Hawks Weekly Update 3/11

The Blackhawks are in high spirits and you should be too.

The Hawks won 2 games this past week against the Coyotes and a prospect may be making their debut soon. If you aren't a Hawks fan, you might be wondering how this is anything to be in high spirits about. If you are a Hawks fan, you know better. Cherish those wins, it could be a while before we have another one.

• Weekly Updates
• Game Recaps
• Week Ahead
• Sick Bay

Weekly Updates

The trade deadline passed on Friday and that brings us closer to the finish line. Teams around the league made some big moves, which was a nice change of pace from last year's deadline. Last year was also a big news week for the Hawks around the deadline as well. This year? Well, not so much.

I talk about what the Hawks did (or didn't do) in this post here, but in case you missed it, the only trade took place a day before the deadline. Anthony Beauvillier was traded to the Nashville Predators in return for a 5th round pick. Beauvillier was initially traded to the Hawks for a 5th round pick to the Canucks.

The Hawks also placed Boris Katchouk on waivers on March 7, he was claimed by Ottawa, I imagine the intent was to have him eligible to play in Rockford for the playoffs. The Hawks also sent Isaak Phillips, Louis Crevier, and Zach Sanford to Rockford on March 8, only Sanford was recalled. Again, this is for Rockford's playoffs.

Nikita Zaitsev made his return from his injury. Let's take a quick look at how he's been doing. In 2 games played he's at a 42.85 expected goals share and a -1 at 5v5. Luke Philp also recovered from his injury.

There's been some rumblings in the waters about a return from Andreas Athanasiou sometime soon.

Prospect Landon Slaggert may be making his appearance this week after his college season ended in the BIG 10 tournament. Slaggert is a prospect who's been in the pipeline for some time. He opted to stay in Notre Dame for his 4th season and signed his entry-level contract over the weekend. The deal is 2 years at $925k AAV. It's a two year ELC because of his age.

Slaggert is interesting. Usually, players will play in college until their sophomore or junior year and turn pro. If a player plays in their senior year, it's usually not a promising sign. The difference with Slaggert is that he chose to stay in Notre Dame because he has family ties with the team. It's not like the Hawks weren't interested in signing him before then because they were.

The only thing we have to remember is that his good numbers from this season are going to be skewed by his age. He's older than most of the competition at that level. If things go well for him, we can hope that he will be a solid addition to the bottom 6. And you want a team with a solid bottom 6.

Game Recaps

3/4 Hawks @ Avalanche - Hawks lose 0-5
We don't need to revisit that one.

3/5 Hawks @ Coyotes - Hawks win 5-2
Game Recap can be found here

3/9 Hawks @ Capitals - Hawks lose 4-1
Game Recap can be found here

3/10 Hawks vs Coyotes - Hawks win 7-4
Game Recap can be found here

Hawks had 2 wins this week, one game with 7 goals, and their powerplay has looked better. A factor to consider is that the powerplay looked best against the Coyotes, a team that has a lot of penalties and a bad penalty kill (75.81%).

In their last four games, the Hawks scored 6 powerplay goals out of 18 powerplay opportunities. All 6 came against the Coyotes. Stretching that to a sample size of 10 games, we have 9 goals out of 31 powerplay opportunities. 9 out 31 isn't great, and again, 6 of those came against a pretty mediocre team.

While the numbers don't look great, when you watch them play, you can see a difference versus the start of the season. They get set up more consistently and their entries are getting slightly better. Although they still struggle at times. The mechanics of their PP, once they actually get set up, isn't horrible. Seth Jones walks the line and opens up space, Bedard is always a threat, it's just that everyone else lacks talent.

Where the Hawks still struggle is their entry. They try to utilize the double-late entry (not the slingshot, which is different), which works great when you have a team of fast skaters. In fact, most NHL teams use some form of a late entry on their PP because it builds speed to catch the penalty killers off guard and out of position.

What usually happens with the Hawks is that the defensemen (mostly Korchinski) stop and his slow counterparts haven't built the speed needed to catch the PK off guard. By the time the PP attempts an entry, they are met immediately with puck pressure and lose possession. The Hawks then try to dump the puck in and much like their even-strength tactics, they end up losing board battles and possession. When they do get set-up, they usually don't outwork the penalty kill enough to catch them out of position. Thus the PP turns into passing practice.

Don't be fooled by the recent success, the Hawks still have a ways to go before the PP gets better.

Week Ahead

• vs Ducks 3/12 @ 7:30
• vs Kings 3/15 @ 7:30
• vs Sharks 3/17 @ 5:00

Three games this week, all at home before the Hawks swing over to the west coast next week and play those same teams again.

Ducks should be a competitive win. Kings should be an L. The "big" game is the Sharks game. I hate rooting for the Hawks to lose, so I won't. Sure, tank standings and all that. The Sharks recently gutted their roster during the trade deadline. There's no reason for the Hawks to lose this one.

Sick Bay

• Taylor Hall – Knee/Out for season
• Andreas Athanasiou – Lower body/week-to-week
• Connor Murphy - Lower Body/day-to-day

Go Hawks!