was after those 2 bad coughs in the 2nd period.

Eiserman just doesn't do it for me, honestly. Seems really one dimensional. I think we can do better and aim higher than a Phil Kessel-type (who had a fantastic career nevertheless).
- TommyHawk

I'll say this though Tommy, I'm an Eiserman guy but if both he and Lindstrom are on the board when the Hawks pick I'm having a panic attack. Can't look past Lindstrom playing center, has size/skill/skating/althletic so I take him but would not be surprised if Eiserman challenges 50 goals for many yrs in the Bigs.

I can see why some see concerns but man, this kid can score and always has.... I read in the last thread where it was said he's a poor skater and others say his skating is fine. I'm in the camp the kid's skating is no worse than average. You don't score like he does without balance and you get that from your skating. .... Plus he's far from a finished product.

Thought this was a good game, one of the couple best of the yr for the Hawks. Peg allows the least amount of goals per game and that's with a roster that has a bunch of skill. ...... That's that beautiful strangling structure of theirs (reminds me of LA's cup teams). That's tough to play against for a seasoned NHL squad let alone one strewn with rookies on D and one playing 1C.

IMO Bedard has shown why he's possibly generational since he came back from injury. His line is stringing together shifts where they are dangerous, not just flashes, and I don't think Bedard was dangerous once this game, unless I missed it...... This is an underrated WPG team IMO. Nicely balanced, skilled, speed, coached up and bought in.

Thought the Hawks outplayed em in the 1st and 3rd but WPG imposed their will/skill in the 2nd. .. Helluva showing for the Hawks.

Thought this was a good game, one of the couple best of the yr for the Hawks. Peg allows the least amount of goals per game and that's with a roster that has a bunch of skill. ...... That's that beautiful strangling structure of theirs (reminds me of LA's cup teams). That's tough to play against for a seasoned NHL squad let alone one strewn with rookies on D and one playing 1C.

IMO Bedard has shown why he's possibly generational since he came back from injury. His line is stringing together shifts where they are dangerous, not just flashes, and I don't think Bedard was dangerous once this game, unless I missed it...... This is an underrated WPG team IMO. Nicely balanced, skilled, speed, coached up and bought in.

Thought the Hawks outplayed em in the 1st and 3rd but WPG imposed their will/skill in the 2nd. .. Helluva showing for the Hawks.
- Mr Ricochet

The Jets suffocate you at center ice and there are no easy entries for the opposition. They also have a world class goalie, so they will be a tough out, as a matter of fact, they are my dark horse to come out of the west.

Reilly Smith come on down.
- LAHawk

I’ll take Johansen from Colorado with Ritchie and the sweetener.

I've thought that the rookies just aren't afraid to make mistakes all yr. Like Phillips, he's a healthy scratch as a rookie for a bunch of games but when he gets in you can see the kid just reading and reacting, not afraid.

KK, sat for a 1/2 period a couple back and he comes back showing no hesitation. Two coughs in the same sequence in 5 seconds allowing a grade a and you'd never know watching him the rest of the game.

Ditto Vlasic, no hesitation to his game. No fear of making a mistake, no signs from the rookies of just keeping it simple. The only one is Crevier and that's cuz he knows he's a level too high will get badly exposed if he doesn't keep his game simple and risk free.

Credit to LR and Crew. They've created an environment where rookies feel comfortable and are encouraged to be creative. ...... These kinds of things help kids reach their ceilings quicker and speeds up a rebuild.

But no LA, I missed KK getting sat for a couple shifts but bet it was after those 2 bad coughs in the 2nd period.
- Mr Ricochet

Mr Richochet,

I have gone back and forth with you analyzing Phillips and to a lesser extent Crevier

If I knew how to use the bold feature I would as in your comments I want to agree for the most part what you said


However I want to also throw a caveat into this conversation

It is something Steve Rain once said: a prospect is a prospect [remains] a prospect until he isn’t

Yes I do believe Phillips has more upside than Crevier. Thing is both dmen have their moments or good games yet there is a reason the coach benches them too.

They aren’t ready. Phillips has more pro experience. He turned pro younger age than Crevier Crevier made the NHL appearance sooner than Phillips once they had turned professional

I am unsure what has to happen but the coaches seem to think giving both of them snipets of playing time is a valuable lesson and quickens the process of their development into NHL serviceable dmen (on a regular basis)

I believe Crevier should spend a year in the AHl although like Vlasic both in their initial NHL voyage showed enough to cause me to think they could stick right away

Well let us just see any sustained solid play from either. Sooner or later there are too many candidates for jobs on defense and you have to figure what type of dmen stick. One more season and it will be Allen DelMastro Kaiser battling Phillips and Crevier for a slot in the lineup

Playing in a pairing with Tinordi is not ideal but in one way you have to learn what you must do when your partner is a Tinordi. So playing with Tinordi is a learning experience- how is that reasoning, eh

