Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Why the Kings Will Land Carter or Nash

It's beyond obvious that the Kings lack offensive power. The problem first came to light last season, but has never been more apparent than now. Averaging a mere 2.07 goals per game, the Kings have the fewest Goals For in the league. The only thing that has kept them in the hunt for the playoffs is strong defense and fantastic goaltending. However, goalies and defenses need scoring to be worth anything. This fact is well-illustrated by their five 1-0 losses this season. And seemingly every attempt to fix the problem has blown up in the Kings' faces.

Last season's bid was on Dustin Penner. After tallying 21 goals and 18 assists in 62 games with the lowly Edmonton Oilers, the hockey world shook its head as Penner was only able to muster 2 goals and 4 assists in the final 19 games of the season. This season hasn't been much better. In 44 games this season, Penner has only been able to gather 3 more goals and 4 more assists than he did in his stint with the Kings last year. The former 30-goal scorer is now a punchline that further frustrates L.A.

In the offseason, the Kings continued their search for scoring. They seemed to have found their answer by being the recipient of part of Philadelphia's roster explosion this summer. I was among the many that was shocked by the Flyers sending their captain to L.A. Mike Richards started the year off well by scoring 13 goals before Christmas, seemingly headed for a 30-goal season. Since then, however, Richards has only tallied once, ONCE!

A few years ago, Los Angeles was just happy to make the postseason. Having made the playoffs two years in a row and subsequently making hasty exits, the Kings are no longer satisfied with just making an appearance. And with the way things are going, though, they're not even promised a spot in the dance. Pressure has never been higher on the Kings' front office to make a move as the the February 28th trade deadline draws nearer.

As mentioned in a former post, this year's trade landscape has been rather barren. Few teams think they are far enough out of the playoff race to discount themselves as contender and to begin building for next year. One team that IS, without a doubt, out of the hunt is Columbus and they are shopping two large offensive pieces that could be of great use to the Kings. The Kings will surely land one of them.

Also mentioned in a previous post, the Blue Jackets needs are in the areas of goaltending and defense. Luckily for the Kings, they have a wealth of both. Jonathan Quick is a stud, as we all should know, and his dominance has made it hard for the Kings to give Jonathan Bernier a chance to show his worth. It's obvious that the Kings don't need a goalie tandem and trade speculations have included his name for over a year now. Columbus would be more than happy to have another option in net besides "Sieve" Mason, Allen York (equally terrible), and Curtis Sanford (currently injured).

However, it's unlikely that Bernier would be enough to draw Jeff Carter or Rick Nash out of Columbus's hands. Not a problem. The Kings' defense includes Drew Doughty, Davis Drewiske, Jack Johnson, Matt Greene, Rob Scuderi, Willie Mitchell, and Alec Martinez. That doesn't even include promising youngster, Slava Voynov. The Kings could spare one not named Doughty for the sake of adding offense.

However, there is the tricky situation of whether Carter or Nash WANT to come to L.A. Nash has a no-trade clause and seems to be a little less willing to waive it to go to L.A. rather than one of his other suitors, the ever-promising Rangers or the Kings division rival, San Jose. However, Carter has been MORE than willing to leave Columbus since he showed up. Another piece of shrapnel from Philly's roster bomb, Carter had trouble accepting the fact that he had been traded from a contender to a team that had only seen the postseason once (and they didn't even see much of it then) in it's 11-year history. Since then, Carter has attempted to make the most of things and wait for his chance to escape. Add to the equation the fact that his former teammate, Richards, plays for the Kings and this just became interesting.

The Kings can't afford to attempt finishing the season without scoring help. Columbus can't afford to pass up a chance for solid defensive help as well as goaltending. And Carter can't afford wasting another season in Columbus. So watch Carter go to L.A. before Tuesday. Book it.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Roy Makes Sense at the Right Price

With the trade deadline looming, there have been much fewer trades and trade rumors than there have have been in most years. Reasons for this include the fact that there is much more league parity than there has been in the past. 12th place in the West is only 5 points from being the final slot in the playoffs. And 13th in the East is only 8 points out of 8th position. Additionally, as Lyle Richardson of The Hockey News noted, with the CBA set to expire in September, GMs are wary of adding too much cap without knowing the cap limit for next year. So when there are trade rumors, hockey fans lean forward and take notice. One rumor that has me perking my ears up is the continual murmur that the Blackhawks are pursuing a trade for Derek Roy.

But does adding Derek Roy make sense for the Hawks?

Since the beginning of the year, the hockey minds have all been pointing at the Hawks' lack of depth down the middle. "They need a second-line center," they would say. Toews is the obvious first-line center. Dave Bolland, being an energy guy and a scrappy player is an obvious third-line center. Marcus Kruger really was too inexperienced to be on the second-line, so he was pushed to the fourth line. Sharp used to play center, but after his explosive year back at left wing last year, the Hawks were unwilling to move him to center again. Strapped for options, the Hawks decided to put Kane at center. Despite my doubts, Kane actually did very well at center. But after Kane's numbers started to drop off, the Hawks put him back at right wing. Since then, Andrew Shaw has been a pleasant surprise in Chicago, but like Kruger, his inexperience makes him an unlikely solution as a second-line center. With the trade deadline nearing, it's time to start looking for that second-line center again.

