The Blackhawks trimmed their roster down again on Friday afternoon. This time, some big names were sent packing to Rockford. Kyle Beach, Igor Makarov, Brian Connelly, Brandon Pirri, and Ben Smith were all sent to the AHL affiliate.
The Hawks have 9 defensemen left in camp. Nick Leddy and Jassen Cullimore are the last two standing of the eventual cuts.
14 forwards remain. Jack Skille was injured in last night’s game so Jeremy Morin or Viktor Stalberg bought themselves one extra day to impress. And with Morin skating on Sharp and Kane’s line tonight, it’s likely his spot to lose.
Skille’s injury isn’t said to be serious.
–The lede of this story was brutally buried.
Another role player was goaltender Antti Niemi who made a name for himself in the playoffs. I’m told Head Coach Joel Quennville was less than pleased the organization didn’t do more to try and keep this guy.
Maybe it’s nothing, but I find it very interesting this is the first time we’re hearing about a rift between Quenneville and a front office decision. Something to keep an eye for sure, at least at the beginning of this season.
A buried, unsourced item from a St. Louis radio host (?) makes me extremely skeptical. Especially in the wake of a contract extension and the fact that even the fans weren’t THAT upset to see Niemi go.
Much, much ado about nothing, I think.
The fans really had nothing to do with it, but otherwise, it probably is nothing. Just interesting to see it thrown out there when we’ve heard nary a peep about any sort of player disagreement among the Hawks.
Definitely. Any information getting out of the United Center seems to be controlled and planned. Wonder if this guy has a prior relationship with Q from STL, or if he’s hearing something third-hand that has been convoluted through re-telling…or if he’s more or less making it up?
Andy Strickland is a respected beat reporter in St. Louis and around the league. He’s plugged in and has tons of real contacts. This could be much ado about nothing, (like, maybe Q was very upset at first but has calmed down since and Strickland is noting something that Q was feeling 2 months ago but is now over) but with Quenneville’s deep connection to St. Louis, you cannot dismiss this as some kind of irresponsible throw-in from ‘some guy’.
I believe Strickland either heard this second hand, or is relaying the mood of a conversation he had with Q or someone close to the Hawks’ coach recently. Where Q’s thoughts stand now is anyone’s guess. He’s never going to say anything on the record. You should know that by now. He’s very well coached as a speaker. He doesn’t trash guys and why would he put his good-standing in jeopardy in what today is probably every sitting and aspiring head coach’s dream job?
And I don’t believe for one second Quenneville spends any time worrying about what the fans think. Or base his mood off of theirs. Thats ludicrous.
I talked to one player over the summer who said he’d be extremely disappointed if they lost Niemi. Turco is highly respected and I’m sure the team is confident he’ll do just fine. But I think the question a lot of people are asking is if the Hawks allowed their goalie of the next 4-5 years walk because long-term, Turco is not the answer.
I’m sure there is some truth to all of this and more but come on guys….this is how this all starts, stop it. Bowman let Niemi walk for basically what he offered before arbitration as an f**k you to Zito, nobody wanted to see that but at the end of the day it’s business. That whole situation gave him the perfect excuse (for the public) to do so.
Seems like Bowman is the one of maybe four people in North America that thought Turco was the answer but given his options he did a pretty damn good job with all the c(r)ap issues and such.
Let’s not start this before at least one post cup regular season game because we all know we’ll have plenty of garbage to talk about by the new year.
This isn’t really a debate on what was right or wrong in the Niemi case; it’s simply stating the reported disconnect on the decision between the front office and the head coach.
Right,
the “the reported disconnect” between Hawk’s upper management and the mustache that was “brutally buried” in a season preview piece by a St. Louis sports reporter.
This just in – Soupy is out 4-5 weeks with bad knee. Maybe Leddy can step to the plate.
I guess I forgot the golden rule that any news not broken from a Chicago sports reporter should be dismissed.
John Scott will reinvent himself as a puck moving defenseman.
CT with the money quote
Whew….sassy,
Calm down there Mr. John, I didn’t mean to get you all fired up.
Hammer and Leddy…..if they throw Leddy in the pool will he sink or swim?