Official NHL Thread

[SoxFanForever]

Crazy 1st period in Phoenix tonight. 5-3 Hawks, Koci involved in 2 fights, sounds like a very interesting game.

I'm not sure if it was a typo but the Herald said he got something like 42 minutes of penalties for a little over 2 minutes of ice time. Quite the wild game.

[IlliniKrush]

It was indeed not a typo.

[EvilJester99]

Man Hawks got smoked tonight by San Jose... 7 - 1 all scored on Lalime....

[Queen Prawn]

No surprise there. Lalime was like that with the Sens - one day on fire and the other ice.

[IlliniKrush]

Lalime has been solid this year. Last night he let in a couple softies, but he had zero help the entire game.

[Chisoxfn]

I'll be cheering for the Hawks tonight @ the Honda center.

[Chisoxfn]

Wow, the Hawks are f***ing terrible. They couldn't even pass the puck in the first period and Khaby gave up a weak goal to start the game but I actually felt bad for him as the game went on. Still, Lalime is our best goalie (or as I call him, the Laliminator) and should play more. We should have dumped Khaby on the Lightning when we had a chance (just get rid of that terrible deal) and lived with Lalime until our youngster is ready.

 

Barker I like, had a monster hit and than got beat up by a couple Ducks and after that played soft. Duncan Keith is f***ing horrible, giveaway after giveaway and Seabrooke wasn't much better. Are these guys dumbasses, they have played enough in this league to get better.

 

Havlat is amazing, makes moves and has no one out there to help him. Ruutu is solid and all around a pretty decent player who should become a good to pretty good player.

 

Oh and Aucoin is a total pussy. At the end of the game, a Duck player challenge him to a fight and he f***ing ran to the bench. What a coward.

 

All that said this game was a blast to be at and Koci is a man (Cocky as I call him) the guy stepped up and had a great fight at the end of the game. So many brawls and during the big mele near the net in the 3rd that Lalime got in for about 3 seconds Lalime decided to look over to Bryzgala but Bryz wasn't getting into any fight.

 

So ya, Hawks are terrible. I want Skille and Toews up, Khaby gone, Aucoin gone (or waived) and a veteran defenseman (overpay if you must but someone that is actually good and knows how to play the game so he can actually teach our young defenseman not to be dumbs***s with the puck and skate all over the place and instead of passing and getting the puck up to the offense so we can get goals).

 

Oh and dump and chase is a terrible system and I know we don't have skilled players but still what a joke our offense is. This team is still a long long way from being anything. Albeit this was against one of the premiere hockey teams in the league.

[DBAHO]

When they come up against a serious good team whether it's San Jose, Anaheim or Detroit, you can see how much improvement they need.

 

This off-season they should really trade Khabby if the right offer is there. This team needs so much more improvement offensively, and even defensively (which is sad when you think about it), you can't afford to be paying a #1 goalie that much money, when you've got a fairly capable one in Lalime who would be a lot cheaper.

 

A #1 center like Briere or Scott Gomez should be a priority, trade Aucoin and Cullimore for anything, sign those rookies, and get at least 2 if not 3 top 6 forwards in.

 

And whether Tallon is capable of doing that, I don't know. Other than his trade for Havlat, his other moves certainly haven't paid off. And imagine what Marty would be producing if he actually had a #1 center alongside him.

[IlliniKrush]

Byfuglien Recalled

[JoeBatterz]

Thoughts on the Jordan Tootoo hit on Mondano and then the suspension when he sucker punched Robidas in the face?

 

They are crying like babies down here in Nashville about it. I think the 5 game suspension is about right. Tootoo needs to learn to turn the other cheek and be glad that he flattened Modano and drew a charge from Robidas. Instead, he will be hurting his team for the next 5 games. Reminds me of Chelios when he was with the Hawks, too many stupid mistakes.

[IlliniKrush]

Part of an email i received today, feel free to have at it:

 

 

"Hello Chicago Blackhawk Fans -

 

The NHL Fan Face Off Team needs your help. We need your help in recruiting other Chicago Blackhawk fans to be part of the panel. Currently, the Chicago Blackhawks have one of the smaller representations on the panel. Please email the link below to all your fellow Chicago Blackhawk fans and ask them to join the panel.

