JC's Change Tracker

[Hattrick Kane]

I’m not ready to say it’s a wrong decision if it means correcting minor things that could have a positive long-term impact.

But has he not been our best or second best D all year? It’s just weird to put out a public narrative that he isn’t playing up to par while Seabrook receives top-pairing minutes like he is without fault.

No you’re correct. JC is gonna find out the hard way when the Lightning smoke the Hawks out of the water worse than what would normally be expected.

No amount of veteran grit is going to save them tonight.

 

[DisgruntledHawkFan]

Yeah they have promise but promise is not enough when we are talking in the now. Rarely are any of those players I mentioned criticized in the least despite their putrid numbers.

This is a younger version of Victor Stalberg all over again and VS scored 22 ES goals when he played with half decent linemates. Fortin doesn't have that fortune, YET. Hopefully that will change and the ice he opens up will be taken advantage of.

Stalberg had considerably better puck skills than Fortin has. He’s Skille without the shot.

 

[RememberTheRoar]

Stalberg had considerably better puck skills than Fortin has. He’s Skille without the shot.

If Fortin were Stalberg, we’d be better off. No?

That’s what I have thought this year

 

[BobbyJet]

If Fortin were Stalberg, we’d be better off. No?

That’s what I have thought this year

Stalberg at 24 used his speed pretty well to create room on offense.

He became pretty good defensively after he left Chicago but when he was here Stalberg wasn't as effective without the puck as Fortin is....and VS was 3 years older. Fortin is still a baby. He's bound to get better on both sides of the puck.

 

[RememberTheRoar]

Stalberg at 24 used his speed pretty well to create room on offense.

He became pretty good defensively after he left Chicago but when he was here Stalberg wasn't as effective without the puck as Fortin is....and VS was 3 years older. Fortin is still a baby. He's bound to get better.

I hope you’re right. It would be awesome to see Fortin make an impact here

That speed is something you can’t teach

I went to the game Wednesday, and you can see he’s just in a different class speed-wise.

It’s almost like how Ovechkin makes everyone else look like peewees around him

 

[ClydeLee]

I just dont see a guy without a quality passing or shot in juniors/ahl to develop that at the NHL level

If he can become smarter around the ice and be a bit like frolik that I can anticipate

 

[RememberTheRoar]

I just dont see a guy without a quality passing or shot in juniors/ahl to develop that at the NHL level

If he can become smarter around the ice and be a bit like frolik that I can anticipate

Shaw had none of those at the AHL level but became effective at the NHL level because he made a conscious decision to be a f***ing bull and a total bastard.

I’m willing to bet there’s at least one guy in Rockford who will do the same if he gets called up.

Shaw was expected to be garbage in the NHL, and I can’t wait until the next AHL trash gets called up and never goes back down to the AHL.

 

[BobbyJet]

In a short time JC has taken baby steps to try some of the suggestions I and some others have made:
- Kaner is now playing the full 2 minutes on the PP. It still isn't that great but it has improved.
- Kahun (once) and Fortin (twice) have both seen limited PK time, usually in the last 45 seconds or so of the kill. I hope that keeps up.
- Schmaltz has been removed from Kane's line. Though I don't mind 8-12 playing together I'd still like to see 12-19-8 as the first line.

Baby steps.... but as I said before, gonna wait until at least December before beginning to evaluate JC's progress as HC.

 

[Styles]

As long as I don’t have to read Manning, Johnson, and Kunitz in again I’m cool.

 

[featherhawk]

Has Dylan sikura been swept up by aliens?

Why the f*** is he not with the hawks by now?

 

[Hattrick Kane]

Has Dylan sikura been swept up by aliens?

Why the **** is he not with the hawks by now?

He’d just get scratched for Kunitz and you know it.

 

[pvr]

Has Dylan sikura been swept up by aliens?

Why the **** is he not with the hawks by now?

Why put him into a losing environment? He’s not taking this team up from the ashes.

 

[featherhawk]

Why put him into a losing environment? He’s not taking this team up from the ashes.

So he can learn and develop so that he will be ready to contribute.

