NHL: Colorado Avalanche at Chicago Blackhawks

Morning Links 3/7/13

By KenOda on March 7, 2013

The process is different, the results… well they stay the same: Trib ST DH DP HN

Not to toot my own horn but I tweeted this, then got: NHL (yeah, I know that was an F)

Everybody hurts sometimes: PHT

Yeah yeah, one game at a time, but is it time to look ahead: CBS

Unfortunately this probably isn’t permanent: CSN (autoplay)

*side not to the above, why do this if you know Hossa is iffy and Fro is sick?

A short Saad story: ESPN

Location no longer matters for bad dogs: TSN

I’ll be working this into my broadcast on Friday night: PD

Congrats to a good group that my team shares a barn with and I share drinks with: FH MDN

  • mightymikeD

    From that ESPN Saad Story… notice the box score..

    a rather fetching chapeau Mr Indianhead

    • raditzzzz

      hawks wearin the avs like a hat, lol.

    • laaarmer

      How about the numbskull that says “change his number to 28 and call him Steve Larmer” or was that you?

      • KenOda

        Present company excluded, comments sections typically make me lose all faith in humanity.

        • laaarmer

          I will admit, and I think it was Saad, I saw a photo of him on “Hossa night” coming out of the tunnel, where he did look like Larmer. In fact, here it is. Is that Saad? Or is it Sheldon?

          • raditzzzz

            brookbank for sure

          • laaarmer

            “Change his number to 28 and call him Steve Larmer”

  • JesusMarianHossa

    I got your morning optimism right here!

    Nick Cotsonika ‏@cotsonika

    Hearing Patrick Sharp will be out two or three weeks.

    • MySpoonIsTooBig

      That is great news. I was definitely worried that it was a broken wrist or a broken collarbone, either way we’d be talking 5-6 weeks minimum. 2-3 weeks is great. Hopefully it’s closer to 3, not because he heals slowly but because the ‘Hawks can afford to rest him until he really is fully healthy

      • Waylon

        Could not agree more – they’ve got a huge points cushion, take advantage of the luxury of allowing your players time to heal completely. For such a short season it’s become glaringly obvious how critical every team will need to stay healthy going into the playoffs. Just take one look at the Nucks without Chimpy McSmirkton in their lineup – they flat – out suck.

  • http://twitter.com/chris_gerler Chris Gerler

    I can’t believe how even the toi for everyone was last night kane had just over 20 minutes and toews had just under 19.

    • birdhead

      Really? Gamecenter has them both at over 22 minutes (leading all skaters) – Toews with 22:57, Kane with 22:15. Then Duncs with 22:09, the rest of the D core at around 20 and other TOI as determined by losing Shaw and Sharp. Still not that unbalanced, particularly on D, but I’m curious how the numbers don’t match.

      • justforkicks

        and kane played 9 minutes in the 3rd alone i think.

    • girlphoenix

      Those TOI numbers are just even strength

      • Waylon

        You still have to give Q a lot of credit for managing the team’s overall minutes in this shortened season – of course, having an entire team producing helps out in that regard immeasurably.

  • bizarrohairhelmet

    How critical was Bolland’s stick tap on the shorty? You cannot teach that stuff. He didn’t even hit it that hard…

    • Accipiter

      It made the play, it was fabulous weapon and his evil genius at work.

      • Paul the Fossil

        Yea I’m still giggling about that a day later.

    • ChiBlackhawks

      It was my favorite. The best part was it got McGinn to COMPLETELY TURN HIS BACK TO TOEWS AND THE PLAY. He could have slid down to block Toews with his body, but no. He was so flabbergasted he couldn’t help going “wtf” at Bolland instead. Beautiful.

      • justforkicks

        it’ll teach mcginn not to have a limp hold on his stick anymore.

        • DesertHawk

          On the replay I was shocked at how easily Bolland knocked it out of his hand.

