Great choice for player of the game, he sure bailed Hendry out early on after a bad giveaway.

Good to see Hossa get goals…yep, goals w/ an “s”…when it rains, it pours for that guy, wow!

What Sopel may lack in speed (and looks, for that matter), he sure makes up in “touch my goalie again and I’ll kick your ass” fire.

Did the cameraman HAVE TO cut to the foursome doing the fist-pumps after every Hawks goal? They should be quarantined, stuff like that can be scary contagious.

Lastly, Brouwer ALWAYS looks surprised to have the puck, but at least it’s “ohmygodohmygodohmygodyes!” Brouwer w/ the puck.

Makes the game look effortless. Every time he’s on the ice, your attention is drawn to him. It’s been said before, and will be said again, but he is the caliber of player that’s not been seen in an indianhead sweater in a long, long, time.

Altanta Thashers’’s Kovalchuk, who is making $7.5 million this season.
One surprise is the Chicago Blackhawks, who supposedly would give up Kris Versteeg(notes) and Cam Barker(notes), which would save the cash-strapped Blackhawks $6 million next season.
Source=Yahoo Sports
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/rumors/post/Thrashers-Kovalchuk-headed-to-Chicago-;_ylt=AvGjKQqeN2z5HbalDgreR2I5nYcB?urn=nhl,211579

I disagree with that part. I think he’s a great addition to the team, don’t get me wrong, and usually love to see him out there, but I thought he was trying to get a little too “offensive” for his own good last night which at some point he may be able to make work, but don’t think it works quite yet, or while being paired with Soupy.

I really would like to see him paired with Sopel though, to see how that would work. Just call me Mrs. Q.

I thought Barker only came back out once more for a shift after he limped off during the Hossa goal. Maybe on that one shift he creamed a bunch of guys and decided to take the rest of the night off, after all he still wound up playing more than twice as much as the night before, but I got the sense that he was banged up moreso than delivering banging.

Kovalchuk would be nice, but don’t we have scoring more than covered? I mean, when you have more than five players on your team with ten goals or more, adding another scorer seems almost like adding sugar to Pepsi.

And yes, watching the Panda is a treat. The way he handles the puck is just amazing. Just think, when Kaner learns how to do this as well as Panda ( not that he’s not doing a good job now) this team will be ridiculous.

gesture sending the fourth line on a long PP shift late in the third, after another inferior team gave us a power play by running our goalie late in the game.

While it would’ve been nice giving Hossa the chance at a natural hat trick, its nicer to reward the 4th line with another great game, while keeping it classy for a not-always-classy opposition.

I’m probably harder on Steeger than anyone, but is there anyone on this team with better hands and patience when in tight on a goalie (maybe Hossa or Toews)? Just some of the goals he scores when there isn’t much room are impressive……….1) last night’s 2) the pittsburgh OT winner, 3) a goal from last year in which he was at the side of the net……spun, dragged a puck from backhand to forehand and roofed a shot (I wanna say it was against Vancouver, regular season). Sure some of the plays he tries to make in tight can be a little too cute for his own good, but man when he pulls them off…….

The Duck D has gone all soft. VERSTEEG! and Brouwer enjoyed picnics in front of the net.

Anyone else notice the Hossa-Keith connection in the offensive zone? Not just on the goal dumbshit, but all night.

That makes three blown shutouts (in SJ and v. Preds), and five meaningless goals allowed to spoil ‘em. That’s 10 virtual shutouts out of 42 games. The reality is that the Hawks goal-differential understates the true state of affairs.

With all the line changes Q has been making this year, adding one guy to replace the two or three we’d trade away sounds like a nightmare. Just picture it – we bring Kovy in two months before the playoffs start… Q puts together three or four line combos over the course of about three week’s worth of games… finally gets one that seems to work and then Bolland comes back. Now the lines get juggled again to fit Bolland in with the right forwards.

This has “bad” written all over it.

next week. The Fourth Period says he’s going to make his decision on returning to the Thrashers by next Monday. So I guess I’ll have plenty of time to come up with nicknames for what could be the opposite of Capocalypse. Kovi-Palooza. Koval-fest 2010. Illya 2K10.

Leave this team be, they look like they finally are clicking to be a scoring machine, if we trade then we start from scratch again. Wait till the season is over.

If you ask me the ’Hawks are more in need of another veteran defenceman and with Neidermayer supposedly available he would be the best fit for this team. Gosh only knows how someone like Barker could benefit playing alongside a future H.O.F. like Neidermayer.

The intangibles that Niedermayer would bring are abound. Everywhere at every level Scott Neidermayer has won. Whether it be Conn Smythe’s, Norris Trophies, Stanley Cup’s, Gold Medal’s the man has done it all and why wouldn’t he want to finish his career with another Stanley Cup alongside great friend John Madden? His leadership would just add another dimension that would make the ‘Hawks a supreme favourite to win it all. His role wouldn’t be overwhelming as he’d be expected to fill the shoes of one Cam Barker or Brent Sopel – something he should do with ease.

Add to the fact he has only one year remaining on his current deal so the ‘Hawks wouldn’t be saddled with another long-term deal and with his retirement most likely it would be apparent the ‘Hawks wouldn’t be interested in bringing him back unless he’d want one more and was willing to play for a meager contract of 1 year/ $1 million.

Now add to the equation that it wouldn’t cost the ‘Hawks much in the terms of what we’d give the other way. Look we all realize that the ‘Hawks will have to give up some players at season’s end but why give them up for a rental player? If anything Stan should make sure that when players like Byfuglien, Versteeg, and Barker get shipped out the ‘Hawks would receive the maximum in return to ensure the long-term success of this franchise. Giving all of them up for just a 3-month rental player wouldn’t be in best interest of this franchise in the long run.

Just sayin’ :P

Great game last night, lots of crowd energy, good to hear Harvey call a Hawks game on the PA, and also very nice to see Hossa score the two goals on his bobblehead day. It was my fifth game of the season but my first seeing Hossa play in person for the Hawks so it was definitely a nice experience. The team seemed rather sloppy at points but hey, a win is a win.

As for Kovalchuk, I’d much rather see us go after Neidermayer. He’s a UFA and I think his price tag would be less. I personally don’t see much of a need for Kovalchuk right now.

However, I’m all for leaving things the way they are right now. We’re tied with San Jose for most points in the NHL, it obviously ain’t broke, so let’s not fix it. We did all the repair we needed to when we signed Hossa and Madden.