So What Went Wrong?

Jntg4 said:

LA is good too
/thread

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While true, they were certainly beatable.

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I still would have like to see Regin play more on that 4th line instead of Bollig. I thought he played well enough to keep from being a healthy scratch. Like others have said would like to see a 2C, hopefully Teuvo can be that guy.

DMelt36 said:

If the Hawks four centers next year were, in order, Toews-Teuvo-Kruger-Regin I think that'd be a pretty solid middle.

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I'm highly skeptical that the Hawks plan for next year is Teravainen and his 3 (!) total games of NHL experience as the 2nd line center, especially after all the problems they've had addressing the position--no matter how good of a prospect he is. I think they'll look for a veteran stopgap who Q is comfortable with and who can actually keep up with Kane, and then hope that Teravainen eventually forces his way into the role for good. For a team that will contend for the Cup again next year, I can't see them relying on a totally unproven 21-year old with no solid backup plan.

fatbeard said:

I'm highly skeptical that the Hawks plan for next year is Teravainen and his 3 (!) total games of NHL experience as the 2nd line center, especially after all the problems they've had addressing the position--no matter how good of a prospect he is. I think they'll look for a veteran stopgap who Q is comfortable with and who can actually keep up with Kane, and then hope that Teravainen eventually forces his way into the role for good. For a team that will contend for the Cup again next year, I can't see them relying on a totally unproven 21-year old with no solid backup plan.

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So.... Handzus for another year of arthritis and hockey.... poor geezer, we're never gonna let him die.

DMelt36 said:

While true, they were certainly beatable.

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By a team like the Hawks yes. Just as the Hawks were beatable, by a team like the Kings.

Jntg4 said:

By a team like the Hawks yes. Just as the Hawks were beatable, by a team like the Kings.

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Also true.

But you'll never convince me that the best Hawks' lineup is what took the ice in this series. That's what went wrong.

DMelt36 said:

Also true.

But you'll never convince me that the best Hawks' lineup is what took the ice in this series. That's what went wrong.

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I only read the title of the thread, was just chiming in for Dewey's calls for Bowman to be fired.

Ares said:

No... but people seem to forget there are 2 sides to every coin.... the other team getting aggressive does not mean your team decided to get defensive..... The Hawks don't drive every aspect of every hockey game.... if they did they would never leave their opponents zone and they would score 50 goals a game.

When the other team has the puck you have to play defense..... when they get aggressive in controlling the puck and forcing it in your zone you are forced to play D in your own zone until you can get control of the puck and take it back the other way.

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^ this is so true. Unless a team is totally inept, when they go down by a couple goals they naturally get more aggressive to get back in the game. There ARE two teams playing and in this series they are both very good teams, so you can expect ebbs and flows. Which brings us back to the idiocy of the "playing not to lose" thing. This is not football. There is no "prevent" defense. It's a different sport, played a different way. There are defensive shells that come into play late in the game but no way you see that ever in the first period. I hate it when cliches from other sports are applied to every sport...it just don't work that way.

A couple of errant bounces ... and a failure to regain a 2 goal lead ... not much else to say ... anything else verges on over-reaction (I am mainly referring to the guys paid to write for the papers .... :cough: Rosenbloom).

I might open up a new topic/sorta blog entitled "Notes to Rosenbloom" - because frankly he knows jack #@#% about hockey. And really does this sort of thing have to stand in place of what actually happened?

You know what the difference was? Not the OT goal --- but a blocked shot that went right to an LA guy that was coming back around to get back in front of the net .... and I mean right on the guy's tape ...

that's it ... nothing more. Ok, sure they did hit the post once ...

Also if the Hawks' managed to have made it 3 - 0 instead of going to a one goal lead ... is it a "failure" or a "choke"? I don't know but I think those terms are for teams that never put themselves back into a series... and you can't say that about the Hawks -they should have been done in game 5 or game 6.

However there is the thing about the Hawks who got worse as the season went along... and I imagine they felt they were still good enough -they nearly were -even with no 2nd line center ... not a shut down defensive line and inexplicable rotating in the 6th defenseman (no one plays the platoon system in hockey that I know of ... why bother?).

Bollig- well yes, I mean why ... he is sort of the second coming of Ben Eager who all of a sudden decided to become the second coming of John Scott if John Scott didn't win fights that he rarely got into anyway - the guy got the idea he was a hockey player ... and even then he was not exactly Ben Eager -in the sense of he was going for the Lady Byng ... only if they scored the Lady Byng points on a bit of a curve. I don't really know what purpose the guy serves - but I do know one thing - and this in defense of Versteeg (there isn't going to be much)... but you put Versteeg on a line with a dud like Bollig- and a guy markedly slowing don in Handzus - then it makes a guy like Versteeg even worth less ... to the point where there is no point to having him dressed. That plus, I get the sense that he probably spins some pretty crappy music - not really music to get you in to the right attitude (otoh -since I think Rammstein probably qualifies as that type of music interspersed with INXS, ZZ Top etc ... I guess what I am getting at is - it sounds silly (in a sense it is supposed to be - but at the same time - to me that sort of thing points directly to attitude.

nwfisch said:

Good points and I agree with all of them.

I also think 9 players playing ~200 games of competitive, meaningful hockey since January 2013 had a toll on the roster, and even through the toll, they still came within 1 goal of advancing. A full of season of summer without parades, PR tours, Cup trips etc. might be a benefit for the players for the next 3-5 years.