          • http://www.facebook.com/hair.helmet Hair Helmet

            Exactly this. You know FW saw McGinn’s loose hold and instantly thought “I can take that stick out without a penalty”. He’s a very good hockey player but his ability to gain key advantages by skirting the rules makes him invaluable. And McGinn’s reaction is just priceless. He wanted to tear into Bollie, but then realized Bollie had already turned away to celebrate a goal–the very goal he had just been made a goat on.

          • justforkicks

            my favorite bolly moment is probably still when he moved the broken stick all around the ice when on the PK. you are exactly right, he’s not a dirty player but he skirts the rules and makes amazing plays while keeping it clean.

          • mad-hatter

            If it weren’t Bolland, I might have thought it was accidental.

          • justforkicks

            seriously. i mean bolly has done it before and i laugh every time. players gotta learn to tighten their grip when he’s around

          • DesertHawk

            I think my favorite was when he sent (Thornton’s?) stick flying through the air.

  • raditzzzz

    for anyone who hasn’t given this a look, i highly recommend watching stephen a smith and barry melrose argue who has the better streak, hawks or heat.

    and don’t forget to bring your popcorn.

    http://espn.go.com/chicago/nhl/story/_/id/9024003/wayne-gretzky-said-chicago-blackhawks-miami-heat-debate-good-nhl&d

    • DesertHawk

      I read about that idiot… I don’t know if I could bring myself to actually watch him say words.

      • DesertHawk

        He was an idiot still… How you gonna say skating is easy, and then say you’ve never skated.

        • Waylon

          Stephen A. Smith’s job is to be the counter – idiot to basically anything the original idiot that Skip Bayless represents.

  • KissTheCup

    I just want to point out something impressive about last
    night’s win, even when you don’t consider the streak. This team was finishing
    its fifth game in seven days and playing against a fast team that likes to run
    the ice. In the third, the Hawks were down and playing with only eight forwards
    (four top and four bottom six guys). If ever there was a game that legs would
    give out and the team would relax a little and take their loss and leave it
    would have been last night. Not only did the Hawks come back to win but the way
    they did it amazes me. One shorthanded goal from the captain and a game winner
    from the most unlikely player (13th different Hawk with a game
    winner this year!) and the Hawks left the UC with two regulation points.

    There’s been a lot of impressive moments so far in the first
    half of this compressed season but I think last night still stands out as
    something special. This team refuses to quit and continues to defy the odds. It’s
    been an awesome ride.

    • puppetmasterp

      Idk, I personally believe “that game” is the next one coming up against the Avs. Sometimes adrenaline will get you through in the short term, but the next day, after a night’s rest, is when the muscle aches set in more.

      • ChiBlackhawks

        At this point though every next game has the potential to be “that game” just by virtue of this streak being so ridiculously absurd. For me, at least. Or for all of us Chicago fans?

        • puppetmasterp

          Well for me I have my eye on 3 games: this next one against the Avs, our next game against the Oil, and the game against the Ducks. Only three games that really worry me.

  • laaarmer

    Re: Toronto
    Looks like they made a good change, no?

  • girlphoenix

    Doesn’t seem like either Ben Smith or Jimmy Hayes are coming up. They’re posting pics from a plane to Oklahoma City.

    • MySpoonIsTooBig

      Hopefully both. Sharpie going on the IR for a couple weeks opens up one roster spot, maybe we’ll be super lucky and Gorilla Salad will get waived game winning goal last night be damned…

    • Z-man19

      wouldn’t be hard to get one of them to Denver from there

  • guest

    Completely off topic:

    During the shoot the puck, my SO and I were joking about the triumverate (little kid, doughy guy in Kane jersey, hot girl) that always is trotted out, and expressing sadness at how we’ve seen little kid and doughy guy in Kane jersey succeed far more often than hot chick. She opined that this was possibly because hot chick is always wearing heels, usually ungodly high ones.

