Blackhawks '19-'20

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#226      

Illiniaaron

Geneseo, IL
As much as I used to hate the Dead Wings I feel kind of sorry for them now. A measly 35 points and a goal differential of -120. :poop:
 
#227      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
As much as I used to hate the Dead Wings I feel kind of sorry for them now. A measly 35 points and a goal differential of -120. :poop:

Not me! I can never feel sorry for them.
 
#229      
If the NHL season resumes, the Blackhawks may be a playoff team.

24 team Playoff

Hmmm...a 5% chance of winning the lottery or having to win 2 straight games to get into the playoffs. Tough call on which would be best for the long term. I'm desperate enough for playoff hockey that I think I'd roll the dice on getting into the tournament.
 
#230      
Blackhawks have fired team president and CEO John McDonough, who had been with the team since 2007 and was seen as the architect of their Cup winning teams in last decade.

Some of the stuff I'm seeing out of Chicago is this may not be the last move made with the front office, with perhaps GM Stan Bowman being moved into a different role in the front office.
 
#231      
Blackhawks have fired team president and CEO John McDonough, who had been with the team since 2007 and was seen as the architect of their Cup winning teams in last decade.

Some of the stuff I'm seeing out of Chicago is this may not be the last move made with the front office, with perhaps GM Stan Bowman being moved into a different role in the front office.

It seems like strange timing, but maybe Rocky planned to do it at the end of another non-playoff season and now this feels like the end to him. I think he had previously stated that Bowman and Colliton would be back. Hopefully this move does mean other changes are coming.

Semantics maybe, but I wouldn't call McD the architect of those teams. He was the business/marketing guy. I'd give him credit for getting the home games on TV, bringing the Hawk legends back into the fold, and dramatically increasing the profile of hockey in Chicago, but I wouldn't credit him with the actual on-ice performance. I have heard people who assign him a significant share of the blame for recent on-ice failures, but that doesn't make any sense to me without crediting him for the previous success.
 
#232      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
Blackhawks have fired team president and CEO John McDonough, who had been with the team since 2007 and was seen as the architect of their Cup winning teams in last decade.

Some of the stuff I'm seeing out of Chicago is this may not be the last move made with the front office, with perhaps GM Stan Bowman being moved into a different role in the front office.

Was reading where there may have been a power struggle between Danny Wirtz and McD. Well, maybe more of a clash of personalities. So, out goes McD. Maybe McD ends up in the NHL office and ends up being commissioner one day...
 
#233      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
It seems like strange timing, but maybe Rocky planned to do it at the end of another non-playoff season and now this feels like the end to him. I think he had previously stated that Bowman and Colliton would be back. Hopefully this move does mean other changes are coming.

Semantics maybe, but I wouldn't call McD the architect of those teams. He was the business/marketing guy. I'd give him credit for getting the home games on TV, bringing the Hawk legends back into the fold, and dramatically increasing the profile of hockey in Chicago, but I wouldn't credit him with the actual on-ice performance. I have heard people who assign him a significant share of the blame for recent on-ice failures, but that doesn't make any sense to me without crediting him for the previous success.

Agreed, the franchise was in a dire straights in the before he got there. He definitely helped the Wirtz family make lots of money, to getting the games on TV, the legends (as you said on both above), the Windy City Classic at Wrigley Field and other winter classics, hosting the NHL draft. Of course, it's easy to market when your team is in the process of winning three cups in 6 years but he did put the Chicago franchise at or near the top of all NHL franchises during the time he was there.

I hope the Hawks use the Cubs business model going forward: baseball operations (Theo) and baseball business operations (Kenney) are separate and don't cross streams. I think if the Hawks follow that model, there will be less of a chance of them slipping back to what they were before McD came on board. Granted, the old man is gone but nepotism hasn't worked very well for the Hawks.
 
