Let the games begin

[anotheridiot]

Awesome to get the first game against the Wings going today.

Does anyone know of anyplace to listen to the game? I am wondering if there is a stream on the Redwings site maybe.

 

[gmalis1]

According to local sources, there is no TV feed for the Hawks/Red Wings preseason game tonight.

And audio will only be streaming through the WGN Radio app...not even WGN (as they are broadcasting the Cubs game).

 

[HockeyDoug]

Meaningless or not, I'm really happy for Crawford tonight. Way to pick up where he left off.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

Meaningless or not, I'm really happy for Crawford tonight. Way to pick up where he left off.

I agree.

I'm excited for the season, a full season at that, plus the Olympic Hockey. I can't wait to get this season going.

 

[anotheridiot]

Seems the red wings are leaving off where they were too, two boarding penalties and ejections in a preseason game. I guess they are readying for the more physical eastern conference?

 

[gmalis1]

Seems the red wings are leaving off where they were too, two boarding penalties and ejections in a preseason game. I guess they are readying for the more physical eastern conference?

What's with the two game misconducts by the Wings...in a PRESEASON game? Absolutely uncalled for.

And drilling Kostka into the boards on a wicked hit from behind just a little more than two minutes in is just ridiculous. There is no reason for that at all.

Hoping that the trend doesn't continue...the trend to try and maim the Blackhawks during the season with intent to injure. Once again, that's the only way to slow down the Hawks, injure their players.

On the bright side, Crawford looked like he was in mid-season form with the shutout. And over 21,000 for a preseason game? You have to be kidding me. I remember back in the mid 1980's when I had season tickets you would be lucky to have 4,000 for a preseason game. And the Hawks had a really good team back then.

The city of Chicago is Blackhawks crazy now!

 

[JBM73]

The city of Chicago is Blackhawks crazy now!

It's amazing what winning can do for a fanbase....

 

[Baseballnut77]

The city gets behind their teams like no other.When the bears won the super bowl i was on the streets as i was for the bulls. Wasnt their for the hawks 2010 championship but i made last years. Love and miss my hometown

 

[gmalis1]

And just announced, Marian Hossa out for the next 4 preseason games. Hawks hoping he is reday for tge start of the season. I'm going out in a limb and saying he won't be ready, and this will be an ongoing problem throughout the year.

 

[anotheridiot]

Supposedly CSN tonite, NHL network friday and sunday so a few games this week at least. Hopefully one of the alternates will carry the game today.

 

[gmalis1]

Well, what did we learn from tonight's preseason game against the Penguins?

Seems like not that much, I'm guessing.

Most of the fringe AHL'ers that are hoping to make the leap to the big team just aren't ready for prime time. Notably, Ryan Stanton, Adam Clendening, Drew LeBlanc, Alex Broadhurst, Ryan Hartman, Viktor Svedberg all looked like they still belong in the AHL. Nothing horrible, mind you, but just not that special either. Clendening is 20...and he looked a bit slow and terribly afraid to shoot the puck when he had the chance. He has a ways to go. Stanton took two bad penalties. Svedberg is huge at 6'9" but as an undrafted free agent he looked every bit of it.

And of course, the power play was awful again...0 for 6.

On the bright side however, Brandon Saad looked a little better at faceoffs, although I saw Q put Patrick Sharp in the dot a number of times when Saad was available.

Teuvo Teravainen, boy is he gonna be good. Well, he's good already, but after another year he's gonna be really good. Smooth, smooth, smooth. He's another one of those players that the puck just seems to find. Great awareness in the game. Looked good defensively as well as very strong offensively.

Penalty kill only gave up one goal. Ben Smith with a shorthanded goal and looked very comfortable with Marcus Kruger as the main pairing.

Jimmy Hayes looked very good as well.

This game is tough though. With only about 35-40% of the real Hawks team skating and the rest all prospects, it's difficult to see how things really are. Usually you would get a better read with the normal starting team and one or two prospects. That would give you a better gauge of what's going on and how they fit in. With so many missing pieces, it's harder to evaluate players and talent.

But, after all that it's still exciting to see hockey season is here and the regular season is just 12 days away.

 

[JBM73]

Nice write-up. Thanks!

 

[JBM73]

I wasn't as impressed as you were with Jimmy Hayes as his skating is just awful, but I definitely came away thinking Ben Smith was ready for a full-time NHL role. And yes, Teravainen looks like a future star if he can add some muscle.

