Any Bears fans do not listen to the presser from today or sports radio. Poles is back and all the issues during the season were issues during training camp and no one in the front office or coaching staff addressed them.....

Do a ctrl F for the word cancer on the last 50 pages, and see how many times the word comes up.
- LAHawk

I don't think I said "cancer" and if I implied it then yes, that is too harsh.

Jones I think has said publicly that he didn't come to CHI to play through a full rebuild, he doesn't have enough years left for that. So I think he will move in the next year or two.

I reacted to him not coming out after the bad WC game and that as a result, Bedard came out instead. Seems to me if he has the A he should really be there and not leave it to a young guy. That might be a big negative for morale.

They do need someone to eat the minutes and Jones has been doing that, so moving him out now is a big risk. However, this trade deadline might be the time to get the best return.

No and never said that but have seen you continually make comments about how they and by "they" I mean the current regime are "overpaying" players like Foligno/ Richardinson and now apparently adding some others to the mix.

Either way why give a (frank) or keep pointing it out? The guys they have signed to contracts and are here beyond a year or two have been generally market value (Bert, TT,) or team friendly (Vlasic). Just seems like there are way bigger fish to fry but maybe that was the "something to female dog about" flavor of the day and I missed it.
- HawkintheD

I pointed out all that I believe are overpaid (including Jones) because i appears to me that the sole focus of this board is only on Jones being overpaid (albeit by far the largest), and moving Jones (and only Jones) is the sole move KD has to make in order for the team to start winning.

I don't know if Moore's current production casts him as anything but a kid who you expect to put an entire game together later when the pro ice slows down for him, but I cannot see that happening in the next two seasons, so any expectations he adds a weapon SOON are more hype than anything. We already went through the raves of Reichel's feet.

I am really not sure if I was the Hawk's GM if I would make the selection in this upcoming draft or see what 24 year old I can trade it for.
I know that is an odd opinion from someone who usually falls deep in love with the top end of the class.

I just don't see any of the top picks sitting on pro rosters next September.

They would never rush LD Schaefer if he was the BPA when they pick; if they go Hagens a ruly gifted set upguy and scorer who is also Bedard smallish and not sure how the co-exist unless they are linemates b/c it is rare to see teams with two smaller top 2 centres.
I have been loving Martone for a couple but I too have doubts if he is a guy you can pick at first overall. I din't feel that way in the Ottawa selection of Brady Thachuk where he is available at pick 4.

Martone may not translate to a first line sniper OR a Thachuk-like presence.
(Drafts are funny that way with the quality of attributes presently at each kid's strengths sometimes are more "hopeful" than guaranteed kinda like the way the Duck's selecrton of Leo Carlsson or Fantilli....

He is not a large Andrew Shaw b/c he has the length to girth to win puck battles and concentrates on a two way responsible game and is very interested in scoring. Sahzie had poop stirring on his mind every shift along with getting himself in position to score.

If the hawks pick near the top of the draft I have no issue with him, but won't expect that they got a Rantanen, Kucherov, or Draisaitl, but you don't know.

Since Michael Misa was allowed to mive into the centre position last year, he really looks like a good solid early selection whether team's project him to a 2nd line Centre or first line wing.
And 6 5 Roger McQueen is worth seeing if he is a difference maker centre at the pro level.

If you want Shaw type attributes, move up into the early and take Jordan Spence for soem of that.
And find a kid who wins face-offs too!
- wiz1901

Welcome back, Wiz....... The thing for me with the WJC is coming out of it there is no real buzz within the top 5. Martone never earned a role and was a healthy scratch, Schaeffer got hurt, Hagens was very good and won another Gold, Misa for God's sake didn't make the Canadian roster despite going for 2 pts per game in the OHL and McQueen is still out with a bad back having played 9 games this yr.

GMing ain't easy but man, this draft as of today is as clear as a politician's answers.

Martone looks beastly each time I see him in the OHL, some games I don't notice Misa much but the numbers are there and he's a centerman, can skate and has good size , Hagens is craftier than anyone, and always has been, and he can motor, saw 2ish of McQueen's 9 games and all things being equal stood out the most as an absolute skilled monster, Schaeffer is poetic, a ballerina's feet and so poised as a SIXTEEN yr old!

Can't miss on a top 5 but miss in the top 3 and you add yrs to getting to a preferred window.

I pointed out all that I believe are overpaid (including Jones) because i appears to me that the sole focus of this board is only on Jones being overpaid (albeit by far the largest), and moving Jones (and only Jones) is the sole move KD has to make in order for the team to start winning.
- LAHawk

Who's saying that? I think the idea is moving on from him is possibly a step in the right direction if in fact he really doesn't want to be here.

I don't recall anyone on the board clamoring to bring back some of the players you've mentioned who are likely gone at the TDL or by next season.

