Chicago Blackhawks

Looking back at my conference predictions

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A prognosticator I am not. My mock NFL Draft senior year was about 15% correct. When I went about predicting the NHL’s playoff picture back in October, I didn’t have high hopes. Let us see how 2ITB did:

East

Prediction – 1. WAS, 2. PIT, 3. BOS, 4. NJD, 5. BUF, 6. OTT, 7. MTL, 8. PHI, 9. NYR, 10. CAR, 11. TOR, 12. TBL, 13. NYI, 14. ATL, 15. FLA

Actual – 1. WAS, 2. PHI, 3. BOS, 4. PIT, 5. TBL, 6. MTL, 7. BUF, 8. NYR, 9. CAR, 10. TOR, 11. NJD, 12. ATL, 13. OTT, 14. NYI, 15. FLA

So I was a bit off in the middle. Not too many people would have bet on that epic collapse by New Jersey and I, admittedly put far too much stock in Brian Elliott and Pascal Leclaire. Philadelphia overachieved (according to my original calculation) and I vastly underestimated Tampa Bay.

Washington was a pretty easy choice to make, as was keeping Atlanta, Florida and the Islanders at the bottom. Otherwise it was a hodgepodge of close calls and near misses.

West

Prediction – 1. LA, 2. VAN, 3. CHI, 4. SJ, 5. DET, 6. NSH, 7. ANA, 8. CGY, 9. COL, 10. PHX, 11. STL, 12. DAL, 13. MIN, 14. CBJ, 15. EDM

Actual – 1. VAN, 2. SJ, 3. DET, 4. ANA, 5. NSH, 6. PHX, 7. LA, 8. CHI, 9. DAL, 10. CGY, 11. STL, 12. MIN, 13. CBJ, 14. COL, 15. EDM

Since the West is such a crap shoot it would have been pretty hard to predict either way. I gave LA too much credit and it turns out the Hawks didn’t have close to enough depth to compete at the level they did last year.

My biggest oversight was with Colorado at nine, turns out they really stink. The Western playoff picture is extremely interesting this season, with the amount of parity out there it isn’t a stretch to say that any team can advance and any team could have finished two to four places higher.

The first domino(es) falls in Chicago

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Chicago has taken the first step in alleviating their salary cap nightmare.

Dustin Byfuglien will bring his net-front presence to the Atlanta Thrashers next season.

This afternoon, the team sent playoff hero Dustin Byfuglien to Atlanta along with Brent Sopel, Ben Eager and Akim Aliu in exchange for the Marty Reasoner, Jeremy Morin, the 24th and 54th overall selections in the 2010 draft.

The trade sheds about $4-5 million from the Blackhawks cap. That is assuming Morin plays in the AHL next season.

While the trade hasn’t officially gone through, this will end up better for the Blackhawks than for the Thrashers. Even though Atlanta gets the top player in the deal, they also inherit two sub-par players in Sopel and Eager. Meanwhile, Chicago now owns five picks in the first 60 of the draft, that gives them the ability to restock their prospect cupboard for the next 3-5 years.

In addition, Atlanta loses a quality role player in Reasoner and the first round selection they acquired from trading Ilya Kovalchuk.

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Blackhawks up against the cap

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A few quick hits regarding the Blackhawks salary cap situation:

  • Chicago has 10 upcoming free agents, four UFAs and six RFAs.
  • They have $1.234 million available to sign these players.
  • There is at least $3.5 million invested in each of the following players: Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Brian Campbell, Patrick Kane, Jonathon Toews, Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp and Cristobal Huet. Plus, Kris Versteeg, Dustin Byfuglien and Dave Bolland are each on for $3 million.

The Hawks are in a very precarious situation moving into Friday’s draft. Of their upcoming free agents, Nick Boynton and Kim Johnsson aren’t likely to be brought back. As UFAs and veteran defensemen the pair don’t have a big impact in the future of the organization.

Andrew Ladd (rear) and Jordan Hendry (#42) are likely to be playing in a different city next year.

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I almost forgot, Jeremy Roenick cried!

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I should preface this post, and explain that headline, by saying I have loads of respect for Jeremy Roenick. I was lucky enough to spend time with Jeremy in Vancouver at the Olympics and he is truly a great guy. The morning production meetings were always a blast with him there.

So, I digress. The fact that Jeremy Roenick was so emotional over the Blackhawks winning the Cup shows the die-hard attitude the players have in the NHL. Roenick was so close, so many times and missed his opportunity. And to see him in that state shows his dedication to the game of hockey. I know a lot of people are going to have a lot of fun with what happened in studio after the game, but I respect him for it. I know if the Sabres ever win the Cup………….I will probably experience a wave of emotion. Plus, if I were to have the hockey career similar to his, and see a former team of mine hoist the Cup, I would be happy but heartbroken too. So, my hat’s off to you Mr. Roenick. But, for everyone else, here is the video.

Hawks win, cabbies beware

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Pat Kane fired the shot heard ’round the hockey world. Well, it was more of a trickler that eluded Michael Leighton to give Chicago their first Stanley Cup in 49 years.

It was a climactic end to a game that was rather frustrating to watch. Particularly the first period and a half. Scott Hartnell – first of all cut your hair, you look like an ass – ran around taking dives and just played reckless through the first period. I thought the dive that drew a make-up call on Brent Seabrook was far worse than the tumble he took before his first goal. Either way, he runs around every game and plays a dangerous style, so does Dan Carcillo. Of course, Carcillo couldn’t do too much damage in the press box could he?

I found more fault with the refereeing, particularly in the first half of the game. Chris Pronger plays a rather edgy style, but, he didn’t really deserve the call he got for roughing up Jonathon Towes. In the same hand Marian Hossa did not interfere with Leighton in the 2nd. In fact, that was one of the worst calls I have seen in quite some time. Thankfully, the zebras put away the whistles for the third period and overtime. The final 20 minutes and change was wildly entertaining hockey and rather poetic, thanks to the deflection off Marian Hossa’s shin pad that led to the Flyers tying goal. Of course, that was moot once Kane slipped the winner under Leighton from a sharp angle.

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