Your 2017-2018 Blackhawks!

[GRADEN]

Tonight marked a day/night of immense Saadness / Drama / Confusion / Thought / Peeks / Valleys / And Belief....

Belief that I believe I've put together the pieces of Stan Bowmans brain. Here is how I see this entire day / the why it happened;

Stan Bowman was EMBARRASSED. Totally and completely striped of his nuts in a sweep as a 109pt #1 seed in the opening round at a -10. They ran an 8 pattern at the mid, out muscled our wings, had the skill to strip us, and most of all out hustled us to every 50/50 puck. I fully know in my heart that he and his FO staff put in 3 years of winning tapes (cds, no digital now right) and said, "what don't we have now / going forward". You know what he saw, we had 2 way wings and quick to puck skating blue liners. He saw Saad and Hossa destroying top 4 wings and centerman with "possession" and "defensive angles" and "stature". He also saw something that I've noticed over the last 2 years... That while Hjalmer has the highest ever defensive IQ he simply isn't the skater he once was. He will always be in position, make the block, finish his play but he doesn't move the puck as well and definitely not in the highest gear anymore. I think Keith is also a 1/2 skate slower too if I'm being honest.

He would never trade a core 4 for that needed 2way wing / we are losing 1 and were already down Saad mind you. But what about #5 guy in AP? Nope. Ok how about we solve that big backup issue you have.. hmmm I'm listening.... and we'll up you a round a year later? Damn ok, I feel I have no choice. And I will do this because I know I have an ace up my sleeve and guess what that ace plays LW...

Ace: Alex DeBrincat

Tonight's draft was awesome.... my home team made 3 nice picks in Glass, Suzuki, and the surprise of the 1st in a 5'9 blueline Swede that plays like 6'2....

The Hawks killed it... they could have gone with Eeli Tolvanen and really added an elite goal scorer but honestly I've always loved Henri's game. He plays lanes beautifully and is a super smart kid... has a good frame for muscle and can skate "low" but still flip his hips to rotate on a play... it's a super pick and he also netted #70 for just 3 spots which crazy good value.

I will do an entire new players / traded - released - retired post when tomorrow is done.

In the end, its rough saying goodbye to 2 studs but I know in my gut Stan knows we can't win unless we get 2 way guys back in the fold... panarin is an ELITE scoring wing and Hjalmer is an ELITE defensive shot blocker and stick angle IQ wizard but he was a zero in terms of scoring ability.... he narrowed in that those 2 were expendable in order to secure Saad / Anton / Murphy

[GRADEN]

Draft recap:

29. D Henri Jokiharju (PWH - WHL) 6'0 188 (Ranked 19)
- Great frame to add muscle, lower strength apparent on board battles and playing angles. Played wonderful in the Finnish juniors and then just took off with the winter Hawks to a new level. Has great IQ and hip flip to rotate quickly into developing play. Is a quick to pros type of blue line prospect and comes from a great system known for producing the very best defensive fundamentals and mental toughness. My outlook for him is high, I think as early as 2 seasons from now he could be on our 3rd pairing with a ceiling of being a future top 4.... he is that smart and sound defensively already.


57. D Ian Mitchell (University of Denver) 5'11 173
- Small town Canadian was ranked #68. Will need 3 years at UD to gain experience / something he doesn't have coming from a small league. Has good heads up instincts and can really be a nice puck control dmen... this is a pick for many years from now unlike the Jokiharju pick. I look at Mitchell as a nice asset that we will likely include in a future trade and may get a few big league Hawks games in his 22 year season.

70. RW Andrew Altybarmakyan - (Jr. Russian) - 5'11 183
- Streaky Russian goal scorer... Confidence is huge with him, you can see it on him when things are going well and when they are not. Has nice straight line wrister paired with good shoulder to hand twitch although I'd like to see some possession improvement. He is still 18 and I fear he eventually will get tired of waiting for his NHL chance and eventually after a prospect camp x3 will just go the KHL route.


