Game 1 thoughts

Created by: exo2769

Team: 2023-24 Chicago Blackhawks

Initial Creation Date: Oct. 11, 2023

Published: Oct. 11, 2023

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Legend

Left Handed

Original Team

Waivers Exempt

Right Handed

Position

Trade Clause

Max Perf. Bonus

Expiry Status

Term Remaining

McDavid, Connor

$12,500,000 ( Performance Bonus

$250,000)

NMC

UFA - 5

Description

First off Mrazek was great. Shoulda been the #1 Star of the game, but had to settle for #2. I've been saying for years he's consistently inconsistent. That's a horrible trait for a goalie to have, but it does mean he can steal you a few games. He was amazing and his aggressive play paid off last night. Hopefully that continues. I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing TOR trades trying to reacquire the guy because...well we all know why.

Kevin Korchinski - I haven't been critical of him getting his 9 games, but I HAVE been critical of him getting more than his 9 games. Last night was the best game I've seen him play at any level. He keeps that up...I'm all in for him staying at the NHL level.

Kaiser - Very impressed with his play. Just like Korchinski I thought he as a lock to go back to Rockford and continue his development. He played a great game. His penalty on Malkin was a fluke type penalty. Still a penalty. I'm not complaining about the call, but that stuff happens. He drew a nice penalty too though. One could argue that he grabbed that stick under his arm pit and forced the refs to make that call. That's a veteran move.

Vlasic - I'm glad he's up at the NHL level. He didn't look too out of place, but he's got to engage a bit more. I saw him a few times in front of the net trying to figure out what to do rather than just doing it. It's the 1st game of the season and he's a rookie...so I'm not too worried about it. Just stuff to work on. He's playing with Jones which means his assignments are always going to be against the best. Happy he wasn't afraid to engage offensively. Kept his game simple. Defense 1st and when you engage...pucks on the net and let the play happen. He's not going to dazzle anyone with stick handling. He knows his game which is a good trait to have.

Bedard - I'm glad he got a point. It's his first game. Hopefully that media circus calms down a bit. His metrics were good, but I'm sure not what he wanted. He'll continue to develop. Just happy game 1 is over.

Riechel - His speed was on view. He fought against the boards. Great effort. Not his best game though. Good news is that we've got another game tonight. He needs an 82 game season with the Hawks and he's about to get it. Just make sure he knows he's not getting sent down. Rough start to the season, but it'll come. Just work hard.

Trades

CHI

TBL 2027 1st Round Pick

Stamkos -
"It’s easy for us to dismiss draft picks because we’re probably not going to be around when they come through. We want to win right now. For (GM Julien BriseBois) to be able to put the chips all in and get rewarded has been pretty amazing."

TBL

Raddysh, Taylor

Additional Details:

Trade Deadline Move

Buyouts

Josh Bailey: $2,666,667
Brett Connolly: $1,166,667
Henrik Borgström: $183,334

Retained Salary Transactions

Jake McCabe: $2,000,000 (50%)

Recapture Fees

Duncan Keith: $1,938,456

Draft	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7
2024
2025
2026

ROSTER

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK

EMBED

TEXT-EMBED

ROSTER SIZE	SALARY CAP	CAP HIT	OVERAGES	BONUSES	CAP SPACE
23	$83,500,000	$68,427,624	$0	$6,605,000	$15,072,376

Left Wing	Centre	Right Wing
Hall, Taylor $6,000,000$6,000,000 LW M-NTC, NMC UFA - 2	Bedard, Connor $950,000$950,000 ($3,500,000$4M) C RFA - 3	Donato, Ryan $2,000,000$2,000,000 LW, C, RW UFA - 2
Entwistle, Mackenzie $800,000$800,000 LW, C RFA - 1	Reichel, Lukas $925,000$925,000 ($505,000$505K) LW, C RFA - 1	Johnson, Tyler $5,000,000$5,000,000 RW, C, LW M-NTC UFA - 1
Athanasiou, Andreas $4,250,000$4,250,000 LW, RW UFA - 2	Guttman, Cole $950,000$950,000 C RFA - 1	Kurashev, Philipp $2,250,000$2,250,000 LW, C, RW RFA - 2
Foligno, Nick $4,000,000$4,000,000 LW, C, RW UFA - 1	Dickinson, Jason $2,650,000$2,650,000 C, LW UFA - 1	Perry, Corey $775,000$775,000 ($325,000$325K) RW UFA - 1

