there's a lot to talk about i guess. got to go to my first hawks game of the year with mikey yesterday and it was great.
it felt incredible just to be in the building and see the ice. all the characters were back in the building and i forgot how much i missed just talking to people about the hawks. the boys came out of the gates real real strong and ended up on the powerplay right away. capt. serious had us up by one before i even realized what had happened. banked it off of their goalie (who looked kinda tepid the whole night) and Bam! Hawks up by one. let me just say that Brian Campbell is going to be worth every cent if he continues skating the way he is right now. our entrances into the zone last night were incredible (everyone remembers last year, and this was a serious problem) thanks in a large part to Campbell.
I'll admit Campbell has got some work to do learning how to play with his new teammates, and positionally, looked a little lost on the powerplay sometimes. it is preseason so i'm trying to cut the boys some slack on the positional shit, since they're not true linemates yet, but it was sloppy at times.
regardless, soupy had four assists and it seemed that he was ALWAYS on the ice. he was wearing an 'a' as well which i think may be a little premature.
skille looked amazing, and was skating his ass off. easily one of the best conditioned of the kids, he got a great goal off a backhander after a great pass from soupy.
it was great to see kyle beach play as well. as a draft pick this year there's a whole bunch of expectations on him because of the people we've drafted in the past three or four years. he has a ton of grit and is a big big boy. by far the most impressive trait is a simple one. every time the whistle blew for a stoppage the first thing beacher did was take his mouth guard out of his mouth so sean avery could hear exactly what he was saying. beach agitated the avery/ott line for the entire first period, finally getting ott to take a stupid penalty which got him thrown out of the game and the hawks a four minute powerplay (which we scored on).
remind me please of a game where the hawks had scored three powerplay goals?
i know it's early to start the 'all hail dale' chants but it sure looks real nice right now.
niemi also looked incredible in net. at times there were some punk moments, but for the most part, there were two goals that he certainly couldn't take all the blame for (i'm looking at you doug janik or whatever the fuck your name is) and he was so quick with his pads from side to side in the crease that even savvy was getting pumped at points.
the big question is...where's khabby?
khabibulin was listed as the starter for the game all week and when we showed up and saw crawfs and niemi it was a little confusing.
khabby wasn't even dressed.
this is interesting because if you read the post just below you can how i've done a wonderful job of jinxing.
there is talk of nik and "blue chip d-prospect" heading out to the east.
now, if he goes to the eastern conference the only team that makes sense is ottawa. there is talk of gerber coming back, but i really don't think that trading one underachieving/overpaid goaltender for another is in dale's plans for success. gerber weighs in at almost four million to khabby's 6.75, whereas if we were to take on vermette (who fills a much needed hole at center) we'd be much better off. ottawa has little need/use for vermette and has a huge need for a goalie and would love to bring barker up in a system where he has the potential to play behind the best forward line in the NHL. After losing Mezaros this off-season, Barks makes perfect sense. Sure, i would be a little hesitant of just throwing Barker in on a trade for the sake of getting rid of Khabby, but if it means that we'll be able to sign our prospects and get them into the NHL this year, i'm ready to take the chance. Not to mention, if we can land Vermette it will open up the lines positionally and prevent either of the Patricks from having to play center.
We'll see, should be a busy day and i'll keep updating as i see it
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