    This brought us into a discussion of acceptable hockey game attire, and how it’s more than a little silly to wear heels to a place where you’ll be trundling up and down steep concrete stairs with some $9 beer in you. Another rule I brought up, that I sourced this blog on, is “no hoodies under jerseys.” She thinks it’s a stupid rule, as keeping warm is important and you still want to represent. She mentions it was extremely common when she lived further out west and went to UND games a bunch as a kid. I could think of no counter-arguments.

    So guys, what’s wrong with hoodies under jerseys? Am I completely mis-remembering that as a Thing? Is it a general distaste of hoodies? A “grrr, big girls don’t cry/big dudes don’t get cold” thing? What’s up?

    • http://twitter.com/VULTR3 Mike

      Jerseys are meant to be worn over things right? Base layer, pads… hoodie? I see it all the time, so I didn’t know it was even taboo to rock the hoodie. I want the mid-late 90′s back when hoodies were still cool.

      • Accipiter

        They are still cool.

        • laaarmer

          I agree

        • DesertHawk

          Seconded. (Thirded?)

    • laaarmer

      I believe if you are playing hockey outside on a pond or backyard rink the hoodie is acceptable. If you are at the game and get cold, put your coat back on. No hoodie.

      • guest

        This was a further definition of the rule, not an explanation.. why, if you have a reasonable expectation you’re going to get cold, would you go in with the intention of covering your jersey up?

        • laaarmer

          That is my definition.

          • Roy Batty

            You don’t know that though, I could get asked to play ,and score the winning goal with 49 seconds left

          • Black JEM

            What about when crow went out and Emery had to come on and what if he had gone down? …. they might have needed me!

      • cliffkoroll

        That’s a pretty broad definition of ‘jersey foul’.

        Also, lugging your coat around is a pain in the ass.

        • laaarmer

          If it’s 10-20 degrees outside, you are wearing a coat old man.
          Edit: Any use of the word “broad” is auto canoed from me.

    • Waylon

      I’m older than dirt, so take this with a huge grain of salt – I’ve always thought that once you reach a certain age in life (aka after your twenties), you look ridiculous wearing any kind of jersey, unless you’re actually playing a game in a field of play. As for hoodies on similar dudes/dudettes in public spaces, I can see both sides, but every time I take one look at “Hoodie” Bill Belechick on the sidelines I immediately think he looks like a giant douche. So maybe some people can rock that look but too many often look like overgrown children IMHO. NOW GET OFF MY LAWN YOU KIDS!!!

      • laaarmer

        Yes!

      • Joe Banks

        Although I totally agree you are NOT making a fashion statement by wearing a Hoodie under a jersey, when you show up at the UC in February, it’s cold outside. If you wear a jacket, where you gonna put it when you get inside?
        It is a matter of convenience, not style.

        • DesertHawk

          This very much.

        • Waylon

          Point taken – it’s all subjective in the end.

      • 10thMountainFire

        I also believe wearing a jersey/sweater with a player’s name past about age 30 is ridiculous. Be a man, I say! Be a fucking MAN!

        Or something.

        • Accipiter

          Guess that Bickell jersey is going to someone else.

          • 10thMountainFire

            Nooooo! NOOOOOOO!

    • DesertHawk

      I love hoodies, and wished I lived in a place where I could more comfortably wear the inordinate amount I have… so I’m cool with the hoodie jersey combo, pyramid be damned. Heels at a game is kinda dumb though, imho.

      • justforkicks

        tbh there are a lot of women who are 100% comfortable in heels no matter the location/situation. my sister could run a marathon better in stilettos then sneakers for example.

        • DesertHawk

          There are also many many women who can’t wear them worth a damn. But yeah I see your point.

          • mad-hatter

            “I’m wearing my new shoes tonight!” Statements that have never led to anything good. Ever.

          • justforkicks

            Obviously. Fact is, I’m a hazard to myself and everybody no matter what I have on my feet, so I find it difficult to judge others on their foot attire.

