Official 2009-2010 NHL Thread

[Steve9347]

Unloading Steeger would be a grave mistake. Look at how much he has developed in such a short time.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves here... he's a nice player and I'd prefer to keep him over Sharp, but unloading him if it returned Kovalchuk for the balance of the season would not be a "grave" mistake.

[EvilJester99]

You have to keep in mind the only reason the Hawks would do this is to obviously to get a major talent but that will be for only 1 season... they are looking to shed some $$$$ and this would do it since Ilya is a FA next season. I don't see this happening though. Everyone with expiring contracts will probably be linked to the Hawks.

Edited January 4, 2010 by EvilJester99

[bmags]

it'll be worth it for the first stanley cup in 49 years and to end the longest drought in the nhl.

[southsider2k5]

The big issue here is not giving away people who aren't on the main roster now, because we will need them as we have to dump salaries. I don't want to see guys like Skille and Beech go, because we will need them as guys like Sharp and Versteeg have to go because of their salaries.

[Drew]

The Hawks had a stellar first half and seem to just be heating up.

 

They went on a 'slump' for a while where they weren't scoring more than one or two per game with the shot totals we're used to seeing them rack up. Now, you're starting to see the team jell, with Hossa healthy and the guys learning how to work together.

 

I'm not holding my breath, but Ilya Kovalchuk would be pretty amazing for a postseason run. Hossa. Kovalchuk. Kane. Toews. Sharp. Damn.

 

If it happens, it happens—if it doesn't, it doesn't. I'm not expecting or holding my breath. I have a good feeling about the guys they've got.

[RockRaines]

300 level tickets going for $100+ now.

[Steve9347]

300 level tickets going for $100+ now.

Yup. That managed to get really out of hand really quickly.

[southsider2k5]

300 level tickets going for $100+ now.

 

Yeah, I have been trying to take my four year old to a game, but I am not spending $50 to stand with her.

[RockRaines]

Yup. That managed to get really out of hand really quickly.

SRO's are going for 50+ for this sunday.

[LittleHurt05]

300 level tickets going for $100+ now.

 

Wow. Someone always uses them so we never scalp, but our 10th row season tix in the corner face at $15 a pop. Ridiculous.

[Harry Chappas]

You ain't going to get into that place for under $50 face very soon.

 

There is nothing to do in the winter in Chciago and the Hawks are exciting as hell to watch.

[SockMe]

I love all the games in January! I think there are like 16 or something do to the Olympics

[DBAHO]

I'm very glad I was able to see a game for around $30-$35 last year with the ticket prices going up like crazy now (even if teh Hawks had to lose to Columbus, ugh).

[RockRaines]

I'm very glad I was able to see a game for around $30-$35 last year with the ticket prices going up like crazy now (even if teh Hawks had to lose to Columbus, ugh).

Well, we wanted it and we got it, a great team. Now we have to deal with the 90's-like Bulls ticket prices.

 

 

Oh and for all you people going to Hawks games in the future, Madison is not the only street that goes to the UC.

[SoxFan1]

Hawks win 4-1 against MIN...yawn.

[LittleHurt05]

Dear Hawks Fans at the UC:

 

Your team is now the #1 team in the league and a Stanley Cup favorite. Please dont try to start a "Detroit Sucks" chant at the end of a game vs. the Wild. First of all, Detroit wouldn't even qualify for the playoffs today. Second of all, all that matters now is getting a new banner with the Stanley Cup on it next to the one from 1961, not anything to do with the Wings. Thank you.

[southsider2k5]

Hawks win 4-1 against MIN...yawn.

 

I missed it. I had a basketball game to call.

[The Critic]

Dear Hawks Fans at the UC:

 

Your team is now the #1 team in the league and a Stanley Cup favorite. Please dont try to start a "Detroit Sucks" chant at the end of a game vs. the Wild. First of all, Detroit wouldn't even qualify for the playoffs today. Second of all, all that matters now is getting a new banner with the Stanley Cup on it next to the one from 1961, not anything to do with the Wings. Thank you.

Old inferiority complexes die hard.

[Steve9347]

Oh and for all you people going to Hawks games in the future, Madison is not the only street that goes to the UC.

Ha!

 

Lake to Damon flies.

[RockRaines]

Ha!

 

Lake to Damon flies.

You gotta understand that this is my neighborhood and I look out onto madison from morgan and directly west towards the stadium. The fact that madison is bumper to bumper (with idiots trying to pass on the right side, its not a four lane road) and you can drive down lake, randolph, adams and monroe with no issue shows me where these people are coming from, and how many games they have actually been to at the UC. I am walking my dog before home games usually down madison and see the frustration of people who just need to drive a block north or south.

[Steve9347]

You gotta understand that this is my neighborhood and I look out onto madison from morgan and directly west towards the stadium. The fact that madison is bumper to bumper (with idiots trying to pass on the right side, its not a four lane road) and you can drive down lake, randolph, adams and monroe with no issue shows me where these people are coming from, and how many games they have actually been to at the UC. I am walking my dog before home games usually down madison and see the frustration of people who just need to drive a block north or south.

Yeah, it's unfortunate. Madison is always the road to avoid to get to the UC.

[SockMe]

Hawks now have a 10pt lead in the division and are number 1 in points in the conference!

