BlackhawksFan

Hasn't it been only one game? Someone is putting the cart before the horse. Get back to me if the Hawks are up 3-0, then maybe this guy isn't full of s***. Don't blame the Hawks' media and fans for sounding whiny. There was little profile for the team, so a majority of the media/players following the team now have little history. Why not pick up the 'dead horse' of Detroit sucks? It sells better than actually deconstructing the changing of these teams in the past couple of years. Detroit is now a team in transition, the Hawks are the jauggernaut. The Blackhawks have a strong, balanced team. Their top-6 D may be the best in the league. Detroit has Kronwall and a much of very young, inexperienced players - or plain old nobodies. Smith? DeKeyser? Kindl? Quincey? This isn't the fearful Lidstrom/Kronwall/Rafalski of old. Same with Wings' forward lines. Young. In transition. But instead, we get this drivel. Sassone at the Daily Herald, and the guys at Committed Indian are usually decent souces for actual analysis of hockey. Ignore the Trib and Sun-Times. Cheers y'all. The Hawks dominated Game 1. The Wings get decide if it happens again on Saturday - it is a game I'm looking forward to.

This man has certainly made his decision:

I was perusing hockey message boards for various reactions to the Habs-Caps game, and stumbled across this thread. I guess I'll chime in. For Blackhawks fans, the pre-cap Wings seemed to "buy" their way to the Cup. Hull, Robitaille, Hasek... Even though "only" one Cup came out of that spending spree, it certainly drew the ire of Hawks fans, as well as many other fans around the league. There's no salary cap anymore, so that has let up a bit. However, the fact the Red Wings are still competitive, even with many great players leaving, is amazing. Despite the fact that the team has some of the best players in the world (Lidstrom has fallen off just a bit, but he's still top 5, and Datsyuk, in my opinion, is not only the second best forward in the game, he's also underrated), the team still chugs along. And all of that, to me, stems from the fact the organization is classy from the top down. The management and scouting team are the best in all of professional sports, and there's a tradition of excellence and pedigree that makes players want to come to the team, and take pay cuts to do so. The Wings always seem so disciplined, always ready to take it to another level. There isn't really any douchebag on the team to hate either. (EDIT: Wait a minute, what the hell am I talking about? Todd Bertuzzi. Tomas Holmstrom doesn't seem like he's a bad person. I probably should hate him, but he fills his niche so well.) So where does the hate come from? The Red Wings don't even have to try anymore to be good, it comes so naturally. The organization is better than any other team's. And, well, that kind of pisses a lot of people the f*** off. Probably, as a few people alluded to, because of jealousy. For me, the feeling isn't so much hate as it is respect. Lots and lots of respect. I can't hate management for overspending, because the salary cap won't allow that anymore. I can't really hate any of the players either. All I can do is just shake me head that the Red Wings have somehow done it again. Which does elicit a few "f***in' Red Wings" under my breath. If you want to ask why other NHL team's fans hate the Canucks, that'd be a much easier topic.

The topic of this thread is that Blackhawks fans trash talk the Red Wings, even if they're not playing them. And for the last eight pages, Red Wings fans have been complaining about the Blackhawks' fanbase, even though they don't play the Blackhawks at any point in the near past or future. That seems kind of hypocritical, don't you think? (For the record, I think "Detroit Sucks" is a dumb chant, but to complain for eight pages about it just sinks down to the same level.)

All this talk, and nothing's even been announced yet! Even if KTK are signed, the work is not yet done. There's still this whole "salary cap" thing to take care of, but getting these three signed does take care of most of the work - everyone knows the numbers the Hawks have to work with. All this discussion is moot until the deals are actually finalized and terms are announced.

For a second there, I was trying to figure out why a player checking somebody on his own team warranted a "f*** yes", but then I realized "Oh wait...Kopecky is a Hawk..." Well, that was a fun game. The teams seemed to spar pretty evenly for most of the game, but there was a 5, 10 minute window in the second that did the Hawks in. Detroit is still the better team, but the Hawks have come a long way, no? So Osgood had a very good game, but no other Wing really stuck out to me. I did notice Williams turn the puck over a couple of times, though. You know who's been really on fire lately? Nik Hjalmarsson. Oh man, he has been absolutely great lately. I thought he was the Hawks' best D-man tonight. If he survives Blackhawks "CAP ARMAGEDDON!!!!!!1111!!!!!"™ than I expect Wings fans to be cursing his name for years. See you in December.

