I’m not against Hagel lining up with Kubi/Toews. His speed and forecheck would be a solid edition to those two. The great thing about Toews is he knows what Kubi is and feeds him the puck for that insane shot. On top of Toews being great at faceoffs
IMHO it's worth a shot. We've seen Brower/Toews/Kane among other combos where the 3rd is not an offensive juggernaut but willing to do the dirty work. Plus, I do think if Noob has a decent set-up man (and Toews at least was decent his last sting on the ice), I think Koob's O-numbers can climb.
I think you see a shelter line of Cat/Strome/Kane. You can’t take Cat away from Kane now. Strome is just a warm body but can cheat a bit with Seth now.
I could see Strome getting his shot, but also looking at Johnson, and possibly even Toews (especially if we find some set-up chemistry between another center and Koob). Strome, though, has to show he can bring it and not give up on plays.
I think you see Reichel with Dach. Both play an extremely similar game. The problem is, they need a guy who can shoot the puck. This is where I see the Johnson fit. And quite honestly, that’s a damn good third line borderline second line.
I'm not sure if Reichel this coming season. right now according to CF we have 15 roster FWDS not including Reichel, and I figure we go with 13 or 14 max. 2-3 guys would need to go for Reichel to fit, so who would go? Carpenter? Connoly? Kharia? Kurashev? I think at this point Strome and Nylander will be given every chance to fail.
JarJar is the fourth line center. He’s solid on faceoffs. Carp too. That leaves one spot which will probably go to Nylander.
The Hawks are really deep at forward. It’s the defense that is break this team.
I wouldn't say deep. There are a few players in the FWD lineup that have question marks about what they actually bring to the team and I think a lot of the the assumed depth is dependent on those guys coming in and performing at the top of their games.
I see some holes in the FWD lineup...especially the complete lack of a competent 3rd of 4th line (depending on how Hagel is slotted). I think this could have ramifications similar to 2016: The star players might have to take up so much of the workload to shelter the players who aren't competent that they're gassed by playoff time.
Seth Jones is elite. Murphy is a solid second pair guy. McCabe? If he’s healthy, should flank Murphy and create a shut down pair. I could get behind that. The only problem with that is both try for the huge hit and leave open ice. McCabe does clear the front of the crease, something the Hawks haven’t had since prime Seabs.
Somewhat disagree. Jones is a top D-man, but I wouldn't say elite...yet. He's not Hedman/Keith/Quick/Lidstrom. Murph is a 4-5 on a good D squad. McCabe should be a solid middle pair if he's healthy.
Seth/ Dehaan has epic failure written all over it, tho. There seriously are people who think highly of CDH still and whatever they are taking, I want some too. I think if JC ride that pairing, and I have no reason to think he won’t, your defeating the purpose for bringing Seth in here to begin with.
You and I both for DeHaan and the pharmaceuticals
The only reason to slot Jones with DeHaan is prefent DeHaan from shooting the team in the foot, and at this point, he'd be better served sitting in the pressbox fetching off Eddie O. If anything he should be used sparingly on the bottom pair and if he can't accomplish that, Pressbox him.
Mitchell isn’t on this team this year. Stillman and Caleb will be the bottom pairing. I don’t think Stan brought Caleb in to put him in Rockford.
Stillman is a good 7. I think Caleb lives and dies by his preseason performance; he's got Nyuk-Nyuk, Beaudin, and Mitchell snapping at his heels, and since I doubt they lose DeHaan I figure one of them will be with the big club.
Given the lineup I'm thinking Stan is prepped to make somewhat of a push--and while I think he'll play his guys to make him look smarter than he actually is, I think he'll do what he can to rack up as much wins as possible so he can call the season a victory even if it isn't. If that means icing Mitchell, Beaudin, or Nyuk Nyuk over Jones the Younger because They all looked better than Caleb Jones, then I think Jones sits it in Rockford.
And seriously, an old Flower is better then Lank, and I like Lank. Even if they go 50/50 in starts the upgrade in goal is tremendous. Last year for Flower was an outlier. He pitches to the scoreboard but this Hawks team shouldn’t have an issue scoring goals.
Depends on the MAF we get. MAF's numbers tent to go up-and-down. If we get last year's MAF he's certainly better than Lank. If we get the 2020 MAF Lank is better. Either way I'm glad MAF is there as a mentor for Lank.
The issue is going to be Colition. He’s not an nhl head coach but the problem is Stan is ride or dying with him. If JC starts off bad, you have to get rid of him and Stan. Stan should not have another chance at bringing in another head coach.
I would be all in on Crawford at this point. He’s going to want fourth line meatheads especially after what happened with Tampa last year but if he can make it work it’s better then the passive stance of JC
I think with Stan he has to be held to a standard for this year--irrespective of JC's failure or going with Crawford. Are we rebuilding, rebuilding in situ, or going for it? If we're rebuilding than the kids should see plenty of icetime to work through their growing pains. If we're going for it than i think with the team as-assembled and the cap spent it has to be WCF or bust--especially since it's unlikely we bring back a netminder like MAF and Jones' deal kicks in. If it's rebuild in situ we have to see the kids and not ride the vets, but we have to see some success. I think Stan will try to spin it--like if we lean heavily on the vets to produce and wind up one-and-done. Stan will likley spin it by saying it was a rebuild-in-situ, but all of our young guys would see little icetime or development.