[IlliniKrush]

Dear Hawks Fans at the UC:

 

Your team is now the #1 team in the league and a Stanley Cup favorite. Please dont try to start a "Detroit Sucks" chant at the end of a game vs. the Wild. First of all, Detroit wouldn't even qualify for the playoffs today. Second of all, all that matters now is getting a new banner with the Stanley Cup on it next to the one from 1961, not anything to do with the Wings. Thank you.

While I agree with your point completely, you addressed the wrong group of people.

[southsider2k5]

http://www.csnchicago.com/pages/hawktalk

 

by Brett Ballantini

CSNChicago.com

 

So a little bit of Ilya Kovalchuk speculation has gone a long way.

 

Welcome to Chicago Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman’s world, from now until the end of September.

 

Now, no one out there would identify a left wing, elite or not, as a pressing Blackhawks need. The team is thin at center, with Patrick Sharp a fill-in (however ably) and no margin of error. On the defensive end, the team is clicking, but one minor injury (Cam Barker and Niklas Hjalmarsson most recently) casts the club into a condition of potentially playing short, with five healthy defensemen taking on extra shifts. (Remember, with the tenuous cap situation even for 2009-10, the Blackhawks cannot afford too many minor-league call-ups, so expect shorthanded play rather than a full roster in cases of minor injury.)

 

Besides, we’re talking about a Blackhawks team that could see three 20-goal scorers come out of its third line, so the need to wedge in Kovalchuk is not pressing.

 

But the discussion itself, first struck by Pierre LeBrun of ESPN, has merit. The longer Bowman waits, the less leverage he may have come summer when purging salary is no longer an option, but a necessity. All he has to do is look to Atlanta to see the potentially disastrous consequences of holding all of his cards too long.

 

It’s been outlined here previously what Bowman is likely to face by the beginning of next season. Basically, barring a trade of a $5 million-plus player or the salary cap rising—both extremely unlikely scenarios—the final nine roster spots need to be squeezed into a salary space of around $5 million, just a shade more than $500,000 per player.

 

So yes, a trade for Kovalchuk (or any number of other impact players) would likely involve a couple of highly-salaried players (in the $2 million-$4 million range) in exchange for a guy who won’t be re-signed in the summer—two Blackhawks cogs dealt for a guy who at most would play five months in Chicago.

 

Some writers have objected out of hand to the mere idea that a Kovalchuk could be had for anything less than a kings’ ransom of stars and prospects, a notion that is dealt with tidily by Puck Daddy Greg Wyshynski. Obtaining Kovalchuk won’t take as much as you’d think. The Thrashers held their cards too long and are now all-in with their superstar—either accede to his salary demands (with the price raising with every step closer to the trade deadline) or accept a best-case scenario deal. Sure, another club could outbid the Blackhawks for Kovalchuk, but the idea that there will be a bidding war—or that Atlanta can afford to wait for one—well, that plane lifted off the runway months ago.

 

With Atlanta in position to take on salary this year and certainly in 2010-11, a trade wouldn’t need to be dollar-for-dollar, but even with dollar-for-dollar limitations, the Blackhawks can offer a deal that’s more than fair.

 

Sharp, with a $4.1 million salary, will need a miracle to stay in a Blackhawks uniform next season. To keep him in most logical scenarios would force the Hawks to dress eight players paid around $300,000 apiece, a mathematical impossibility given the $500,000 minimum salary for NHL players. Cam Barker is making $3 million and has seen his role evaporate with the rise of Hjalmarsson and solid play of Brent Sopel. You simply don’t pay a No. 6 defenseman $3 million.

 

Acquiring Sharp and Barker, two strong players paid reasonably and beyond this season, for Kovalchuk ($6.4 million) makes decent sense for Atlanta. Kovalchuk, of course, will sign elsewhere over the summer, but the win for Chicago is that it’s now faced with just cutting another $5 million or so in salary—as few as two players—from the current roster in order to slip under the cap for 2010-11. In fact, this trade alone, coupled with opting not to sign free agents Andrew Ladd, John Madden, and Ben Eager, would alleviate the salary crunch completely.

 

Now, again, Kovalchuk doesn’t make a lot of sense for the Blackhawks. Surely there is a center (Matt Cullen) or defenseman (Scott Neidermayer) out there who would be a better fit if the Blackhawks are going to try to make an anticipatory salary cap/Cup drive deal. But the Kovalchuk example is an apt for illustration purposes alone, casting the Blackhawks’ cap crisis in real, day-to-day terms.

 

And as hard as it is, don’t focus on the players who will be lost via trades for prospects or cut loose as free agents over the next several months, because that’s the price paid for having picked up guys like Brian Campbell, Cristobal Huet, or Marian Hossa for “free” (as free agents, rather than via trade). Losing Sharpy, Barker, Madden, Ladd, and Eager might be the price paid for gaining the Hoss, Soupy, and Huet, in the same way the Blackhawks in essence “traded” free agent Martin Havlat for free agent Hossa this summer.

 

In the salary cap era, signing Hossa is not the same as trading Sharp for him—but in the long run, these days, you can’t just look at what you’re gaining, but what you might eventually lose.

 

Brett Ballantini is CSNChicago.com's Blackhawks Insider. Follow him @CSNChi_Beatnik on Twitter for up-to-the-minute Hawks information.

[LittleHurt05]

While I agree with your point completely, you addressed the wrong group of people.

 

I dont know what you mean, but I was addressing the small packs of jokers in the 300 level that were chanting it Tuesday night.