It has been a long break for the Hawks, but you will finally get to watch them in action again Thursday night.
It is kind of a relief to finally be watching the Hawks again. Life is a little more dull when the Hawks aren’t playing. The way this season is going I don’t ever want it to stop as the Hawks are currently 3rd in the Western Conference with 17 points.
Huet played yet another fantastic game, but the offense for the Chicago Blackhawks couldn’t produce anything Thursday night.
It was the first time the Hawks’ offense looked off key. The Hawks powerplay woes continue as they went 0-5 last night. The Hawks were unable to get anything setup during those powerplays, especially on a Nashville interference penalty late in the 3rd period.
The lack of offense and not capitalizing on the powerplays lead to the Preds handing the Hawks their 4th loss of the season.
I was very fortunate to see the hockey team I love play at the United Center last Monday. It’s always a great time at the UC (which is short for United Center). When the Hawks play the place is packed with red and white jerseys, and the occasional road team jersey.
Ten first thing you will get from going to a Hawks game is that the fans are crazy loud. The best part of any Hawks game is the National Anthem. During the Anthem the crowd cheers and claps and cheers and claps more. The last line is answered by a deafening scream.
It surely will make any first time goer feel the love and just pure adrenaline that a Hawks game gives to its fans.
This is the Cristobal Huet that fans had been hoping they would see. Huet had a spectacular night against the Predators. He had 27 saves and didn’t let one single puck go in the back of his net. Dustin Byfuglien and Andrew Ladd both had goals in the 2nd period.
It was a nice thing to see Huet play so well, but Huet always has good days. They just seem to be spread out. Huet’s problem is his lack of consistency. This game will sure make Huet look good, but it won’t completely destroy the criticism that he gets for under-performing. He still has a job to do, and that is to prove to the fans he can live up to the high expectations they have of him this year.
During the 2-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks, the Hawks’ captain Jonathan Toews and defender Brent Seabrook were injured.
Both are on the injury report with upper body injuries, and the report says that they “PROGRESSED WELL OVERNIGHT, COULD PLAY SATURDAY.”
“Seabs and Johnny both presented well today,” Quenneville said after practice on Thursday. “They progressed well overnight, so it’s encouraging in those regards.”
Before 12 minutes had passed, the Hawks found themselves already down 0-5, as well as being booed by their fans. Huet had also been benched. It looked like we were seeing total beatdown, but did that stop the Hawks?
Not one bit.
The Flames were shut out in the 2nd, 3rd, and OT. John Madden scored late in the 1st. Kane, Big Buff, and Bolland all scored in the 2nd to cut the deficit to 1. Sharp’s goal in the 3rd tied it at 5-5, and Brent Seabrook’s OT goal, a goal that was scored in just 26 seconds, clinched the win for the Hawks.
It was a record-tying comeback for the mighty Hawks.
The Blackhawks were able to get 3 out of 4 possible points this weekend against the Florida Panthers. The Hawks offense looked very sharp against a below average defense, totaling 88 shots on goal.
Antti Niemi surprised with his performance Saturday. Niemi started in net for the Hawks on Saturday, and stopped all 23 shots that came his way, ending in a 4-0 win for the Hawks. Niemi has been battling Corey Crawford for the backup goalie position, and with performances like that, he will be the backup for a long time.
Patrick Kane had a very productive weekend, scoring twice and also getting 2 assists. It’s nice to see Kane perform this well after he had an off-season that he would probably like to forget.
Chicago Blackhawks fans can now rejoice, for the season opener is now finally here.
The long-awaited return of Chicago hockey is now over, and I couldn’t happier. This year has a Stanley Cup feeling to it as long as Huet plays sharp for most of the season.
The Hawks will play the Florida Panthers in Helsinki, Finland. Florida missed the playoffs last year, and it’s a franchise that is still trying to find its footing. The Hawks come in without forward Marian Hossa due to surgery on his rotator cuff in his shoulder and forward Adam Burish due to a ACL surgery.