90. C Evan Barratt (USA U18) 5'11 182
- Hockey family. Will go to Penn State to play for 3-4 years. Scrappy kid with excellent motor and never shys from contact. Is your typical overachiever due to sheer will, sweat, and perseverance. Projects as a bottom 6 centerman. My take is that he is going to do well in Rockford one day but is unlikely to ever make the big club.

112. LW Tim Soderlund (Sweden) 5'9 - 163
- Played center and LW but definitely looks best on left side with ready to shoot mentality and skill to slip into plays. Was a big time kid in juniors and looked like a future top 50 pick but I think his slight frame kept him from better scoring opportunities at Skelleftea. Soderlund has immense talent to be a left side scoring threat at an NHL level, likely on a 3rd line. I think his intense last year of hockey wore him down. He is a super prospect in terms of potential. I expect him to find his way to the NHL in 3-4 years.

119. D Roope Laavainen (Jokerit Juniors) 6'2 200
- Stans backyard is Jokerit and the staff spends a ton of time with these guys. Roope is big and tough and not scared of the box at all! This is a big city type of guy that enjoys the contact and can finish checks and has a developing hard from point shot. His frame is already developed and he has excellent coaching... Future bottom 4 blue line enforcer would be my call. 2020-21 season most likely.

144. W Parker Foo (AJHL) 6'0 171
- Stan takes 2 guys from the AJHL... of course he did. Total goal scorer with quick moves and great hands. Showed a ton in the playoffs this year and it put him on the draft map. Going to Union and will really need to get some muscle and experience at better levels. I don't know, it's easy to see his fluidity on highlights but the raise in competition may eat him up... hard to tell but I'd guess his AHL career will be up and down.

150. D Jakub Galvas (Czech Republic) 5'11 161
- Turned 18 a week ago and it shows in his frame and face. Excellent skater and has quick movement to cut down lanes. Is very highly regarded over there and was considered a guy maybe in that 70-90 range so this is great value. Sooo young and slight but already has excellent ice time on his belt and should continue to get better. Could definitely be a Hawk in 3-4 years, especially as a left handed / shooting blueliner.
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- 215. D Josh Ess (University of Wisconsin) 5'11 183
- Doubling down on the young left side dmen here. Ess was no where but word is he is a heck of a locker room guy and turned his last opportunity into a few tremendous months by accepting a Wisconsin invitation / a captains patch / and finally a great playoff series. He used to have a hitch on his shot but seemed to smooth it out too. He is going for a full 4 years and then is a likely AHL guy.

***** So if you couldn't tell I'm really high on Jokiharju. I also like Soderlund quite a bit and can see Galvas / Laavainen reaching the NHL at some point. Foo, Altybarmakyan, Mitchell, and Ess to me are guys I think need fairly big jumps in their overall games in order to matter to Bowman in terms of value (through trade, Rockford, or Hawks). We took 9 picks with 5/9 dmen and only 3/9 being our actual original draft positioning. 2 AJHL guys too. Just looking at this class you can see the wheels turning (we will need to replace Keith-Seabs in 3-4 years) and I think he got 3 good ones. Galvas was the best value by far as I think I expected him around that 90-100 range and we got him at 150. Overall, another solid draft for Stan... and a rare one in which we took 9 picks. *****

[GRADEN]

Wanted to dive into our exchanges now that I've had some time:

Out: Hossa (retire), TvR (expansion draft), Hjalmerson (trade), Panarin / Motte (trade)

In: Saad / Forsberg / Murphy / Dauphin

My take: obviously we don't need to discuss Saad in depth as we know him but what is interesting is that he is actually younger than AP.... he is likely going to score less both in goals and points but is clearly a better 2way wing than AP. It's sort of a wash in my book. Goalie Anton Forsberg is the mystery here.... he has absolutely killed it at the AHL level for 3 seasons and then on each call up looks like maybe he isn't the future CBJ #2 they thought... well one can say it's because Columbus just doesn't have the defense or support needed to succeed? It's a tough call because you can see his talent and instincts. He should get every chance to prove he is the Hawks backup for the 2017-18 season.