#234      
Would be curious to see how many think Bowman should be back. Personally on the fence. I give him credit for the latter two cups, though Talon deserves a good chunk. He's bit himself with NTCs and big money contracts to questionable contributors, but he's at least an average GM--which is honestly nothing to scoff about.

Just seems like his time to go. Change for changes sake is bad, but I'm not sure he's the GM to build a team back, though the progress so far has been admirable.
 
#235      
Would be curious to see how many think Bowman should be back. Personally on the fence. I give him credit for the latter two cups, though Talon deserves a good chunk. He's bit himself with NTCs and big money contracts to questionable contributors, but he's at least an average GM--which is honestly nothing to scoff about.

Just seems like his time to go. Change for changes sake is bad, but I'm not sure he's the GM to build a team back, though the progress so far has been admirable.

I'd be good with a change at GM. Nothing against Stan, but it's the nature of the business that if you hang around long enough your mistakes accumulate. I thought he did a good job this past off season improving the biggest weaknesses of the 2018-9 team, namely the goaltending and penalty kill, but then the power play went flat and the team just seemed to be less than the sum of its parts.

At the end of the day it's about results. They haven't been there the past 3 years and it's not like they were super close.
 
#236      
Agreed, the franchise was in a dire straights in the before he got there. He definitely helped the Wirtz family make lots of money, to getting the games on TV, the legends (as you said on both above), the Windy City Classic at Wrigley Field and other winter classics, hosting the NHL draft. Of course, it's easy to market when your team is in the process of winning three cups in 6 years but he did put the Chicago franchise at or near the top of all NHL franchises during the time he was there.

I hope the Hawks use the Cubs business model going forward: baseball operations (Theo) and baseball business operations (Kenney) are separate and don't cross streams. I think if the Hawks follow that model, there will be less of a chance of them slipping back to what they were before McD came on board. Granted, the old man is gone but nepotism hasn't worked very well for the Hawks.

I forgot about the Winter Classic. That was the perfect event at the perfect time for the franchise. There were some obvious things to be done after the old man died, but i really think McD did an exceptional job and, like you said, the winning obviously helped. But even with the winning I never dreamed hockey would be this big in Chicago.

If they bring Pulford back we'll know they've reverted to their old ways. :giggle:
 
#237      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
Would be curious to see how many think Bowman should be back. Personally on the fence. I give him credit for the latter two cups, though Talon deserves a good chunk. He's bit himself with NTCs and big money contracts to questionable contributors, but he's at least an average GM--which is honestly nothing to scoff about.

Just seems like his time to go. Change for changes sake is bad, but I'm not sure he's the GM to build a team back, though the progress so far has been admirable.

I don’t have a problem with him staying. I would guess he’s probably in the meaty part of the curve when compared to the other GMs during his tenure.

edit: his staff was/is good at finding European talent, and been probably average at the draft.
 
#238      

Illiniaaron

Geneseo, IL
I just don't get all the Bowman love. Whatever tinkering he did to the roster once he became GM, there would have been zero Cups without the core group that Tallon put together. Tallon does get criticism for handling the cap poorly, but Bowman didn't do much better. It seems like every year he was having to trade young good talent along with bad contracts he had made or to correct poor cap decisions. There are a lot of stories coming out now that McDonough was weirdly heavy-handed in his dealings with personnel in the front office and with some players.
 
#239      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
I just don't get all the Bowman love. Whatever tinkering he did to the roster once he became GM, there would have been zero Cups without the core group that Tallon put together. Tallon does get criticism for handling the cap poorly, but Bowman didn't do much better. It seems like every year he was having to trade young good talent along with bad contracts he had made or to correct poor cap decisions. There are a lot of stories coming out now that McDonough was weirdly heavy-handed in his dealings with personnel in the front office and with some players.