I've seen a few "yeah sure, maybe Donato" posts if no one is offering much for him.

I don't think I said "cancer" and if I implied it then yes, that is too harsh.

Jones I think has said publicly that he didn't come to CHI to play through a full rebuild, he doesn't have enough years left for that. So I think he will move in the next year or two.

I reacted to him not coming out after the bad WC game and that as a result, Bedard came out instead. Seems to me if he has the A he should really be there and not leave it to a young guy. That might be a big negative for morale.

They do need someone to eat the minutes and Jones has been doing that, so moving him out now is a big risk. However, this trade deadline might be the time to get the best return.
- totem

Not really. They just leaned on Vlasic (and Murphy) when Jones was out. They were giving Kaiser 18-20 per night. Crevier was getting some decent minutes. The problem is that Murphy and Martinez both are hurt now, so you don't have a ton of experience to lean on in the back end if you launch Jones. That said, they didn't really do much different when Jones was out.

The interesting thing this season is that their back-end is relatively steady. They needed to plug in Megna and such last year, but Allan, Kaiser and to a degree Crevier have been good enough to render those fill-ins moot. It would be great if KK could come up and be the guy he was during the first two games he played. Ideally he'd be the PP1 guy.

Any Bears fans do not listen to the presser from today or sports radio. Poles is back and all the issues during the season were issues during training camp and no one in the front office or coaching staff addressed them.....
- bhawks2241

Back in the 70's in our hood, like most, we played tackle football on Sundays. Of course we wanted to watch the Bears first then play but the home games were blacked out cuz Soldier Field never sold out cuz they sucked so we could play at noon cuz no Bear's home games, or few of them, were on tv.

Fast forward to 2025 they still suck and for all but a few stretches have sucked since 1970. That's 55 yrs, man.

The common denominator? Same family has owned the club. This team will suck until the Halas/McCaskey crew are gone. .......... But, we have great HS football in the area so fuk the Bears and the fraud they've been the last 55 yrs.

Do a ctrl F for the word cancer on the last 50 pages, and see how many times the word comes up.
- LAHawk

Thanks for highlighting that feature. You learn something every day. It must be one of the improvements that Ek made to the site.

Guess what? No mention of the word cancer except in your posts.

Not really. They just leaned on Vlasic (and Murphy) when Jones was out. They were giving Kaiser 18-20 per night. Crevier was getting some decent minutes. The problem is that Murphy and Martinez both are hurt now, so you don't have a ton of experience to lean on in the back end if you launch Jones. That said, they didn't really do much different when Jones was out.

The interesting thing this season is that their back-end is relatively steady. They needed to plug in Megna and such last year, but Allan, Kaiser and to a degree Crevier have been good enough to render those fill-ins moot. It would be great if KK could come up and be the guy he was during the first two games he played. Ideally he'd be the PP1 guy.
- Chunk

I don't have the numbers, but since Sorenson has taken over, hasn't the GAA gone up pretty significantly?

Back in the 70's in our hood, like most, we played tackle football on Sundays. Of course we wanted to watch the Bears first then play but the home games were blacked out cuz Soldier Field never sold out cuz they sucked so we could play at noon cuz no Bear's home games, or few of them, were on tv.

Fast forward to 2025 they still suck and for all but a few stretches have sucked since 1970. That's 55 yrs, man.

The common denominator? Same family has owned the club. This team will suck until the Halas/McCaskey crew are gone. .......... But, we have great HS football in the area so fuk the Bears and the fraud they've been the last 55 yrs.
- Mr Ricochet

The same has always been said about the Ford family in Detroit.

I don't have the numbers, but since Sorenson has taken over, hasn't the GAA gone up pretty significantly?
- LAHawk

Apples and oranges. How do you account for Mrazek being healthy under Richardson and injured under Sorensen? Soderholm (ex. White Sox 3rd baseman) sucked against the Rangers he was terrible. The eye test says the goaltending has been bad for the most part under Anders ir respective of the defense being played.

I don't have the numbers, but since Sorenson has taken over, hasn't the GAA gone up pretty significantly?
- LAHawk

Yeah. They're a poopty team, and Sorenson changed the system to create more offense. Their goalies also fell back to earth.

I'm not saying that they've played great by any means, but in terms of needing to sign fill-ins to take the kids spots, I don't think that is at all necessary.

I would be willing to bet that if the Hawks had a mildly competent set of forwards, the back-end would be looking notably better.

Back in the 70's in our hood, like most, we played tackle football on Sundays. Of course we wanted to watch the Bears first then play but the home games were blacked out cuz Soldier Field never sold out cuz they sucked so we could play at noon cuz no Bear's home games, or few of them, were on tv.

Fast forward to 2025 they still suck and for all but a few stretches have sucked since 1970. That's 55 yrs, man.