In January, Chicago made a small blip in the trade market by acquiring Brendan Morrison. As a veteran, Morrison could center the second line and possibly help teach some of the young players to be better two-way players. However, with very little offensive upside, being 36 years old, and being due for a new contract next year, Morrison is unlikely to be an answer beyond this season.

Derek Roy missed most of last season with a leg injury, ending a streak of 20+ goals per season at 4 years. Roy's numbers are down this year, too. Posting only 11 goals in 53 games, Roy is on pace for only 17 goals this season. However, this could help the Hawks make a more affordable trade. The Hawks have a depth of promising, young players who might be enticing for the Sabres. Jeremy Morin, Brandon Saad, Brandon Pirri, and Jimmy Hayes are great guys to have in the system, but the fact is that the Hawks don't have room to promote them all and won't have room for some time. If the Hawks are able to pair one of these guys with one of our current roster players, the Hawks could have one of the pieces they need to make a strong playoff push.

Stalberg might also be a nice trade piece for Roy. Stalberg has more goals than Roy this season and seems to be showing signs of the player the Hawks thought they were getting when they traded for him prior to the 2010-11 season. Also, the Sabres are thin at LW right now. With Cody McCormick down, the Sabres only have three left wings. Although Stalberg has been a nice surprise this year, his loss would not compare to the potential gain of being stronger up the middle. A lot has been made of the Hawks' weakness on D (a very valid point), but think about the potential defensive upside of adding another talented center. A good center is able to win faceoffs, keeping the puck off of opponents' sticks, they can backcheck and help the defense, and they can score and dish the puck. Roy could meet all these needs and bring the Hawks back into the discussion of Cup contenders this year.

Friday, February 3, 2012

The Plan

The Blackhawks have struggled lately, leading many to wonder, "What the hell is going on?" Well, here is your Spencer Hansen-approved checklist of what needs to happen.

Sit Corey Crawford
In several situations, the Hawks have tied their own hands by refusing to bench the players they WANT to be good in favor of those that are actually playing well. Corey Crawford was replaced for a time by Ray Emery in early-mid December while Crawford tried to figure out what he was doing wrong. Emery played excellently while Hawks fans sat there with a knot in their stomach. Not because Emery wasn't playing well (he played excellently), but because everyone had this feeling of, "I thought Crawford was our guy. We just paid him. What are we supposed to do if he becomes the backup?" So what we did was gave Corey some time off, but eventually stuck him back in there because we WANTED him to be the guy.

So what am I saying? Crow isn't the guy? No, but he's not the guy right now. I don't know what his problem is, but he's not what he was last year and that isn't going to cut it. What the Hawks need to do is truly go with the hot hand. Play Emery consistently with a few breaks until he starts to slip. Continually plugging in a guy with nearly a 3 GAA and watching him get pounded isn't helping anyone.

Sit Bickell and Frolik, too
Bickell is another guy that the Hawks have kept allegiance to without much reason. He plays night in and night out, doing little or nothing besides taking penalties. Frollik plays hard, but really doesn't make anything happen either. The problem is that the Hawks are paying Frolik $3M this year and are not likely to waste money by sitting him. However, Bryan Bickell is only pulling down what must be the league minimum, $525K. What is there to lose by sitting Bickell? Sending him down to Rockford would require him clearing waivers, but who would honestly take him? And if they do, so what? Why not bring up Jeremy Morin, who's probably one of the best prospects we have in the system? And if you feel like you can handle bench Frolik for a game or two, I think Jimmy Hayes was doing just fine in Chicago. Well, him and Ben Smith.

Deal for a defenseman NOW
It's been tough to deal at the deadline this year, mostly because everyone seems to think they're in the hunt. However, the Hawks need to make a trade for a defenseman happen NOW. Trading Brian Campbell was a necessity because of his ridiculous contract, but his absence has had a well-documented negative effect on the Hawks. (Go look at how the Hawks did when Campbell was out with a broken collarbone in the spring of 2010). Towards the end of last season, I thought that Chris Campoli would be a good replacement. He was fast and could play the power play. However, Campoli had an over-inflated view of his value and argued his way out of Chicago.

The Hawks don't need another Brian Campbell or Chris Campoli, but they need someone else who doesn't suck. Similar to Corey Crawford, Nick Leddy had an excellent year last year, but his sub-par performance in addition to Nik Hjalmarsson's disappointment leaves the Hawks terribly thin at the blue line, and it shows.

Find a way to get Patrick Kane on fire
The Hawks simply can't survive without their stars scoring. Kane is a tremendously streaky player, but this has to be one of the worst streaks of his career. Quenneville is a masert at shifting lines and here's a change I'd like to see him implement. Put Kane on a line with Andrew Shaw. Remember how Kane was on a line with Carcillo? Carcillo made sure to check people and keep them off of Kane long enough for him to score. Shaw is player who has shown similar grit and enough scoring potential to play on a line high enough to be paired with Kane.

Implement one or more of these changes and watch the Hawks dominate the second half.