listened to boomer gordon and jake hahn on nhl network's 'the point' and they gave their grades for the blackhawks current season.

i like listening to these guys, but boomer is way off on his 'F'. 15 minute segment and boomer spent the first 5 minutes talking about the winter classic debacle. if that one game is what he's weighing and measuring for a grade, ok.

i had posted that the club has a +36 goal differential (despite the heavy 16 empty-net goals against albatross on the differential) compared to this time last year. soderblom has emerged as a potential #1 G, going forward. the young d-corps is almost ripe.

jake hahn gave the blackhawks a 'D-'. he's not sure if bedard is happy and said next year it's imperative the club make strides.

there are 32 clubs in the nhl. these guys can't and obviously can't watch every game. it's evident here.

Add poor passing to the list. Or maybe they are just poor receivers of said pass. Either way, they fumble a lot of pucks they shouldn't.

yea its a trade off. Shorter stick is much better for stickhandling and face offs. Long stick better for shooting. Bedard seems to do just fine stickhandling with a longer stick and his shot is his calling card so it makes sense he would lean towards long.

I myself loved the shorter stick because my game was stickhandling and my shot was good because it was quick release and accurate, didn't rely on power.

_________________

You appear to be grading on a curve compared to last year. This team still is really bad. Just not "really, really, really bad" like last year.

for sure. many more too...some players panic and ice the puck - throwing fuel on the fire by having poor face-off guys take a d-zone face-off and either move the puck deep out of the d-zone and get a change or defend at 55% condition - and rapidly dropping, for that particular shift.

i truly see kaiser and korchinski as puck movers - guys who can skate the puck out. i view allen as a fairly decent passer. vlasic can do both. not so sure about crevier...anyways, i'm certain we will see noticeable improvement next year.

yeah, the team is bad, i don't believe they are really bad. last year, they were really bad. even hahn had to stop boomer rambling on, "did you think they were a playoff club going into the season"? if boomer thought they were, yes, an 'F' is deserved. of course he didn't believe that. boomer spent 5 minutes telling me how brutal they were in the winter classic....that's not comprehensive analysis.

i see progress with individual defensemen, the club has scored 34 more goals than last year, PP is fairly good, PK is fairly decent and soderblom looks promising. bedard? well, i wouldn't give bedard and the club an 'A' for this season. i had them in the 70s, for points. still a small chance..if they backslide this final stretch, different story.

yeah, they may have to take a look at some wingers with relatively high face-off percentages and go from there. acquire/sign...put on bedard's line. bedard does seem to be improving...i'll give him that, still not good enough for winning hockey.

Cliff notes

The Blackhawks still stink and Bedard is mediorce.

Just like you and your coterie of socks. Life imitates art.

blackhawks at the blue jackets.

looks like mrazek in goal, crevier sent down, allen eating popcorn in the press box.

D pairs:

martinez-jones
murphy-vlasic
brodie-del mastro

still waiting for bedard to have a break-out game - 5 points or a hat trick will do. 5 points much harder for him with his line-mates. fantilli already has a hat-trick. i wouldn't go in this line-up direction, let's see if the head coach is correct.

werenski will play, after the 4 nations and usa duty.

At the game tonight.

FIRE THE CANNONS!!!

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Not a mult.

these guys say the right things, then don't ever come close to matching their words.

didn't deserve anything from this game. blue jackets G made saves when he had to, the blackhawks G didn't. all the blame doesn't fall on mrazek....example: when the blackhawks player gets a mini breakaway, merzlikins dives and makes a poke check. mrazek beaten by a defensman on werenski's clean break-away from inside the jackets' d-zone. bedard with the skate the puck into the net ragging. shoot the puck.

sorenson and co. didn't handle the bedard no-goal well. interference ruled, no interference at all. then worried about bedard kicking the puck in. his head/eyes were past the puck, he couldn't have purposely kicked it in. i would have challenged. the thing is, sorenson has challenged legit goals against and lost, based on the competitive opinion of his G. 'interim' coach is the correct title.

A little bit better effort against the Leafs tonight but losing 3-2 in the 3rd.

Apparently it's Frank Pellico's last game on the organ. He's only played like the same 4 songs since about 2002 anyway.

Eye of the Tiger and Hanging Tough aren't good enough for you? How about Sabre Dance?

