Sunday, February 28, 2010

Break's over, back to work!

The trade freeze ends tonight at 12 and the Blackhawks have work to do. I've been eagerly reading ESPN's NHL trade rumors every day since before the break to see what might happen in Chicago. I've heard Tim Thomas, Dan Ellis, Marty Turco, Dwayne Roloson, and Tomas Vokoun's names thrown around as possible replacements for Cristobal Huet. There have been times when I've thought, "If this is all that's available, forget it." But Vokoun changes everything. Here is a goalie that is sitting on a .931 save percentage and a 2.36 GAA. Oh yeah, and he plays for Florida, which means he hasn't been getting much help either. Put him on a team who has a good defense, who know what he could do?

The trade that has been rumored is Cristobal Huet, Corey Crawford, and Kris Versteeg from Chicago for Tomas Vokoun and either Dennis Seidenberg or Jordan Leopold coming to Chicago. I have also read that this trade is a totally false rumor. I sure hope not.

Here's why...
This would be a great trade on many levels. First of all, we get rid of the very inconsistent Cristobal Huet. He is one of the big salaries that Chicago really needs to dump, especially because he's not always pulling his weight. Second of all, we're getting an upgrade in goal. Huet has a slightly better goals against average, but is trailing Vokoun in GAA (.903). Thirdly, we would be gaining another good defenseman. Fourthly, we're making more cap space for next year by moving Versteeg. Do I really want to move Versteeg? No, I like him and he's a promising, young player, but we have to make cap space and he's one of the players that we had to pay more money than we wanted because Tallon screwed up this summer. Lastly and leastly, losing Crawford doesn't really affect us, at least right now. He might have been someone we might have called up later, but we're not using him in Chicago right now.

What worries me...
Stan Bowman (GM) has come out and said that he thinks our goalie situation is fine, that we can do just fine with what we have. Quenneville said earlier this week that Niemi has earned the starting spot and he's going to keep it, which would hint that the 'Hawks aren't going to get someone else to be the starter. Huet even spoke this week (like his opinion matters) and said:

"Look at the games to see if we have helped the team win, and I think the answer is yes. Stats are stats. We both have a large number of wins compared to losses and we're pretty much getting the job done.''

Let's not forget one very important stat, Huet's playoff series wins: 0. You might say, "Yeah, but Niemi is gonna be the new starter. So Huet's numbers don't matter." Look at Niemi's track record, though. He's a pretty good goalie for a rookie, but he's not a franchise goalie. Also, his best games are when he's had a long break. When he plays a bunch of consecutive games, he gives up too many goals. Also, you can't realistically count on a rookie to carry you through the playoffs. I don't remember any time in recent memory when a rookie goaltender has won the Stanley Cup. And this is the year we need to win the Stanley Cup. It's our best chance. Don't screw this up, Bowman. Make the trade.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Heading Into the Break


The Blackhawks started off the year strong. REALLY strong. However, they've tailed off lately. Here are my strategies for fixing their problems over the break and down the road.

Goaltending
Everyone is talking about this in Chicago. It seems that the Blackhawks have all the pieces, yet a solid goalie eludes them. Going into this year, I knew that Cristobal Huet wasn't gonna cut it. In fact, when I heard that Niemi was the back up, I said that he would become the starter before the year's end. Has it happened? Not officially, but Niemi has started the last four games, so you tell me. The Blackhawks have won their last four games also; so does that mean that Niemi is our answer. No.

Niemi is good for a rookie. I think he's shocking a lot of people, but he's not a solid starter. Niemi is REALLY good when he's had a long break. It becomes problematic when the Hawks start him 4 times in a row. Notice, the last 3 games have gone to a shootout. Granted, we won those games, but Niemi gave up 3, 4, and 4 goals respectively in those games. This just isn't a satisfactory GAA.

Some may argue that Huet isn't doing much better. However, in the three game losing skid, 4 of the 9 goals Huet allowed were re-directs. You can really expect a goalie to have a high save percentage on those. Also, the loss to Phoenix, Huet only gave up one goal in regulation and OT before we lost in the shootout. Does this mean that I believe Huet is the answer. No.

We need to use both goalies and give them both plenty of breaks. If one goalie is really hot, play him for a few games, but let's not pretend that we have a solid "starter/back-up" rotation, because we don't.

There has been speculation that the Blackhawks might pick up a goalie at the trade deadline. This hasn't happened yet, mostly because there's no one who is any more dependable than Huet out there. This is exactly why Stan Bowman came out and said that the Blackhawks aren't going to trade for a goalie at the deadline and they're gonna ride the season out on what they have.

Is this a death sentence? Maybe. But not necessarily.

What do we do, then?
Play better D. The Blackhawks made an excellent move in trading Cam Barker while he's having a decent season and looking like he's worth the money he's getting paid (first time since we drafted him in the first round). We got an experienced, veteran defenseman who has comparable ability that we can let go after the season and dump salary. Plus, we got another prospect.

Hopefully, this move will mean that we will play a little bit better D.


Stop taking so many penalties. Penalties are killing us right now. Our 6th or 7th ranked penalty kill isn't getting it done right now. Know how to make them play better? Stop making them play at all. Get disciplined and stop taking penalties.

Play 60 minutes. 5 out of the last 8 games, we've gone into extra time. In every case, we had the lead at some point in the game and gave it up (a 3-goal lead in the San Jose game). Once you have the lead, it's not time to stop playing offense. Run up the score. And defense, just because you're ahead doesn't mean your job is done. Take away passing lanes and shooting lanes.

I don't have all the answers and I certainly don't know why a team who was so red-hot at the beginning of the season has suddenly started to falter a little bit, but I think that these are some of our main problems.