Full Court Press

I have heard all of this talk about a BIG trade. It seems like forever. Until it happens Im yawning. Lets not forget with all of this talk about the resurgence of the Hawks, I think most of it is just hype. So they have gone from THE WORST team in the league to just One of the worst teams in the league. Until something dramatic happens on the trade front...stop with all of the hype. It just gets old and boring after a while

Who cares about the Blackhawks?? I've heard next year tickets will go up 25% to see this cr@p

Go Wolves!!

wow keep talking crap about the blackhawks see where it gets you , which is nowhere , watching the blackhawks is amazing , the crowd gets into it , the national anthem is awesome , the blackhawks r one of the best teams in chicago along with the Cubs , i wouldnt be suprised if i see the blackhawks in the playoffs this year

I am eternally hopeful that the "big deal" will get done. Those who are not 'Hawks fans or ever have been 'Hawks fans probably won't migrate to the Red and Black. Those of us who truly love hockey and our 'Hawks will always be there and remain hopeful for this franchise to regain its rightful place among Chicago sports teams in terms of attendance and popularity. GO HAWKS!!

I am glad that the Hawks made a limited amount of trades. Trading for the sake of short gains, does the Hawks no good. They have a young and potentially great team that could contend for years to come.
I understand the need for Hawks to be a force in the NHL again is very strong, (believe me I'm ready as anyone) but with the more patience I think they will get there.
I look forward to the time when my son can experience the "Madhouse on Madison" that I was able to have when I has young.

I'm not happy with the moves. Ruutu for an underachieving winger from Carolina? I don't like it. The way Ruutu plays on the forecheck is crazy! At the onset of this trade, it appears Carolina definitely upgraded. The jury is still out on Ladd, and probably will be for the rest of this year. Lapointe for a 6th round pick is a bad deal, too.

Overall I was fairly disappointed that Dale wasn't more aggressive with Brad Richards, Brian Campbell, or Jordan Staal. Obviously he's not that serious about his squad making the playoffs.

I THINK IT'S THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER WITH THE BLACKHAWKS!!!THEY CAN'T LAND THE BIG NAME PLAYERS AND DEPEND ON THE YOUNG GUYS TO PULL THE LOAD.....OR THEY PICK UP SOMEONE THAT'S CARREER IS OVER AND THEY OVER PAY THEM (HAVLAT)!!WHEN'S THE LAST TIME A BLACKHAWK PLAYER HAS BEEN IN THE TOP TEN IN SCORING??WELL IVE BEEN A FAN FOR A LONG TIME AND I CANNOT REMEMBER??BUT I KEEP LOOKING UNDER STATS AND SOMEDAY THERE WILL BE A BIG SURPRISE(KANE)(TOEWS)BUT LETS KEEP RAISING PRICES SO YOU FORCE US TO GO AND WATCH A WOLVES GAME??THE BIG MAN IS GONE AND THE FANS ARE COMING BACK BUT REMEMBER.....WE NEED A WINNER!!

If Forsberg is good enough to suit up for the Av's then he would have helped the Blackhawks. Too bad he chose the Av's. The odds are not good that the Blackhawks can edge themselves into that final playoff spot so the rest of the year is all about gaining momentum for 2008. Win as many as you can to build excitment for the Jun convention.

PATHETIC!!! All this trade hype and we end up with Ladd? We lose Ruutu and LaPointe for Ladd and a draft pick? Hossa and Richards are difference makers and all we can do is watch our pathetic GM whiff on both. The Hawks will never return to respectability until our GM gets his head out of his butt and pulls the trigger on a real trade. No wonder we are always 2 steps behind the rest. We get a decent owner finally that gets it and a good coach and a few exciting young players and yet we are stuck with a dolt for a GM. We have started to make the Blackhawks relevant around the league again and we need to get a GM that can keep it going in the right direction. Tallon needs to go. Our great new owner dumped the moron Pulford, now the second stooge needs to go as well.

Along with having a very young rookie team....our GM is a rookie too. Hey Dale....this ain't the broadcast booth....these guys play rough......you need to get tough and make quicker decisions.....you lost out.....we should have made the Staal deal!......wait til next year.....HAwks do not make the palyoffs....again!

CG

You want to blame Tallon for not getting Hossa or Richards? Who is he going to trade when the other team wants young guys in return? Skille? Barker? Those are guys who haven't shown what they can do. the Hawks don't have solid, two way guys in their early 20s like Jokinen, or an experienced young goalie with real promise like Smith. You have to have something the other team wants in order to make a trade. The Lightning couldn't afford Khabi when they decided to let him leave, and they couldn't now. They traded Richards to get out from under his contract, they weren't going to take another one on today. As for getting Hossa, the Penguins may have overpaid, and there is no way the Hawks have anything close to what Pittsburgh sent to Atlanta.

