Season Preview: Adam Burish

Q: What does Adam Burish have in common with Sam and I?

A: He writes a blog.

Actually, I don't really know, Sam could go starting fights a lot, that could be something those two have in common.

Burish was third in the NHL last year in PIM, just behind Jared Boll of Columbus. Burish and Wiz were the main fighters on the team (don't even bother to mention Koci).

Just because he fights a lot, doesn't mean Burish is any good at it yet though. According to Hockey Fights voters, of the 16 fights he was in last season, Burish had a record of 4-8-4 - I'm actually giving him a victory in a fight that doesn't have enough votes to count yet because he rocked the guy.

Hopefully, Burish will get better at fighting or learn to focus on something else because right now the only thing he excels at right now is get punched in the face. He scored only 8 points in 81 games and was -13 for the season.

That's not to say that Burish is a bad guy to have on your team though. He plays a roll on the Hawks and he does it reasonably well. He's certainly not afraid to drop the gloves and probably wants to get better at it (at least if the first three posts on his blog are any indication).

I think Burish has potential to do better, both at fighting and at scoring. He put up 21 points in a season in the AHL two years agoand averaged around 20 points in college. Anything over 15 points here would be a big welcome addition. With Adams gone now too he'll need to step up at center..




The fight above shows the main reason I like having Burish on the team. This was in early February after the Hawks had just gone a miserable 4-9-1 and needed some sort of spark. Burish helped by getting in 3 fights in 4 games, all within the first 2 and half minutes of the game and the hawks managed to get 4 points in the 3 games he started off with fights.

Ritchie and Burish had fought earlier in the year and Burish was pumped for a second chance. The video cuts it off but you can see Burish smiling and if memory serves, he was yelling the whole way to the box. Not at Ritchie, but just because he was happy to do his job and excited about the fight.

For all those expecting Khabby to be gone tomorrow...

Don't get your hopes up. Niemi, along with Barker and Aaron Johnson were sent to Rockford while Kevyn Adams was released and Lindstrom was claimed off waivers.

That puts the Hawks at the maximum 23 players - 13 forwards, 8 D, 2 goalies.

I doubt anyone really expects Khabby to be staying long but it does make you wonder if a deal they were hoping to get, either with the KHL or NHL, fell through. Once Khabby does go somewhere else (please god let it be soon) I'd expect Niemi to get the call back up and I doubt Barker will go long without getting called up most likely with Hjalmarsson going down. Those two could be going back and forth a lot this year unless one steps up.

I'm surprised to see Fraser beat out Adams.. but what the hell do I know?

It's also good to see Sharp and Kane tied on top of the leaderboards for the preseason for goals and assists, respectively.

Just a few more days now.. The Rangers are 2-0 on the season, but that's against the All-Forward, mostly Penguin rejects of Tampa Bay...

Season Preview: Martin Havlat

I don't think there are many of us out there who aren't excited about this year's team and if you aren't, please feel free to speak up sometime... I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that most of what this team will do this year will have to be done without the help of Martin Havlat.

It's not that we don't think he's good - we know he's good - it's that we also know he's got a shoulder made out of glass and is just dying to get out there and strain a groin, hamstring or gernally just hurt himself. He's like Kerry Wood but without any equivalent of a 20 strike-out game.

This next line is going to sound very familiar to everyone - If Havlat can stay healthy, he is going to bring a big scoring presence to our second line and could be key to the Hawks' playoff chances. What's different now, is that the team is expecting to make the playoffs even without his help. He's house-money at this point - even if his salary is still on our books - if he can somehow avoid injuring himself he'll be a big piece in the playoff race - if (when) he does get hurt though, the team should be able to get by without him though it'll be a lot harder.

In the few games he's played this preseason, Havlat is doing well, especially last night, scoring with less than half a second in regulation to tie the game up. If he can be a scoring threat and maybe get close to a point per game getting to the playoffs will be a much easier road.

Season Preview: Dustin Byfuglien

And yes, I can spell that without even looking it up now. Quite simply, Buff is one of the key masters to this Hawks season (along with Havlat and Bolland.). When the monster from Minnehaha was moved to forward he scored at a 30-goal-a-season clip. Because of Tallon's fun-with-numbers style of GM'ing, he's going to have to keep that up for our forward line to resemble an actual playoff team's. The signs are encouraging. All reports out of camp are that he's slimmed down, worked his ass off, and his playing more physical. All of this is good. Judged by watching his performance last night which I witnessed, this is all true.

Buff needs to play with a mean-streak. In today's game, where defensemen and NFL cornerbacks meet in support groups to figure out why the world's against them, Buff should be unstoppable. He has the same problem that you see some people say about LeBron James, in that he needs to get his ass near the goal. Buff should be blotting out the sun like Persian arrows to goalies, and then simply outmuscling any opponent for rebounds and tons of garbage goals. Bertuzzi made a career of this, and then just the thought of this after he became a criminal and lost his edge. A second PP unit of him in front with Havlat on the wing would be a strong force. Hopefully, Buff is really angry about the economic downturn or the war in Iraq, and we see the streak every night.

