Blackhawks: 2010-2011

[Slapshot9123 0]

Kinda surprised one has yet to be made.

This year, to be honest isn't looking like a good one to me. We only have 2 guys putting the puck in the net right now. Defense is shaky without Campbell in the lineup, a ton of little mistakes all around the ice. Not sure how I feel about Turco just yet.

[GoBucky 0]

Considering that the Hawks just won the Cup and pretty much had to completely retool the team in order to get under the salary cap, Im actually surprised they havent struggled more.

Ive been pleased with how the youngsters have played, Hossa has been a God, Turco has been solid and really the only thing holding this team back, IMO is that Kane and Toews have been mediocre so far.

If our stars (Kane and Toews) can step it up and give Hossa some help, this team will be hard to beat, IMO.

[Chadd 916]

Turco has been bad in most of the action I've seen, he is going to cost them a few wins if he doesn't magically get better. I'll stick with my prediction that Crawford ends up the starter by the all star break. With all the new faces it will take some time to get some chemistry.

[GoBucky 0]

Turco looked pretty decent in the game against the Blues on Monday. He's definetly no Niemi, but he's solid. If the Hawks start playing better defense and stop turning the puck over all the time, he will be fine.

[Chadd 916]

Turco looked pretty decent in the game against the Blues on Monday. He's definetly no Niemi, but he's solid. If the Hawks start playing better defense and stop turning the puck over all the time, he will be fine.

They turned the puck over constantly last year and won the cup. Their defense is worse than it was last year so don't expect them to suddenly turn into something they aren't.

[Slapshot9123 0]

Safe to say Turco looked solid today other than the shootout. Thanks for that win Luongo.

On the defense debate. We might have the most overrated "first man" Keith is no where near as good as people make him out to be. Norris should have went to Doughty last year by far. Aside from that, the D is much worse than last year. Constant turnovers, slow feet. Nothing to rave about at all and last year was just one step above that. They will never be a shutdown defense with the unit they have.

[GoBucky 0]

Safe to say Turco looked solid today other than the shootout. Thanks for that win Luongo.

Turco looked very good last night, other than that goal he gave up after he flopped down onto the ice. As for their defense, last night was the best theyve looked all season. Im not expecting them to turn into a shutdown defense either, but as long as they can score a few goals in each game (would be nice if Kane and Toews would give Hossa some help) and Turco keeps it together and limits the opposing team to no more than 3 goals per game, they will be fine.

[boconnor811 0]

Guys talk me off the ledge this team is driving me nuts... Blowing leads, losing one goal games, they are all such tiring losses.

[chippa13 1844]

That might be a tall order. Not only did they turnover a bunch of their roster but each replacement was a downgrade from the guy they had to ship out.

[boconnor811 0]

That might be a tall order. Not only did they turnover a bunch of their roster but each replacement was a downgrade from the guy they had to ship out.

Definitely lost a ton of depth, but thought we'd gain a bit in young big name players maturing. To this point the big name players aren't playing consistently like big name players should. Hope they turn it around, it has been difficult to watch.

[GoBucky 0]

Its still early in the season. They have PLENTY of time to get it together and theres lots of hockey yet to be played between now and April.

The thing that sticks out for me is that the Hawks are only losing these games by 1 or 2 goals, so its not as if they are getting blown out. Once the stars get it together and start scoring some more goals, the Hawks will be right in the thick of it again.

[boconnor811 0]

Its still early in the season. They have PLENTY of time to get it together and theres lots of hockey yet to be played between now and April.

The thing that sticks out for me is that the Hawks are only losing these games by 1 or 2 goals, so its not as if they are getting blown out. Once the stars get it together and start scoring some more goals, the Hawks will be right in the thick of it again.

I almost think the one and two goal losses are worse than getting blown out. Some nights the team just won't have it, that is to be expected. IMO to be in all these games, and never able to pull out a win, shows some level of complacency. Someone needs to light a fire under these guys. The fourth line could've been the top line from what I saw in last nights game versus the preds.

