Charity Events ...

No - that headline does not refer to the Hawks being so kind as to give two points to every team they play.. but it could..

Sam will probably be around later to write a recap of last nights game (sneak preview: he's going to be unhappy with it). Who could have guessed three games into the season we'd be begging to have Savard start Khabby again instead of Huet? His idea of simply switching those two out every other game just isn't going to work. He knows it, I hope, but I don't think he knows what to do. Can we please get Bowman to tell him what to do for a while?

Anyways, I got an email from the organizers of this event the other day.. it's a good cause and if you have the money.. you should think about going:

click image for a readable version

Game 3 Preview: Nashville Pussy at Hawks

We may have to set up a booth at THE LEDGE if the Hawks don't pull one out tonight, as there will be more than a few ready to jump. Anyway, the team-soon-to-be-in-KC visits the UC tonight, after some ridiculous ceremony red carpet thing as the Hawks enter the UC. Anyone else worried about this throwing someone out of rhythm? Maybe I'm just being paranoid.

Anyway, the Hawks record vs. the Preds last year was pretty respectable considering the way they used to skate circles around the Hawks the previous two years, at 5-3. The Hawks will see one of the few teams that is smaller and softer than they are. Quite frankly, there isn't much over there to scare anyone, except for maybe the most underrated coach in the league in Barry Trotz. A bunch of annoying, pussy, quick forwards is what you'll see. Oh, and the biggest douche-nozzle there is, Jordan Tootoo. With the energy in the building to be amped up for the home opener, expect it to take no less than 6 seconds for Burish to introduce himself.

The Hawks have just plain not been good the past two games, save the 1st periods. They've struggled to complete 3 consecutive passes, seem to constantly be in a hurry which has led to myriad turnovers in dangerous places. The PP has been abysmal, and the allotment of personel on it is bizarre. Havlat is not a point-man, and having him there leaves the 2nd unit bereft of talent. Buff on the point in neanderthal thinking. "He got big shot, him go point." Everyone would be better off if he were blotting out the sun in front of the net. Every shot is a big shot if the goalie can't see. Hopefully, Savvy will have addressed this.

On the plus side, the Preds play a wide open style that the Hawks want to play as well, and there's no danger of the Hawks being outmuscled tonight. I don't expect Savvy to show enough gumption to throw Khabby out there again, but it wouldn't surprise me. If Huet gets the call, a reduction of the silver platter rebounds would be greatly appreciated. Expect Dan Ellis on the other side, who got lit up in the opener by the Blues. Let's hope for more of that.

Game 2: Hawks Lose

The Hawks start their season with their first losing streak of the year, and they're doing everything they can to make sure to scare away any one that may have been curious about what this whole hockey game is about and tuned into the first WGN broadcast in 30 something years.

The game started off amazingly well - 26 seconds in Havlat hits Toews in stride going out of the Hawks zone.. Toews bounces the puck off the boards to Versteeg who goes five hole on what had been a pretty weak Theodore. The rest of the first period goes well.. the Hawks seemed to be passing better and getting their shots on net. Halfway thru the first period Skille gets the puck down low and bounces a shot off Theodore then puts the rebound thru his legs to take a 2-0 lead and the game was looking good.

But then another lapse on D near the blue line and Steckel is able to skate down the ice with little to no pressure and get it over to Bradley who knocks the pass into the net. Walker didn't get the pressure on Bradley he should have and someone (Sopel?) let the play develop too far. You can't let the 4th line make you look that bad... playing at the end of a shift isn't an excuse. The theme of not getting enough pressure on the Caps would be a recurring one...

Buff looked good in front of the net and seemed to be pissing off the Caps D and Theodore but he seemed to disappear later in the game.. The box score says he played 11:42 but I barely remember seeing him out there.

Scary break away when Campbell miss plays the puck at the worst time.. as in.. when Ovechkin was right next to him and went on a break away.. Seabrook is able to get a stick in at the last second and take Ovie off his balance.. good penalty..

10-6 advantage in shots after 1... at least they were putting them on the net.. Like Byfuglien those seemed to vanish after the first though

Five minutes into the 2nd Ovechkin shows that you can't give him chances and expect him not to come up big. Sharp misplayed a puck in the offensive zone and Ovie picked it up skated into the Hawks zone.. let Campbell give him too much space (any space is too much for him) and then he rockets it past Khabby.

Towards the end of the Second the Hawks finally started getting some power play chances and the passing looked a lot better than last night, but they still failed to convert Versteeg had a wide open chance but that dreaded ping denied him a goal.

After getting decent pressure on Theodore in the first the Hawks only managed to get 6 shots on the net in the second.

In the third the Hawks started playing the way we've seen too much.. really wild and sloppy. Passes weren't as crisp, they didn't generate any chances and they didn't clear their zone when they needed to.

Ovechkin had a great give and go.. and beat Khabby.. but it hits the post.. they shine a spotlight on him anyway as he skates away from the play.

After a scramble in front of the net.. Khabby grabs the puck out of the air but the Cap start to celebrate - no signal on the ice and play stops... time for our first Toronto War Room Review.. WGN doesn't show any good views of it.. but the signal is goal... Caps take the lead..