The common denominator? Same family has owned the club. This team will suck until the Halas/McCaskey crew are gone. .......... But, we have great HS football in the area so fuk the Bears and the fraud they've been the last 55 yrs.
- Mr Ricochet

Only 38, so I never had to endure Bears not being on local TV! Couldn't agree more though. You definitely don't want to listen to what George had to say....a lame duck GM doesn't matter because no one he's interviewed has raised that as a possible issue and every coach he's interviewed has wanted the job so he doesn't understand why that would even be an issue.

Ben Pope
@BenPopeCST
Blackhawks players have held soul-searching conversations the last couple days about the team’s lack of identity.

Foligno: “We’ve said a lot of things and haven’t really followed through on doing them. The biggest thing is walking the walk now.”

I’ll have a story up later.

Ben Pope
@BenPopeCST
Blackhawks players have held soul-searching conversations the last couple days about the team’s lack of identity.

Foligno: “We’ve said a lot of things and haven’t really followed through on doing them. The biggest thing is walking the walk now.”

I’ll have a story up later.
- LAHawk

Not sure if they can't properly define what the identity is supposed to be or if they simply don't' have the horses to implement it.

NTC - shmeNTC .... who cares, if there is a buyout available after the season, given the way the team was playing without 4 - to me it seems like an option that might seriously be considered.

Fwiw - pretty sure the 'cancer' thing was a carry-over from another board. Sure I posted in that thread, but I didn't actually take any side in that sort of branding. I think it was labeled as 'locker room' -and frankly I got no idea, and only ever was talking about there (and now) the relative merits of the guy's on-ice performance, and the fact that despite Stanbo's delusions that 4 was a bonafide #1 D guy (ala Keith) - 4 is, decidedly, not that. At best he needs a #1 to carry the play and cover for when he goes into Magic Gus mode ... it's been a big deal particularly if a PK unit gets pucks past him or the omni-present forward on the other point that isn't able to handle the breakouts either (usually it has been poor Bedard, who has been hung out to dry numerous times last season and a fair amount this time). It also shows itself on pulled goalie situations.

So the (rhetorical) question ends up being, preferable to trade 4 (for me at least), but still there might be value in not having the guy on the team next season even at a reduced cap hit. If he is playing the 'I wanna be here or there, or suck eggs), then that ends up solving that 'situation' -actually if this is a thing - I suggest Jones' nickname be given as 'The Situation'. My favourite, (and possibly it oughta be his signature) move of his is flubbing coverage on a 2:1 break - going down on his knees in some last second desperation move - and sliding - like a curling stone ... into our poor goaltender. To be fair, I don't think he has done that one in awhile, but he

has done it in the past, and more than once.

Only 38, so I never had to endure Bears not being on local TV! Couldn't agree more though. You definitely don't want to listen to what George had to say....a lame duck GM doesn't matter because no one he's interviewed has raised that as a possible issue and every coach he's interviewed has wanted the job so he doesn't understand why that would even be an issue.
- bhawks2241

Oh George.

Here was a great response in a column in Bleacher Nation to what you're referencing...

When asked if that type of request would be a deal-breaker, McCaskey replied, “I haven’t ever experienced anyone saying that. Usually, they want the job.”

Sure, when you shop in the bargain bin and hire the Dollar Tree version of Lovie Smith in Matt Eberflus, they want the job, no questions asked. When you’re hiring a Canadian Football League coach in Marc Trestman, they want the job, no questions asked. When hiring a past-his-prime John Fox, he wants the job, no questions asked. When hiring an Andy Reid disciple who was a game-planning assistant in Matt Nagy, he wants the job, no questions asked.

If true read that Buffalo might be shopping Quinn for more experience veteran help going forward. Just a rumor but if true, which I take with a grain of salt, I think Davidson should at least call and see what it would taketh acquire him. Murphy Donato +? unsure what quinn's value is ge has struggle this year but has a lot of offensive upside. Maybe an draft day move.

Oh George.

Here was a great response in a column in Bleacher Nation to what you're referencing...

When asked if that type of request would be a deal-breaker, McCaskey replied, “I haven’t ever experienced anyone saying that. Usually, they want the job.”

Sure, when you shop in the bargain bin and hire the Dollar Tree version of Lovie Smith in Matt Eberflus, they want the job, no questions asked. When you’re hiring a Canadian Football League coach in Marc Trestman, they want the job, no questions asked. When hiring a past-his-prime John Fox, he wants the job, no questions asked. When hiring an Andy Reid disciple who was a game-planning assistant in Matt Nagy, he wants the job, no questions asked.
- HawkintheD

Yeppppp. Poles having to ask a reporter to explain what the reporter meant when he said Caleb had to endure an entire season of stress and disruption. Reporter - his OC and head coach being fired.