I'll take the opposite approach: I don't get all the Bowman hate and I'd say there are a lot more people that hate Bowman than love him. Yes, Dale Tallon drafted Kane and Toews. His 2005 draft was bad, no NHL players other than Niklas Hjalmarsson which was a steal in the 4th. 2006 only produced Toews (home run), 2007 only Kane (another HR). 2008 only Ben Smith in the 6th round made it to the NHL (horrible draft). Not sure if he supervised the 2009 draft but only Brandon Pirri (cup of coffee) and Kruger (solid) saw time in the NHL. He also was the GM when they forgot to submit their paperwork for qualifying offers for RFAs, costing them millions more. Great trading for Sharp, Havlat, Versteeg. Campbell signing was for a lot of cash and he eventually needed to be dumped to clear cap space. John Maddon signing was good, too.

If you look at Bowman's drafts, 2010 produced 2 NHL players (Hayes and Johns), 2011 produced three (Shaw, Saad and Danualt), 2012 two NHL players (Teravainan and Hinostroza), 2013 four NHL players (Hartman, Dahlstrom, Motte and Hayden), 2014 one with any impact (Schmaltz), 2015 one NHL player, 2016 one (DeBrincat), 2017 one (Jokiharju), 2018: Boqvist and Beaudin and 2019: Dach. You could make an argument that Bowman has drafted better than Tallon. Remains to be seen how much impact Dach, Boqvist and others in that group make so we'll have to look at that in a few years. He only had one top three pick whereas Tallon had two and one was the first overall.

Yes, Bowman traded Danault and he traded Teravainan in a sweetener to move Bickell. He did trade a first round pick for Vermette in 2015 which was worth it and a first round pick in 2016 for Andrew Ladd (didn't work out). He's really good at finding European talent (Panarin, Kubalik, Kahun).

Bowman had to retool after trading guys after the 2010 cup due to salary cap issues and won two more cups and were within one goal of winning three in a row. While I don't love Bowman, I don't think he's as bad as people think he is. And I don't think Dale is as good as people think he is, either. He seems to be a good builder but not able to get his teams to take the next step.

Anyway, I probably won't change your mind so I'll agree to disagree.
 
#240      
I'll take the opposite approach: I don't get all the Bowman hate and I'd say there are a lot more people that hate Bowman than love him. Yes, Dale Tallon drafted Kane and Toews. His 2005 draft was bad, no NHL players other than Niklas Hjalmarsson which was a steal in the 4th. 2006 only produced Toews (home run), 2007 only Kane (another HR). 2008 only Ben Smith in the 6th round made it to the NHL (horrible draft). Not sure if he supervised the 2009 draft but only Brandon Pirri (cup of coffee) and Kruger (solid) saw time in the NHL. He also was the GM when they forgot to submit their paperwork for qualifying offers for RFAs, costing them millions more. Great trading for Sharp, Havlat, Versteeg. Campbell signing was for a lot of cash and he eventually needed to be dumped to clear cap space. John Maddon signing was good, too.

If you look at Bowman's drafts, 2010 produced 2 NHL players (Hayes and Johns), 2011 produced three (Shaw, Saad and Danualt), 2012 two NHL players (Teravainan and Hinostroza), 2013 four NHL players (Hartman, Dahlstrom, Motte and Hayden), 2014 one with any impact (Schmaltz), 2015 one NHL player, 2016 one (DeBrincat), 2017 one (Jokiharju), 2018: Boqvist and Beaudin and 2019: Dach. You could make an argument that Bowman has drafted better than Tallon. Remains to be seen how much impact Dach, Boqvist and others in that group make so we'll have to look at that in a few years. He only had one top three pick whereas Tallon had two and one was the first overall.

Yes, Bowman traded Danault and he traded Teravainan in a sweetener to move Bickell. He did trade a first round pick for Vermette in 2015 which was worth it and a first round pick in 2016 for Andrew Ladd (didn't work out). He's really good at finding European talent (Panarin, Kubalik, Kahun).

