Wake up, Stan

Hard to argue the defense isn't improved. They had three defenders in the playoffs last year...now four for sure and possibly 5/6 depending on how good kempny is and how much a reduced role helps TVR. Hear your point on offense, but defense is quite a bit better.

Absolutely. In fact, I would consider Campbell an upgrade to Oduya, not only from a salary perspective but also from total game. Kempny may be a steal, especially if he and TVR can develop chemistry on the 3rd pair. You are right, I think the offensive group is lacking a bit from a team that was shutout in regulation every 8 games or so last year.

The deals could not have been done before the JV sweepstakes because they would have restricted the Hawks from offering full bonuses. You can only offer bonuses that will bring you no more than 7.5% over the salary cap. So its was, completely take yourself out of the running for Vesey or possibly miss out on other signings. Hard choice to make.

I will say that if Stan can still sign a scoring LW that the Hawks will be a better team than last year. Yes they are weaker on offense, but their defense is going to be unreal this year. A lot of offense comes from the defense and puck possession. With one scoring LW signing they will have 2 strong top lines and a good 4th line again. The 3rd line will be the tough spot all year but they will have the space at the deadline to then pick up another forward piece for a playoff run. If the young guys can stet up and make a decent 3rd line (probably 4th line minutes) then the Hawks will be in a good spot.

So who might be left available for that now elusive top six LW slot? So far it's 0-3 in the past week or so of possible top candidates. It appears that maybe 5 rookies may make the team out of camp. Is that what the HC really wants to go with? I agree that the Hawks are still very close to their ONEGOAL, and should be a much better puck possession team this season. It just stinks to lose two viable vets to WC rivals and be spurned by another college kid to the Rags. Is there some "writing on the wall" that we are blinded to?

I mentioned this elsewhere, but I highly doubt the Hawks were ever talking to Vermette. Q didn't like something about his game as he trusted him zero in the defensive zone, and it's not surprsing since his defensive numbers have been in the toiler for years now (and his team being bad was not the reason - he was statistically bad compared to other bad guys). I doubt he liked being benched too, so he probably wouldn't have returned the Hawks calls anyway.

Vesey was a good gamble - low risk, high reward kind of gamble that would have be a been cost controlled asset for two years. The Hawks couldn't sign anyone else if they were even slightly interested in Vesey due to the bonus cushion rule. Hudler wasn't even rumored to be talking to the Hawks by anyone legit. He ended up signing with a team that he had a couple of connections with (Nill via Detroit and Hemsky is his friend). Sometimes it's not about what the Hawks did or didn't do - sometimes the players just want to play with their friends or feel other teams are better fits.