If the hawks followed the logic you wrote forsling, joki, cat schmaltz, Kahun, Kampala, fortin should all be sent to Rockford so that they are not put into a losing environment.

The hawks are not dead, I. Fact they have potential to improve if they got rid of dead weight by waiving, benching and reading some players.

Sikura can help the club with scoring, hillman can help with defending as such they should be here to do so

 

[LDF]

So he can learn and develop so that he will be ready to contribute.

If the hawks followed the logic you wrote forsling, joki, cat schmaltz, Kahun, Kampala, fortin should all be sent to Rockford so that they are not put into a losing environment.

The hawks are not dead, I. Fact they have potential to improve if they got rid of dead weight by waiving, benching and reading some players.

Sikura can help the club with scoring, hillman can help with defending as such they should be here to do so

i like that never say die attitude.

 

[TLEH]

“Bowman said he targeted Kunitz and Manning because they appeared to fit Quenneville’s type of game.”

From Scott Powers latest interview with Stan. Also said, “We didn’t have a lot of money to spend, but they were players that had attributes that Joel thought was important for our team and was lacking. ”



Ta da. Proof.

 

[RememberTheRoar]

“Bowman said he targeted Kunitz and Manning because they appeared to fit Quenneville’s type of game.”

From Scott Powers latest interview with Stan. Also said, “We didn’t have a lot of money to spend, but they were players that had attributes that Joel thought was important for our team and was lacking. ”



Ta da. Proof.

Wow, I’m really surprised he came out and flat out said that.

My first gut reaction is to say Bowman is trying to save face with the fan base, and wants to give one final push of the knife between Q’s ribs.

 

[BobbyJet]

Stan the wimp finally throws Q under the bus because he didn't have the spine to say no to those players.

 

[RayP]

Stan the wimp finally throws Q under the bus because he didn't have the spine to say no to those players.

Is it really throwing him under the bus? I mean as the GM you need to get some players that your coach wants to ice, and players that fit his system and preference. Just comes across as stating something we all already knew was true.

I'd imagine Stan isn't the only GM that has signed players for his coach that he didn't love, but fit what the coach wanted to do.

 

[RememberTheRoar]

Stan the wimp finally throws Q under the bus because he didn't have the spine to say no to those players.

What do you mean by say no to those players? Like Manning and Kunitz strongarmed Bowman into giving them deals?

 

[RememberTheRoar]

More interesting stuff from Powers’ sit down with Bowman:

The way Bowman first learned about Colliton was during a drive in Sweden with Blackhawks European director of scout Mats Hallin.
“We were just killing time in the car,” Bowman said. “I just said, ‘Who’s the best young coach in Sweden,’ assuming he was going to name a Swedish guy. I was always wondering. They’ve done such a good job in the last 10 years in producing players. He thought about it for a minute. He said it’s actually a Canadian guy. I said, ‘Wow, that’s weird.’ Because Mats is really, anytime Sweden plays, he’s all about Sweden, Swedish pride, so I was surprised he didn’t name a Swedish guy.

“He said, no, this guy is doing an incredible job with this team in Mora, which is a team I had never even heard of. They were in that Allsvenskan. So when we got there, he said, ‘Do you want to talk to him?’ I said, ‘Sure, why not?'”

Bowman and Colliton had about a 10-minute conversation and just talked hockey. Later that year when the Blackhawks decided to make a coaching move in the AHL, Bowman thought of Colliton.

“But in that conversation, sometimes you get a vibe, like this guy’s a really bright guy and someone that we just sort of hit it off,” Bowman said.

Bowman wouldn’t say exactly how many years are on Colliton’s contract, but he said it was a multi-year deal.

 

[RememberTheRoar]

More interesting stuff from Powers’ sit down with Bowman:

The way Bowman first learned about Colliton was during a drive in Sweden with Blackhawks European director of scout Mats Hallin.
“We were just killing time in the car,” Bowman said. “I just said, ‘Who’s the best young coach in Sweden,’ assuming he was going to name a Swedish guy. I was always wondering. They’ve done such a good job in the last 10 years in producing players. He thought about it for a minute. He said it’s actually a Canadian guy. I said, ‘Wow, that’s weird.’ Because Mats is really, anytime Sweden plays, he’s all about Sweden, Swedish pride, so I was surprised he didn’t name a Swedish guy.