Bowman had to retool after trading guys after the 2010 cup due to salary cap issues and won two more cups and were within one goal of winning three in a row. While I don't love Bowman, I don't think he's as bad as people think he is. And I don't think Dale is as good as people think he is, either. He seems to be a good builder but not able to get his teams to take the next step.

Anyway, I probably won't change your mind so I'll agree to disagree.
Great post. Comparing Tallon and Bowman is not apples to apples. Their tenures are complete contrasts to one another. Both deserve credit and shame for respective moves. IMO, the Hawks caught the perfect storm of two different GMs. Tallons draft positions made it so he could draft elite guys and he had the capital and ability to make signings and trades for top flight guys. Bowman inherited a ton of talent, and kept the cup window open. There were a ton of bad moves he could've made that would've sunk the team. He gets berated for poor drafts, but it's hard to argue that he did find quality guys drafting in the high 20s (something that isn't easy).

I give each guy 1.5 of those cups. I would probably still lean Tallon in overall reason why we won anything, but staying the course isn't something to devalue Bowman's tenure for. I think if you dock Bowman points for not keeping the window open longer, or winning more during it, you can't give Tallon as much credit for drafting Kane/Toews. I think Toews was the best pick at 3, but Backstrom and Kessel were picked right after him. While the intangibles obviously favor Toews, those guys could've easily been great additions to the team. Kane was taken 1st overall. I don't remember the talk and plenty have screwed up that pick, but there was also talent shortly after him. In other words, drafting 3rd and 1st overall--you should be getting elite if not generational talent.

Tallon gets the credit for pulling the trigger on the two, but I don't think either pick was something at least 50% of the GMs in the league wouldn't have done.
 
#241      
Latest rumored return for NHL season is to go straight to a 24-team, conference based playoff format in two "hub" cities with 12 teams from each conference making it. The seeding, which will be determined by the standings points percentage, will see the top 4 seeds in each conference getting a first round bye though they would play a three-game tournament between each other during the play-in round in order to avoid any rustiness from those teams once they do get the opportunity to play in the conference quarterfinals. Those teams seeded 5-12 would play a best-of-five series with the winners then advancing to the conference quarterfinals with the best-of-seven series we see now.

Based on this scenario, the Blackhawks would play Edmonton in the play-in round with the winner of that series than taking on Dallas in the conference quarterfinals.
 
#242      
Latest rumored return for NHL season is to go straight to a 24-team, conference based playoff format in two "hub" cities with 12 teams from each conference making it. The seeding, which will be determined by the standings points percentage, will see the top 4 seeds in each conference getting a first round bye though they would play a three-game tournament between each other during the play-in round in order to avoid any rustiness from those teams once they do get the opportunity to play in the conference quarterfinals. Those teams seeded 5-12 would play a best-of-five series with the winners then advancing to the conference quarterfinals with the best-of-seven series we see now.

Based on this scenario, the Blackhawks would play Edmonton in the play-in round with the winner of that series than taking on Dallas in the conference quarterfinals.
Hopefully that square this away in the next couple of days! I wonder how this would impact the draft lottery though
 
#243      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
Hopefully that square this away in the next couple of days! I wonder how this would impact the draft lottery though

Only the teams that don't make the round of 24 would be eligible for the draft lottery is what I heard.
 
#245      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
My favorite thing about this scenario is that every Central team makes the playoffs.
Bad thing is that most likely, Hawks get dumped in the first round. and no lottery to boot. is is a deep draft but 1-7 seem to be >>>> 8 and lower.

having said that, always good to get the young guys playoff experience.
 
#248      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
Hawks V Oilers, place, date and time TBD.
 
#250      
NHL's "Return to Play" plan:

-24 teams based on regular season points percentage
-Regular season is complete
-2 hub cities for playoffs; Among those being considered include Chicago, Dallas, Edmonton, Vegas, L.A., Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Vancouver in the West and Columbus, Pittsburgh, and Toronto in the East.
-Each team is limited to 50 personnel in the hub city.
 
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