Back at it tonite in the dessert. Didn't watch the last 10 mins but thought they played ok last nite for the most part. Would've been nice if Bedard scored on the breakaway on a beautiful pass from Korchinski. Oh well...hoping for a goal or two tonite.
- HawkintheD

Not trying to grind your gears, but honest question. did you really think they played OK , or they played OK based on significantly lowered expectations. ?

To me this looked like when the Hawks in the heydey played the lesser lights. They coasted knowing the opposing team was going to make enough mistakes that the Hawks would win, even without having to exert themselves.

The Korchinski pass to Bedard was awesome, hopefully portends well for the future.

The team's body language is bad, I don't know what LR can do except hope they get a win or 2 sooner than later.

I thought it was pretty telling that Wheeler at the Athletic had Justus Annunen in the #17-2o range...with both young Blackhawk prospects ahead of him.

We are going to have great goalie!!!!!

I thought it was pretty telling that Wheeler at the Athletic had Justus Annunen in the #17-2o range...with both young Blackhawk prospects ahead of him.


- wiz1901We are going to have great goalie!!!!!

I see the red font, I remember you are not a fan of Comesso.

I thought it was pretty telling that Wheeler at the Athletic had Justus Annunen in the #17-2o range...with both young Blackhawk prospects ahead of him.


- wiz1901We are going to have great goalie!!!!!

Well, if he gets to keep playing the Hawks, he's only going to keep climbing the chart.

Thanks Davidson,,You made the Hawks a joke to watch.
- Tatoo

Kane will come back in the summer and everything will be alright...

Not trying to grind your gears, but honest question. did you really think they played OK , or they played OK based on significantly lowered expectations. ?

To me this looked like when the Hawks in the heydey played the lesser lights. They coasted knowing the opposing team was going to make enough mistakes that the Hawks would win, even without having to exert themselves.

The Korchinski pass to Bedard was awesome, hopefully portends well for the future.

The team's body language is bad, I don't know what LR can do except hope they get a win or 2 sooner than later.
- LAHawk

That's all fair. Overall I do think they played ok though. If they had the firepower maybe they could've made it close. Once COL scored a couple goals though it was pretty much over.

Not trying to grind your gears, but honest question. did you really think they played OK , or they played OK based on significantly lowered expectations. ?

To me this looked like when the Hawks in the heydey played the lesser lights. They coasted knowing the opposing team was going to make enough mistakes that the Hawks would win, even without having to exert themselves.

The Korchinski pass to Bedard was awesome, hopefully portends well for the future.

The team's body language is bad, I don't know what LR can do except hope they get a win or 2 sooner than later.
- LAHawk

I wonder what's going through their minds as the TDL approaches. Some players hoping they will find a landing spot, some knowing they won't, and some who are either part of the long term future or part of the next two years. Never mind what beat Seth is marching to right now. We might see a bit of an energy surge, though probably not much change in wins and losses, as a few hungry players come up from Rockford to replace the few that get traded.

Send Bedard to Rockford so he can remember what it's like to win a hockey game.

I see the red font, I remember you are not a fan of Comesso.
- LAHawk

Gajan in at 9.
Commesso at 10.
Both in tier 3.

Can someone explain the deal with Devon Levi(Wheeler has him in at #5)?
I read a few articles at the beginning of the season that he is the next big thing,but I haven't seen it.
I know he is young, and still developing but he was a 7th rd pick and he has been hit or miss this season.
Did the expectations about him explode after his 1st ncaa season where he had real good stats?

Gajan in at 9.
Commesso at 10.
Both in tier 3.

Can someone explain the deal with Devon Levi(Wheeler has him in at #5)?
I read a few articles at the beginning of the season that he is the next big thing,but I haven't seen it.
I know he is young, and still developing but he was a 7th rd pick and he has been hit or miss this season.
Did the expectations about him explode after his 1st ncaa season where he had real good stats?
- captainserious

If my math is correct Levi was drafted in his draft +1 yr. He lasted that long cuz he's 6ft tall, at least listed as that. But one could not ignore his freakishly good NCAA record so BUF took a flyer. https://www.eliteprospect.../player/276555/devon-levi (did not realize FLA drafted him)

So GM Adams goes into this yr with a twenty ONE yr old kid with zero AHL games, nothing over the NCAA level and folks scratch their heads cuz the kid is overmatched???

The kid struggles, 24 yr old Pekkalukanin gets more starts, and they send Levi down where he does just fine......... Kid has some skills for sure but expecting an undersized 21 yr old, drafted in rd 7 with no pro experience to get BUF into the playoffs for the first time in decades will be one of the reasons Adams will be, should be, fired.

