Hawks traded D Sharp & D Johns to Dallas for D Trevor Daley & F Ryan Garbutt. Dallas takes the full cap hit on Sharp and Johns and will retain 50% of Garbutts salary & cap hit. And most hockey critics like Dallas' acquisition. I like what Hawks are doing.
The Hawks have won 3 cups in 5 years. I'm not going to question jack that team does. They always surround their top 4 guys with the right players.
You said it all right there....the Blackhawk management group knows what it takes to complete a roster. Just look at the top of the Blackhawk hockey operations staff and you'll see NHL royalty and top notch management people with Stanley Cup resumes. Look at the Ranger staff and you see Sather's cronies whose biggest accomplishment is being Sather's friend, not puttin together Stanley Cup winners. Sather and his boys : Mike Barnett, Schoenfeld, Doug f---ing Risebrough and Gordie Clark have managed to bring zero results for a decade +... in every direction they've tried.
You can't bash Clark. All this team does is draft players that make the NHL. Often, Clark is forced to draft players without a first round pick. Sometimes without a second either. Clark saved the organization. They drafted like crap for years. Sather has built some really good teams here. However, to me his biggest fault is each year his coach has had one or two rejects who stink and can't play but who the coach loves and he hasn't gotten rid of them. Renney had many. Torts had a couple of clowns he loved that just sucked. AV has Glass. You can't have any weak links on a team when you haven't tanked seasons like Chicago to get a couple of franchise players.
While it's very true that they havent brought home the main prize, it's not exactly fair to say theyve had zero results for the decade. Since the 05 lockout (a decade ago), no team has made the playoffs more often than us and only one team has won more playoff series over that time. We havent exactly been watching the Oilers, the Coyotes, or the Islanders these past 10 years. It does add to the frustration that theyve been so close, but let's keep it in perspective. I've been pretty satisfied with the direction of the franchise and the window is far from closed.
Not sure about those stats- 3 teams have won more playoff series and 3 have as many as the Rangers in last ten seasons...and most importantly all those teams have won a cup. At a quick glance from 2006-2015, the Rangers have won 10 playoff series. Blackhawks have won 16 series (3-0 in finals), Red Wings have won 12 series (1-1 in final), Pittsburgh has won 11 series (1-1 in final). Bruins, Ducks and Rangers have all won 10 with bruins going 1-1 in finals and ducks 1-0 finals . Blackhawks are in midde of their run with maybe Anaheim coming on again while other's time has gone. It's not about just making the playoffs, its about building a team to make a big run and not just survive each round. From the drunken sailor days of buying garbage free agents and evetually trading them "in an other great deal" to the latest mantra of keeping the home grown talent, Sather and his cronies that are advising/pulling the strings have proven over and over that they cannot build out or tweak a roster to get it done. Every year, changes made to the roster in the offseason always result in us grabbing somebody else's spare parts. Contracts handed out with NTC have become common and have hamstrung any ability to make moves. All of this has been done under Sather ! The last 2 years have shown that this group can "compete" but lacks the depth to puts teams away when it counts. Its up to the the GM or whoever is running the team to get it done. You can see from all recent winners of the cup that the "window of opportunity" IS SMALL ...before teams need to retool under the cap. That time is now. Looking at the track record of this front office group, I have a hard time believing that Sather (or Gorton under Sather) will "get it done".
You're right JD, the playoff series stat was not over the decade but over a more limited time. I believe the past 5 seasons. My mistake.
In the past 4 seasons the Rangers have won the most playoff series in the East and won the 3rd most playoff series in the NHL. I won't focus on 10 years, but I clearly will say the past 4 seasons the Rangers have been one of the top teams in the NHL. To me the 3rd best team in the NHL behind the Hawks and Kings. Now they need to actually win a cup to truly cement this run.
I missed the Kings also- who have won 10 series and 2 cups ! The Rangers have definitely performed near the top as of late but their time to get it done is here and now...not 3 years from now. The common theme the past 2-3 playoff seasons is to play from behind and not be able to dominate teams early in playoffs. They have lacked the depth to get it done...too many small forwards cut from the same mold just has not and will not get it done. And to no surprise, it really seems like it wont be addressed.
Not sure about that. Etem is bigger than Hags. MSL is gone. So I do think their goal is to get larger upfront. I happen to think we are a R shot forward short, but we'll see how it all works out.
ehhh...really not sure what to make of him...up and down past 3 years with 31 pts in 112 games. Seems like a speed guy with not much grit but we'll see
Some people in here are really high on him. To me if he can score 12-14 goals that will pretty much make up for most of what Hags does, and I think he will be a better weapon in the playoffs due to some extra size. I do know that he will be in the top 9 with Fast as well, so we need him to produce as much as possible.
It's hard to complain too much about the last 5-10 years, making 3 ecfs and 1 SC when you aren't drafting as high as Chicago, Pitt and LA have for 2-3y when they sucked. Where i see the failure of Sather etc..was getting the proper depth and oversigning some garbage which kept their ceiling short of winning. Not to beat a dead horse about the Jessiman thing anymore but if they got a different result in that draft that's a big piece of a roster. McIlrath could be the same miss but we'll see. They nailed HL and alot of other mid-rounders and the McD/Klein deals. Buchnevich has game changing ability so hopefully that pans out.
I'm extremely high on Etem. I think the Ducks completely screwed up with that kid. Think Pouliot with about 10 more goals. I think this kid with our playmaking centers is a 25-25 guy if he gets consistent PP time. I don't like what AV and Sather have done with McIlrath. Gorton loves toughness so I hope he really puts the pressure on AV to play him. We need him to be our 6th defenseman.
It is not the last 5-10 years. It is not the last 5 years. It is the last 4 years IMO. Until we made the ECF in 2012 we hadn't been that far since 1997...15 years. So please keep it in context. The past FOUR years we have been one of the best teams in the NHL, 3rd best IMO.
