2008-2009 Season

Fan Commentary, by Ffej
April 21, 2008

I'm new to the site but a long time Hawks fan from small town Minnesota. I used to take quite a beating in high school during the Secord v. Plett days. I miss those great times with those great Hawk teams. This is a good Hawk team but getting great.

I've always been a optimist with the direction of the team. I actually thought Doug Gilmour and coach Dirk Graham would work pretty well. And that Pavel Vorobiev and Yakubov were the future But I've watched just about every Hawk game for the last five years and, despite my perpetual optimism, I still consider myself a Blackhawk expert.

Plans for the 2008-2009? Little to none. Why mess with this? We've got enough in the stable to work with and succeed. Khabibulin with Crawford backing up (20-25 games). Keith, Seabs, Sopel, Wiz, and Hendry. Tallon should go after a offensive defenseman and forget about Barker and Williams on the PP. I don't understand what everybody sees in Barker anyway. He's a good skater but a lazy coaster. I would much rather see Wiz trudging along. He at least gives 110 percent (his fighting ability--Tootoo-- and physical play aren't bad either).

The forwards and defensive goal contributions proved that the boys can win without a stud like Havlat. There were games this year when I wondered where in the hell Havlat was when he was playing. I think the team is fine with Sharp, Kane, Toews, Byf, Lang, Burish, C. Adams, Bolland, Bourque, and Skille. Let's hope that we can see what a healthy Eager can do. And maybe Havlat is healthy and produces. That gives us 12 forwards. With injuries, we could add a couple of others like Ladd or something. We don't need to spend the farm though. Tallon is well under the cap to go after somebody holding out if we're decimated by injury again.

Forgive my conservative and optimistic ways. However, the team was great this year all considered. Let them grow another year with this chemistry. Save Samsonov, Ruutu and Ladd, sometimes changing faces just to change faces doesn't work.

Oh and don't let those experts tell you next year when the Hawks are marching into the playoffs that all of those high first round Blackhawk picks over the years are paying dividends. Look no further than Daniel Cleary, Steve McCarthy, Anton Babchuk and those two aformentioned Russians Mike Smith sold me on.

< < All Fan Commentaries