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An unjust law is no law at all--St. Augustine of Hippo

Cause tried and true
I see the light in you
Oh, can you dig in my soul?
Could you smell my whole...
life?--Gener and Deaner

always fucking challenge when it's your star player. Show some f-ing respect for your franchise player. That really pissed me off.

_________________

pellico must have been influenced by nancy faust, who used to play 'the right stuff' all the time.

today, they seem to have a loop that plays the same music based on a goal just scored/goal against/penalty for or against. i wouldn't mind hearing 'stormy weather' when it's late in a tie game and the blackhawks take a penalty.

agreed. has the 'interim coach' title for a reason. gave reichel the business for yesterday, won't push it when it's a veteran playing drunk.

nazar is at the terrible twos stage. one game and one stretch he looks fantastic, one game and other stretches you get absolutely zero from him.

They had Kevin Dean on just before the start of the third period. Dean said that the ref wouldn't come over to them. He said they were going to challenge. I didn't see how much they were motioning to the ref but as I recall, they weren't very demonstrative, so I think he's full of it. Maybe it was Sorenson, who knows but I would have thrown something on the ice to get his attention. Take a minor penalty but definitely need to challenge that one.

wasted a very good soderblom performance. in front of scouts, very glad jones scored...then very sad on his fuck-up and a utah breakaway that soderblom handled. soderblom has gotten 6 out of the last 9 games, which sounds right and what many of us wanted going forward.

bedard no production - once again. fantilli has been tallying points lately and celebrini has 1 goal and 1 assist since coming back from the break.

nothing else. slaggert with a glorious chance off a bedard feed - shot it right into the goalie's chest. nazar's hands couldn't corral the rebound late and murphy got beaten on utah's first goal - another goal given up late in a period. slow and not able to clear the crease turn off potential trade partners.

the analytics people tell us that the worst 4 blackhawks were:
foligno
martinez
vlasic
and the worst...murphy.

D allen and del mastro played, brodie in the press box.

a bit of a comeback last night - not enough juice, lose 7-5 to las vegas.

G - mrazek, 1st period - 5 goals on 15 shots. pulled. soderblom, 2 goals against on 18 shots. game is the latest example of what needs to be done here. rewarding the much improved soderblom as #1 for the rest of the year, mrazek #2. mrazek doing no favors for a trade to any hopeful playoff contender or pretender. read that tampa is in the market for an experienced #2 G, fear of vasilevskiy getting overworked. edmonton with the chronic G worries.

D - murphy with 3 points last night. good on him for forcing playoff clubs to consider adding him. being fair to murphy - last night, was the best blackhawk analytically. brodie catching more and more heat, while vlasic has been a disaster since january. del mastro with good game, allen was out. to be fair to brodie, usually on his backhand defending (corners/behind the net) as he plays R and is L...but, being slow and playing the wrong side is too much for him at this stage of his career. just not working out. we can't say we weren't warned by nhl network's and leaf fan jake hahn.

blackhawks opponents seem to be playing perfect hockey against them as the blackhawks can't draw penalties and get on the PP. once again, observed that the blackhawks' PK philosophy of passivity is deadly poison to them against various clubs. they were very passive PKing last night and they paid a heavy price. could be wrong here, also noticing bedard purposely taking the longer route to the puck - especially on the boards with a defender near. doesn't seem to want to be first on the puck and subject to a hit. not a good sign - he's sick of getting crushed, hurting or worse; doesn't care. 4 consecutive games pointless for the gen talent.

FWDs - too much here. just hoping some of the young guys progress and be productive and/or have a presence on the ice.

blackhawks call up athanasiou and kaiser and send down nolan allen. foligno & kurashev injured last night while dickinson still out for another 2 weeks or so and reichel in the doghouse/press box.

negative reactions to this in blackhawks world. this doesn't bother me in the least, if anything...could be a sign that maybe the club expects to trade away a FWD or two and/or a D or two. let the wheeling and dealing begin.

elliotte freidman reporting that the blackhawks traded D seth jones to the florida panthers for their back up G spencer knight and a '#1 pick'. not sure what year's #1 pick....says the blackhawks will retain 26% ($2.5 million) of his contract. jones has a no-move clause, must approve of the move.

edit - pierre lebrun saying that it's jones and a blackhawks 4th round pick in 2026 for G spencer knight and 'either' florida's #1 pick in 2026 or 2027. florida will decide which one.

on the surface, not sure why the panthers gave up on former #1 pick (the dreaded 2019 draft, 13th overall) knight. looks like GM kyle got more value for jones than anyone ever thought. one more year on knight's deal, appears will club will likely give away mrazek for a song, now. kaiser brought back up makes more sense now...figured there was a deal(s) in the works.

