End of a road trip

So one of my past posts talks about the Hawks and their most recent road trips through Canada as well as the western US. I am briefly updating you on the performance of the Hawks last three games of the road trip. The Hawks took on the Colorado Avalanche in a Western Conference matchup this past week, only to defeat them 3 to 2. The next game they played against the good old Anaheim Ducks beating the first place team 4 to 1. Their third and final game they took on the defending Stanley Cup champions in LA only to defeat the Kings 4 to 1. With the Hawks only having one loss on this six game road trip, the Hawks are looking like they are at the top of their game.

Dan "The Man" Carcillo

Some may say that the resigning of Daniel Carcillo was a waste of money, but those doubters have obviously not seen what Carcillo can do. For those of you who don't know who Carcillo is and his role on the team, he is a 4th line winger who is a hardcore grinder. He is willing to do whatever it takes to protect his team. The reason he is a grinder and not an enforcer is because enforcers are strictly on the ice to fight, while grinders, they can play hockey really well as well as fight for their team. The Blackhawks took on the Kings yesterday and near the end of the game, Carcillo got into a scrap with one of the Kings players. After successfully knocking him to the ground with one punch, he proceeded to skate to the bench waving like a queen would in a parade. This just shows that Carcillo really knows how to bring humor to the game of hockey.

Road Trip to Victory

The Blackhawks started one of their big road trips on the 20th as they faced-off with the Calgary Flames winning their first game of their six game road trip 4 to 3. They then moved on to their next game against Edmonton where they completely destroyed the Oilers 7 to 1. Then they moved to the Providence of Vancouver where they took on the Canucks but they didn't quite perform to their full potential, they ended up falling to the Canucks 4 to 1. They have three games left in this road trip where they will finish out the month playing against the Colorado Avalanche tomorrow night. They will then make their trip to Anaheim where they will face the top seeded team from the western conference known as the Ducks on the 28th. Their final game of the month will be on the 29th where they will face the defending Stanley Cup Champions as well as long time rivals, the Los Angeles Kings. There is heated history between these two teams because the Kings lost to the Hawks in game 5 of the Western Conference (Which I was at that game) in 2013. The next season they had a heated rematch where the Western Conference final went all the way to game 7 against the Kings (Which I was also at this game) in 2014. The Kings ended up winning 5 to 4 in overtime.

With these final three games left in the month it leaves fans to think, will the Hawks be able to win these games against such a tough schedule? Hopefully the Hawks can rebound from their 4 to 1 loss against Vancouver with these final three games. If they do win all three they will definitely raise in the rankings. Currently the Blackhawks sit at the 13th spot overall in the NHL.

Are the Bears Like The Pre-2010 Hawks?

As Chicago can see the Bears are not playing like a great team. With the Bears questionable to make the playoffs, its time for the blame game. Everyone likes to point out certain individuals, with Lovie Smith he was usually the one being called out, but now its many individuals.

Let me get to the point, as I was watching the Bears game last night, I began to wonder are the Bears in as bad of a situation as the Hawks were many years ago. Obviously not since you can watch football games, unlike before when the only way to watch a game on television was if the Hawks made the playoffs (Thanks a lot Bill Wirtz!). However, if you look at the organizational culture of the Bears, it may seem that way.

Bill Wirtz is easily one of the worst owners of all time, sad to say because I don't want to talk ill of the deceased but as a fan I have to say he is easily the worst owner ever. He was as cheap as they come and was easily disliked by former players and fans alike. He would hire coaches who were just not great leaders or had bad judgment when making decisions and he showed no care for how the fans felt. The Hawks just did not have a organizational culture that supported a winning environment.

With that being said, I believe the Bears are suffering from a poor organizational culture. Bears management has been making bad decisions lately and it doesn't stop with the executives. When the Bears hired Marc Trestman, he was hailed as a QB guru, but he hasn't reached Jay Cutler. If you look at the Hawks, you notice that Coach Q basically demands and earns the respect of his players. Everyone on that roster looks up to the coach and with that they have confidence in his decision making and their performance speaks for itself. With the Bears, no one on offense or defense is currently playing as expected. Does Marc need to go? How about the GM, Phil Emery, should he go as well? Heck even the defensive coordinator is on the hot seat. His defense is easily the worst in the league and possibly the worst in Bears history, a team with a proud history of great defenses. The Hawks were basically in the same organizational problems as the Bears, actually worse considering the financial situation they had once Bill's son took over. Difference is they were able to make the organizational changes needed to become a winning franchise, can the Bears do the same? Only time will tell.