  • High and Wide

    For those that like to play with this sort of thing, found this super nifty shot location search engine linked from the PPP teardown of Randy Carlyle:
    http://www.somekindofninja.com/nhl/index.php

  • 2883

    Good to see Sharpie isn’t going to miss the rest of the season… 2-3 weeks without him will suck but it’s only like 10ish games

    • puppetmasterp

      I’m not entirely convinced on that estimate, but here’s hoping

      • steeg of their own

        Yeah, this is my concern. I’d like him to have at least a couple weeks to get back up to speed before the playoffs, but given that several reasonable estimates I’ve seen put him out for 8 weeks, I’m not counting on him coming back at 100% before the playoffs. He may come back, but I really will be skeptical about him being fully healthy. Given what we see in videos and what people have said post-game, MAYBE it’s not an eight-week plus injury? Maybe? If we’re lucky?

  • TKHO
    • 2883

      Saw that the other night or last night… None of the grades changes from the original list i don’t believe but hte order did, Clendening jumping McNeill and Morin was the biggest surprise. They are big Clendening fans right now and who can blame them, he’s been steady…. now we’ll have to get him up to the parent club and see how he responds but I gotta think there’s a future there for him

    • steeg of their own

      Does Saad even count as a prospect if he’s playing the whole season with the big team?

      Aside from that, our prospect pipeline is strong (props to our scouting team, they’ve done yeoman’s work for this organization for many years now). I actually feel pretty good about the Hawks future.

    • mad-hatter

      I don’t follow the Hogs all that well, but the only thing I remember of Clendening was the IIHF U-20 tournament last year where Clendening….well, he’s had better.

  • Preacher

    With all the talk about the pressure of maintaining the “streak,” I think the pressure is already totally on the Blackhawks like no other team–and it’s the pressure to win the big Shiny Thing. There is absolutely no one else (unless you’re going to argue an Eastern Conference team is better) that will be expected to hoist the Chalice this year except the Hawks. NO one. Even as well as the Ducks have played, they’re already 10 points behind the Hawks in the standings. This season will be seen as a complete failure unless it ends with Tazer skating around the ice with that 35-pound Paperweight. No matter how long this streak goes (and Friday’s looking scary), unless the Hawks win 16 games after April, they’re the 18-1 Patriots. Now THAT’S pressure. How will our boys respond?

    • http://twitter.com/neo873 Neo

      Here is an updated Score Adj Fenwick rankings:
      L.A 57.06%
      BOS 55.34%
      CHI 54.45%
      STL 53.75%
      VAN 53.33%
      NYR 52.42%
      PIT 52.41%
      DET 51.78%
      OTT 51.31%
      N.J 51.24%
      MTL 50.94%
      PHX 50.90%
      DAL 50.54%
      WPG 49.77%
      S.J 49.60%
      CAR 49.50%

      Without the “streak” and without Quick getting off to such a slow start, the “talk” would be about a matchup of the last two Stanley Cup champions.

      • cliffkoroll

        Hey Neo,

        Are you using this formula?

        Score-Adjusted Fenwick = [3.75 * (Fen_up_2 - 44%) + 8.46 * (Fen_up_1 - 46.1%) + 17.94 * (Fen_tied - 50%) + 8.46 * (Fen_down_1 - 53.9%) + 3.75 * (Fen_down_2 - 56%)] / 42.36 + 50%

        Or are you weighting each team by the amount of time they spend in each one of these ‘states’?

        If the Hawks have spent a lot of time ahead and the Kings have spent a lot of time behind, how might that affect this analysis?

        If you have a link for your stats, I can poke around meself a bit.

        • http://twitter.com/neo873 Neo

          http://behindthenet.ca/fenwick_2012.php?sort=0

          Just using that formula from the article the other day. There are links in that article for slightly different ones.

          Usually, I just use “close” data as that is pretty good all by itself. This formula is giving a little bit higher “Pearson R” correlations though, so I have been updating it as we go.

      • laaarmer

        It seems that you’ve been living two lives. One life, you’re Thomas A. Anderson, program writer for a respectable software company. You have a social security number, pay your taxes, and you… help your landlady carry out her garbage. The other life is lived in computers, where you go by the hacker alias “Neo” and are guilty of virtually every computer crime we have a law for. One of these lives has a future, and one of them does not.