A few minutes later Ovechkin gets the puck at the red line and is given all the space he needs to work his way into the zone.. get to the middle and just rifle a shot post Khabby who seemed to be screened by his own players for the second time on the Russians' shot. Any argument someone would have with the third goal is erased.. doesn't matter

Some good chances with Khabby pulled.. but the caps clear.. that was game. Only 5 shots in the third period and the Hawks are outshot 34-21 even after they had taken an early two goal lead.

The good news.. which isn't really all that good depending on how you look at it.. is that Khabby was solid in the net. The first Ovechkin goal was a little weak but he still came up huge in several parts of the game and kept the Hawks in it once they forgot how to shoot. He was quick with the glove and got some big saves. So now what does Savard/Tallon do? At the very least, Khabby seems to have improved his trade possibilities.

Game 2: Washington Capitals

Well.. this game probably isn't what most people were hoping for... this was supposed to be Huet coming back to DC to face the team he practically carried to the playoffs late last season.

Here's the bad news though - Huet performance last night was at best mediocre, some good saves - some really bad ones though that he should have had. Huet is weak glove side and other teams aren't going to hesitate to take advantage of it... Basically, Gunnar Stahl would have no problem with Huet... So the match-up of Huet and the Capitals might not even happen. It wouldn't be surprising to see Khabby make his debut today. So it could be a lose-lose situaiton, either Huet plays and shooters like Ovechkin light him up... or Khabby goes in without even having played a preseason game.

I don't know if there have been any changes from last year, but the ice at the Verizon Center isn't going to help the Hawks much more than MSG's.  It would make sense for the Caps to get a better surface on their own rink since they're a team that relies on speed as well - so lets hope they fixed that.

But it isn't all bad - here's the good news: The capitals looked worse than the Hawks did last night and their new goalie, Jose Theodore, was pulled after giving up 4 goals on 19 shots. The Caps gave up 7 goals in total to the Thrashers - a team that only has one or two good shooters.

The Hawks don't have to worry about the Capitals just sucking to win though - the last time they played the Caps, Khabby was able to keep every shot out of the net in front of a sell out UC crowd which included Tony O. - and an amazing save late in the game that helped us think "maybe Khabby isn't so bad".. at least until his next start.

The Capitals have a great offense, so tightening up our D will be the most important correction to make in this game. The chances were there for the Hawks last game - they just have to finish it. Like Sam said, Versteeg looked good out there and I thought Buff looked even better. The goals will come if they keep generating the chances they got last night. And hey, Havlat made it thru his first game without getting hurt... bonus

Well, 81-1 is still acceptable: Hawks-2, Rangers-4

Not that that's what I'm counting on. Anyway, the Hawks kicked off their season tonight with an effort that can only be described as "meh". Some things to like, some things to not like, much like eating sushi.

The 1st period was clearly the best one put out by the men from the Windy City. Though the Rangers started strong and scored first, after that the Hawks dominated, creating chance after chance. Unfortunately, their finishing was akin to a teenage boy fucking, all over the place except where it's supposed to be. The glass behind Henrik Lundqvist took a beating. The Rangers first goal was a result of 51 Phantom losing a battle behind the net, a common occurrence I fear, and then Skille falling asleep as Redden sneaked in behind him to slam home on of the juicy rebounds that Huet left lying around like a junkie all night. Not encouraging. Tough for Skille, as he, Versteeg, and Bolland were everywhere during the 1st, but unfortunately will go down as a -2 for the evening.

If you were looking for Niklas Hjalmarrson after the 5 minute work, you were left staring into the abyss. Savvy didn't wait long to send a message to his GM that he'd like his #4 d-man back from Rockford, did he?

A sweet rush from 51 Phantom resulted in the Hawks first goal, so let's hope he creates more than he helps let in. From then on, it was pretty much downhill. Keith and Bolland doing an interpretive dance of McCain's economic plan led to another turnover that ended up in the net, and the Sopel thought that looked like fun so he gave one away for another goal. Catfish looked a step, or six, slow all night. Though the Hawks briefly showed some life in the 3rd with a Keith one-timer, that was quickly snuffed out when Zherdev, which I think translates to "prick", was the beneficiary of some questionable goaltending.

On the plus side, the Hawks created their share of chances, and hopefully Savvy will stick with these combos for a bit. Versteeg was also a constant nuisance, so let's hope he can keep it up for a while before someone breaks him. The bad: the D looked like a Chinese Fire Drill, though the awful ice didn't help much. Huet was shaky at best, so that situation is going great so far.

Just the 1st of 82, but let's hope it gets a little better tomorrow in Barack Obama's future home. Well, actually, it's his current home too, I guess, but you get what I'm saying.

Game 1 Preview: Hawks at Rangers

It's finally here. The moment we've waited for ever since the fucking Blues couldn't hold a two goal lead against the Preds last season, ending our season. And what better place to begin than in the World's Most Famous Arena with The World's Worst Ice Surface? Quite frankly, I'll consider the night a moderate success if we can get out of this without anyone blowing out a knee. (Keep an eye on this in the future, the Rangers and Knicks are the only New York teams not moving into a new arena in the next couple years, so they'll probably start bellyaching soon enough. Should be hilarious negotiations on that one.)

