The Chicago Blackhawks reign atop the Western Conference is coming to an end. Between 2009-2017 the Blackhawks were the class of the west. They had the most points, most goals and won three Stanley Cups. They had an excellent nine-year stretch, but they are showing signs of a team in transition.
They are no longer the dominant force in the west. They are still competitive, but they are no longer a team to be feared.
Corey Crawford has hidden many of the Hawks flaws this season. His .929sv% and 2.27GAA kept the Hawks competitive, but Crawford is on the IR again and the Hawks have only won one of the nine games Crawford hasn’t started. Anton Forsberg is now their starter, and he isn’t capable of stealing games regularly like Crawford.
The Hawks blueline is much different than the powerful unit it was during their Cup years. Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook were a great top pair, while Niklas Hjalmarsson and Johnny Oduya were a formidable second pair, who faced just as difficult competition as the top pair.
Today, Keith is still in their top pair, but he played with Jordan Oesterle last night. Oesterle is fearless and he skates well, but he shouldn’t be in your top pairing. Keith has played 593 5×5 minutes and he’s played 196 with Seabrook, 185 with Cody Franson and 106 with Oesterle. Seabrook has mainly been in the second unit, and while paid like a top-pairing defender, $6.875 million for six more seasons, Seabrook is no longer an elite defender. Oesterle and Franson are more suited for third pairing minutes, but the Hawks salary cap issues forces head coach Joel Quenneville to play players where they shouldn’t be.
Patrick Kane has lived up to his contract. The $10.5 million/season deal began in 2015/2016. In those two and half years, Kane has produced the most points in the NHL with 231 in 200 games. Sidney Crosby is 2nd with 209 points in 193 games, while Nikita Kucherov is 3rd with 203 in 187 games. Connor McDavid is 5th with 193 points in only 164 games. Kane has also scored the 2nd most goals, 95, trailing only Alex Ovechkin’s 107.
Jonathan Toews also makes $10.5 million/season, but he has 138 points. He had 58 points in each of the past two seasons and has 22 in 36 games this year. Brandon Saad makes $6 million and has 17 points. When top guys like Toews, Saad and Seabrook aren’t contributing to the level of their salary it impacts the team’s chances of winning significantly.
Alex Debrincat, 12 goals and 24 points, and Nick Schmaltz, 21 points, have contributed nicely, but the Hawks depth has been tested. It doesn’t help that Keith and Seabrook have combined for one goal. Surprisingly, Keith has no goals in 36 games. He has 17 assists, but no goals from a player who has played 889 minutes is not ideal.
The Hawks had a great run, but GM Stan Bowman will need to find some young, cheap, skilled defenceman who can play and succeed in their top-four over in the near future for the Hawks to remain competitive. With Crawford on the IR, the Oilers need to defeat a team that is clearly understaffed tonight.
LINEUPS…
Oilers
Lucic-McDavid-Puljujarvi
Maroon-RNH-Caggiula
Khaira-Draisaitl-Strome
Cammalleri-Letestu-Kassian
Nurse-Russell
Klefbom-Larsson
Sekera-Benning
Oscar Klefbom returns to the lineup after missing three games. He had an injection in his shoulder, cortisone shot, and says he feels the best he’s felt since before last year’s playoffs. The Oilers will activate Klefbom off the IR around 3 p.m. and will announce another roster move. I suspect it will be sending Anton Slepyshev to Bakersfield or put Eric Gryba on non-roster waivers. Tonight marks the first game this season the Oilers will ice their complete lineup. The Oilers are healthy for the first time this season, while the Blackhawks are banged up. Edmonton must take advantage of a depleted Chicago team playing on consecutive nights.
***Update at 2:40 p.m. Gryba has been placed on waivers and Klefbom activated.**
Hawks
Kane-Schmaltz-DeBrincat
Saad-Toews-Hartman
Sharp-Kampf-Panik
Buoma-Hayden-Wingels
Keith-Oesterle
Murphy-Seabrook
Kempny-Rutta
Forsberg
Artem Anisimov was injured early in the first period last night and won’t play tonight. The Hawks are still dangerous, mainly because of Kane, but this lineup is a shadow of what the Hawks used to bring on a nightly basis.
With Crawford on IR, Jeff Glass is the backup. Glass is best known for his heroics at the World Juniors. He then spent four years in the AHL, before going to Russia and playing seven years in the KHL for six different teams. He returned to the AHL in 2016/2017 and is now with the Blackhawks. I’d be surprised if he plays tonight, but it would be a fantastic story to see the Calgary-born Glass make his NHL debut against the Calgary Flames on New Year’s Eve. This is his 13th pro season and to make his NHL debut at 32 years of age in his hometown would be a wonderful story. I hope it happens.
***Update…Glass will live his NHL dream tonight. He gets the start vs. the Oilers. No doubt he and the entire Hawks team will be excited for him.***
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING…
Which broken record do you want to hear us play?
Pick your favorite. Is it “The Power Play Still Stinks!” That’s always a classic with the Hawks! It went 1-for-5 against Vancouver. How about we spin a track from “Toews’ Line Dominates Possession Again, But Still Can’t Score.” All three players from the Brandon Saad-Jonathan Toews-Ryan Hartman grouping were on the positive side of the possession battle but none of them scored. And not one of those players was credited with a high-danger chance by Natural Stat Trick until Hartman’s late tally. Last but not least, don’t forget about that Chicago classic “Laying an Egg Against an Inferior Opponent.” The Hawks had four days off and were facing a team that is plummeting in the NHL standings. But Chicago couldn’t take advantage, blowing another chance to keep pace in an ultra-competitive Central Division.