Hawks vs Sharks Game Recap

The Hawks came out strong last night with a 5 to 2 win over the Sharks. Yet again we out shot the opponent, the Blackhawks had 37 shots on goal and the Sharks had 34 shots on goal. The young rookie D-man Trevor van Riemsdyk got his first career NHL goal with an assist from Johnathon Toews. Two minutes after that Brent Seabrook got the 2nd goal of the game assisted by Brad Richards and Peter Regin. Two minutes after that Niklas Hjalmarsson got the 3rd goal of the game assisted by Marion Hossa and Marcus Kruger. Joe Pavelski got the 4th and 5th goal of the game to bring the Sharks back into the game with a score of 3 to 2. After that it was all downhill from there for the Sharks. Bryan Bickell got the 4th goal of the game assisted by Johnny Oduya and Brandon Saad. Then Johnathon Toews got the empty netter at the end of the game to put down the Sharks 5 to 2. This game was very exciting because there was two fights in 20 seconds in the last 2 minutes of the game from Kris Versteeg and Jeremy Morin. Antti Niemi got the start for the Sharks and had 32 saves out of 36 shots and posted a .889 save percentage. Corey Crawford got the start for the Hawks making 32 saves on 34 shots and posting a .941 save percentage. With the Hawks looking this strong, it is looking like they are getting back to their old high powered team that they were last year.

Blackhawks vs Capitals Recap

What's going on with the Blackhawks these days? The have been out shooting opponents, playing really well. But they have been coming up short lately. The past couple of games we have been out shooting the other team by a wide margin, be we just can't seem to win the games. The most recent game against the Capitals proves just that. The Blackhawks came up scoring first in the first period with Brandon Saad netting a goal with an assist from Andrew Shaw and Marian Hossa. The in the second period Duncan Keith netted a Power Play goal. After that is when the Capitals just went off and scored three unanswered goals. They came from Andre Burakovsky, Marcus Johansson, and Joel Ward. Brandon Holtby the Caps netminder had 38 saves with a save percentage of .950. Corey Crawford got the start and had 21 saves with a save percentage of .875. With the Blackhawks out playing opponents, it's hard to tell what else they can do to perform at the level they have been at the past couple seasons.

Impact of Sharp Injury

With the news out that Sharp will be out for 3-4 weeks, this move certainly affects the team offensively as Sharpe has the third most playing time amongst the Blackhawk forwards and his offensive presence will be missed with his 3 goals and 6 assist.

With Sharp out, the Blackhawks are forced to recall forward Peter Regin from the Rockford Icehogs in order to cover for the absence of Sharp. Luckily Dan Carcillo is expected to return in a few days, Carcillo has been injured since Oct. 25 when he sustained an upper-body injury during a game against the St. Louis Blues.

The New Netminder

When Corey Crawford got injured with an upper body, everyone was relying on Antti Raanta to keep the hawks together. Even though Raanta got his second career shutout in his first start this year, he wasn't doing to hot between the pipes. With the Hawks picking up seasoned veteran Michal Leighton before the season started, everyone expected him to be backing up Raanta. But the new guy who was called up from the Rockford IceHogs Scott Darling made his NHL debut when Raanta was performing. Scott Darling did more than well for the Hawks in the three games he played posting a 2-1 record with a 1.98 Goals Against Average and a .933 Save Percentage. With how well he has played he could make a run for the back up spot in Chicago.

The Quest for 1,000 points

A few days ago, Patrick Kane completed a major career goal when he scored his 500th career point. Considering that this is Kane's 8th season and he will be 26 soon, this is an amazing feat for a young talent. Now that he has scored 500, can he possibly score 1,000 career points? So far there has been 79 players who have scored 1,000 in the 96 years in the history of the NHL.

Keeping his age and years as a pro in mind, lets see his  points per game average and determine what average points per game he must maintain in order to achieve this milestone. All estimates will be based on the possibility that injuries do not hurt his career.