Hell, I don't think anybody knows who does what in the Hawks' front office anymore, including the parties involved.

If he's signed in MoTown, and the Detroit behemoth can instill some work ethic into, they just might one excellent project salvaged from mediocrity. (See: Cleary, Daniel)

This is an EXCELLENT move. But leave it to the Hawks to do it at the worst possible time. Irrespective of who's wearing the GM cap, the Hawks still have this niggling cap thing to figure out. Sooner, rather than later.

And, even if this is all taken care of, Tampa Bay has already shown what happens when your salary structure is too top-heavy. All we can do is wait and see.

Keeping KTK can be done, but I don't think Tallon has the fortitude or financial aptitude to do it. I even made a little spreadsheet: Sendspace It's certainly possible, and this of course makes the Blackhawks a little forward-heavy and goaltending-weak, but it's just a possible scenario.

You may go do that. I am going to go curse the hockey gods for the management team in place in Chicago.

Remember everybody - the GM that is supposed to have the mental and accounting fortitude to sign KTK to long-term deals, thus ensuring the future of the Chicago Blackhawks, doesn't know how USPS works. I'm frightened.

You're going to trust Dale Tallon? Don't hold your breath. The Hawks brass are morons until further notice: when the KTK thing is sorted out.

Deal. I'm not quite sure what the panic is about...The Hawks' Offense maybe, just maybe, could be better than the Wings', but I don't think you could convince anyone that the Hawks have a better D corps or goaltending.

You know what the biggest complaint posters around here seem to have about the Hawks' fanbase? The "Detroit sucks" thing. But it's a good kind of complaint, because it shows that the fans are thinking about the Wings instead of their own team, realizing that Detroit is still the paragon when it comes to NHL organizations. There have been about 6, 7 threads here discussing the Blackhawks, some saying the Hawks have gotten better, some saying they've at best taken a step sideways, and some saying they're screwed the future. But, in any case, you are all thinking about the Blackhawks. Whether or not the Hawks will win the division next year (and I'm pretty sure they won't), this will get interesting.

I miss Havlat already. I guess Hossa replaces him, but...who replaces Kane? Keith? Toews?...This had better be sorted out. I'm not just thinking about next year. The Hawks need to prepare to be good for a while. Not just throw money around.

When someone finds out, let me know.

I'm kind of stunned at this reaction to this. Almost universal contempt for Kopecky. You know what us Hawks' fans are saying? "Good signing!" "Adds a more physical edge." "Upgrade over Pahlsson, that's for sure." Thanks for the other perspective.

It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't thing. It sure wouldn't hurt to keep them all, but it will be pretty difficult to do (if the Hawks brass can do it, they're a bunch of geniuses). Nah, Kane is nowhere like a Heatley debacle. Heatley just seems kind of like a *****. Kane looks like he might be a bit more willing to play into a system. He's still working on defense (at least he'd better work on his defense), but his offensive skills are simple amazing for a 20 year old. Hossa certainly ameliorated losing Kane, if it comes to that. But he's not really a replacement.

"This has to be a joke" First thing I said when I saw the Hawks' only signing today are Wings players. That's what Scotty is here for, to bring his kind of players into the fold...right?

Not to hijack this thread or anything, but here's my take on the KKT thing: Kane - he's been marketed a lot around the city. Toews - captain, heart and soul, no way you lose this guy if you already have him. Keith - the most important player to keep of the 3. The Hawks have very, very compelling reasons to keep all 3 of them. The consensus among the fans I've talked to is that Kane is the one you have to let go, if you're forced to choose. He is a very, very good player, but you really need Toews and Keith more. Not to mention all the RFA's...Versteeg will probably go off elsewhere. Byfuglien, too, maybe. I'll bet VAN and CGY are looking for his services after the playoffs this year...

Dale Tallon is a moron as long as Kane/Toews/Keith remain unsigned. This is quite a deal. Nobody was expecting this. At least it mitigates resigning Havlat, who, despite what you Wings fans might say, has been money this past year.

But not Keith? Fine with me. Heck, there's lots of players on the Wings I would love to have on the Hawks.

Oof. We're really not so bad. We're just bored nobody has come around yet. I promise we're relatively civil.