Left Defense	Right Defense	Goaltender
Vlasic, Alex $916,667$916,667 ($850,000$850K) LD UFA - 1	Jones, Seth $9,500,000$9,500,000 RD NMC UFA - 7	Mrázek, Petr $3,800,000$3,800,000 G M-NTC UFA - 1
Korchinski, Kevin $918,333$918,333 ($1,000,000$1M) LD RFA - 3	Murphy, Connor $4,400,000$4,400,000 RD M-NTC UFA - 3	Söderblom, Arvid $962,500$962,500 G RFA - 2
Tinordi, Jarred $1,250,000$1,250,000 LD UFA - 1	Kaiser, Wyatt $916,667$916,667 ($425,000$425K) LD RFA - 2

Scratches	Injured Reserve (IR)	Long Term IR (LTIR)
Zaitsev, Nikita $4,500,000$4,500,000 RD M-NTC UFA - 1	Blackwell, Colin $1,200,000$1,200,000 C, RW UFA - 1
Johnson, Reese $800,000$800,000 RW, C RFA - 1
Katchouk, Boris $758,333$758,333 LW RFA - 1

Top Comments

Oct. 11, 2023 at 9:53 a.m.

Leafsfan98

Leafs going to Leafs

Joined: Dec. 2022

Posts: 9,750

Likes: 2,954

Why would Toronto want Mrazek?

And you're missing the 2028 2nd, 2024 3rd, 2025 4rth and 2026 5th going to Chicago

Oct. 11, 2023 at 10:33 a.m.

Jco5ta5

Hawks Fan

Joined: Jul. 2019

Posts: 2,641

Likes: 1,673

Flew in to Pit and saw the game live. Was fun. Agree with your assessments. Thought Korch Kaiser and Vlasic looked good but a few times I was confused on what Vlasic was doing. On that Crosby goal he could’ve gotten down on one knee and used that huge body but is what it is.

Bedard looks like Kane. Soft on the boards, avoids contact, and always looking for that transition. Man he tried so hard to get a goal. Sucks I didn’t get to see his first.

exo2769 and ChiHawk liked this.

Oct. 11, 2023 at 10:50 a.m.

exo2769

Joined: Jul. 2015

Posts: 15,654

Likes: 9,784

Quoting: Jco5ta5

We'll see how long that softness lasts. But even if it does...every team can have 1 pure offensive player. Jack Hughes and his career 45 hits isn't taking people out, but he (and even last game for Bedard) is crafty in the middle taking away transition attempts to the other team.

ChiHawk and Jco5ta5 liked this.

Oct. 11, 2023 at 11:10 a.m.

ChiHawk

Joined: Apr. 2017

Posts: 19,037

Likes: 9,335

I don't think Kurashev will play yet, he's injured obviously. When he does come back, it makes sense to pair Reichel, Kurashev and AA as they seemed to show some chemistry last year although not a fan of AA and don't love bringing him back.

Guttman had a nice goal of course, but he made a lot of positioning flaws. I like him and he's young, but there were was more bad than good from what I saw.

Love that 4th line. If they keep playing that way, one or both of Foligno/Perry will bring a decent return at the deadline.

Entwistle on the 2nd line is a mistake IMO. He's a perfect bottom 6 energy type of player. I also seem to be one of the only Hawks fans on here that like Entwistle; same can be said of Kurashev.

Agree on what you're saying with Vlasic, Kaiser and Korchinski. All 3 overall looked good. When said and done, Vlasic should be become a very solid #5. Kaiser and Korchinski both definitely have the ability to be top 3 guys.

exo2769 liked this.

Oct. 11, 2023 at 11:22 a.m.

Rajvinder

Former NHL Executive

Joined: Sep. 2023

Posts: 702

Likes: 156

LOL

Korchinski looks like a stud.

Kaiser didn't look good at all. I haven't seen him much but I wasn't impressed at all.

Vlasic looks like a future Tyler Myers. ZERO hockey IQ, no ability to move the puck, bad defensive decisions, slow, no stick skills. Either the hype around him continues and he becomes a $5M AHLer or the hype dies and he becomes an AHL journeyman. Nothing here.

Bedard - Too small and unengaged. Needs to go back to juniors. He has the highest offensive hockey IQ of anyone I've ever seen but he isn't built to play at the NHL level and the way he plays isn't translating. He NEEDS to move to the wing. He is horrible in the circle and was at fault for the 2nd Pens goal. Out of position all night. I'm also certain that the toe drag move that has been so effective in juniors won't work in the NHL, it didn't last night and it opens up his body. Some NHL D won't look at the puck, they will run straight through him instead and his career will be over. Personally if I was Chicago I'd trade him, I think his upside is Kessel his most likely outcome is a Grabner type player.

Riechel - not saying much but he looked miles better than Bedard.

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