        • http://twitter.com/neo873 Neo

          I should have taken the blue pill

    • cliffkoroll

      Preach, I don’t like this line of thinking. The Hawks probably won’t win the Stanley Cup this year. Replace ‘The Hawks’ with any other team and the statement is still true. Enjoy the ride!

      • birdhead

        I agree. Bad matchup or hot goalie in the playoffs and all kinds of horrible stuff could happen. Doesn’t make what’s currently happening meaningless.

  • MySpoonIsTooBig

    Is anyone else disappointed / slightly pissed that there has been no mention from the league or any corner of the hockey media of Paul Stastny having any sort of hearing or potentially facing supplemental discipline for what he did to Shaw? He intentionally threw an elbow directly into Shaw’s face, which not only knocked him out of the rest of the game but may keep him out tomorrow and/or beyond, and it wasn’t even anywhere near the actual play. If that is not a textbook example of a cheap shot that should lead to a suspension for even a non-repeat offender than I don’t know what is.

    • justforkicks

      you can’t see me but I’m raising my hand. having no penalty at the time and now not hearing anything about it anywhere in the media or elsewhere is pretty fucking frustrating.

      • Joe Banks

        Even Milbury said he should be getting a phone call.

        • justforkicks

          I hope so. MHH is of course of the mind that it was completely unintentional and nothing happened, but you’d think they’d be a little less blind considering how they felt when Landy went out.

          • MySpoonIsTooBig

            That’s fucking idiotic of them to claim that it was unintentional. “la de da I’m just gonna swing my arm out right here OOPS I didn’t see your face”

          • mightymikeD
          • justforkicks

            kelly speaks so much truth. zero fucks indeed

          • justforkicks

            someone said he doesn’t have eyes in the back of my head, and i’m thinking – if he doesn’t have peripheral vision or the spatial awareness to see who the fuck is around him on the ice, what business does he have playing?

        • mad-hatter

          Wait, I’ve agreed with Milbury three times?! NOOOOOO

          • justforkicks

            i know, i shudder every time it happens, and its been more and more lately =(

    • High and Wide

      as for media:

      Chris Kuc
      ‏@ChrisKuc
      NHL reviewed elbow by #Avalanche’s Paul Stastny on #Blackhawks’ Andrew Shaw last night but appears won’t take action. No hearing scheduled.

      I’m not pleased there won’t be any supplemental discipline–though that’s not actually what a hearing means, so there could still be a fine etc.

      • Joe Banks

        Once again, NHL proves they don’t really give a shit about headshots. Has Colorado joined the list of teams that try to “eliminate” opposing players, such as Douchecouver, Pens, and Yotes? What’s to stop them?

      • justforkicks

        total bullshit.

    • DesertHawk

      Yeah I brought it up last night, and didn’t expect anything, still pissed about it though. Coaches should be able to point this shit out to the league.

    • 10thMountainFire

      I’m convinced the NHL will continue to fuck itself until something so horrible happens on the ice that Todd Bertuzzi’s act of stupid will look like playground shit.

      They didn’t take Hansen’s hit on Hossa seriously and that didn’t surprise me. They reduced Torres’ sentence and that really didn’t surprise me. This will be on Bettman’s head when it happens. He’s already seen as the worst commissioner in North American professional sports for the last 40 or so years… a wounding or death on the ice would be icing on his cake. It’s bound to happen… because the NHL flat-out doesn’t give a shit. Fuck the league office.

      • mad-hatter

        This pisses me off, but you’re probably right. When can Bettman just retire, goddammit.

    • Sparky_The_Barbarian

      Head shot flow chart:

      Was it on Sidney Crosby?
      Did NHL Network notice?
      Is it being talked about on Puckdaddy?
      How about Sportsnet?
      Even ESPN?
      Did it make mainstream news?

      Fuck it then.