 

http://www.nhlfanfaceoff.com/R.aspx?a=60

 

Thank you,

 

The NHL Fan Face Off Team

 

 

NHL is a registered trademark and the NHL Shield is a trademark of the National Hockey League. All NHL logos and marks and team logos and marks depicted herein are the property of the NHL and the respective teams and may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of NHL Enterprises, L.P. © NHL 2007. All Rights Reserved."

 

Thoughts on the Jordan Tootoo hit on Mondano and then the suspension when he sucker punched Robidas in the face?

 

They are crying like babies down here in Nashville about it. I think the 5 game suspension is about right. Tootoo needs to learn to turn the other cheek and be glad that he flattened Modano and drew a charge from Robidas. Instead, he will be hurting his team for the next 5 games. Reminds me of Chelios when he was with the Hawks, too many stupid mistakes.

Tootoo's a little b****, it's about time he got suspended for something

[DBAHO]

Some good news;

 

The most interesting news with the Blackhawks on Wednesday had nothing to do with their game against the San Jose Sharks at the United Center.

 

Overshadowing another Hawks loss, a 4-1 setback, was the expected announcement to come today that they have signed winger Jack Skille to a three-year contract.

 

Skille, the seventh pick overall in the 2005 draft, has made the decision to leave the University of Wisconsin after two years.

 

The Hawks are expected to send the 19-year-old Skille to Norfolk on an amateur tryout contract to play the final few games of the regular season and in the American Hockey League playoffs.

 

Skille is a 6-foot-1, 206-pound physical right winger who the Hawks think has a chance to make the roster next season. In 26 games for the Badgers, Skille had 8 goals and 10 assists with 12 penalty minutes.

 

“He’s the kind of kid that might be a better pro,” general manager Dale Tallon said earlier this season. “He’s a pro-type player with good speed, hands, and he’s physical.”

 

Next up for Tallon will be signing center Jonathan Toews, the third pick in the 2006 draft who is expected to leave the University of North Dakota when his sophomore season ends.

 

North Dakota plays an NCAA regional game against Michigan on Saturday in Denver.

 

It’s believed the Hawks’ plan for Toews would not include sending him to Norfolk. It’s possible Toews could come straight to Chicago and play in the few remaining games on this season’s schedule.

[kapkomet]

Thoughts on the Jordan Tootoo hit on Mondano and then the suspension when he sucker punched Robidas in the face?

 

They are crying like babies down here in Nashville about it. I think the 5 game suspension is about right. Tootoo needs to learn to turn the other cheek and be glad that he flattened Modano and drew a charge from Robidas. Instead, he will be hurting his team for the next 5 games. Reminds me of Chelios when he was with the Hawks, too many stupid mistakes.

 

 

Tootoo's a little b****, it's about time he got suspended for something

How do I say this and stay "politically correct"?

 

Tootoo is a little bigger then his britches, shall I say. I've talked to him personally about some "business deals", and he thinks he's above a lot of s***. Let's leave it at that.

 

The guy deserved the suspension. All the Nashville whiners can say "Robida was running him"... ok, fine, but you don't RARE BACK AND THROW. That wasn't a defensive punch Tootoo threw, it was 100% offensive.

[Jimbo's Drinker]

Im sorry, but Tootoo and little b**** in same sentence is great.

[IlliniKrush]

What CWSGuy and I are hanging our collective hat on:

 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writ...se.notes/1.html

[The Critic]

What CWSGuy and I are hanging our collective hat on:

 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writ...se.notes/1.html

I hope Skille pans out, but I remember when Ruutu was "the best player in the world not playing in the NHL".

Tuomo was supposed to be all things to all people - "the new Jeremy Roenick" is the phrase I remember hearing and reading the most - and maybe he'll develop into something close to that someday, but my skepticism is miles ahead of my patience at this point.

