Wheels falling off the season fast...

[Firehawk]

 

4th straight loss.... and now Sharp out 4 weeks


http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/hockey/blackhawks/ct-spt-0109-blackhawks-redwings-chicago--20120109,0,5770102.story

[Firehawk]

Toews out now...and weve lost back to back to the F'ing predators 

went from #1 in conference, to bottom half in a matter of weeks

[Firehawk]

this team is going nowhere this year....caught in another long losing streak this year...teams that win come playoff time typically dont go into long losing spells during the season like this team has this year

very dissapointing...not sure whats wrong with this team but its gotta get fixed

[Ragas]

Yeah I don't get it. I don't think a fwe trades can fix this mess either. Too many glaring misses. Plus, guys that you can usually count on, aren't producing or playing up their level.

I said this at the beginning of the year, but losing Campbell was a huge blow. Hawks love to play a puck possession type of game, and it all begins with your defensemen getting control of the puck in tough situations. Campbell wasn't necessarily known as a great D man, but he was really good at passing out of our own end.

[Firehawk]

Guys like Frolik and Bickell are killing this team.. Brunette is a also a bust...

[GotJuice]

Guys like Frolik and Bickell are killing this team.. Brunette is a also a bust...

Everyone says that, but I'm not so sure. Not sure if either of you guys read SCH but their post today really struck a nerve with me about how every move Bowman made this offseason seems to have ended either with Quenneville not knowing how to use the player (I'd argue Brunette falls into this category) or just not liking the player enough to use him, period. That's a problem if we're counting on Bowman to make a big move that will push the Hawks over the hump this season.

Every team is going to go through a slump, but the bottom line for me is that last year, by the end of the season, everybody knew what the holes in the Hawks' game were. 50-odd games into this season, it seems like none of the proposed solutions and offseason moves have fixed those holes.

SCH 

But let's get to what does worry me about the organization. I don't get the impression that Stan and Q ever talk, and I'm not sure that Stan isn't completely terrified of Q. Let's go back to the summer. While we all wanted a big splash, I was fine with Stan not making one if he didn't see anything he liked. It provided the cap space, if nothing else, he has to use now. Everything we saw then looked like it filled a hole. Most of all, Mayers and Brunette were advertised as Q players. They'd played for him before. Montador was exactly what he asked for. Carcillo was...a risk, but one you could see.

And from the word go, Quenneville has torpedoed almost all of them. The only one Q has seemed to like is Mayers, and he's playing center where he really shouldn't be. Q soured on Montador in training camp, and even started him as a forward in his first game. He's never got a glimpse on a penalty kill that sucks to high heaven. He used him as a forward on a power play, and while it goofed a few power play goals, his booming shot from the point that actually gets through is something the PP is screaming for. Q's completely shot his belief, and he gets benched with a hair trigger while Hjalmarsson only recently could find himself with reduced minutes. Montador simply hasn't been the abortion a lot of people claim he's been. ****, he hasn't even had the minutes to do that.

Brunette has been an odd fit, I can't deny that. But that doesn't mean he's a complete boob, and just needs the right situation to do what he does well. During Sharp's injury, Bruno found some real chemistry with Bolland, as they both do their best work around the goal line. As soon as Sharp got back, Q blew that up. And for reasons no one gets, because Marcus Kruger wasn't letting anyone down between Hossa and Sharp. There's no way that both Morrison and Mayers should both be playing center during a game.

I still think Brunette can be a playoff weapon when games really tend to slow down, but only if Q gives him the chance. But before he was signed, did Q and Stan talk about him at all? Did Q either not know or didn't tell Stan his complete lack of speed might be a problem? Did Stan not listen to him? While a coach shouldn't be making personnel decisions, he certainly should have input, especially about a player he's already coached. On the flip side, a GM shouldn't be making lineup decisions, but Stan must have a strange look on his face when his blueprint was discarded so early.

Stan gave Q a perfectly reasonable 7th d-man in Sami Lepisto, and even kept John Scott on the roster I have to guess because Q wants him there. Your defense can't stop a paraplegic in the sand, and Lepisto's not even worth a look? How can that be?

[Firehawk]

7 straight..... 

Last 2 seasons have been like this now..team is too streaky....I wonder what people think about Bowman's moves now... before he could do no wrong because we just won the cup, but now?.....maybe its time to put daddy back in charge. this team is no tougher then last year, they still regularly get outhit by a TON per game, and guys like Bickell and Frolik who have 1 good game about every 15, have no business playing another game here, I'd rather see rookies like Jimmy Hayes & Andrew Shaw get ice time especially if they are still losing anyway

we had a long discussion on this board when Bowman signed HJalmarsson to that ridiculous deal instead of keeping depth at forward and keeping a guy like Andrew Ladd...I said it before and ill say it again, this team had depth at defense anyway in the minors, and defense was not the strength of the 2010 cup winning team, the strength was have 4 lines deep at forward, and puck control, when you regularly out shoot your opponents by 10+ shots a game like that team was doing, it's real simple, that's means your opponent has the puck a lot less, the new NHL is offense and it has been for some time...besides all that, not only was it a bad decision, but HJalmarsson  has been horrible, he has not lived up to that 4 million a year, not even close

i'm seriously disappointed in the moves that Bowman has made the last 2 seasons...this team has 7 million in cap space, he better get off his ass and pull a rabbit out of his hat because this team is about to be completely out of the playoff picture in about a week

 

[FlyinIllini89]

Guys like Frolik and Bickell are killing this team.. Brunette is a also a bust...

I prefer my Brunette's WITH a bust. 

 


Carry on.

[Firehawk]

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