With that, I really think that this series loss may be better off for the franchise going forward. It gives the players, coaching staff, and executives that renewed sense of commitment to win another Stanley Cup. It was there this year, don't get me wrong, but I believe a heart-breaking, close loss forces a team to retool (i.e. move on from Bollig, Leddy, Zus, etc.) vs winning another cup and remaining relatively complacent.

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This would be valid if it were the guys doing the heavy lifting that let go of the rope. But the guys who played in the Olympics played well in this series.

Last year in the SC finals Crawford had one game where he was lit up but the Blackhawks still won that game. This series he had more games like that. Some of it's bad luck but Crawford let in a lot of bad goals. Even with a bad defense, a goalie at the top of his game shouldn't be letting in so many goals in a game so frequently.

fatbeard said:

I'm highly skeptical that the Hawks plan for next year is Teravainen and his 3 (!) total games of NHL experience as the 2nd line center, especially after all the problems they've had addressing the position--no matter how good of a prospect he is. I think they'll look for a veteran stopgap who Q is comfortable with and who can actually keep up with Kane, and then hope that Teravainen eventually forces his way into the role for good. For a team that will contend for the Cup again next year, I can't see them relying on a totally unproven 21-year old with no solid backup plan.

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They need a solid two way center.

I just think that they were not as good a team this year compared to last year. The defense was not as good. It is really tough to repeat and
They got beat by a lucky bounce at the end of a big game. It truly could have gone either way.

What went wrong?

Q's reliance on players who had no business being on the ice in certain combinations.

Zus is what he is, a smart player and an excellent fourth line guy. The second Kane had a player (Shaw) who could go get him the puck when the Kings clogged up the neutral zone, he took off. Zus surely could dump it in, but he couldnt go chase it. Right there, a little too late, was the series. Rozi was being out worked by Leddy the entire playoffs. He has nothing left. Brookbank looked much better....Brookbank. Bollig shouldnt have never seen the ice after the suspension.

Thats what went wrong. The Hawks need to learn from this and players need to figure out what their roles are once again.


CUBS?

Martini said:

What went wrong?

Q's reliance on players who had no business being on the ice in certain combinations.

Zus is what he is, a smart player and an excellent fourth line guy. The second Kane had a player (Shaw) who could go get him the puck when the Kings clogged up the neutral zone, he took off. Zus surely could dump it in, but he couldnt go chase it. Right there, a little too late, was the series. Rozi was being out worked by Leddy the entire playoffs. He has nothing left. Brookbank looked much better....Brookbank. Bollig shouldnt have never seen the ice after the suspension.

Thats what went wrong. The Hawks need to learn from this and players need to figure out what their roles are once again.


CUBS?

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kane needs a center. thats what he needs.


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Q is too much in love with his pets instead of guys that actually deserved to play.

Morin, Regin, Nordstrom >>> Handshit, Versteeg & Bollig.

Capt. Serious said:

Q is too much in love with his pets instead of guys that actually deserved to play.

Morin, Regin, Nordstrom >>> Handshit, Versteeg & Bollig.

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Except when you watched them play objectively... They really weren't. Nordstrom was getting several scores against because he wasn't getting the puck out and Morin was awful in his games, plus provided nothing offensively but whiffs on open set ups and getting shots blocked

The problem was NONE of the 5/6 of those listed were good enough to fill a depth role this year.

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ClydeLee said:

Except when you watched them play objectively... They really weren't. Nordstrom was getting several scores against because he wasn't getting the puck out and Morin was awful in his games, plus provided nothing offensively but whiffs on open set ups and getting shots blocked

The problem was NONE of the 5/6 of those listed were good enough to fill a depth role this year.

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This x10. Jeremy Morin has reached mythical levels for being nothing but a plug with a better set of wrists. If he is willing to adapt to a fourth line role with the caveat he could move up a line or two if he plays his role, so be it. But the expectations of this turd are embarrassingly high. Nordstrom was bullied so much during the playoffs school teachers and internet watch dogs were up in arms. Either he was being a pest, which it didnt look like, or he is just a softie. Regin was excellent, i give him credit. He was a playoff performer type who rotted away even when, while on the ice, he was giving everything he had. Wasted skill by Q.

CUBS?

Series was lost by the 3rd period debacle in Game 2. Took too long to get our heads out of our asses after that

Martini said:

This x10. Jeremy Morin has reached mythical levels for being nothing but a plug with a better set of wrists. If he is willing to adapt to a fourth line role with the caveat he could move up a line or two if he plays his role, so be it. But the expectations of this turd are embarrassingly high. Nordstrom was bullied so much during the playoffs school teachers and internet watch dogs were up in arms. Either he was being a pest, which it didnt look like, or he is just a softie. Regin was excellent, i give him credit. He was a playoff performer type who rotted away even when, while on the ice, he was giving everything he had. Wasted skill by Q.

CUBS?

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Highly disagree with your assessment of Morin. I thought he and Regin teamed up to be forechecking nightmares for the two weeks that Toews and Kane were out in the regular season. Morin averaged about half a point in his 24 regular season games this year despite rarely cracking 10 minutes of ice time. He can be a productive 3rd or 4th liner in the NHL and then maybe work his way up to the Top 6 some day.

Everything. Blow the whole team up. Start it over. Try again next year.