And, Bollig had a goal.

 

[gmalis1]

I thought Hayes looked good. I also think he will look good playing with better players.

Interesting who is going to fill the apparently three available roster spots (Stalberg, Frolik, Bolland).

Ben Smith looks ready. I thought Pirri would be, but he's been out and injured. Morin? Hayes?

What I thought would be an easy decision doesn't appear so easy now. Funny, when you see these AHL'ers live, they don't look quite as good as they did in scrimmages.

 

[JBM73]

What I thought would be an easy decision doesn't appear so easy now. Funny, when you see these AHL'ers live, they don't look quite as good as they did in scrimmages.

Yep. I wouldn't be surprised at this point to see the Hawks sign someone like Morrow. I was initially against it, but definitely having 2nd thoughts.

 

[gmalis1]

Hawks will need to sign or trade for one forward.

I'm not thinking it will be Morrow. Someone will get cut that the Hawks might be interested in.

 

[gmalis1]

And tonight we learned even less about the Blackhawks with a 5-4 shootout win against the Washington Capitals.

The only "regulars" playing tonight were Toews, Kruger, Bollig, Leddy and Brookbank. All the rest were players fighting for a job.

Clendening and Stanton played again, and both showed they are not ready for prime time, although Clendening got my memo and he actually shot the puck more.

Dylan Olson had a goal and an assist and at least didn't look lost out there, which is more than I can say for Brookbank. Terrible. The other player who I thought was really bad out there was Drew LeBlanc. Not a good game at all for him.

Jeremy Morin looked decent. I felt bad for Toews. He's so competitive and you could see his frustration at times playing with lower grade players (Morin and Winchester).

Antii Raanta, an up and down night. Had no chance on two goals, two others he could have stopped and solid against three Caps regulars in the shootout, including the Great Eight (Ovechkin).

I'm not reading anything into this game aside from conditioning and weeding out more players. Heck, even Brandon Bollig had his second preseason goal...which is two more than in his regular season lifetime career.

One thing I did come away with from this game...amazing how the players that have had a cup of coffee with the Hawks are so much better than those that have never played with the big team (Morin, Olson, Ben Smith last night). And that's what the Hawks brass sees in them...they are better than the others and have deserved to play with the NHL'ers.

The other thing I saw was actually the speed of the Hawks increase as the game wore on. I felt things were a bit sloppy and tentative, but in the third the Hawks had good skating, better passing and more offensive pressure.

Q stated that the Hawks regulars will play in the preseason game next Saturday night. Next game will still be audition time.

 

[anotheridiot]

Hawks will need to sign or trade for one forward.

I'm not thinking it will be Morrow. Someone will get cut that the Hawks might be interested in.

The future is extremely bright for the hawks surviving 82 games at basically the same pace as last year because of the olympics. That was the big point Foley made, along with there most probably be 10 blackhawks playing in the olympics. Morin looked like he was comfortable, Beach tried to get in a fight with a stick in the way, Hayes should start the year with the hawks. That 6'6 frame is just too much to let sit in rockford again. Couple plays he picked the puck out of mid air with his stick and was always moving forward. Ben smith should be the definite on this club, especially since they will hold out Handzous the first few weeks. I think it goes to Hayes with Morin as last cut again, but also think if Morin gets to play a couple weeks in a row he will show he belongs. Pirri just never shows it at this level. The guy I really liked was McNeil. He will do good here in a couple years.

Brookbank looked like he did last season, healthy scratch 60-70% of the games, maybe more. I want stanton and olsen to get plenty of games this season so they can save Rosey for the playoffs. The non roster guy Svedburg has some pretty good hands and big size, looks like Scott that can skate.

I dont think they need to bring in another forward, stan will wait til halfway again. There is talent in this system that would be playing nhl hockey on a different club.

 

[HockeyDoug]

The Hawks will have a little over a million + league min to bring in help to the roster. Somebody will probably be on LTIR most of the year too, so I think there will be flexibility to add a role player to the forward or defensive group.

 

[Baseballnut77]

Thus why we really shouldn't need the money as we have more than enough talent at Rockford at every spot to bring up. The only problem will be is if (and when) teams start targeting our best players because no one is there outside of possibly seabrook on a night to night basis provide the muscleto put an end to it.