  • stacie7

    Is Burnside actually saying that the Blues would beat the Hawks in a best of seven? They wouldn’t even make the playoffs if they started today. Why do all these “analists” keep saying how good the Blues are? Is there some depth there that I’m missing?
    http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/9025162/five-reasons-st-louis-blues-win-stanley-cup

    • AMR

      You should read some of the comments. It is hilarious.

      • stacie7

        I didn’t want my eyes to bleed so early today.

        • AMR

          Isn’t that always a risk when ESPN writes a hockey article

      • DesertHawk

        I hate you. The comments were not funny… they were infuriating.

        • AMR

          I’m sorry, I guess you and I have two different ideas of hilarious

          • DesertHawk

            It’s ok… maybe they were better when you read them, as ESPN seems to have a working live comment system. It’s probably proprietary those bastards.

    • MySpoonIsTooBig

      What a dumbfuck. Same sentiment applies to 90% of the commenters

    • jhb

      All this seems to me is someone trying to write anything that doesn’t have to do with the ‘Hawks and the streak. When he suggests that the Blues would win in a playoff series he’s clearly making a nudge-wink that he’s sticking to his guns, however small the chance of that happening at this point. It comes with the territory of making end-of-season predictions.

    • Sparky_The_Barbarian

      I noticed the first part of the URL is ‘espn’ and decided not to read further. Espn knows as much about hockey as Dr Sheldon Cooper knows about the Kama Sutra.

    • justforkicks

      what bullshit. at this point, hawks are going to go into the playoffs (11 points away from securing a spot btw) fresh considering their minutes have been spread pretty evenly even with the injuries that have just started cropping up, and they have yet to put their best 60 minute effort forward at this point.

    • http://twitter.com/neo873 Neo

      Last year the Hawks were a top five puck possession team with poor goaltending and everyone thought the Hawks were bums. This year the Hawks are a top 5 puck possession team and they are getting great goaltending and everyone thinks they are unbeatable.

      St. Louis was also a top 5 puck possession team the last two years but had great goaltending last season until the playoffs. Then, not so much and everyone is now writing them off.

      So for both the Hawks and the Blues it is going to be about their goaltending in this years playoffs. I analyze everything to do with hockey and I know one fact with 100% accuracy. NOBODY can predict how good goalies are going to perform in the playoffs. And that is regardless of how they played during the year.

    • ballyb11

      1. I’d rather get points in the last X games than the first X games
      2. The Hawks will have to deal w/ a lot of pressure.

      3. Get into the playoffs and see what happens.

  • AMR

    Hawks have recalled Bollig. WTF?

    • birdhead

      seems like a totally sensible choice because Bollig’s such a useful player.

      • MySpoonIsTooBig

        IF DEY HAD DAT BOLLIG GUY LAST NIGHT DEN NOBODY WOULDA TOUCHED SHARPIE OR SHAW OR DAT HORSA GUY DEY SHOULD TRADE DAT PUSSY KANE FOR JOHN SCOTT HE’S TOUGH HE CAN FIGHT!!!

        • laaarmer

          Daaaavid Backes

        • mad-hatter

          what about that Bygluffin guy from Atlanta?!

    • Accipiter

      Maybe the Hawks were just remembering Bollig.

  • Paul the Fossil

    Regarding the stupid idea that the Hawks are benefiting this season from no games versus the Eastern Conference: in reality the West has won a majority of the inter-conference games in EVERY SINGLE SEASON since the previous lockout. (i.e. every full season yet played under the league’s current rules.)
    Here are the standing points totals from those games each season:
    Season West East
    ’11-12 313 305
    ’10-11 324 291
    ’09-10 338 267
    ’08-09 308 206
    ’07-08 180 150
    ’06-07 184 155
    ’05-06 177 160
    [Starting in 08-09 the schedule changed to increase the number of interconference games, for which the Western Conference teams remain thankful.]

    • laaarmer

      Last 8 champs
      4 East
      4 West

      • Paul the Fossil

        Sure but the current meme is about questioning the validity of the regular-season streak.