TONIGHT…
GAME DAY PREDICTION: The Oilers pick up their 10th win in their last 15 games by a score of 4-2.
OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: The Blackhawks score a PP goal.
NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Leon Draisaitl scores his first PP goal of the season propelling the Oilers to a victory tonight, but also leading to a Sunday home victory over Winnipeg. ***Yes, a NSOGDP that includes the next game.**
GDB BROUGHT TO YOU BY COLLIN BRUCE MORTGAGE TEAM
Source: Jason Gregor, Verified Twitter Account, 12/29/2017 – 12:00pm MST
Please shoot the puck Mr. McDavid. That is all.
Oesterle… our Oesterle? wow, good on him!
Let’s go Oilers clap clap clapclapclap!
We always bring our ‘A’ game against Chicago and their team seem ripe for the picking. I see a ‘W’ and a return to .500 and if we win our next two after that it’ll be 20 wins in 40 games and the way our season started I’ll gladly take that.
Anyone in the Oilers front office that has anything to do with signing players to contracts should heed the crystal ball that is Chicago. 6x6m for Seabrook now? 2 guys at 10m each for an eternity? Chicago won, yes, but are they now headed to a DoD?
2 guys at 11=22, one at 12.5 and another at 8.5=…….you guessed it 22, add Lucic and RNH at 6 and how is our current situation any different. If the cap goes up 5M neither Edmonton or Chicago would be too worried.
There is a huge difference here. The Oilers owe 22 million to guys who still won’t be 30 when the deal ends. The Hawks owe that same money to guys 10 years older.
FYI…12.5+8.5= $21 million, not 22. And difference for Oilers is McDavid and Draisaitl are on those deals in their prime. This season McDavid is 2nd in EV points and Draisaitl, in what some incorrectly deem down year is 16th in the NHL and neither is on same line now and won’t be for most part in the future. Lucic deal might become issue in a few years, but he is producing just fine for his contract now. Oilers will be getting better bang for their buck. Nothing wrong with paying guys who produce. RNH is producing much better than Saad right now and both make $6 mill.
You must have graduated from the Reshaug school of math.
All valid points. I meant it more like: please, let’s not do what they’ve done. You see warning signs in the Russell and Lucic contracts. Gryba even. Red flags, that’s all.
Difference is that Our two guys signed to big contracts are just hitting their prime. Kane and Toews signed theirs on the downside of their careers
oops should have hit refresh. This point has been covered….
This should be a good game. Hopefully the Oilers will take full advantage of a banged up team with a backup goalie.
I think Glass might be starting tonight, a good friend of mine grew up with Glass and he messaged me saying he was starting. Maybe the hawks will make the announcement closer to game time.
On a personal level I would love to see Glass come in and the Oilers win 3-1 and Glass has 34 saves. On a greedy Oilers fan level I also would not be upset if it’s 7-1and Glass get’s pulled before the 3rd(sorry Jeff)
The chicken hawks get there eggs crushed ……. BOOK IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another clueless prediction. Good job.
Say no to Remenda!
I prefer ‘eff you to drew’ lol
He’s been much better this year. I think someone in the Oilers office must have had words with him.
If I’m not mistaken, Chia was roasted for not going after Seabrook when it was suggested he was available.
Hmmm, smartest man in the room? Armchair GM’s take notice.
Just sayin…
Anyone else rather see Slepy in the lineup over Cammalleri? Slepy is healthy right?
Klef off IR, Slepy can clear waivers
Funny how the armchair GM’s on this site never give Chia credit for the signings he avoids. I remember a lot of posters wanting to sign Seabrook two years when it was thought he was available. He just gets roasted for the mistakes he does make. Funny how that works around here.
Just sayin…
I love how all the stats fanciers that write on here continually make it sound like all of Oilers fandom hold a grudge for trading away Hall when the reality is very few people have much regret about getting Lucic and Larsson.
What gets me is the guys that discount goals scored, pump up Taylor Hall and rip into Lucic. Last I checked they have same number of goals since the trade and Hall has 10 extra assists. That’s hardly the storyline that has been discussed around these parts.
funny howd9ome people post a comment but get no responses so they post pretty much the same comment a couple hours later.
just sayin……
And why don’t I get credit for all the women I didn’t sexually harrass?
NSOGDP: Oesterle scores his first career NHL goal against the team that brought him into the league.
This would fall under OGDP wouldn’t it.
#becauseOilers
Gryba on waivers…. Wonder if anyone takes a shot at him.
Need this win to pull within 1 pt of Chicago and 2 points of our rivals to the south…Lets go OILERS!
2 blatant tripping calls, and nothing called. The refs are brutal.
Oilers once again great at making a backup goalie look Vezina level. I smell a corrective losing streak starting up…
Hawks taking it to us in the second . Not looking good .
The Oilers know how to keep teams around when they should step on their throat, Hawks played last night and are playing a 3rd string goalie and when you don’t have a sniper or two ?? Hoffman in the team the other teams back up of course look like Vezina level.
This is the kind of game the Oilers have to win to even be part of any playoff conversation.
Enough of the mind games, the guys playing his first career game. All psychological warfare you’ve got going on inside your heads aside…he’s a 32 year old rookie. Haven’t we seen enough? Finish this off already guys…GMAFB
Are there any posters here with Sportsnet connections? Turn up Drew’s mike. Kevin is clear but Drew just mumbles.
More like turn off Drew’s mike
A team they are fighting the same wildcard spot for. A team that played last night. A team playing their third strong goalie. And playing at home. This is a game the Oilers HAVE to win. This break has still not taken that step forward. Missing the pieces to create that consistency.
Of course Oesterle scores. Humiliation on home ice complete for the Oil. Brutal.
Sweet Jesus….
Game they had to win in regulation.