Season Preview: If Love is Blind I Guess I'll PATRICK KANE

Our only #1 draft pick ever, and he made that season of shit earning that draft slot worth it. Quite frankly, I didn't expect much from Crazy 88 before last season. I had seen the juniors, but I looked at his size and age, and though a Phil Kessel-minus-cancer season was in store. He would have great games here and there, tantalize us with a move or pass every so often, but also be overwhelmed in his own zone, get physically pounded, and mostly struggle to find his place.

I knew I was wrong from Opening Night in Minnesota. Though we didn't bother to score, he was the best player on the ice wearing the Indian Head that night. His vision was in ample evidence, and he displayed the best pair of hands that I've ever seen on a Hawk. Though he went through a goal drought to start the season, he was piling up helpers like the apocalypse was coming. He rarely stopped all season, and even chipped in his share of big goals, topping with his tour de force in the dismantling of the Wings at home during the last week of the season.

But to expect more from Kane this season seems iffy. Sure, he's bulked up, will be stronger, knows the league better, and for God's sake will hopefully shoot more. But he will see the top pair from the opponents every night. Sophomore slumps strike all. Ideally, he'll balance this out with greater PP scoring, as 51 Phantom should open some more room on the blue line. We shall see...

Season Preview: Andrew Ladd

Ladd came to the blackhawks at the trade deadline last year for Tuomo Ruutu. The trade actually seemed to work for both teams since both players upped their numbers. In 43 games with the Hurricanes last season Ladd had 18 points, in just 20 with the Hawks he had 12.

The Ladd/Ruutu trade really just seemed to be one of the trades GMs make just because they want to do something. Both players were underperforming and were of pretty equal talent level and they brought a very physical game on the ice. Ladd doesn't hit people quite as often as Ruutu does but is still very capable of laying someone out.

Although Ladd has only played in 3 seasons, he's one of the few Hawks who have won the cup. Normally you'd think that someone who has thier name of the cup could provide a lot of leadership for the young team - but Ladd himself is only 22 and played very few games with the Hurricanes team that won the cup in '06.

Ladd will proably up his point total some more this year but not by much. He's actually scored more every year he's played, so there's still hope for him to live up to his first round pick potential. Right now though, he'll probably play on the third line and be pretty decent there.

Hockey officially starts tomorrow

Keep that in mind all of you who also follow baseball.. Neither of our teams are out of it yet either.. though it doesn't look good for the cubs at all.

Since the season starts so soon we'll be flying through the rest of our player previews and of course writing about any options for The Bulin Wall.. how great is it though that he might actually go back to Russia, just like everyone has yelled at least once from the 300 level of the UC.

In other news.. if anyone sees this guy walking around chicago today, please, beat the everliving shit out of him.. no one will deserve it more, maybe not even Detroit fans

Fuck LA

Season Preview: Patrick Sharp

My ex-girlfriend last year said that if she had a chance to go back to prom, and could ask any hawk to go with her, she'd pick Patrick Sharp. Why she would think about going to prom at 23 years old and why exactly she'd pick Sharp I wasn't too clear on, but it's probably because he's a good lookin' guy who had a phenomenal year.

Season	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PP	SH	GW	S	S%
2007-2008	80	36	26	62	23	55	9	7	7	209	17.2

Playing on a line with Kane and Toews certainly seemed to agree with Sharp. He had career highs in goals, assists, and points. In fact he almost doubled his career high in points - 62 up from 35 the year before. Sharp was second on the Hawks in points behind Kane.

The Hawks lack of depth at center could be one of the biggest set backs for Sharp this year. It seems Sharp might drop down to center the second line now instead of playing on the wing like he did last year. Sharp has played center before, so it won't be a huge change for him - a lot of reference sites still have him listed as a center actually. It'll be interesting to see if Sharps great season last year was a product of who he was playing with, or if he really is coming into his prime. I suspect it's a bit of both but he'll still be a key player this year. Sharp was a beast on the Kill last year and led the NHL in short handed goals at 7 (tied with Alfredsson).

One thing I always seem to forget (maybe you do too) is that Sharp is only 26 years old. He has room to improve having only played over 50 games in a year three times now. Behind the choice of Toews, I could have easily seen the C going to Sharp as he is a leader on this team.

Not that it really matters or counts for anything, but Sharp was overlooked at the start of last year and should have gone to the All-Star Game.. Now fantasy hockey magazines are advertising articles like "Who will be this year's Sharp?" He's made a name for himself in the league now, lets see what he can do.

Kane Commercials

I was tempted to write "Kane Kommercials" up there for about half a second - then I realized just how ghey it would be.

Two new commericals featuring Kane.. I would have thought Toews would have deserved at least one...

Surprises? nope

So I'm out of town all weekend without any real access to the internet/cable and what happens? The Hawks finally did something about their goalie problems and put Khabby on waivesr.

Of course in his moment to finally claim the starting position as his own, Huet lets in 7 goals against the fucking Blue Jackets.. atta boy.

In other news - Koci got his ass kicked again