Canada is way deeper than the Central and Pacific has 3 really good teams. Central has 2 really good teams and a lot of meh after that, just my opinion tho

"You have a huge ego and are unbearable. Please be respectful and don't antagonize in your response."

Haha, I follow a funny goalie instagram account, and they just had one on there that said something along the lines of "When your 25 year old rookie goalie has more points than the next GOAT, Lafreniere"

Not gonna lie, Hawks fans have gotten way too overhyped this year for a team that's really not that good. They should look forward to sticking to the rebuild plan to make sure it's a contender for multiple years again, and not just make the playoffs this season to get swept out in the first round.

They're second in the division in terms of points, but really they're 4th. The e league has already said if they can't fit in all the games this season by May 8 then they're going by points percentage to determine playoff spots. Chicago has played 18 games which is tied for the most with Detroit & 4 of those have come against Detroit which should be an easy 8 points for any team. Despite all the talk, they're goal differential is still only +1 which is not good for a playoff team. The biggest overhype so far has been with Lankinen. Sure, he has spectacular stats so far this season. But it's only been 12 games which is a hot streak, not a telling of what he is. Of those 12 games, 3 of them have come against Detroit. That's 25% of his starts against one of the worst teams to play in history. Chill.

On the plus side, Kane's looked good and upped his play even more. Definitely in MVP consideration if Chicago can sneak into the playoffs. They're rookies have looked good and not overwhelmed, and have done so without Toews and Dach, major plus for the future.

Realistically, this team is likely to fall off once the league catches up in games played and all the hype talk will go away and the "oh well we won 3 cups half a decade ago" talk will come back from most Hawks fans. Which is a shame because there are good ones out there, but the arrogant ones usually get the headlines.


As for the trades, I wouldn't give up on Boqvist yet. He's young and d-man tend to take longer to develop properly anyways. He can be such a game changer with his skating and playmaking ability. The fact that he's a right handed d-man will explode his value when he takes off, so I'd wait on him. I've said it since he was drafted and I scouted him in London, he's the right handed version of Jake Gardiner. Love him when he's at his best, but when he's not he's very noticeable. But he'll be the guy to quarterback any power play in the league. Just be patient, which is the most important thing during a rebuild. Don't run your best young talent outta town before they get good or it'll be an even longer rebuild.

I still don’t believe the playoff experience is enough of an incentive yet until we actually round out our prospects at wing and center. A priority should still be at least one more sure fire 1C/top six LW or RW prospect. We don’t have the roster for the playoffs as it stands.

Which brings me to divisions. Central has been, to me, by far the worst. It’s not very close either. Pacific has 5 teams fighting for playoffs to the end, while the canadien division’s biggest disappointments by and large have been the Canucks and senators. I genuinely though ottawa would be a little better. But the central is just a mess. Dallas is showing they’re only a playoff team, Nashville is god awful, Detroit is.....Detroit, and what the hell is going on with Columbus?! Tampa and Florida (in Q we trust!) are both top class, even Florida was far from it last year, and Carolina is almost trying to make things harder on themselves. This division is doing all it can to GIVE Chicago a playoff spot.

I agree and disagree on Boqvist. Yes, Beaudin and Mitchell excelling makes him trade bait, especially if we decide to hold on to Murphy long term (which I think we should), but I disagree about his vision. His vision and awareness is phenomenal, the problem is his execution. He made a few flashy offensive plays last night, which show that he knows whats going on most of the time. The problem is, when he tries to make a nifty saucer pass and it doesnt get off the ice and goes right into the defenders stick. Thats his issue. He knows where players are in the defensive zone and knows what he needs to do, he just doesnt have the strength to do it. I think he will get there in another 2 years, and he shouldn't be in the NHL yet, but I dont think calling his intelligence is necessarily the correct analysis. I think if we can find a way to get a premium young forward for him, I make the move, but I dont trade him unless its a win because he still has plenty of upside.

Exactly!!!!’

I disagree on divisions. AZ is in the playoffs right now and it only has 3 teams that will even hope to contend. DAL and TBL made the finals last year. The Panthers and Hurricanes are good. Not saying they're playing their best hockey right now. CBJ is CBJ I'm not sure they'll ever dominate, but they always seem to contend.

I get it. At the beginning of the year, yea, I thought the pacific was probably weakest. At present though, I don’t see anyone as bad as the central.

Fair enough. Both cup finalists are in the Central, CAR I'd put up against TOR in the playoffs any day. I hear ya. DET isn't anything special. OTT isn't either.

Agree with your assessment overall. My rational with his intelligence is simply that never seems to find the easier way to do things and makes it harder on himself. It’ll take time but I just don’t want him to be another joker. Speaking of, remember how you said don’t trade unless it’s a win? I can only pray he truly doesn’t become another joker........

I dont necessarily think we will fall off this year because there are really only 2 top teams in our division right now (Florida and TB) so any regression will likely be masked by playing not great opponents, but I think next year if the schedule opens up again and we have to play teams like the Caps, Leafs, Habs, VGK, etc we will be exposed. The reason I think Hawks fans (myself included) have gotten overhyped this season is because its been a minute since we were able to care about hockey. The past two years have just been sad indifference, and now I get to care about games again and get upset when we lose and shout when we win. Most of us know at this point it would be dumb as hell to trade our 1st rounders or Reichel or some of our more ready prospects to get someone at the deadline, but if there is any year to root to sneak into the playoffs, its gonna be this one, because the draft this year is gonna be more of a crapshoot then normal.

Do you think TOR has a real shot at winning the cup? They lack top tier talent IMO. They're just beating other meh teams. I think we can all agree the East is the hardest though.

Yeah that trade was definitely not a win. I thought trading Joki was a good idea, but ya know, not for a struggling prospect. Speaking of Nylander. I think once he gets back, he gets a really short leash. Kurashev and Suter have made him expendable. Now, I've been on Nylanders side for the past year if you can recall, because again, hes got all the speed and talent in the world, he just needs to fix his brain. But maybe having this competition will drive him to discover his potential. If not, well, see ya.

I’ll be honest, given how well the youngsters have been this year, I don’t think nylander ever plays for us again, nor should he. Who’s he going to replace? I just think he had his chance and now try to get what we can for him, be it a 2nd or 3rd.

What has even happened to Nylander lately? He hasn't played a single game this year, has he just gotten his spot stolen or is he just hurt?

Season ending surgery back in January.

Ahh I see that sucks. How has he looked in Chicago so far? His point totals look okay but I don't watch many Hawks games so I'm unsure of his development status.