Congrats To The Chicago Blackhawks

I just wanted to write a quick post to say congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks.  They had a terrific year and deserved to win the Stanley Cup.  I couldn’t have said the same about the Flyers so I’m happy the Blackhawks won.  I like underdog stories, but I prefer for the best team to win when possible to maintain the integrity of the league.  Sure it’s great if anyone can win, but it’s also nice if there are better teams than others in order to show that the game involves skill and not luck.

Hossa deserved the cup as well.  I give him mad respect for only wanting to play for teams who had a legitimate chance at the Stanley Cup.  He’s played a tremendous amount of games over the past three years making the finals each of the last three years with different teams and also representing his country at the Olympics.  Good for you Hossa.

Kane proved me wrong this year.  He has definitely matured into a much more well rounded player.  One that I would love to have on my team.  I’m glad he scored the overtime goal because it’s nice when a star player can score that goal to win the Stanley Cup for his team.

This Stanley Cup also proves that paying the depth players what they have and handcuffing themselves for next season paid off.  If a team could win the cup one year only to miss the playoffs the next 4 years in a row they should take that deal any day.  And the great thing about the ‘Hawks is even if the lose some players they still have the cornerstones in place for them to be a great team for a long time, so they don’t even have to worry about becoming a losing team.  Dale Tallon deserves a lot of credit for building this team.  Maybe he actually did know what he was doing when he paid those players what he did!

Anyways, I’m going to wrap this up.  Congrats to the Blackhawks.  Next year it’s going to be a Sens vs Wild finals !

Blackhawks Should Trade Patrick Kane

Patrick Kane was recently charged for robbing and abusing a cab driver while home in Buffalo.  This incident once again got me thinking about what a liability Patrick Kane is on such a promising Chicago Blackhawks team.  When a player who is making close to $4,000,000 a year, not including endorsements (Kane is supposed to be featured on upcoming video game NHL 10, but who knows if that will last) blows a gasket because a cabbie doesnt have $0.20 in change you have to start questioning his character.

I personally was a Blackhawks fan last year, but I hated watching Patrick Kane on the ice and was very happy when they limited his ice time in the playoffs.  He is a liability on the ice.  What kind of player is a -1 playing on the top line of the 3rd best team in the West from the regular season.  Compare this to my boy Martin Havlat’s +30 numbers at the same position on the checking line and you will see that Patrick Kane is extremely overrated.  He shouldn’t have even been mentioned in the same sentence as Havlat.

Now that Havlat is gone I no longer consider myself a Blackhawks fan, but I can see the ‘Hawks are in a lot of trouble when it comes to keeping players after this season.  The team is currently almost $5M over the cap for this season and then when you factor in that Toews, Kane and Keith are all restricted free agents next year you have to wonder what Chicago will do.

I think Chicago should trade Kane this year, early in the season and try to get some players who will actually put in what it takes to win.  Sports betting sites have already placed odds on his return next year.  This means backchecking and going into the corners.  Neither of which Kane will do.  Out of the three restricted free agents Kane is the obvious choice not to sign next year because Toews is the captain and will likely be a lifetime ‘Hawk and Keith is currently one of the best defensemen in the league.  Why not trade Kane early and actually get something back for him when his stock is relative high.  I have no clue why it would be high because I think Kane is as good as he will ever get and that’s a guy who can score, but can’t win.  But if other GM’s think he has an upside let them take him off the Blackhawks hands and get something in return.

If Stan Bowman can deal Kane for a couple solid players or a goalie depending on how Huet pans out the Blackhawks may have a shot at the cup this year.  If not then I can’t see them doing any better than last year.  Especially with no Martin Havlat in the line-up.

Red Wings vs Ducks Recap and Prediction for the Detroit vs Chicago Blackhawks Conference Finals

Wings and Ducks recap

Well the Wings barely snuck out of this series, but what a series this was.  Starting right off the bat with controversey in game one with the Hudler hit, and then the triple overtime in game two.  Moving to Anaheim we saw the disallowed goal, and then the Wings come back and chase Hiller out of the net in game 5. Game six saw the Ducks rebound and prevent the Wings from finishing another series out on the road.  Game 7 was the best game seven of these playoff we saw hits, goals, saves, and of course octapi.  With the Wings taking this series they move on to the conferance finals to meet Chicago.

The Wings won this series because of many things.  Firstly Osgood still showed us why he is one of the best playoff goaltenders of all time besting Patrick Roy in goals against average (2.11 Vs. 2.30 in the playoffs), but also following that up with three Stanley Cup Rings.  Beyond the crease Rafalski returned for game 6 and 7 quickly returning to form and moving alongside his usual partner of Lindstrom, thus keeping the other two tandums in tact (Stuart and Kronwall, Lebda and Ericsson).  The Defense played well but Lindstrom couldnt find the offensive production he had in game one, and Rafalski needs to get back on the scoreboard.  Offensively the Wings were terrific all lines were contributing, on both ends of the ice.  Babcock did shuffle the lines successfully to win game 4 moving Franzen with Filpulla and Hossa, while reuniting Datsyuk, Holmstrom and Zetterberg.  This trio didnt stay together long as Holmstrom quickley made his way into the dog house.  Babcock will keep shuffling Holmstrom around till he starts producing.

The Ducks lost for one reason they couldnt find secondary scoring beyond the first line.  Carlyle did shuffle up Getzlaf, Ryan, and Perry but never kep them apart for long.  Selanne did contribute but that was it.  The Ducks were not rolling four lines as well as the Wings were and this tired them out after that long game 2.  The Ducks weren’t the disciplined team that they needed to be taking stupid penalties throughout the whole series, but luckily the Wings powerplay took a drop without Rafalski in the lineup.  While Hiller shone greatly in this series, he lost his confidence and edge in games 4 and 5 getting chased and letting in nine goals.

Moving on for this Ducks team is this the last game for Selanne, and Niedermayer two future hall of famers?  What happens to Giguere after the emergence of Hiller. What is Anaheim going to do to adress their secondary scoring problems?

Detroit and Chicago

This will be another great series.  Detroit beat Chicago in the season series 4-2 including a great Winter Classic showdown.  Both these teams will be energized and ready to play sunday, this two day break, along with the minimal travel time between Chicago and Detroit will keep this a fast paced, high goal scoring series.

Detroit will win because of experiance and depth plain and simple They’ve been here the last two years and seem better this year then they were last year. All four lines for Detroit are firing, and Detroit still has some players in teh reserve if needed in Maltby, Mcarthy, and Meech.  Homer and Datsyuk will have to come up big this series, they need to revitalize their first line specially against the Keith Seabrook tandum.  The Franzen line will be against Campbell Hjalmarsson which will be tough but Campbell has lost some of his edge in the playoffs, and they haven’t faced players the likes of Hossa and Franzen yet so that will be an interesting battle.

Chicago  Will need to keep firing, and they have a chance if their secondary scoring comes up big like it did in round two, this is what Anaheim lacked to win.  Khabibulin hasent played as spectacular as Hiller has, but wiht cup experiance he has it in him, so we will see how he performs.  Kane, Toews, and Havlat haven’t faced a great defensive squad like the Wings so that will be the Hawks biggest test

Prediction

I think Detroit takes this in 6, the young Chicago team hasn’t played at this level yet it will be interesting to see how they react