I think if both Phillips and Crevier come along fine, more will be expected out of Phillips because he is a natural athlete with good skating. Whereas Crevier can be a solid third pair who occasionally the opponent underestimates. He actually can skate ok and has a good slap shot which results in goals now and then

Hope both can carve out a career but no idea if either will remain Blackhawk long term

Hereforth I am more interested to see how Hayes is coming along and if he might slot in eventually as a L1 or L2 wing

I will beat the scribes to the P Kane review.
He has 10 G 14 A in 25 GP with -4 plus/minus

Mr Richochet,

I have gone back and forth with you analyzing Phillips and to a lesser extent Crevier

If I knew how to use the bold feature I would as in your comments I want to agree for the most part what you said


However I want to also throw a caveat into this conversation

It is something Steve Rain once said: a prospect is a prospect
- jhawk59[remains] a prospect until he isn’t

Yes I do believe Phillips has more upside than Crevier. Thing is both dmen have their moments or good games yet there is a reason the coach benches them too.

They aren’t ready. Phillips has more pro experience. He turned pro younger age than Crevier Crevier made the NHL appearance sooner than Phillips once they had turned professional

I am unsure what has to happen but the coaches seem to think giving both of them snipets of playing time is a valuable lesson and quickens the process of their development into NHL serviceable dmen (on a regular basis)

I believe Crevier should spend a year in the AHl although like Vlasic both in their initial NHL voyage showed enough to cause me to think they could stick right away

Well let us just see any sustained solid play from either. Sooner or later there are too many candidates for jobs on defense and you have to figure what type of dmen stick. One more season and it will be Allen DelMastro Kaiser battling Phillips and Crevier for a slot in the lineup

Playing in a pairing with Tinordi is not ideal but in one way you have to learn what you must do when your partner is a Tinordi. So playing with Tinordi is a learning experience- how is that reasoning, eh

I think if both Phillips and Crevier come along fine, more will be expected out of Phillips because he is a natural athlete with good skating. Whereas Crevier can be a solid third pair who occasionally the opponent underestimates. He actually can skate ok and has a good slap shot which results in goals now and then

Hope both can carve out a career but no idea if either will remain Blackhawk long term

Hereforth I am more interested to see how Hayes is coming along and if he might slot in eventually as a L1 or L2 wing

Agree with the whole post, 59. The bolded about the Dmen on their way up that soon will be fighting for NHL ice time is how to build a quality team with depth. To varying degrees every one of those kids has a chance to be a big leaguer, and hell, none may make it.

But every one of those kids is a legit prospect and if you have 3-4-5 prospects/rookies fighting for the same position every couple yrs you're gonna have solid players all over the place.

I see Phillips' warts. Just enough there I could see a poor man's Dumba type and if not a guy able to take 3rd pairing NHL minutes. ...... And I like Crevier a lot. A late rd swing that has shown it was a shrewd pick already. They don't need him to hit but if he does you get a 6ft 8in Dman to add to your net front options. And, IMO if he improves his skating just a tad, needs better balance, and his skating would be a plus. ... Love having prospects like this at every position in the system. No/Low risk or cost to get these kinds and if one hits every few yrs you're ahead of the game.

The Jets suffocate you at center ice and there are no easy entries for the opposition. They also have a world class goalie, so they will be a tough out, as a matter of fact, they are my dark horse to come out of the west.
- Angotti

Right on, Lou. This club looks to be built for the playoffs very nicely. Tons of structure and buy in, enough speed/skill to make you pay, legit depth, no doubt HellBoy is a world class goalie that wants to play EVERY game and many WPG games I see Dman Morrisey might be the best player on the ice (hopin Kaiser is a kinda poor man's Morrisey). ... And a legit goal scorer in Connor, 5-6 times scored 30 or more and one yr 47 goals.

Peg can cause problems in a lotta ways and as you mention, could come outa the West.

Hawks come in at #7 in The Athletic prospect rankings with Moore and Nazar ranked in the top tier. Rinzel, Reichel, Del Mastro, Gajan and Commesso make up the 2nd of the four tiers Wheeler has them broken into.

Here's Wheeler's explanation and summary for where they landed...


That the Blackhawks still have one of the league’s top pools after graduating Connor Bedard (who never even appeared in this series), Kevin Korchinski and Alex Vlasic speaks to the job GM Kyle Davidson has done acquiring picks and what director of amateur scouting Mike Doneghey has done with those picks. Had Korchinski gone back to junior and played for Canada at the world juniors, Chicago’s pool would have ranked in the top five. After Lukas Reichel’s reintroduction to the pool just a few days ago, they moved from a planned ranking of No. 8 up to No. 7 here (I even thought about slotting them at No. 6) as well.

With two first-round picks in each of the next two drafts (which will likely include a top-five selection in this year’s draft) and multiple seconds in each of the next three drafts, their cupboards should be among the league’s most well-stocked for the foreseeable future.