I think the Blackhawks are the Winter Cubs. All hype and nothing to show for it. I am a huge Hawks fan and Yes I is was stupid enough to shell out close to $300 bucks for section 112 row 17. Of course they lost. Back to my point, so the trade deadline passes and what do we get? Ummm NOTHING! Lets just rev up the fans and let them think there is hope! Lets call a spade a spade. Were 13th in the frigging idiot league (well NHL)! Kane and Toewes are great. Habby is average at best, Havlat is always hurt, Soebel is average, Seabrook is average..so on and so on. We dont have Hossa, we dont have Lidstrom, we dont have Selanne, etc.. We dont have any real studs. So our job is to say your average and not going to the playoffs. Do I want to spend $300 on average? I dont think so

well at first I was upset about the lack of a real impact trade, but the more i thought about it, what could really have been done...our top players are our young ones, granted we have a few solid players in rockford, as well as a 1st round draft pick- jack skille, what would land us a big name, is what will bring us to the stanley cup, and thats our last 2 top picks, players with no trade clauses choose whom they want to go to , that said does a player like brad richards say, ok ill waive my no trade clause and go to chicago and try to get in the playoffs or go to a cup contender in dallas as a rental and then see what happens in the summer, same with brian campbell...it is not as easy as everyone thinks or we wouldve landed more players,i think the problem is dale said how active we'd be and it just did not play out...be patient and don't jump all over the hawks, it could be worse, they could be the bulls

Aw, come on folks! The 'Hawks are two games above .500! How is that "BAD"? I disagree with Sun-Times Greg Couch on going from "disgrace" to merely "bad." I like Greg, but his hockey knowledge is suspect. Then again, how many guys in Chi-Town really cover hockey as it ought to be covered?

I think this is a successful season if they simply end up over .500. The 'Hawks are absolutely loaded with prospects. In the entire NHL, only the St. Louis Blues have a comparable talent pool. Yeah, THAT team being comparable sucks, however, St. Louis also has some key guys about to receive social security (Can you say Keith Tkachuk?) and with eight teams in each conference doing the playoff dance, one team doesn't matter so much.

It's disappointing to lose Ruutu, but how long has it been? Ladd has been performing lately, he's still very young, he's performed exceptionally in the playoffs (see game 7 for Carolina fairly recently), and he seems like a winner. Heck, he helped make Samsonov good again! You can't discount what's "upstairs" especially these days.

Besides, what else do you want to waste your money on in the dead of Chicago's winter? Minor league hockey? The Abomina-BULLS?

Getting Ladd was a solid move. The 'Hawks showed that they severely lack the scoring power forward needed to win when Toews was hurt. Ruutu is a 3rd/4th line bruiser right now with potential to be a scorer...we DON'T need that. We have Burish, Bolland, C.Adams, etc. to all play that same role. Ladd is Toews size will a skill set that has scouts drooling. He had just been moved up to Carolina's second line and was scoring at a point a game pace. This is not a flashy move and I'll personally miss Ruutu because he was a home grown player, but I think it will pay off soon. We may not make the playoffs this year, but Tallon has built a very solid young base to be able to add a couple expensive FA veterans (Campbell, Hossa, etc) this summer w/o giving up any players or picks. And lastly, Lapointe was a great team guy, but he just didn't fit here anymore. I'm happy he's going to a contender and wish him luck...getting anything in return was a bonus.

took 2 of the most loyal hawks players out there and traded them good job sounds like the same ol hawks getting rid of players that " COMMIT TO THE INDIAN"
The coaching staff has GOT TO GO every player that leaves the hawks has a great future so it's a telltale sign of BAD coaching..

Bauer said: The coaching staff has GOT TO GO every player that leaves the hawks has a great future so it's a telltale sign of BAD coaching..

Who? Who has a great future? What are you talking about? Are you saying that every player that has been traded improved? Who has been traded in the last year and a half? Vrbata? He scored more in Chicago than he did in Carolina, so should the coach in Carolina be fired? He only won a Stanley Cup two years ago. Vrbata is playing on a line with the same guys, in particular Martin Hanzal, on a second line, which he is more suited for than the first line, which is where he played here, due to a lack of talent. Who else? Brandon Bochenski? Nope, 2 NHL goals this year? Jeff Hamilton? Nope, he's in the AHL. Andy Hilbert? 15 points isn't great. Who has Savard screwed up so badly? He's been the head coach here for a little over a year. Please post what you can prove, not what you are guessing about.

Somebody by the name of skates equates the "cubbies" [notice the lower case]. Think about Championships in the last 100 years. Blackhawks championships...."cubbies...ZERO. Please do not place the "cubbies" with any other Pro team in Illinos. It is wonderful the "cubbies" are about to start the second century without a World Series Championship. It warms my heart. The difference between "cubbie" fans [real fans] and Blackhawk fans is the simple fact Blackhawk fans have jobs.

easy there boards are for opinions not to get all riled up chill...looks like you follow carolina more than the hawks

every hawks player that has been deemed as " no future in chicago" goes to a diff team then has a great future on the team theyve been traded too -
The "Ex HAWK" factor

it doesn't matter in the last yr last 2 etc it's an ongoing thing

all the guys you mentioned above aren't stellar or franchise players imo

also if i recall jeff hamilton was a training camp walk on so to play in the AHL sounds good.

not savard - savvy IS what the hawks should be about.

Im talking coaching support staff the guys who work with the players in practice on the bench etc maybe they need fresh eyes after so many years they can only see so much... even Samsanov scores after leaving the hawks !