The Hawks are becoming sort of Cub-like, minus the blindly faithful fanbase and goofy "curses". I've kind of given up hope of seeing a Stanley Cup victory in my lifetime.

[IlliniKrush]

http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app/?service=page&a...rticleid=294171

[DBAHO]

Hmm;

 

DUCK HUNTING IN NET: A lot of NHL teams might go Duck hunting in the off-season. The Bruins, Lightning, Hawks, Panthers, Kings and Coyotes are all expected to try to upgrade their goaltending and might make Anaheim stopper J.S. Giguere their No. 1 target.

 

Anaheim likely won't be able to keep Giguere, who makes $3.9 million US this season, and Ilja Bryzgalov.

 

Trade Khabby for a #1 center and then sign Giggy? Not much of a chance of happening I would have thought though.

[IlliniKrush]

I remember this like it was yesterday. Gotta watch all the video links for this one

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...=neumann/070326

[CWSGuy406]

Awesome -- Hawks have won their last two and are currently the fifth worst team in hockey. This f***ing team always does it -- win one or two meaningless games at the end of the year to push them just out of the reach of the cream of the crop talent.

 

Also, a couple of Hawk tidbits...

 

* Skille signed a contract with the Hawks and is now up with Norfolk. He had a point in his first game and got some good remarks from the Ads fans who saw him live. Then again, a couple of us saw him play in the WJCs this year and were thoroughly impressed. Speaking of the Ads...

 

* They'll be in Rockford, Illinois next year. I don't know if I'm going to travel that far to see a minor league hockey team, but at least it's now within a reasonable distance if I were to say go there on a night where they had back-to-back games. Plus, will that re-align the divisions? If so, I would hope that would mean games with the Wolves and the other Admirals (Milwaukee).

 

Ah -- I just noticed some of this stuff has been posted at TalkBHawks. I'll hop on there in a few weeks to re-up my account. We had some good discussion in the offseason, back when the Havlat excitement was around -- not that it's gone anywhere, he's still as amazing a player as the day we got him, but now it's time to put some talent around him.

[DBAHO]

There was a great article here from the Tribune;

 

Here's how far big-league hockey has fallen in Chicago: The Blackhawks can't give away their tickets.

 

One of the National Hockey League's charter franchises, the Blackhawks have been so desperate to attract fans to a half-empty United Center that the organization has been offering free seats through numerous promotions, including an e-mail campaign that put top-notch freebies the length of a hockey stick from the ice.

 

"It's called papering the house," said Barry Melrose, a former NHL player and now a hockey analyst for ESPN. "I'm not surprised they are doing it. It's been a terrible period for the Blackhawks. People are frustrated and angry, and the fans are showing it the only way they can, by staying away."

 

For Friday night's game at the United Center, "I bought 40 tickets for $3.06 each," said 25-year-old Jason, a part-time ticket broker and full-time culinary student. That small sum accounted for the fees Ticketmaster charged to process the seats.

 

These weren't in the nosebleeds, either.

 

"I had two in Section 119 four rows up from the glass," said Jason, who resold those tickets on Craigslist.com for $30 each. Face value on those tickets: $80.

 

But despite his good fortune, not all fans are jumping at the giveaways.

 

The team has tried several promotions in March, including one with RedEye, an edition of the Chicago Tribune.

 

"The Blackhawks came to us" with the promotion idea, said Denise DiCianni, senior marketing specialist for the paper. "We pulled it together pretty quickly. They reserved 200 seats for us, and we promoted it on the RedEye Web site."

 

The free seats for Friday's home game were in the club level and had a retail price of $65 each. The promotion lasted for two days and only 100 seats were claimed.

 

Before the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Blackhawks were tied for the worst record in the NHL's Western Conference. The once-proud franchise, one of the NHL's "Original 6" teams, has stumbled mightily in recent years.

 

The team last made the playoffs in 2002, and before that in 1997. The team lost in the Stanley Cup finals in 1992. Most seasons in between, the Blackhawks have hovered near the bottom of the standings in a league in which more than half the teams make the postseason.

 

Additionally, the NHL shut its doors for the entire 2004-05 season as the result of a labor dispute, a move that angered many longtime fans.

