Hawks trade Skille for Frolik

As announced by Adam Jahns the Hawks have acquired Michael Frolik and goalie Alexander Salak from Dale Tallon and the Panthers for Jack Skille, Hugh Jessiman and David Pacan. Certainly a win from the looks of things. More on this trade tomorrow.

And then there were two...LESS

-Hugh Jessiman cleared waivers and was assigned to Rockford

-Ludvig Rensfeldt was sent to Brynas IF, in Sweden.

-The Hawks lost in Pittsburgh, 4-1. Of course it's silly to expect every preseason game on TV, because MLB or the NFL don't televise the preseason, do they? Anyway, here is the AP wrap up:

"Evgeni Malkin scored for Pittsburgh and the Penguins beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 Tuesday night.

Dustin Jeffrey, Nick Johnson and Mark Letestu also had goals for Pittsburgh, and Paul Martin had two assists. Kyle Beach scored for Chicago, which fell to 1-3 in the preseason. The Penguins are 4-0.

The game matched the past two Stanley Cup champions - but the lineups did not. Malkin played, but fellow Penguins stars Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury and Brooks Orpik were among the scratches. Chicago chose not to dress, among others, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Marian Hossa and Marty Turco.

Both of the Penguins' third-period goals went in off of Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook."

The only things that really jump out of the box score is that they were outshot 39-22 and the line of Pisani, Potulny, Skille, Campbell and Hjalmarsson were -2 for the night. Take it for what it's worth.

Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead

As everyone expected, the Cristobal Huet mess is officially out of the Blackhawks hands, for this season at least. The team placed him on waivers this weekend, which is a necessary step to allow him to be loaned to HC Fribourg-Gotteron SA of the Swiss National League A. He cleared waivers yesterday. The team will still have to pay his salary, but it won't count against the salary cap. Of course, he still has another year on his deal, so lets hope he plays well enough for the Swiss to want him again next season. What an epic mess. Hey, at least we're not still paying for Alexei Yashin to play in Russia and Rick DiPietro to nurse his fragile lower extremities, like the Islanders.

In other Hawks news, Evan Brophey and Jeff Taffe cleared waivers and were sent to Rockford. Brophey did some things well, but Taffe looked clueless in the time I saw him out there. Hugh Jessiman was put on waivers, and will most likely clear, which will see him taking I-90 west to Rockford, with the rest of the bunch. No surprises, again.

The team's roster is at 32 players, and will need to be cut down to 23 by the season start.

2010-11 Training Camp Roster (the ones in bold I expect to see sent to Rockford)

Forwards–Kyle Beach, Bryan Bickell, Dave Bolland, Troy Brouwer, Jake Dowell, Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane, Tomas Kopecky, Igor Makarov, Jeremy Morin, Fernando Pisani, Ryan Potulny, Ludvig Rensfeldt, Patrick Sharp, Jack Skille, Ben Smith, Viktor Stalberg, Jonathan Toews

Defensemen–Nick Boynton, Brian Campbell, Brian Connelly, Jassen Cullimore, Jordan Hendry, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Duncan Keith, Nick Leddy, John Scott, Brent Seabrook

Goalies–Corey Crawford, Alec Richards, Hannu Toivonen, Marty Turco

Turco Accepts the Keys to the 2010 Stanley Cup Defense

Marty Turco
I’m not a betting man, but I’m going to ride this hot streak I’ve been on. Monday the Hawks announced that they signed 3 time former All-star Marty Turco to a one year deal worth a reported $1.3 Million. Yes, I just said only $1.3 Million. The Hawks just signed a $5.4 Million, 3 time all-star for a mere $1.3 million. In doing so, the Hawks let Antti Niemi try his luck in the free agent market. The only words I have for that are "GOOD LUCK", because he will need it. Based on the fact that goalies have been signed for bargain basement prices all summer, I cannot believe that someone will sign him for a long term deal at $2.75 million a year. I’ve said over and over that I feel this is a very smart move by the Hawks. In fact, based on the current roster situations, he’s not even guaranteed a starting job somewhere else. He went from the starting goalie on the Stanley Cup champs to fighting for a starting job on some other team. I’m not a sports agent, but I’d say that’s a considerable step down.


I don’t want to take away from Antti Niemi, because he HELPED bring the Hawks a Stanley Cup, but lets look at the facts in this situation. He’s not even close to the only reason the Stanley Cup is in Chicago. Before last season, Niemi was an undrafted free agent signing that had ONLY played in the AHL, where he ONLY went 18-14-3 with a GSS of 2.43. He barely beat out Corey Crawford for the backup position and remained there for a good portion of the season. He only won the starting position when Cristobal Huet completely shit the bed in late February. During the regular season he only faced 21.8 shots a game, and in the playoffs he faced 26.7 and his GAA went up to 2.63. He’s played a total of 64 NHL games.
Turco, on the other hand, has an average of 29 wins a year (262 total). His GAA is 2.31 and he’s faced an average of 22.6 shots a game over his career. He’s been the starting keeper of a team for nearly 10 years. He’s a superior puckhandling goalie, and a great locker room presence. He’s never had a defense in front of him like the one the Hawks currently have. You can chirp all you want about how he’s a playoff choke artist, and all that other horseshit. He’s never had a team in front of him with offense and defense like this. Niemi rarely ever had to stand on his head and take over a game and neither will Turco. He’s a positive guy that keeps his teammates loose. He’s not a pouting Frenchman who has such a fragile ego that he can’t keep a job anywhere he goes, and he’s not a green, sophomore goalie that had the benefit of a strong defense in front of him. I love what I’ve heard and read of Turco. He took a huge pay cut just to come to Chicago. In the day and age of pompous egotistical athletes that expect huge contracts before they ever step on the field/ice/court, and for fluke years, this is refreshing. So, hate him all you’d like, but he has showed the maturity and character that most professional athletes lack.


Detroit has a new man in charge
Marty Turco will do just fine here in Chicago, so all of you haters and your “Enjoy your cup now because you’ll never defend it” can kiss my ass. This is a win/win situation for Stan Bowman. They get a proven goalie at a bargain price, and have leftover cash to fill out their roster. Some of these people act like the Hawks wanted this situation. Their hand was forced because of some bad decisions by previous members of the staff. Until the cup is in another city you can yap all you want; especially in Detoilet. The days of Detroit mowing the conference down are over, "Hockeytown". You’re older, and more fragile, so that "we had a lot of injuries" excuse doesn’t fly any longer. Every team has injuries, and every team has to learn to overcome them. You people can jump on the Chicago hating bandwagon just like everyone else outside of Chicago. If winning means everyone hates the Hawks, I hope every person outside of IL hates the Hawks. I’ll be the first to admit that maybe the Hawks won’t repeat. It’s a VERY hard thing to do in ANY pro sport, and the odds are against them without this salary capocalypse, but I will promise you one thing; The Chicago Blackhawks will contend for the Stanley Cup and will for quite a few more years to come.


In the shadows of the Turco situation the Hawks signed a few pretty obscure minor league players, some of whom I’d reported earlier. Evan Brophey, Jassen Cullimore, Nathan Davis, Hugh Jessiman, Hannu Toivonen, and Igor Makarov were announced this week. None of these guys are going to see significant time with the team, so don’t put too much effort into remembering their names. The biggest name is Jessiman, because he’s a former 1st round draft pick of the NY Rangers in ’03, and obviously hasn’t panned out.