So we're going to dig into Wheeler's past predictions to buttress predictions we don't like? Same with Pronman? ..... Natural I guess, but in your alone time add up the thousands of evaluations you were wrong on.

I'm not a big Wheeler guy, 17 paragraph evaluations are not for me. If you can't sell your evaluations in a paragrahph or two I don't think you understand the subject matter.

Fine to hate on Wheeler but IMO he's 10,000% correct, Nazar has games this yr you won't hear his name and Moore has shown he makes plays all game long every game. Moore is ahead of Nazar right now and Nazar needs another yr of NCAA at THIS date.

It's also my opinion Nazar has a higher ceiling and Moore a higher floor. ..... I also think Nazar's game takes longer to develop than Moore's cuz Nazar is a fancy player when all is said and done, despite his ability to have a high work rate, and Moore is more direct.

Except for blind squirrels wearing an Indianhead
- RaleighHawk

D1ckson having career year. Kurashev having nice season - we'll know how much of that is real based on next years performance but some stuff is going right \ better. Peter is having a nice year in goal even if that isn't apparent from the stat sheet.

Raddysh put in 20 last year and Domi had like 50ish points over 60 games or something like that. AA also had a 20/20 season and skated 80 or more games.

Stuff usually regresses to the mean.

Not trying to grind your gears, but honest question. did you really think they played OK , or they played OK based on significantly lowered expectations. ?

To me this looked like when the Hawks in the heydey played the lesser lights. They coasted knowing the opposing team was going to make enough mistakes that the Hawks would win, even without having to exert themselves.

The Korchinski pass to Bedard was awesome, hopefully portends well for the future.

The team's body language is bad, I don't know what LR can do except hope they get a win or 2 sooner than later.
- LAHawk

I think you need to look at this team with the appropriate level of expectations. The team is trash. Historically bad. This team, even with Bedard, is a worse team than last year.

Here's one bone I have to pick with Jay Zawaski and crew - they think that even if these guys are bad they should be able to execute a simple game plan. Part of that is just being a sports fan and not realizing that at that high level - what separates a NHL contributor vs an AHL player is the ability to play with consistency.

Once you get to the point of being drafted guys pick 15-150 have skill and at their best can play at a very high level. Most of those guys however can't maintain the level of consistency that is their best or have the mental fortitude to perform well over an 82 game season in the NHL.

The definition of bad in pro sports is the inability to execute. Doesn't matter if it is a skill thing or mental thing. In the case of the Hawks - they have some decently skilled guys - they just can't complete a play.

So we're going to dig into Wheeler's past predictions to buttress predictions we don't like? Same with Pronman? ..... Natural I guess, but in your alone time add up the thousands of evaluations you were wrong on.

I'm not a big Wheeler guy, 17 paragraph evaluations are not for me. If you can't sell your evaluations in a paragrahph or two I don't think you understand the subject matter.

Fine to hate on Wheeler but IMO he's 10,000% correct, Nazar has games this yr you won't hear his name and Moore has shown he makes plays all game long every game. Moore is ahead of Nazar right now and Nazar needs another yr of NCAA at THIS date.

It's also my opinion Nazar has a higher ceiling and Moore a higher floor. ..... I also think Nazar's game takes longer to develop than Moore's cuz Nazar is a fancy player when all is said and done, despite his ability to have a high work rate, and Moore is more direct.
- Mr Ricochet

Do you think that perhaps Nazar's game translates better to the NHL with how he hounds the puck, is probably dependent on the guys around him being able to think the game as fast, and has no fear going to the center of the ice?

This is from before the WJC so only the first half of the season but: If we start to play the underlying metrics game it looks like Nazar at least to start the year was making consistently good plays all over the ice. If he wasn't consistently good that would reflect in the data I'd expect even if it doesn't directly translate to score sheet production or hearing him individually mentioned.

I think with a player like Moore its easy to get enamored about the tool set and while maybe it looks like he's doing a lot with the way he explodes up the ice with the puck on his blade - is he really making plays or does it just look like it because he's such an athlete anytime he sneezes it looks super pretty. Just looking at the card below - he's carrying the puck a lot which would lead me to believe that he is leaning more into his athleticism and getting up the ice. But when you look at things like individual expected goals - it doesn't show a player that is consistently more dangerous.

Interesting debate and fun to think about what the Hawks may or may not do this spring \ summer with these guys. I think the Hawks are hot on Nazar because of his fearlessness attacking and his creativity. Where Moore is more of a north south guy who torches fellers up the boards rather than attacking the crease.




