1 - Agree on Dach. I don't think he's more then a middle tier 2C at his ceiling and may end up being a stand out 3C. Not sure why the Hawks drafted him over Turcotte. Yes, Dach is more NHL ready (albeit he'll need a year in the juniors IMO) but Turcotte has a 1C ceiling and will for sure be a very solid 2C. Again, this is just me watching them play...feel like Turcotte has more raw talent and will grow into his body more. Turcotte should spend a couple years in the juniors though.

2 - I have not read this on Jokiharju and not sure where the rumor is coming from. Agree that he was in the top 2 or 3 D guys on our team last year the way Q played him. I definitely saw him fall off after 25 games or so which tells me his conditioning isn't good enough for the pace and frequency of games in the NHL yet. That is fine and I'm definitely okay with him playing in Europe and the Minors last year. I believe the hawks felt they rushed him last year and I can understand that. Let's keep in mind he just turned 20. That said, with De Haan out till Thanksgiving or into December, Colliton would be an idiot not to play him and see how he does this time around. We'd be bigger idiots to trade him at this point unless the return is too good; say for Drouin straight up as an example.

3 - I really don't get this offseason. Did we improve on defense? Yes, but we made the logjam worse in the process by grabbing both Maatta and De Haan. I don't like the Maatta trade comparably and wonder if Bowman would have done that if he got De Haan first....hopefully the answer is no. Our biggest issue still is we don't have a bonafide top 6 winger. I'm guessing the hawks hope to strike gold with one of the young guys (Perlini, Sikura, Kublik, etc.). Caggs is not the guy and Shaw is okay on the top 6 but not a long term solution plus he'd be better in the middle 6.

4 - Lehner I was shocked but not necessarily a bad move. Crow is likely done as a Hawk after this season unfortunately. I think the Hawks know more about Crow's health then we do.

Anisimov has got to go.

..

Let's stop worrying about Dach. Compared to your lads like Pronman, Mark Kelley, etc. we all know absolutely, 100% ****all. So let's just leave the guessing of career projections to those guys.. Dach is a Hawk, he won't be Toews, he'll be whatever he's going to be. And I have a feeling that'll be pretty ****ing great... But what do I know? Oh yeah... ****all!

This whole Jokiharju business is bull****. Everyone needs to stop worrying about it, because every idiot on the internet is inventing stories about why he isn't penciled in. All we're dealing with here is Jokiharju getting top pairing minutes in Rockford (even when we all, myself included, think he belongs with the big club), and not burning another year off his ELC. That's it. Shouldn't be a major ker****all, yet, here we are...

I agree with @ChiHawk that Stan probably was working both deals for Maatta and De Haan and wouldn't have pulled the trigger on the latter if he knew he'd get the former. But would you think you'd have any success making that trade for De Haan happen for spare parts?? I sure as **** wouldn't have! It comes as no surprise then that the Maatta deal happened first. But here's the great thing, if they need to, they can buy out his contract for $850k over 3 years and he's gone and his impact largely removed. Stan has a backdoor here. Either Maatta regains that form that was expected of him, or jettison him.

Hold on, let's all have opinions and discussions. Agree...nobody knows. All anyone knows is what has been shown on the ice so far. There is no question Turcotte showed more and that's why I like him. Watching Dach he had sparks of wow but mostly in what I saw of him was average or just above average at the level of hockey he was playing. Turcotte was a standout almost every game. Does Dach have raw size, stick reach, power, sure...the question is can he turn that into being worth the #3 pick. Right now, there is no doubt Turcotte has the tools and desire to play, I simply think the gamble is greater with Dach then Byram or Turcotte. That said, nobody knows. None of these players were McDavid, Crosby, Kane coming out of the draft...that we do know.

As for Jokiharju, if he sticks in the AHL he still burns a year of his ELC. He already burned one year last year and will burn another this year regardless of the Hawks play him or keep him in Rockford. I agree people are making up stories on the Internet such as Coach C not liking him...I've read nothing of the sort. That said, we can all debate whether the right move is not starting the season with him in the lineup. The coaching staff, GM's, head of player development, are all humans and they make mistakes...we've seen it as fans many times. That is why this website exists...if they did everything right all the time, why would any of us waste our time on here or listening to any sports writers. That's the beauty of being a fan but I don't like the people that start making crap up and spreading rumors.

You are right on Maatta and something I keep forgetting that they can buy him out so low risk in that regard. If both DeHaan and Maatta play well, then we have a logjam and someone is going to get traded out of our core of 8 guys currently on D.

Are we 100% sure about his next year being burned? I read the contrary, but I cannot recall where or who the source was (though my bull**** detector is usually set to 11), so it may have been very wrong. I unfortunately took it as the gospel and rolled with it. Which would be a damned shame, and throw all of my assumptions right down into the crapper...

Yes, once the ELC clock starts ticking, which it did last year, the clock keeps going no matter where the player is playing.

I hate being wrong almost as much as I hate the fact that he's burning it away at the rock. I wouldn't mind if he needed it, but man, after watching how easily he kept Tarasenko in his pocket at the beginning of last season, I think it is bordering on criminal.

Well, I guess the rumors on jokiharju were right. These f$&@ing ****s!