        • laaarmer

          What streak? They lost 3 games this season – meaning the other team got 2 points in those games. The real streak is 11 game winning streak. That is worth talking about.
          Regarding the East. It’s would be easy for us to argue that nobody in the east has played ANA or CHI. It’s plain stupid.

          • Paul the Fossil

            “What streak? They lost 3 games this season – meaning the other team got 2 points in those games.” If they had lost in OT I would have some agreement with this, because they would have lost at actual hockey. But they haven’t, they’ve only lost at the silly skills competitions…and in any case the Blackhawks don’t make the stupid standing-points rules they just play by them.

            Any record that was at 16 games and a team doesn’t just break it they _destroy_ it by 50 percent and still counting? That’s just nuts. These records rarely get broken so conclusively.

            Definitely agree that I will be _more_ awestruck if they reach the all-time consecutive wins record than by the no-losses-in-regulation thing.

            (Also I agree with Bobby Clark’s recent comment that such streaks should not be measured across regular seasons by ignoring the intervening playoffs, that’s cheap. In my mind the Hawks did not just pass the Canadiens for the number-two total streak without a regulation loss because the Habs did it all within a single season.)

          • birdhead

            concur re: playoffs. as much as I’d like to scrub that series from my memory leaving it out for streak purposes is dumb.

          • DesertHawk

            If the stats keepers decide to count it, I’ll take it. But I’d like to see us get to 42 without a loss, counting last year, so that we can unequivocally say we beat the old record.

      • birdhead

        Last 16 finalists
        8 East
        8 West

        The playoff system is set up to neutralise top-to-bottom advantages; but also the best team in the East might be just as good as the best team in the West, you can still have a lot of crappy teams dragging the average down.

        • laaarmer

          This is good.

          What would happen if it was 6 East and 10 West. Who would win more faceoffs?

          • birdhead

            west because I’m biased towards the conference I see more often obviously

          • http://www.facebook.com/hair.helmet Hair Helmet

            Easy. Just count whomever gets the most shots.

          • Accipiter

            It’s hits. Hits win games.

  • JesusMarianHossa
    • Paul the Fossil

      Well she spends a lot of time in the pressbox, gotta be hard for her not to be influenced by the sheep herd at least a bit.

    • http://www.facebook.com/hair.helmet Hair Helmet

      Those Avs kids are so mean.

    • DesertHawk

      Lets agree to disagree, ma’am.

    • justforkicks

      if she thinks bollig and his 5 minutes are going to deter anything then i don’t even know.

    • mad-hatter

      usually I agree with her. Oh well. At least there’s Mark.

    • TheFullAmonte

      SHOOT!

  • Paul the Fossil

    The Blackhawks now have a second streak going: 11 consecutive wins. That made me curious…the all time record of 17 is held by the 92-93 Penguins. Next are the 81-82 Islanders with 15, then the 29-30 Bruins with 14. (Also likely some others between that and the 11 but I haven’t found that info…if they keep this going we’ll probably start to hear about it on the broadcasts.)

    • DesertHawk

      Yeah I looked into that back around 8-9. If we manage to win all the way to the 35 point, it’ll only be a game more I think to tie the Win Streak record as well.

    • ballyb11

      Yeah, but they haven’t played any teams in the East.

  • laaarmer

    Shouldn’t Monty rehab in Rockford? How long since he played?

    • MySpoonIsTooBig

      Considering that the last time he “played” was during the lockout practices at Johnny’s Ice House, in which he somehow re-concussed himself, I don’t think it matters that much. He seems like a cool guy and it sucks what he’s had to go through, but I’d be willing to bet that if he does dress anytime soon he’ll wind up back on the IR pretty quickly

      • birdhead

        This was my thinking too but surely they’d have just left him on IR if that was the case? IDK.

      • laaarmer

        He does seem like a good guy. What I am getting at is how can he be set up for success having not played an NHL game in a year or so?

        • JesusMarianHossa

          He doesn’t have a two-way contract. We can’t send him down without him going through waivers first.