“He said, no, this guy is doing an incredible job with this team in Mora, which is a team I had never even heard of. They were in that Allsvenskan. So when we got there, he said, ‘Do you want to talk to him?’ I said, ‘Sure, why not?'”

Bowman and Colliton had about a 10-minute conversation and just talked hockey. Later that year when the Blackhawks decided to make a coaching move in the AHL, Bowman thought of Colliton.

“But in that conversation, sometimes you get a vibe, like this guy’s a really bright guy and someone that we just sort of hit it off,” Bowman said.

Bowman wouldn’t say exactly how many years are on Colliton’s contract, but he said it was a multi-year deal.

More:

I asked Bowman whether there were any misconceptions he wanted to clear up. He said he wasn’t sure what was being said about him. I brought up how some people believe his father is pulling strings behind the scenes.

“If they do say that, that’s misinformation right there,” Bowman said. “My dad lives in Tampa, in Sarasota. He’s an adviser. He’s hardly … He’s into the NHL. He goes to the Tampa games all the time. He watches college games online. He watches American League games. He watches junior games. He loves hockey. But as far as him like having this big … he just doesn’t.

“If I have questions, I’ll call him. He never calls me and offers me ‘You need to do this’ or ‘You need to do (that).’ He’s basically there when I want to bounce an idea off of him. But that’s just totally false, right? But people are going to think it, and it’s not right, but what can you do about it other than say it’s not right?”

Bowman also addressed Barry Smith, who had been the Blackhawks director of player evaluation and is known as a friend of his father’s, being added to Colliton’s staff.

“And then the Barry thing, (Colliton) had a good relationship with Barry,” Bowman said. “He’s worked quite a bit with him in the last year in Rockford. It’s not like he never met this guy. I think the difference is Jeremy’s a young guy, so a lot of coaches they have a network of guys that they’ve worked with. His guys are over in Sweden, right? It was more like this made sense. It wasn’t like Barry’s going to be … Barry’s just a resource. He knows our players well. To bring in somebody that had no connection to our guys would be … that’s the benefit of Don Granato too. Donnie knows our players, so he can help with that. That part is very overblown as well.”

Bowman said Colliton could “absolutely” hire his own assistants next season should he please.

 

[RememberTheRoar]

By the way, for those people who don’t have The Athletic and want to read this Bowman article, you can do a week free trial subscription.

The Athletic

 

[RememberTheRoar]

Unsurprisingly, Bowman said he’s willing to move out defensemen if/when Murphy pushes them out of the lineup.

Also said he still think Schmaltz is more natural at center, and wants to see him scoring more goals. Said either a short or long-term contract is possible for him.

“Like to see him shoot the puck and he’s heard that a million times. That’s a work in progress. His contract isn’t like a top-of-mind issue right now. We’re not up against the cap, so it’s not really like a problem point.”

 

[Hattrick Kane]

Keith is still on the powerplay. Like are people scared of him? I don’t understand why it’s so hard to take him off, he can’t get a shot off!

If he’s too pissy to take the demotion, then send him packing, it’s a business so get over it.

 

[nmgrbhfn]

If Bowman is telling the truth about getting players that Q wanted, I don't see how that is "twisting the knife". It is more like "it is what it is" in the sense that Q wasn't properly evaluating talent anymore. You can't have that in a salary cap system where high-salary teams like the Hawks have to continually be looking for undervalued players. Panik is a good example. They took him off the scrap heap and got a decent year out of him. Then he started flaking or something, Q and the vets start looking at him funny, and the next thing you know he's out of town because he was the reason Mr. 10.5 and 6 big ones were underperforming. A constant theme on this board is how Q mishandled talent. Do you wonder if there were any guys that Q vetoed because they weren't his kind of player?