As of his 524th career game, Kane has scored 500 points. This means he has averaged just under 1 point per game. Now I will use Dale Hunter's number of games (1308) to reach this milestone (He took the longest by games played.) to compare. Subtracting 524 from 1308 means Kane would have 784 games left. Now taking 500 points dividing by 784 games, that means Kane must average .64 points/game.

In conclusion, its mathematically possible as Kane has achieved the 500 milestone at a faster rate than he would need to average for now on, assuming injuries don't hold him back. Will this milestone be easy, obviously not because many factors can take place. Kane can either be injured, key teammates can leave the team, or he can possibly be traded to another team. So many factors can stop him from reaching 1,000 points, but judging from how fast he scored his 500 points, it is a lot easier to predict that he will one day pass 1,000 points.

Importance of Brad Richards

There is bad news and good news. The bad news, the Blackhawks are still struggling at the center position. The good news, that is why the Blackhawks acquired Brad Richards in the off-season. I know in an earlier post I basically downplayed Richards, I still believe Shaw to be the man for the 2nd line, but believe it or not, Richards is still very important to the Blackhawks. He is struggling right now, but if Brad Richards can reach the expectations that have been set, the Blackhawks will become an even more dominant team.

The Los Angeles Kings are the one of the main teams that will challenge the Hawks in the playoffs (My prediction at least) and a weakness at center is one of the main faults of the Blackhawks team that needed to be addressed. To address this need, the Blackhawks got Brad Richards. Even if he doesn't become the 2nd line center, he will always be needed to be a productive 3rd line center, as the depth of center is needed in order to challenge the great teams that the Hawks will face in the playoffs.

Game Recap, NSH vs CHI

Congrats to the Chicago Blackhawks on beating the Nashville Predators last night at the Mad house on Madison. Hawks are off to a great start this season with a 3-0-1 record. Last night the opening goal was scored by Johnny Oduya the defensemen taking a slapper from the blue line to get past Carter Hutton in the first period. The next goal was scored by the Shea Weber, a veteran defensemen who plays for Nashville. Let me remind you Shea Weber has the second fastest slap shot in the world. He ended up taking a slapper from 10 feet out getting past Crawford. There wasn't another goal scored until overtime, where the Blackhawks were a man down. Johnny Toews ended up getting a breakaway in OT and his first shot was saved by Carter Hutton but they always teach you to crash the net in hockey, and thats exactly what Toews did by poking the rebound past Hutton for the OT winner! Toews got the first star of the game with Oduya coming in at the second star. The third star of the game was Carter Hutton for having 35 saves as well as a having a .946 save percentage. GO HAWKS!!!

The 2nd Line

The 2nd line this season has been really productive, with Kane scoring one goal and a couple of assist, while Shaw scored two goals and also earned a couple of assist. Saad has not scored yet this season, but he does have three assist to add to the productivity.

Now I must ask, can this line remain productive for the whole season? Saad seems to have the potential to be a superstar, he is one of the fastest players on the team and he is very decisive on the offensive end. However, Shaw does not seem to fit as a superstar because of this 5'10", 180 lb frame. Even though Shaw has the proven statistics to make the case, what Shaw is really known for is being quite the instigator, always finding ways to annoy players, all to his enjoyment.

Brad Richards

Overall, Shaw must find a way to be consistently productive, Brad Richards, who was brought in during the off-season to be the center for the 2nd line, has been in for the 3rd line instead and it seems that Shaw is the better man for the 2nd line job. The best alternative seems to be a player the Blackhawks currently have in the AHL, playing for Rockford. Blackhawks will need to wait at least half of the season before trying to call him up, so right now Shaw is the man for the 2nd line job.

 

Is Crawford Elite?

Even though the season has just started, it is hard not to think who is being the most consistent so far. Who really has been the most consistent for the Blackhawks? Honestly, the most consistent player seems to be Corey Crawford. With all the shots on goal, its amazing how many saves Crawford has made not just this season, but in the past as well. Let's not forget that Crawford is one of the reasons why the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2013, and that may be the case this season.

Now back to the main question, is Corey Crawford "elite"? Since I am someone who tends to look at statistics for the answers in sports, I would say yes because Corey Crawford tends to have the highest win percentage in the league, and if you watch the games closely, you will notice he is the reason that the Blackhawks stay in the games. Crawford has a career save percentage of 91.4%  and he averages around 2 goals a game. This season so far Crawford has 75 saves, an impressive stat for only playing 3 games into the regular season.