          Agree on the point though. He’s going to need some CLR because the rust levels will be high.

          • JesusMarianHossa

            I will say this about Montador… Stan learned a valuable lesson from him. Never, ever, ever sign a bottom pairing defenceman or bottom 6 forward to a deal longer than 2 years.

          • Paul the Fossil

            Yep. The term “replacement level” is operative.

          • MySpoonIsTooBig

            2 Things. First, it’s a common misconception that whether or not a guy has to go through waivers depends on whether he has a 1-way or 2-way contract when in fact one has nothing to do with the other. A 1-way or 2-way contract merely dictates how much money a player earns in the AHL versus the NHL – a player on a 2-way contract will earn less if he’s in the AHL than if he’s in the NHL whereas a player on a 1-way deal earns the same amount regardless of where he plays. Whether or not a player has to go through waivers in order to be sent to the AHL has only to do with his age and/or his NHL experience. Montador is 33 years old and has played nearly 600 NHL games, regardless of whether he’s on a 1-way or 2-way deal he’d have to clear waivers to go down the the AHL.

            Secondly, that does not mean that he cannot be sent down for a conditioning stint as Laaarmer is suggesting he should. I may be mistaken, but I’m fairly certain that there is a provision in the CBA that allows a team to send a player who has missed an extended period of time due to injury to the AHL for conditioning for a short period of time (like 2 weeks) without his having to clear waivers first.

            Regardless though, if we put Montador on waivers would anybody actually claim him? And would any Chicago fans be all that upset if they did?

          • JesusMarianHossa

            The only thing in the CBA regarding conditioning is for Conditioning Camps which are limited to recent draftees and players on ELCs. They take place in June or July.

            No, I would not be upset if someone claimed Steve Montador. I would instead light sparklers and thank Jay Feaster for taking him off our hands. Actually, that’s not true. Jay would not claim him and then trade for him after he’d been sent down.

          • MySpoonIsTooBig

            While I wouldn’t put it past Feaster to do that, it wouldn’t hurt him as badly as it could have in years passed now that re-entry waivers are no longer a part of the CBA…

          • http://twitter.com/neo873 Neo

            No one that I know of including the teams have seen the new CBA. That said, in the old CBA there were Conditioning camps and Conditioning loans.

            So Montador could play for up to 2 weeks in the A on a loan without going through waivers. Thing is he has to agree to do it. No idea if that has changed in the new CBA.

            And that is my beef with the beat writers. Why aren’t they asking these questions? And since they aren’t, what good are they?

          • MySpoonIsTooBig

            http://www.nhl.com/nhl/en/v3/ext/CBA2012/NHL_NHLPA_Proposed_CBA_-_Summary_of_Terms_FINAL_-_Jan._12,_2013%20%281%29.pdf

            It’s not the complete text, it’s just a summary, and I’m not even sure if the complete text is finished yet. However, it confirms that waivers will work pretty much the same as it did under the old CBA with a few tweaks (such as the elimination of re-entry waivers) and does say the following:

            Modify CBA 13.12(l) to:
            a) allow for short term Conditioning Loans (with Player’s consent) after the Trade Deadline forPlayers returning from
            LTI; and
            b) permit Loans after the Trade Deadline for Players
            (with Player’s consent) on Recall who are injured as of the Trade Deadline and subsequently are cleared to play, provided the Player was on NHL Roster for less than 25% of the Regular Season up to the date on which he was disabled.

    • Accipiter

      March 27, 2012.

    • Z-man19

      I’m going to throw out the possibility that Q will try Monty at forward again. IIRC his last game at NJ he was a forward

  • DesertHawk

    So this is utterly off-topic. All you Chrome users out there: I’m checking it out once more, but I have a question, that my google-fu has failed me on so far. In Firefox the browser can be set up so that the URL bar will basically run a google search of words and then direct you to the primary google hit for that term automatically. For instance if I type in “face book” and hit enter I automatically go to facebook. com without having to worry about spacing or typing .com. Is there anyway to get this same functionality from Chrome?