His final two tiers are

Tier 3

8 Ryan Greene C/20/Boston U.

9 Nick Lardis RW/LW/18/Brantford

10 Colton Dach C/21/Rockford

11 Wyatt Kaiser LHD/21/Rockford/Chicago

12Roman Kantserov RW/18/Magnitogorsk

13 Gavin Hayes LW/19/Soo

14 Nolan Allan LHD/20/Rockford

Tier 4

15 Isaak Phillips LHD/22/Rockford/Chicago

HM Paul Ludwinski C/19/Kingston

Maybe Winnipeg igoing to be the Utah Jets?

https://theathletic.com/5...ts-attendance-issues-nhl/
- wiz1901

The person that does the wings blog here has been harping on that the whole year. It's really something that should be getting more press.

Being a gate driven league isn't sustainable and I'd think that more than just Winnipeg and Arizona are having problems.

Kind of circles back to the NHL needing to sell its stars and have some more interesting story lines outside of skate hard, win battles blah blah blah.

Eiserman just doesn't do it for me, honestly. Seems really one dimensional. I think we can do better and aim higher than a Phil Kessel-type (who had a fantastic career nevertheless).
- TommyHawk

He sounds a bit less chill than Kessel and more of a SOB. Kinda like a shorter Matthews maybe.

Something to be said for the driven guy who is looking to bury everyone in their path.

DeBrincat is a very good player in this league.

Debrincat is also not the upside you should be chasing with a top-4 pick.
- TommyHawk

He's scored +40 goals twice thats pretty special. Probably hasn't gotten enough shots on goal this year.

Anyone else notice KK missed a few shifts in the second and third period after a bad turnover in the second? Seems LR is tightening the reigns on him the last few games.
- LAHawk

Yes but he's not being a wiener about it and you can see the player making adjustments which is encouraging. The kid may have a brain and the coach looks like he may be the right guy for the job.

I will beat the scribes to the P Kane review.
He has 10 G 14 A in 25 GP with -4 plus/minus
- jhawk59

Coming off hip surgery and being 35 that is incredible.

The person that does the wings blog here has been harping on that the whole year. It's really something that should be getting more press.

Being a gate driven league isn't sustainable and I'd think that more than just Winnipeg and Arizona are having problems.

Kind of circles back to the NHL needing to sell its stars and have some more interesting story lines outside of skate hard, win battles blah blah blah.
- fattybeef

I know many will probably take issue with this but unless you like to go to a hockey game and watch a 2 to 1, 3 to 2 game, many probably don't appreciate the good defensive play like i do and find it boring, the scoring needs to go up.

I agree about selling your stars. The clutching, grabbing, interfering, bigger goalie equipment, blue lines were changed to increase scoring i think you'd have more hockey fans.

Why is it so hard to grow soccer here? Same reason

Eiserman just doesn't do it for me, honestly. Seems really one dimensional. I think we can do better and aim higher than a Phil Kessel-type (who had a fantastic career nevertheless).
- TommyHawk

If Eiserman can make that shot like Ehlers did last night past Mrazeks right ear and his ability to skate is the same, I'd have a hard time not drafting him.

I know many will probably take issue with this but unless you like to go to a hockey game and watch a 2 to 1, 3 to 2 game, many probably don't appreciate the good defensive play like i do and find it boring, the scoring needs to go up.

I agree about selling your stars. The clutching, grabbing, interfering, bigger goalie equipment, blue lines were changed to increase scoring i think you'd have more hockey fans.

Why is it so hard to grow soccer here? Same reason
- BetweenTheDots

Do you also think not too many soccer fans like the cold climate inherent in hockey. But yeah I agree with what you say

BTW Reichel two shots no points for Rockford last night. Cannot tell by box score if he was at center or wing. Could go to Rockford I Whig’s site where they have in past years a write up of the game. Maybe that or listen over your device to their games and figure out if he is employed at center or wing. TheAhL.com site lists box scores but many forwards are listed as F and only a few specific to their precise position

Do you also think not too many soccer fans like the cold climate inherent in hockey. But yeah I agree with what you say

BTW Reichel two shots no points for Rockford last night. Cannot tell by box score if he was at center or wing. Could go to Rockford I Whig’s site where they have in past years a write up of the game. Maybe that or listen over your device to their games and figure out if he is employed at center or wing. TheAhL.com site lists box scores but many forwards are listed as F and only a few specific to their precise position
- jhawk59

I still believe once we have 2 legit top 6 forwards surrounding Reichel he will be a much better player. They didn't give up on Kurashev, his hard work the past few years and learning is now being rewarded able to work with the savvy vet and the wonderkid.

It was nice to see them pull the goalie again and score 6 on 5. That's been a rare occurrence this season but twice now in 2 weeks

I do agree not KKs best game last night.

I also heard Crevier is all dinged up that's why they are playing Phillips more. I really thought Phillips would be tough on his skates but he really needs to strengthen his lower body if he can.