Very interesting trade. They need to be VERY active in the off season.

just read one grade of the trade and they gave florida an 'A' and the blackhawks a 'B'.

big D-man who preferred losing stick-check battles to hitting and a player that would make a few puzzling decisions with the puck/positioning, every single game. yeah, minutes-muncher - so what. more minutes to make more mistakes. i'll watch some florida playoff games and we'll see how jones plays.

the club now has 3 salaries on retention (2 go off the books after this season), no way they find a club willing to pay murphy his full salary. could be suggested that all the draft picks - some could come into play in finding a 3rd club to retain a salary for a pick. mrazek can now be given away for a song - other clubs know the blackhawks have zero leverage here.

I think this is a win win trade. A grade of 'B' sounds about right. I think this might say more about the (2) goalie prospects they have. I like this trade, I think it opens doors for a younger D-man to come up and play.

I am just starting to get worried Bedard will no re-sign.

bedard still has next year on his ELC...then..?

last year, he was a $12-$14 million a year on his next deal. now? with his production, hard to say; he'll be lucky to get $9 million from anyone. tonight (was a -2, -28 on the season) was his 5th consecutive game with no points. he'll also be a RFA. the higher the contract offer from another club, the higher and more draft picks the blackhawks would get. i don't argue...i don't think he's 'happy', but he's a pro and has to get past that.

game was worth the watch...chippy play...kaiser return. where was the disaster of no jones? minutes-muncher. kaiser was fantastic.

lots of scouts at the game and donato potted 2. let's see what happens.

I am not sure with Bedard. Was supposed to be a generational talent, but is coming up short.


I am curious as to what happens at goalie. If you can not trade Mrazek, can you LTIL him or waive him?

for sure. at G, believe they will try and peddle mrazek for basically anything at this trade deadline. i'm not so sure now...poor form, $4.25 million per for one more year and can't retain. may have to make a humbling move on him. soderblom has to get resigned and him and knight look good as a tandem, going forward. pushing commesso and gajan back further on the time chart - both aren't as highly rated as they were at this time last year.

on D, my thoughts now are that since jones is gone, murphy will likely stay. him and crevier are the only RD amongst all the other D. thinking that alec martinez will leave and that brodie's contract will get bought out. del mastro has been better than i thought he would be and we still have allen, korchinski and levshunov in the wings. vlasic will now get #1 PP minutes. looked very good into january, he's fallen off a cliff. last night - twice, his jones-like sloppiness nearly cost a shortie on the same sequence. just not playing well.

so, 2 areas with some housecleaning and now on to the FWD position and we'll definitely get some attempts at signing some quality FAs. still hoping to win more games, don't believe the blackhawks will catch nashville as the 3rd worst club. san jose really struggling and they're looking as more and more of a lock as the worst club in hockey/draft positioning.

here are some hockey media grades on the trade:

daily faceoff:
florida A
blackhawks A-

https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/trade-grade-seth-jones-spencer-knight-chicago-blackhawks-future-florida-panthers-stanley-cup

the hockey writers:
florida C
blackhawks A

https://thehockeywriters.com/panthers-blackhawks-jones-knight-trade-grades/

the athletic/mark lazerus:
florida B
blackhawks C

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6169014/2025/03/01/nhl-trade-grades-blackhawks-panthers-seth-jones/

2 wins in a row without jones now and also basically, without bedard. the gen. talent with his 6th consecutive game without a point. had one grade A chance off an athanasiou feed, easy kickings for kuemper.

spencer knight debuts and was fantastic. kept the club in the game in the first period. club was sloppy, keystone cops stuff. blackhawks much better in the 2nd period. 42 shots against knight, 41 saves. kaiser was the only D-man without a turnover.

san jose wins a shoot-out in toronto...stay 4 points behind the blackhawks and the blackhawks have 1 game in hand.

last year after 61 games, blackhawks were:
15-41-5 35 points 125/218

this year after 61 games:
19-35-7 45 points 169/214

the club's goal differential is 48 goals better than last year.