But the Hawks have more than enough young talent to break the Stanley Cup drought.
Marian Hossa, forward for the Chicago Blackhakws, recently answered some questions about his decision to let doctors perform surgery on his right rotator cuff.
Hossa said the recovery was coming along well, and that he doesn’t have a different timetable other than what the doctors have said. Hossa is scheduled to miss two months of the regular season.
Preseason hockey for the Hawks started last weekend, and a match up against the Minnesota Wild seemed, to me, to be a preseason game watching.
Why you might ask?
Well this off-season the Hawks had told their fans that they had interest in re-signing forward, and points leader for the team, Martin Havlat. Havlat said he would love to stay in Chicago, and that Chicago was the only place he wanted to be.
As you might know, Havlat was released.
The Hawks signed Marian Hossa before Havlat was released, but fans knew once they signed Hossa, Havlat wouldn’t be returning.
Jump forward a couple of months.
Upon his return to Chicago, Havlat scored two goals. I don’t know what you think, but I think that’s a statement. Releasing Havlat was a cruel thing to do. After all, he was your season MVP. It was just the wrong thing to do. Havlat understandably probably wanted some renvege against his former team.
If I am the Hawks, I would watch out. This guy can hurt you from all angles of play. He was a valuable player to the Hawks, and now he might bite them in the butt.
I went to the Blackhawks website earlier today, and I realized that pre-season for the Hawks is just around the corner. I don’t know how I forgot that, but it had me happy knowing that the hockey season is just around the corner.
The Hawks were one of the most talked about hockey team last year, and they proved they could compete against seasoned teams. The Hawks team was made of mostly young players who battled all the way to the Western Conference Finals only to lose to rival Detroit Red Wings. While the fans and the players were disappointed they didn’t make it the big game, it did show them that they can compete against the big dogs.
This year has the same amount of hype, only notched up to a whole different level. Fans know they can play for the Cup. Now they want to see them win the Cup. If there was a year for Chicago this is it. Salary cap problems will trouble the Hawks next year, which will for sure make the management cut some very good talent. With this problem looming just over the horizon, the Hawks have their best chance this year. It is all or nothing for the Chicago hockey team.
It wasn’t all good news this off-season. The Hawks lost two great and fan-loved players, Martin Havlat and Nikolai Khabibulin. Havlat was the top points leader for the Hawks last year, and Khabibulan was the Hawks first-string goaltender. Losing both your #1 goalie and scoring could be devastating for the Hawks.
Lets not forget that 2007 #1 draft pick Patrick Kane was arrested on robbery and assault charges last August. It was the type of news the Hawks did not want. While it didn’t end up to anything that serious, it was bad press nonetheless, and bad press is never good for a team.
The Hawks signed Marian Hossa to replace Havlat, but Hossa is injured and it’s not 100% known when he will be healthy enough to return. This has all the ingredients to backfire on the Hawks. The team is now relying on the young core to keep the team’s playoff hopes alive while Hossa is gone. Fans can only hope the Hawks don’t fall too behind the #8 spot in the Conference.
The Hawks will also have to rely on yet-proven goaltender Christobal Huet. Huet has been given a huge contract, but he did not live up to it last season making Hawk fans scratch their heads and thinking “Did we make a mistake?” Khabibulan was the better goalie last year, but with Huet’s contract being so high and because of the team already close to the salary cap, the management had no other choice but to release Khabibulan. So it’s Huet’s year whether fans like it or not. There is one good thing going foir Huet, and that is he played really well in the Conference Finals against the Wings.
Was that a sign of better things to come?
Lets hope so.
The full schedule is up on the Hawk’s website. Their first regular season game is on October 2. It will be unique because the Hawks will not in the United States or Canada, but in Finland. It will be the 1st out of 2 games played in Finland.
It’s official that Marian Hossa, who has a small tear in his rotator cuff in his right shoulder, will undergo surgery. Hossa was signed by the Blackhawks in this year’s off-season in a huge contract that gave him, on average, $5.2 million a year.