First game of the season! Go Blackhawks!

The Departure of the D-man

This is quite a depressing week for the Chicago Blackhawks. As they have made some major roster changes with the addition of Dan Carcillo, they have lost a very important player. The Blackhawks, in order to free up the cap space, have decided to trade one of their star defensemen Nick Leddy. Leddy was on the Stanley Cup winning team when they won the Cup in 2010 and in 2013. The Hawks traded Leddy to the New York Islanders as well as AHL goaltender Kent Simpson, and they received defensemen T.J. Brennen, Ville Pokka, and the rights to a restricted free agent goaltender Anders Nilsson. It will be an interesting year without the star defensemen but we will have to wait until the regular season to see whether the new players fit well into the Blackhawks system well.

New Addition to the Roster

Dan Carcillo is back with the Blackhawks, he was just recently released from his PTO with Pittsburgh. He was a member of the 2013 Stanley Cup champs and has since then been quite the journeyman. Carcillo has played for Chicago, Phoenix, Philly, LA, and New York. Carcillo is known for his disciplinary issues, most notably his suspension during the Easter Conference Final for being too physical. This will be an interesting addition to the roster and a "wild card" pickup indeed.

Twitter Launch

Good news everyone, we are officially on twitter. If you have a Twitter account, follow us on twitter, we are @BHawk_Nation. Spread the word!

Between the pipes

Very many things have been going on in the offseason. Many transactions that leave loyal fans curious as well as myself. One of the most controversial signings of the offseason was the signing of veteran goaltender Michael Leighton. This recent transaction left Blackhawks fans wondering what will be happening between the pipes in the future with Chicago. With Corey Crawford as the franchise goalie currently as well as Antti Raanta as the prime backup in Chicago, This leaves many people curious as to why the Blackhawks are signing another goalie to the roster. Crawford just signed a 6 year contract at the end of last season, as well as Raanta who signed a 2 year contract extension in the offseason. Crawford will clearly be the starter unless something severe happens, and Raanta will be waiting to take his place if something were to happen.

Many people may not remember Michael Leighton, but he was the goalie that the Chicago Blackhawks played against in the 2010 Stanley Cup finals. The veteran tender will bring wisdom to the team, but he will only have a spot as the 3rd goaltender, which is the goaltender that plays primarily for the AHL affiliate team, which is the Rockford Icehogs. The time Leighton will get playing time is if Crawford and Raanta get injured, which is a very unlikely scenario. With the Blackhawks still over the salary cap, this signing of Leighton makes the loyal fans baffled as to why Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman would make such a signing in the offseason. Only time will tell whether this was a good pickup, but with the past signings of goaltender for Chicago, like Cristobal Heut being a complete bust, as well as Nikolai Khabibulin being a terrible signing at the beginning of last year, and the Blackhawks getting rid of veteran tender Ray Emery, who posted a 17-0-1 record with the team, who knows if this was in the best interest of the Hawks.

New Beginnings

After a heart breaking end to our Stanley Cup Champ repeat journey, the Blackhawks will be returning to the ice September 23rd for the first preseason game against the Red Wings and the first game of the regular season will be October 9th at the Dallas Stars. Many transactions this off-season  with the signing  of Brad Richards, the addition of Kevin Dineen as an assistant coach, and Jimmy Waite as the new goal tending coach.

Now many people might be wondering, "What are the expectations this season?", well to put it simple, this team is still very talented. The Blackhawks have one of the most feared line-ups in the NHL and on paper the Blackhawks appear to have the most talented roster. With that being said, this season looks to be very exciting for the Hawks as they are one of the favorites to win (via Vegas Insider) with a 8/1 odds of winning the Stanley Cup (odds are as of September 1st), which is tied with the Bruins and Kings.

Welcome

Hello Blackhawks fans,

I am Matt, one of the creators of this blog, and I would like to welcome you to what we hope to be one of the most popular hockey blogs in the world. Our vision is simple and that is to create a community for Blackhawks fans who are as passionate about the team as we are.

This blog is operated by myself and Chris Bizjack. We will be looking up info about all that is going on in hockey (Mainly Blackhawks related) and we voice our opinion on the matter.

Hockey season will begin in a few weeks and I cannot wait. It is going to be an entertaining season.

Sincerely,
Matt
Co-founder