And then here's Ollie Moores.

Do you think that perhaps Nazar's game translates better to the NHL with how he hounds the puck, is probably dependent on the guys around him being able to think the game as fast, and has no fear going to the center of the ice?

This is from before the WJC so only the first half of the season but: If we start to play the underlying metrics game it looks like Nazar at least to start the year was making consistently good plays all over the ice. If he wasn't consistently good that would reflect in the data I'd expect even if it doesn't directly translate to score sheet production or hearing him individually mentioned.

I think with a player like Moore its easy to get enamored about the tool set and while maybe it looks like he's doing a lot with the way he explodes up the ice with the puck on his blade - is he really making plays or does it just look like it because he's such an athlete anytime he sneezes it looks super pretty. Just looking at the card below - he's carrying the puck a lot which would lead me to believe that he is leaning more into his athleticism and getting up the ice. But when you look at things like individual expected goals - it doesn't show a player that is consistently more dangerous.

Interesting debate and fun to think about what the Hawks may or may not do this spring \ summer with these guys. I think the Hawks are hot on Nazar because of his fearlessness attacking and his creativity. Where Moore is more of a north south guy who torches fellers up the boards rather than attacking the crease.




And then here's Ollie Moores.


- fattybeef

Good stuff fatty. Thanks. It's completely minutiae, but Nazar's negative for Penalties Taken/60. Is that because he's taken too many penalties or too few. I keep seeing reports that seem to reward guys for taking penalties, so it's a bit confusing.

Good stuff fatty. Thanks. It's completely minutiae, but Nazar's negative for Penalties Taken/60. Is that because he's taken too many penalties or too few. I keep seeing reports that seem to reward guys for taking penalties, so it's a bit confusing.
- Chunk

He has 16 penalty minutes now and Ollie Moore has 8. I would assume that its negative because he's doing some dumb poop trying to create turnovers.

After looking that up also found that even though plus minus isn't a great stat Moore is a +17 and Nazar is a -5 so gotta take that fwiw too.

College hockey rankings and all that is kind of weird especially with the age of some of the players but also looks like Minnesota is a better team. Kind of weird how MI at almost .500 is ranked but I know not a lot about that league other than its theoretically college with classes and stuff.

Do you think that perhaps Nazar's game translates better to the NHL with how he hounds the puck, is probably dependent on the guys around him being able to think the game as fast, and has no fear going to the center of the ice?

This is from before the WJC so only the first half of the season but: If we start to play the underlying metrics game it looks like Nazar at least to start the year was making consistently good plays all over the ice. If he wasn't consistently good that would reflect in the data I'd expect even if it doesn't directly translate to score sheet production or hearing him individually mentioned.

I think with a player like Moore its easy to get enamored about the tool set and while maybe it looks like he's doing a lot with the way he explodes up the ice with the puck on his blade - is he really making plays or does it just look like it because he's such an athlete anytime he sneezes it looks super pretty. Just looking at the card below - he's carrying the puck a lot which would lead me to believe that he is leaning more into his athleticism and getting up the ice. But when you look at things like individual expected goals - it doesn't show a player that is consistently more dangerous.

Interesting debate and fun to think about what the Hawks may or may not do this spring \ summer with these guys. I think the Hawks are hot on Nazar because of his fearlessness attacking and his creativity. Where Moore is more of a north south guy who torches fellers up the boards rather than attacking the crease.




And then here's Ollie Moores.


- fattybeef

Nice effort here, Fatty. But, as far as I am concerned I wasn't comparing Moore to Nazar. I originally commented on Nazar needing another yr of NCAA and the next day Wheeler came out with his top 75 drafted prospect list and mentioned he thinks Nazar needs another yr in college.

And he ranked Moore ahead of Nazar. My original point was Nazar needs another yr of NCAA BUT, he'll tell you with next camp and preseason where he belongs.

If you wanna compare the two as it relates to the Bigs, Nazar's game depends on nuance. Feel for pace, attack angles, using mates, finding a balance between offense and defense, adjusting to how he's being defended. Unless you are a Bedard this takes time and reps. . Less nuance in Moore's full steam ahead game so he'd be ahead of a Nazar in development BUT, a Nazar would have a higher ceiling and it would take longer to get there.

And remember, Moore is a yr younger than Nazar. ....... A good PBP guy calls who has the puck, picked a pass, stole a puck, filled a lane, lifts a stick, gets back on D. A lazy way to rate a players impact is to recall how often his name is mentioned.