The Hawks said that they were aware of the shoulder injury before they signed him.
“Marian’s injury did not respond sufficiently to our non-operative treatment over the last three weeks so we have collectively decided today to go ahead with the surgery,” Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman said in a statement. “Marian is a franchise player, and we want what is best for him and the Blackhawks long-term. This was a mutual decision and one we feel very confident is the right one.”
Hossa is expected to miss 4 months, which will shelve him for 2 months of the regular season. I can’t help to feel a little mad. We sign this guy to a huge contract, and give up our #1 leader in points, and the guy we get to replace him can’t even play the first 2 months.
Hawks trainer says that after the surgery Hossa will be 100 percent, and that this surgery will be better for Hossa long-term. I hope that is true. I want Hossa to be around and give the Hawks some really good years, but most importantly, aide them to wining a Stanley Cup.
I am sure that the young players on the Hawks will do fine without Hossa, but I can’t be totally sure. The Hawks did lose their best goalie, and our MVP this off-season. Two big losses that could hurt the Hawks even more now that Hossa will be gone for the first 2 months. Hawk’s fans will have to hope that the Hawks really don’t struggle so much early on.
Still I am still optimistic about this year for the Hawks. I really want to believe that Huet will have a more consistent year in the net. Speaking of goalies, the Hawks have not announced who the back-up goalie will be. They have signed Crawford and Niemi, but have not announced who will be behind Huet. I would like to see Crawford get the spot. He was supposed to be the next thing, and I really liked what I saw when they did play him. Niemi wasn’t bad, but he seemed slow form post to post, the same problem Huet has.
As big of a hit this is for the Hawks, I am confident we have the skill to tough it out, and to get back into the playoffs this year.
The firing of Dale Tallon was a surprise to me and many, if not all, other Hawks fans alike. How could you fire the man who brought a team from last place to the Western Conference Finals in just 3 years?
At first, not many people knew. A lot were thinking that it had something to do with the Hawks not sending out the letters to the unrestricted agents in time, a move that could have lost all players but that didn’t end up bad as the Hawks signed all of them. Tallon took all the responsibility for the mistake, which probably wasn’t even his fault.
Just a couple days later the Hawks and Tallon split ways. It sent a shock wave all around the NHL. Hawks players were surprised, fans were surprised, and even sports writers were surprised.
The firing left one question: Why?
A lot of people first said that he was fired because of the letters getting there late, but after further investigation that is not the case. Turns out John Mcdonough never did like Dale Tallon. Tallon was not signed by Mcdonough, who wanted to bring in his own guys, and once he could he pounced on it. He fired Tallon and assigned Stan Bowman as the new GM. Stan Bowman is the son of Scotty Bowman, the Hall of Famer and a senior adviser for the Hawks.
The players loved Tallon. Havlat said that many players saw him as a father figure. While I think the Hawks will be fine with Bowman as GM, I still can’t help but think that the players are a little mad. It should not affect their playing, but the players have the right to be a little upset.
“McDonough couldn’t stand that Dale was so successful and getting the credit for building the Hawks from a last place team to making the Conference Final in three short years. Remember, we were also the youngest team in the NHL last year. I was too closely identified with Dale. McDonough knew long ago he was going to fire Dale. He wanted someone he could claim as his own He wanted to stand up at the convention and claim credit for signing this guy or that guy,” said Havlat on the Tallon firing.
Fans don’t seem to be happy either. They booed Mcdonough at the second annual Hawks convention. Mcdonough knew there was going to be some trouble after the firing, but his face showed he didn’t expect to be booed.
Bowman has pretty much the same plans for the Hawks, and is very aware of the salary cap problem they will have face, but he still stayed positive that the Hawks will deal with them the right way. Hawks fans can only hope so. They don’t want to see what could be a great franchise years down the road have to give away most of their key players that could make them a Cup contender.
On other news the 2009-2010 schedule has been released. you can see it here.