 

The result has been an apathetic fan base that has left the United Center feeling like "a morgue" this season, said Bob, a longtime season ticket-holder who asked that his last name not be used.

 

"The place is literally empty some nights," he said. "Only 6,000 to 8,000 fans in the seats."

 

The team has averaged 12,610 fans per game this year, the second-worst performance in the NHL, in an arena that seats 20,500 for hockey.

 

"We're just trying to put some butts in the seats," said Peter Hassen, the Blackhawks manager of advertising and promotions. "We've had our ups and downs this year, and the fans haven't been supporting us as much as we'd like."

 

Another recent promotion was with radio station WCKG-FM 105.9. Members of that station's VIP club were offered free tickets for their birthdays instead of the usual box of doughnuts.

 

"Probably close to 100 or 150 people took advantage of that," Hassen said.

 

But the giveaway that has drawn the most attention started with an e-mail sent to recent ticket buyers, not season ticket-holders.

 

"We offered two free tickets to those fans who supported us in the past," Hassan said. "We gave them a password they could use on Ticketmaster to get the free tickets."

 

Instead, several fans posted the password on Craigslist, and people like Jason, the culinary student, took notice and started grabbing them. Over the past week, the Web site was filled with ticket offers for as low as $5 as people tried to get something for the freebie. Many buyers refused to pay extra for the free tickets.

 

"I tried to buy tickets from this guy Jason, but I wouldn't pay him $120 for four seats I know he got for free," said Mike Igyarto, 22, a service manager in Bensenville.

 

"I may try to go to Sunday's game if I have nothing else going on," he said.

 

That apathy and lack of attendance saddens Melrose.

 

"I remember when Chicago was the greatest franchise in the NHL," he said. "When I played in the early '80s [with Toronto and Detroit], Chicago Stadium was always packed. We loved to play there."

 

It can be a great hockey town again, he said, "but they have to win. It's not going to take a great advertising plan."

 

Meanwhile, the team must hope that free tickets don't anger longtime season ticket-holders like Bob.

 

A genial man who plays recreational hockey, he's angry that his $75 seats can be had for a fraction of that on Craigslist.

 

Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz "said he's not putting the home games on local TV because they want to protect the season ticket-holder and the value of my investment," Bob said. "Now he's giving away tickets."

 

But then he laughed about how cheap he believes the organization is.

 

"The season ticket-holder gift came in the mail this week," Bob said. "It was a piece of 'game-used plexiglass' from the United Center. It comes with a little piece of wood to hold it.

 

"What did that cost them? Basically, they spent maybe $2 on a gift for season ticket-holders. It's the epitome of crap, an old piece of glass."

 

- - -

 

Blackhawks fan a disappearing creature

 

The NHL's best and worst average home attendance for the 2006-07 season.

Rank Team Attendance

1 Montreal 21,273

2 Detroit 20,066

3 Tampa Bay 19,833

28 N.Y. Islanders 12,705

29 Chicago 12,610

30 St. Louis 12,368

 

The Blackhawks' average home attendance has ranked among the bottom of the NHL's 30 teams.

 

Season Rank Attendance

2006-07 29 12,610

2005-06 29 13,318

2003-04 27 13,253

2002-03 24 14,794

2001-02 23 15,568

2000-01 24 14,996

[EvilJester99]

I heard Havlat got injuried . Something with his shoulder. Any word on how serious??

[IlliniKrush]

Dislocated right shoulder. It was a weird play, looked pretty innocent.

 

Mason got torched in the shootout by the Hawks and they skate away with the victory, only hurting their draft slot.

[EvilJester99]

Boy the Hawks can't win and you start thinking they have a good shot at a good 1st round pick and they find a way to screw that up too.... Man Havlat just can't friggin win. Well with him gone they should lose the rest of their games now.

[Dan]

Anybody going to the Hawks vs. Wings game? Havlat will be out but maybe there will be some fireworks. A home game will actually be televised. Dustin Buff was re-assigned to Norfolk. Wonder who the call ups will be since Havlat and Holmqvist are done for the season.