[Chadd 916]

If they can get Turco to stop letting in his usual one softie a game, that would help immensely.

[GoBucky 0]

If they can get Turco to stop letting in his usual one softie a game, that would help immensely.

Some more goal support would be nice too. A lot of the time the Hawks get an early 1-0 lead and its like they think its in the bag and they close up shop for the night.

Take the Phoenix game last week for example. Phoenix had maybe 45 seconds in that game where they were able to move the puck and that was all it took for them to go up 2-1 and the Hawks werent able to answer.

Im not a huge Turco fan. He's OK but definetly isnt one of the best in the league. Just as he has some real bonehead plays were you are like, "what is he doing????" he also has made quite a lot of spectacular stops.

You cant expect him to shut out the other team every night though and the Hawks still have more than enough offensive firepower to score more than 1 goal per game on a regular basis.

[boconnor811 0]

Some more goal support would be nice too.

I would have to agree, the lack of offensive production seems to be a recurring theme.

[GoBucky 0]

I would have to agree, the lack of offensive production seems to be a recurring theme.

Turco simply is good enough to hold a 1 goal lead for 50 minutes. He's a solid, proven veteran goalie; but he's no Halak and simply isnt good enough to shut most teams down for 60 minutes.

For a long time he has been criticized for doing too much roaming to play the puck. Sometimes it works, but its a risky move and its burnt the Hawks on a few occasions.

[boconnor811 0]

Turco put up a shut out last night, granted the hawks had more shots in the first period than he faced for the entire game, but a shutout nonetheless:)

[GoBucky 0]

As we say here in Wisconsin, they, "took 'em to the woodshed" last night.

That was the best game Ive seen the Hawks play this season. They controlled the puck for most of the game and it was nice that our captain FINALLY played the way that we all know he can play.

Hopefully the Hawks can build off of this and get their season back on track.

[boconnor811 0]

Yeah - let's hope they can keep that up against some real teams

[GoBucky 0]

IMO, the win over the Oilers was an important victory for no other reason than from a mental standpoint. Considering the Hawks had lost to them twice thus far this season, they needed to go into Edmonton and dominate that game and should now be able to build on that victory.

The real test is going to be when they play divisional rivals like Vancouver, St Louis and Detroit and possible SCF foes like Philly, Pittsburgh and Washington.

[boconnor811 0]

IMO, the win over the Oilers was an important victory for no other reason than from a mental standpoint. Considering the Hawks had lost to them twice thus far this season, they needed to go into Edmonton and dominate that game and should now be able to build on that victory.

The real test is going to be when they play divisional rivals like Vancouver, St Louis and Detroit and possible SCF foes like Philly, Pittsburgh and Washington.

Couldn't agree more... To lose to the Oilers twice is borderline embarrassing, glad they took care of business this time around. This road-trip can be a huge help to get the team on track if they play well. Vancouver, SanJose, Anaheim, and L.A. over the course of the next week should be a good test!

[GoBucky 0]

Really L.A. is the only team on that list that is playing all that way. The matchup with San Jose should be interesting though and no doubt Niemi will be playing his best to try to show the Hawks that they screwed up letting him go.

[boconnor811 0]

Really L.A. is the only team on that list that is playing all that way.

All teams those teams have a good handful of guys that can do some damage on a scoresheet pretty quickly though. There is also some history with the sharks and canucks, that was the basis for my thought on the group of games.

[GoBucky 0]

True, the game vs the Sharks will be interesting and its always a fun game when they play the Canucks. L.A. is really the only team that is playing well enough to be a cup contender at this point in time, IMO.

Beating the 'Nucks and Sharks wont get me all that excited or feeling optimistic, but beating L.A. would be a huge win, IMO.

Honestly though, at this point I'll take a Hawks win against ANYONE.

[boconnor811 0]

Definitely would've liked to see the hawks hold the lead a bit better last night, but it was nice to see 19 and 88 on the score sheet multiple times. Recent play has definitely seemed to be improved, hope they keep it up.