2008 Off-season Game Plan

Fan Commentary, by Joseph Fernandez
April 18, 2008

After a somewhat successful and definitely more exciting season than in recent past, what do the Hawks need to do this off-season to become more competitive in the Western Conference and actually become a contender?

There seem to be differing opinions from some of the more senior posters on the site. Some say a shut-down defenseman is the most important while others say a top line winger or center man. Still others say PP QB and even goaltender upgrade. Obtaining an Enforcer is also a good idea. The fact is, all of these areas need to be addressed in some way or another.

Looking at the rosters for both the Hawks and the AHL Hogs and hearing comments from Dale Tallon stating he wants to resign most if not all of the teams UFAS, there seems like there is no room for any new FAs. If Bourque, Williams and K. Adams are resigned and young players like Skille, Kontiola, Hjallmarsson, Hendry are expected to be given a shot, where do they put them? Also guys like Brouwer, Blunden, Bickell, Dowell and Versteeg have been evaluated long enough. Something has to be done, Dale has to choose wisely and package some current 'Hawks players and Rockford talent with some trades. Also, no need to sign Bourque and K. Adams, they just take up roster space that should be used for younger guys on the bottom 2 lines.

The Hawks scored 239 goals, good for 3rd in the conference. So obviously, they can score goals. Hopefully Toews will stay healthy and Kane will improve on his strong first season, so I think they can score even more next season. The problem is that the Hawks were 12th in the conference in goals against, which is just putrid. Savard may have been a big reason for that as his defensive system does not exist, so a lot of the younger players really had no guidance as to where to be in defensive zone coverage. Another part of the problem has to be the lack of a physical presence from too many of the d as well as forwards. How many physical defensemen do the Hawks have? I count just Seabrook and Wizniewski, not enough. Up front, Toews, Ladd, Burish and Byfuglien to some extent, are the only physical players. If Eager is healthy, that adds one more but there needs to be 2-3 more. Skille is one but who else?

Here's what I would try to do:

On defense: Seabrook, Keith, Barker and Sopel are locks with Wisniewski, Hendry and Hjalmarsson fighting for the last 2 spots. Sopel is not tradable and Barker's upside I think is too much to trade right now. I would sign a guy like Brooks Orpik or even Jason Smith despite his age. Somebody that will be physical with the forwards that tend to operate without any fear near the Hawk net. Guys like Zetterburg and Datszuk come to mind. This has to be a priority.

At forward: Obviously signing Marian Hossa would be a huge upgrade for the top 2 lines, especially with the question mark that is Martin Havlat. But, how many offers is this guy going to get? That said, Havlat is not tradable unless healthy and at 6 mill/per season, only a deadline deal would be likely to get rid of him, looks like the Hawks are stuck with him until at least trade deadline. I would make a run at signing Langkow if he doesn't get a new contract in Calgary. If that is not possible, I would package a good player/prospect and draft pick to try and get Jeff Carter who is basically a 3rd liner on the Flyers. Maybe they would want someone like Wiz or even Barker or a big young winger like Ladd or Brouwer but it would be worth a shot. Either way, I would look to upgrade the 2nd line center spot and send Lang away for a draft pick. Atlanta or New Jersey would probably take his 4 million salary if all they lose is a low draft pick. Lang has decent stats but there is a reason the wings let him go, he is soft and disappears way too often. Signing Ryan Malone looks interesting but his price tag is going to be way too high based on his numbers playing with Malkin.

PP QB: This is the tough one, I would take Brian Campbell but not for more than 5.5 million per. He is a good pp guy but too many soft D already on this team. Someone is going to give him 7 per hopefully not the Hawks. The best bet for the money looks to be resigning Williams. Hopefully he won't price himself out but if healthy, he projects out to be a better than average PP QB. Other than that, the other FA's like Liles and Streit do not make much sense on this team, small and weak.

Goalie: I think we are ok here for next year, beyond that is the big question.

Enforcer: Unless a true heavyweight can be signed it looks like same as last year, which is not good. Besides Laraque, not sure if there are any available out there.

Projected line up:

PP:

PK:

Khabibulin - Crawford

Thoughts?

< < All Fan Commentaries