The Chicago Blackhawks have re-signed 23-year old forward Kris Versteeg to a 3-year, $9.25 million deal. Recently rated 21st best franchise in sports today by ESPN, the Hawks have kept their young team mostly intact. The Hawks have drafted great young talent the last couple of years, and it has made hockey nation look at Chicago as a serious contender for the Stanley Cup.
After losing the Western Conference Finals to Detroit, Hawk fans are really excited for what next year could bring. Many more NHL teams and owners are taking this young Hawks team seriously now. While the Hawks have lost their season MVP, Martin Havlat, they did add a powerful scoring forward in Marian Hossa. The Hawks lost a great goaltender in Khabibulan, and leaving the team to Huet is a bit risky. Huet has shown he can be a great goaltender, but his inconsistent play has had Hawk fans questioning how good a deal it was to pick him up and at such a steep price.
The Hawks have really big expectations to fulfill this coming season, and nobody really can say for sure if this team is capable of going all the way next year. As young as the team is though, Chicago fans are at least positive that the Hawks could win a championship in the near future. While the future is bright, the players don’t need to feel like they have no room to improve. Their inexperience was exploited by the veteran Detroit team last year in the playoffs and Detroit seems to always have the Hawks’ number. Most of all, Detroit capitalized on every mistake the Hawks made, and the Hawks will have to limit their mistakes against the Red Wings moving forward.
One thing that made me mad was the hatred for the Hawks by Sports Illustrated. They never gave credit to the Hawks, even when they made it deep into the postseason. They said they would lose against the Flames and the Canucks. When the Hawks did win those two series, SI didn’t praise the wins, they just ignored them completely. Just recently Alan Muir has called the Hossa signing a bad one. Come on! They never give the Hawks credit for building a team that can win. Sorry for going on a mini rant, but that has always bothered me a lot.
With prospect camps currently ongoing, the Hawks could find another gem. Next hockey season will be a fun and interesting ride for the Hawks and their fans. As a fan, I can only wish for another playoff berth, and who knows, maybe even a Cup.
The Chicago Blackhawks have one more day to sign either forward Martin Havlat or Nikolai Khabibulin. Free agent signing started today at 11 a.m. If the Hawks are going to sign anybody it will most likely be Havlat. No disses to Khabibulin, but everyone is expecting the Hawks to let him go because of the $22.5 million contract that Huet has. I would love to see Khabibulan stay, but it just doesn’t seem too realistic right now. Even Havlat isn’t a sure thing. Dale Tallon has talked to both players’ agents, but there has been no luck.
Martin Havlat was voted team MVP and was the team leader in points both in the regular season and the playoffs. It would be a big disappointment if Havlat was not re-signed. Havlat has said that he only wants to be in Chicago, and sources say he wants a long-term contract — even if it means having to take a pay cut.
UPDATE (as I write this post!): According to Daren Dreger of TSN.ca, the Blackhawks have signed a multi-year deal with forward Marian Hossa. This news can only mean that Havlat will probably not return with the Hawks. According to TSN, it is a 12-year contract worth $5.2 million a season. This is a huge signing for the Hawks. They are adding some great firepower to their team. New information keeps on coming in as I type this. $53 million will be paid the first 7 years, and a little less than $9 million the last 5 years.
The Hawks keep on trying to improve, and with a signing like this, they are on right track to do just that. I really love what Dale Tallon and the other guys are doing with this Hawks team. I am already pumped for the next season. I am sad that Havlat might be going (though that has not yet been confirmed) but at the same time the Hawks have picked up a great forward in Marian Hossa. Hossa had 40 goals last year with the Red Wings.
The Hawks made it to the Western Conference Finals last season, only to be ousted by their rival the Red Wings. With added firepower the Hawks have a chance to hold the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1961. As a die-hard Hawks fan, I am really pleased how the organization is trying so hard to win. They are making great choices. I wish all Chicago teams had great organizations like the Hawks do. (Cubs).
*UDATE: The Hawks also signed Thomas Kopecky to a two year deal at $1.2 million each season.
* – Marian Hossa photo credit: 360Blog.org via Kings Kool-Aid
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