How do you know KD hasn't tried? Like you said Jones has that NMC and may be using it to limit all, or only a couple of destinations. And yes, you have given examples of other NMC players who have been moved so it's not impossible. An equally bad contract will likely have to come back, so KD would have to pick his poison.
- boilermaker100

I think too many people here are missing the point.

Seth Jones does NOT want to be here for the rebuild, but then acts like a douche when it comes to moving him and his contract out of here.

And it sounds like Jones has a much higher opinion of himself than most people in NHL offices, seeing the same issues about his game that we do.

Best scenario I see is a playoff contender losing one of their top 4, and they see him as the fill in, and hope it works out.

Reading and listening to the tall foreheads who somehow think Bedard isn’t that great. Knocking his skating, size, strength, defensive ability and what have you. I just reviewed a group of really good players, Lemieux, Crosby, Sakic, Savard, Yzerman, Gretzky, Kane, Matthews and McDavid and his game is pure Gretzky. Before heads explode I’m not saying as good as or better than, I’m saying he plays a similar style. He finds open spots on the ice, his vision is exceptional, he has elite passing skill. When teams can no longer double and triple team him I’m very interested in how his game evolves.

nother way to convince a player to waive is to take away his ice time (Trouba). That hasn't been done either.
- LAHawk

Like I previously said. If I was the G.M., I would strip him of the "A". And if problems persist, send him home until I can find a trade partner.

KFC isn't doing Jones, or himself, any favors just keeping this status quo, and hoping it improves.

And people here noticed the team played a lot better with him out. You aren't the only ones who saw that as well.

Charlie Roumeliotis
@CRoumeliotis
Alec Martinez (neck) isn’t quite ready yet but a good sign that he practiced in full.

Connor Murphy (groin) is still being evaluated, according to Chicago interim head coach Anders Sorensen. #Blackhawks
******************************

Sucks to hear that the issue with Murphy is again groin related, which I think has been the problem going for a long time. He has doing pretty well for most of this season and looking healthy, I hope he doesn't have issues for the rest of the season again.
- breadbag

Ding ding ding ding. It's a degenerative issue in the joint. It's only going to get worse over time.

NTC - shmeNTC .... who cares, if there is a buyout available after the season, given the way the team was playing without 4 - to me it seems like an option that might seriously be considered.

Fwiw - pretty sure the 'cancer' thing was a carry-over from another board. Sure I posted in that thread, but I didn't actually take any side in that sort of branding. I think it was labeled as 'locker room' -and frankly I got no idea, and only ever was talking about there (and now) the relative merits of the guy's on-ice performance, and the fact that despite Stanbo's delusions that 4 was a bonafide #1 D guy (ala Keith) - 4 is, decidedly, not that. At best he needs a #1 to carry the play and cover for when he goes into Magic Gus mode ... it's been a big deal particularly if a PK unit gets pucks past him or the omni-present forward on the other point that isn't able to handle the breakouts either (usually it has been poor Bedard, who has been hung out to dry numerous times last season and a fair amount this time). It also shows itself on pulled goalie situations.

So the (rhetorical) question ends up being, preferable to trade 4 (for me at least), but still there might be value in not having the guy on the team next season even at a reduced cap hit. If he is playing the 'I wanna be here or there, or suck eggs), then that ends up solving that 'situation' -actually if this is a thing - I suggest Jones' nickname be given as 'The Situation'. My favourite, (and possibly it oughta be his signature) move of his is flubbing coverage on a 2:1 break - going down on his knees in some last second desperation move - and sliding - like a curling stone ... into our poor goaltender. To be fair, I don't think he has done that one in awhile, but he

has done it in the past, and more than once.
- SC116

Before we get too excited about buying him out, this is what the cap hit schedule looks like: https://puckpedia.com/pla...-jones/buyout?s=2025-2026

I said earlier this is the most onerous schedule I've seen. I looked at a lot of these in the past from researching past scenarios. If they plan to be a salary floor team for five more years, then it's a blessing in disguise, if there really are irreconcilable differences. If they expect to start competing before then, this schedule will hamper the rebuild.

I miss the days of worrying about who the 12th forward and 6th defenseman should be.

Before we get too excited about buying him out, this is what the cap hit schedule looks like: https://puckpedia.com/pla...-jones/buyout?s=2025-2026

I said earlier this is the most onerous schedule I've seen. I looked at a lot of these in the past from researching past scenarios. If they plan to be a salary floor team for five more years, then it's a blessing in disguise, if there really are irreconcilable differences. If they expect to start competing before then, this schedule will hamper the rebuild.

I miss the days of worrying about who the 12th forward and 6th defenseman should be.
- 333inthe3rd

Guerin made it work with more salary bought out and less cap space to do it in.