Wake Up Fellas, It's Game Time
Most of the United States was treated to an extra hour of sleep
early Sunday morning. The Blackhawks were not in that lucky group,
however, as they had already set their clocks back an hour earlier
in the week.
At least that's the only explanation I can come up with for the
Hawks' first-period performances in their two most recent games.
Had they been aware that play had actually commenced, they couldn't
possibly have given up two goals in the first minute against
winless San Jose or allowed three goals in the opening session
against an expansion team.
And these were home games.
Despite sleeping through the opening whistle, the Hawks did manage
three out of a possible four points in these games, proving that
when this team chooses to, it can play a fairly decent game of
hockey. But that makes the bad starts all the more puzzling and
frustrating.
Coach Dirk Graham has been harping on this since opening night
against New Jersey, when his team was outshot 18-0 in the first
period, but his remarks seem to have fallen on deaf ears. What has
seemed to work is Graham's policy of finding a scapegoat, worthy or
not, and benching him to show his displeasure with the team as a
whole.
Thursday in San Jose it was Chris Chelios getting the pine after his
turnover led to the first of the Sharks' rapid-fire tallies.
Saturday was Ethan Moreau's turn, as he and fellow doghouse
resident Eric Weinrich played I-got-it-no-you-take-it with the puck
in front of their own net, leading to the Nashville Predators'
first shorthanded goal in their brief history.
Apparently the Moreau benching didn't shock the squad out of their
stupor, so Graham yanked starting goalie Jeff Hackett as well. All
of these attempts to "spark the team" (as Graham put it) finally
paid off in a three-goal rally late in the third for a 5-4 win.
These efforts appear to be part of a larger plan by Graham to use
ice time as a tool to reward or punish his players for their effort
or lack thereof. Several high-profile Hawks, most notably Weinrich
and Chad Kilger, have spent long stretches on the bench and in some
cases the press box.
The tactic has been successful so far, but you have to wonder how
long some veterans will respond to this sort of treatment.
Can We Trade Him For Remy Martin?
One Blackhawk who seems inexplicably immune from the wrath of Graham
is rookie defenseman Remi Royer. Royer has played in all seven games
despite a minus-6 in the +/- column (no other Hawk is worse than -2)
and a tendency to make bad plays that don't easily escape notice.
Remi can often be found stickhandling behind his own blue line,
trying to beat opposing forwards out of the zone, or feathering the
puck into the offensive zone just before going off on a line
change, leaving his replacement scrambling to break up a
counterattack that would have been prevented by getting the puck in
deep.
But Graham keeps putting him out there night after night, apparently
mesmerized by Royer's potential as a skilled defenseman who's not
afraid to stir it up. Some Hawks fans must be wondering, though,
whether the team might be better off with Weinrich or Trent Yawney
patrolling the back line while Remi spends some time in the
International League learning to play defense.
Trade Talk
Royer's projected departure to the IHL could be hastened by the
arrival of one of the New York Rangers' big defensemen. Rangers'
GM Neil Smith took in most of the Hawks-Sharks game with the
Blackhawks' Bob Murray and is reported to be interested in one of
the Hawks' centers.
In the preseason or even a week ago the Hawks might have listened
seriously to offers for Kilger or Alexei Zhamnov. But both have
come on recently, with Zhamnov setting up Tony Amonte beautifully
for the tying goal against Nashville, and Kilger getting the winner
after having the apparent game-winner disallowed against the
Sharks.
Zhamnov is now tied with Amonte and Doug Gilmour for the team lead
in points, while Kilger's three goals are second only to Amonte for
the team lead (Eric Daze has three as well). That leaves Jeff
Shantz as trade bait, and it remains to be seen whether Smith will
part with Jeff Beukeboom or Ulf Samuelsson for a career third-line
center.
As it turns out, the Hawks were looking to make a deal with the
Calgary Flames. The Hawks sent Jeff Shantz and Steve Dubinsky to
the Flames for centers Marty McInnis and Erik Andersson and
defenseman Jamie Allison. The Hawks then shipped McInnis to the
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for an undisclosed draft pick.
Cammie "Wheels" Russell
Alright, nobody's calling him that, but if you noticed Russell's
name absent from talk of the blue line corps, it's because Cam has
been moved up to play across from Bob Probert on a line centered by
Mark Janssens.
That's almost 19 feet and 650 lbs. of prime Canadian beef, not a
pound of which hasn't been used to pummel an opponent into
submission at one time or another. No telling if this combination
will forecheck as well as Probert, Shantz and Moreau did when they
skated together earlier in the season, but if I were an opposing
defenseman, I'd think twice about going into the corner after a
loose puck.
Daze Hurting
The Hawks will be without Eric Daze for at least a week as the young
forward recovers from an ankle injury sustained when he blocked a
shot against San Jose.
The layoff is especially disappointing considering Daze's aggressive
play in recent games. Against Montreal he knocked down Habs
defenseman Brett Clark, stole the puck and fed it to Zhamnov, then
went hard to the net as Zhamnov shot, backhanding the rebound past
Montreal goalie Jose Theodore.
News and Notes
The Hawks beat former division rivals Dallas for the first time in
God knows how long -- and former teammate Ed Belfour for the first
time ever. And the Hawks played respectably in an earlier loss to
the Stars, outplaying Dallas at even strength but skating a man
down for over a third of the game . . . . Teemu Selanne still has
the Hawks' number, and now his pesky linemate is getting into the
act, as well. Selanne and Paul Kariya were in on four of the five
Anaheim goals in the Ducks' win at the United Center . . . .
Speaking of Kariya, he is finally speaking -- to the media, that
is. He now has a cause to champion, namely the league's crackdown
on "headhunters." Paul must have been pleased when the Hawks got
rid of chief headhunter Gary Suter and loaded up on Lady Byng
candidates like Mark Janssens and Doug Zmolek . . . . It's early
yet, but it looks like this could be the season that Tony Amonte
becomes a bona fide NHL superstar. Amonte is second in the league
with six goals, but more importantly has on more than one occasion
turned a game almost singlehandedly in his team's favor. And the
addition of Doug Gilmour could be just what Amonte needs to break
the 50-goal mark.