I watch a U of MI game with priority 1 being track Nazar with me eyes. I've watched a few games where as the game went on I wander and fall into the game, other players, the goalies cuz Nazar hasn't done much, if anything.

Other games Nazar is making an impact. Saw him live with the NTDP so I'm not surprised by his skill/skating, nothing new there. But, like any prospect developing, he's looking for consistency and isn't there yet.

And as far as mates U of MI is a powerhouse program. No, they don't have 4-5-6 1st rounders like they've had the last 3-4 yrs but still, they ain't, and never will, be short of talent.

I'm a Nazar fan, Moore too, but think another yr of NCAA would be preferable. I'm conservative that way but most importantly I believe the organIzation will do what's best for a prospect not slot a kid on what they hope.

Nice effort here, Fatty. But, as far as I am concerned I wasn't comparing Moore to Nazar. I originally commented on Nazar needing another yr of NCAA and the next day Wheeler came out with his top 75 drafted prospect list and mentioned he thinks Nazar needs another yr in college.

And he ranked Moore ahead of Nazar. My original point was Nazar needs another yr of NCAA BUT, he'll tell you with next camp and preseason where he belongs.

If you wanna compare the two as it relates to the Bigs, Nazar's game depends on nuance. Feel for pace, attack angles, using mates, finding a balance between offense and defense, adjusting to how he's being defended. Unless you are a Bedard this takes time and reps. . Less nuance in Moore's full steam ahead game so he'd be ahead of a Nazar in development BUT, a Nazar would have a higher ceiling and it would take longer to get there.

And remember, Moore is a yr younger than Nazar. ....... A good PBP guy calls who has the puck, picked a pass, stole a puck, filled a lane, lifts a stick, gets back on D. A lazy way to rate a players impact is to recall how often his name is mentioned.

I watch a U of MI game with priority 1 being track Nazar with me eyes. I've watched a few games where as the game went on I wander and fall into the game, other players, the goalies cuz Nazar hasn't done much, if anything.

Other games Nazar is making an impact. Saw him live with the NTDP so I'm not surprised by his skill/skating, nothing new there. But, like any prospect developing, he's looking for consistency and isn't there yet.

And as far as mates U of MI is a powerhouse program. No, they don't have 4-5-6 1st rounders like they've had the last 3-4 yrs but still, they ain't, and never will, be short of talent.

I'm a Nazar fan, Moore too, but think another yr of NCAA would be preferable. I'm conservative that way but most importantly I believe the organIzation will do what's best for a prospect not slot a kid on what they hope.
- Mr Ricochet

I don't think he can participate in camp or preseason unless he signs and gives up his NCAA eligibility.

If you wanna talk Hawk prospects this yr I'm most excited about Rinzel. He's come farther faster than I thought he could. In a sentence, he's showing poise and I never ever saw him play with poise and I've seen 10-15 of his USHL games.

One thing I'm right on was thinking how important making that WJC roster was going to be for him. Posted he has never played in games with the overall speed, skill and pressure a WJC would provide and indeed his game has improved from that experience.

My original take the day he was drafted was good size, plus skating, below average IQ,
But as a 19 yr old freshman, great move to have him play 1 more yr of USHL after he was drafted, the kid is starting to show some poise and I don't care if he has 50 points or 5 this yr.

I don't think he can participate in camp or preseason unless he signs and gives up his NCAA eligibility.
- Chunk

Nice catch, Chunky....... I mis-spoke. I should have said development camp not training camp.

Think this might be the game we break the streak.

Go Hawks!!!

Edmonton just put Gagner on waivers. Think we could chuck one of them do nothings and put him on the payroll. I know he is past his prime but something needs to be done or Bedard is going to end up in the looney bin.

Edmonton just put Gagner on waivers. Think we could chuck one of them do nothings and put him on the payroll. I know he is past his prime but something needs to be done or Bedard is going to end up in the looney bin.
- bjphawkfan

They must be close to getting someone.

At this stage in his career, not sure Gagner is any better than a Johnson, Anderson, Donato or Beaulivier though.

They must be close to getting someone.

At this stage in his career, not sure Gagner is any better than a Johnson, Anderson, Donato or Beaulivier though.
- Popsghostly

Lots of talk here in Toronto that the Canucks are pursuing Jake Guentzel and are trying to move Elias Lindholm to the Bruins. No talk about who the Canucks would trade to Pittsburgh or who they would get back from Boston.

Sanford in for Katchouk, and Phillips replaces Crevier. Also, Soda in goal.