In past years, this would be a terrible match-up for the Hawks. The Rangers were conservative, choking space all over the ice, and leaving their premier goalie, King Henrik Lundqvist to win them the game. But no more. With the exits of Messrs. Jagr and Shanahan, decidedly plodders, Tom Renney has decided to ramp up the pace and style for the Blueshirts. With a questionable blue-line, at best, this should play right into the Hawks hands. Add to that that Lundqvist is reportedly not 100%, and it gets better. Add to that that if the Rangers think they won't be suffering from lag from a European adventure, they're sadly mistaken, and things look up for the Hawks even more. Anyone who's done the cross-Atlantic thing knows it'll be more than a few days to feel totally back, and they can ask the Anaheim Ducks if they're not sure. Actually, don't ask the Ducks anything. They do everything so slowly these days waiting for the answer wouldn't be worth it.

All those factors should help cancel out the disturbing reality that Keith is being paired with 51 Phantom, which is moronic to a Alabama-resident level, as they both are left-handed and want to PLAY THE SAME GAME! Also, our 4th best D-man is in Rockford due to our GM's inablility to add, and our starting goalie, who looked unconvincing in preseason, having to look over to the bench to see a goalie being paid more than he is sitting there to combine with the pressure of being a free agent pick up. Good times. But I still expect the Hawks to have a good game tonight, so we'll go with a 5-3 win. Why not?

Season Preview: Jack Skille

Do you think Skille feels ashamed at all that he was picked a year before Toews, two before Kane, but only made the team for the first time this year? I would think that'd be a little awkward.. he was a 7th overall pick afterall

Skille got his first taste of the NHL last season and didn't do that poorly getting 5 points in 16 games, but also got 34 in 59 games for Rockford. No one can fully decide if Skille is going to become a powerful scoring forward, or just stay on a checking line. He doesn't shy away from the physical part of the game, but also has the same kind of problem that Lang has and coasts around, waiting near the neutral zone for an outlet pass.

Skille could be the type of player who is only as good as his linemates - he'll need people to get him the puck and find a defender to take on one-on-one.. I expect the lines to shuffle around a lot and Skille could be one of the players that ends up moving around a lot...

Everyone will want to see Skille put up some numbers while bringing a very physical game and there's hockey on now and the Red Wings are losing so I'm not going to write anymore about him...

Quick update

Ladd has been added to the first line along with Toews and Havlat.. at least until Havlat gets injured. I'm not too sure how well that'll work out.. but at least it'll add some size and physical play to the front line to get space for the other two to work. Keith will be playing with Campbell (holy fuck that's going to be a fast pair) and Seabrook will play with Sopel.

I also saw this on the official site:

The Chicago Blackhawks have claimed defenseman Doug Janik on waivers from the Dallas Stars and have traded him back to the Stars in exchange for a conditional draft pick.

Nice.

Eager gone for 3.. Khabby around for a bit

So two news items from over at Kukla's:

Eager will be gone for 3 games for doing what so many players want to do - taking a swing at Sean Avery. Next time lets hope he remembers to do it with his fist when they're both on the ice, not with his stick when he's sitting on the bench.

I hadn't heard about this until today, but evidently things got pretty out of control during that game. Chris Kuc wrote that Steve Ott threatened to go after Skille and decided Savard was the best person to inform of his plan. When Savard threatened to send everyone after him - Avery showed up and probably informed Savard that his tie didn't match his shoes. First game against the Stars is on Halloween - plan on getting to whatever party your going to a little late because that's going to be a long game.

It also comes as no surprise that Khabby is still being shopped around and the deal could just take some time. Hopefully Khabby can have a decent game or two early in the season so we can ship him off to some other team as soon as possible. If he has a few weak games, we might be screwed. Tallon isn't the best GM, but I refused to take his stance that having two #1 goalies was a luxury as anything more than a giant failure to mask his desire to get rid of the most expensive of his horrible signings. Hopefully that's still the case.

Season Preview: Kris Versteeg

Unfortunately, this is how I see us picking up Versteeg after the middle of the season. God love this kid. He plays a game we'd like to see more Hawks play. He's physical, he's tough, he's unafraid of contact. He lives in the corners, goes to the net, all of it. Problem is at his size, he's a car accident waiting to happen. There is just no way he can play this style a whole season and not be intimately familiar with the Hawks' doctors.

There was a time when the Bruins thought pretty highly of this kid. And he's all we have to show for suffering through Tyler Arnason. (Six degrees of Brandon Bochenski, it's fun to play.) He first season in the AHL, split between Providence and Norfolk, he was over a point a game. He's had a great preseason, and certainly earned his spot on the 3rd line, where he'll start. He seems to have a nose for the net, and frankly we could use all the noses we can get. So let's all pray for Kris, as he's sure to win over Hawk fans quickly.