Connor Murphy is a big strong blue line guy that has some experience but not the production you'd like in return for such an established guy... he will be a big part of our 2/3 pairings this year though as our depth is completely depleted. Dauphin is a highly drafted 2way center that was thought would come in from the Q and be a big deal right away... that wasn't the case at all and he has struggled to find scoring chances at the higher levels. His average size has limited him.

Overall it will really come down to if we can get 2 decent seasons out of the very affordable Murphy and Forsberg (650-675k per each) to really know if these trades were worth it.

The deals open up opportunities for us to play the FA game though, something we haven't been able to do for years

[molepharmer]

...Overall it will really come down to if we can get 2 decent seasons out of the very affordable Murphy and Forsberg (650-675k per each) to really know if these trades were worth it........

Not sure this is a typo or you meant Dauphin. Murphy is signed through '21-22 at ~ $3.8 aav.

And Kruger will in all probability be on the 'out' list. Most everybody expects him to be moved after July 1, that is, after the Hawks pay him his $2 mil bonus.

Rutta is an 'in'.

There's also rumors of the Hawks signing Cal Peterson. Would be real nice signing. 'Course either him or Forsberg probably will be AHL bound.

[GRADEN]

Murphy 1 season at 650 and Forsberg 1 season at 675 = 2 seasons, hopefully decent ones

Yea I certainly haven't gone the full tilt yet as it's extremely time consuming .... kids and all that lot ya know

In a different topic post i talked about David Kampf too.... he is set for Rockford but who knows because we are so stimied on right wingers.... he is a strong 6'2 RW from the Czech league whom has a nice 2 way bit about his game... he shows flashes of scoring but definitly not like an AP or Eeli Tovanen pro scoring attack.... I think he is the David Runblad of RW additions for us lol... like "whooooooa u see that hard heavy shot" followed by "ut oh he totally over skated that, and now it's a breakaway".....

[GRADEN]

And I don't think Dauphin is in the conversation of "contributions" .... he will play in RF and maybe 5-8 hawk games with 7-9 TOI with maybe 1-2 points if that. I'm combining the 2 biggest unknown players from the 2 trades saying these trades will be good IF those 2 parts of the 2 deals are positives for us.... I just take for granted Saad will give us 18-19 TOI 21 goals 37 assists and a +20 while playing rockstar D

[molepharmer]

Murphy 1 season at 650 .....

Murphy is at $3.85 starting '17-18. Not sure why you say 650.

Bottom 6 on Hawks are kind of up in the air right now. You can probably assume a few guys (Kero, Jurco, Hayden?) but after that it's a bit of a crapshoot. Ras and ADJ are FA. Tootoo never played much. Vinny was hit and miss. Have read good things about Highmore. Debrincat, hopefully. Dauphin ? Somebody's going to have to emerge to be the 'every day' player.

[GRADEN]

Yea my bad i meant Forsberg and Dauphin for 650-675

Yea um we are locked into Murphy for 21+ guaranteed which I'm not sure I care for.

[GRADEN]

Man so many moves....

Obviously the big one is Sharp which I don't understand... unless you think just in terms of great value 1/800k (200k obtainable) then I don't get it.... I mean it's super well documented, but his marriage held up so I'm not sure what is true and what isn't.... I guess if Keith or Seabs punch him out then we'll know more lol

Also sign center Wingels, goalie JFB, and forward Lance Bouma on 1 year deals

And as expected the VGK have taken Kruger for a pick or cash...

Out of our free agents only Labrie has signed elsewhere.

Wingels and JFB will push our backups so I like their signings... forsberg and JFB should really have a good battle... Wingels can win a bottom 6 center man spot for sure....

Overall it's been a weird offseason... although the addition of Henri is super exciting to me


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[GRADEN]

Latte - Rasmussen signed elsewhere now too


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