Some real good stuff around today:
Tim Sassone Thinks The Hawks Might Need A Goon
This is patently ridiculous and really disheartening from a reporter who’s usually so good. Let’s ignore the logjam the Hawks have at forward anyway — and that’s before Hossa gets back — and study this suggestion. How does some mouth-breathing drooler who can’t move help the cause in any way? Quenneville is already struggling to roll four lines, and having someone even more useless on the 4th line would only exacerbate that. As far as the Hawks getting retribution for certain hits or protecting their stars, that’s an anachronism. The Hawks get back at you by skating right by your ass and lighting up the scoreboard. Don’t doubt this team’s toughness. Regarding the Toews hit, it was clean. Completely. Nothing burns my ass then when a Hawks player lays someone out legally and then has to deal with a bunch of bullshit from the opponent. So I’m not going to change my opinion when it’s reversed. It’s an NHL-wide problem. As I said in the recap, we see Mitchell three more times this year, and there’ll be plenty of dump-ins he has to chase.
Rosenbloom Declares Season Over
That’s being harsh, as most of his points are pretty valid. But considering this was the first game — out of nine, mind you — that they’ve been outplayed, I don’t think it’s a marker for the season. I don’t think this is a blueprint on how to beat the Hawks for the league. The Canucks are one of two teams in the conference, possibly three (Jackets, Flames) that can play that game effectively enough to beat the Hawks, and they still needed the Hawks to be bad to do so. The Jackets don’t have the defensive corps the Canucks do or as much scoring, and the Flames…well, we all saw that.