On Saturday the Blackhawks and Antti Niemi received the arbitrator’s decision to award Niemi $2.75 million for the 2010-11 season if the Hawks resign their restricted free agent. It is widely thought that the Blackhawks pursued a salary of closer to $2 million while Niemi and his agent Bill Zito were pushing for closer to $3 million. While the salary is not the worst case scenario for the Blackhawks, it’s far from the best. For now, the Hawks have 48 hours, presumably until sometime on Monday morning, to make a decision on whether to resign Niemi or let him become an unrestricted free agent.

Rumors also began to circulate that the Hawks have come to an agreement with veteran netminder Marty Turco on a one year deal for $1.5 million in case Niemi leaves. With various sites reporting that the Hawks are either just below the cap or currently over the cap, a move to sign either one of these netminders requires moving Cristobal Huet’s ghastly contract. While I’m far less knowledgeable about the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement than the NBA’s (which is saying something since they are both rather confusing), it appears that Huet is eligible to be placed on waivers and thus, optioned to Rockford. I’d like to believe he would probably clear waivers since whichever team picked him up would have to pay the full amount of his terrible contract for the next two years (Did Jim Hendry sign this guy?).  Now if Huet doesn’t raise a fuss and goes down to Rockford this is obviously a huge benefit to the Blackhawks’ salary cap woes. Yet, the salary cap woes are only one part of the equation.

While the Blackhawks fortunes rose steadily through last season, culminating in their Stanley Cup victory, the organization slumped further and further into debt. Rocky Wirtz admitted that the Blackhawks simply ran out of cash several times during last season and had to be bailed out by the other Wirtz family businesses. While a 20% increase in average ticket prices will certainly help the team’s financial bottom line, I find it hard to believe Rocky Wirtz would be too eager to pay the entire salary cap amount next year plus Huet’s $5.625 million contract in Rockford.

There is one out for the Blackhawks. If a player that is waived, clears waivers, and is sent down to the minors refuses to show up to the minor-league team, the NHL squad can treat this as insubordination and grounds for withholding the player’s salary. So don’t be surprised if John McDonough, the man who invented the Beanie Babies idea at Wrigley, concocts some soap-opera storyline where Huet refuses the indignity of being assigned to Rockford and lashes out publicly in broken English, or even better yet, a rant all in French (a refusal to speak the language of those who betrayed him). And behind the scenes the Blackhawks organization tells him they’ll pay him $2 million a year off the books to drive a truck for their liquor distributorship and take a few years off of hockey until his contract runs out.

I’d love to hear StevieY’s thoughts on this matter. That is, if he’s still alive, or if he isn’t too busy taking his talents to South Beach or East Lansing as the case may be.

Stupid overtime.  Dammnit.

h/t: Deadspin

Olympic hockey starts today for the men with the United States taking on Switzerland at 2 PM, followed by Canada and Norway at 6:30 (both times Central). Patrick Kane will skate for the Americans, while Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, and Jonathan Toews go for Canada.  Look for Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky on the Slovakian team as well.  The Hawks got ready for the Olympics with some pretty funny videos and–as you can see–some slightly disturbing pictures. 

To me, the Canadians are the favorites in the tournament. They just have too much talent throughout the entire lineup.  The Russians might have the most firepower and the scariest top players, but their depth will hurt them and they cannot match Canada in the goaltending department. 

The US will do well to get bronze, but as we’ve seen before they can provide a surprise (good or bad).  Kane’s line with Paul Statsny and Zach Parise should provide plenty of scoring that will scare teams in the quarterfinal round and Ryan Miller can steal a game at any time in goal.  It all starts today, so hopefully those crazy Canadians have actual ice in the arena.  Check out the Hawks videos for the popsicle eating contest and the speed skating.

In case you missed it Wednesday night, Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews got absolutely destroyed by Willie Mitchell. 

Tough break for Toews as Mitchell came out of the penalty box seconds before slamming the captain with a vicious, clean hit.  Kris Versteeg followed up by going after Mitchell, which normally would draw criticism from this hockey fan.  I’m getting sick of players starting fights after clean hits, but in this case we’re talking about your team leader getting trucked.  It’s not that Mitchell shouldn’t have hit Toews, it’s just that when someone hits your captain like that, you stand up. 

You’ll also notice the score when the hit took place, with the Hawks up two to one in the third.  Vancouver went on to win the game with the Hawks taking a few penalties after the big hit.  A theme last year was bouncing back and seeing how a young team would respond in tough situations.  The performances last year should give fans every reason to believe that the Blackhawks will be fine going forward. 

Nashville comes into the UC tomorrow night and it looks like Toews and Brent Seabrook, who also sustained an injury in the third period Wednesday, will both be good to go.  Goaltending may be a bit of an issue this year, but I think we’ll find out tomorrow night that character, focus, and resolve won’t be.

I was overjoyed last night when I found out the Blackhawks-Flames game would be on Versus.  Not so overjoyed when the Flames had built a five goal lead with just over eight minutes left in the FIRST period.  In about five and a half minutes, the Flames went from scoreless, to up five; and they were shorthanded for two minutes!  It was awful.  The Flames were winning every battle, skating faster, playing harder.  The fans in the United Center were not happy.

Still, when newcomer John Madden tallied late in the first period, there was this feeling that I knew the Blackhawks had the firepower to come back.  The second period belonged to Chicago, with goals from Kane, Byfuglien, and Bolland in a span of seven minutes.  Patrick Sharp tied the game about five minutes into the third on a great redirection that found the net.

With the United Center frenzied, the Hawks pressured but couldn’t end the game in regulation, but it only took 26 seconds of the extra period.  Brent Seabrook found himself with the puck and snapped a low shot beat Kiprusoff and cap the amazing comeback.

It’s safe to say I’ve never seen a game like that before.  To play so horribly in the first period and be able to completely turn that around to out-shoot the Flames by 19 and win is amazing.  I cannot overstate how bad things were during the onslaught by the Flames.  Duncan Keith even made a mistake!  As bad as Huet looked, Niemi looked just as bad when he came in after three goals.  It half expected to see Mark Grace come into goal.

For this young team to hang in and dominate the last two periods says so much.  As for their make-up, you have to like that they didn’t quit and while they may not have believed they could win the whole time, it didn’t take much to find that confidence.  While the veteran Madden got the first goal, Patrick Kane was electrifying last night.  The kid had a goal and two assists and with two teams filled with stars, he was the best player on the ice.

The comeback marks the biggest comeback in franchise history and ties for the best in league history.  That stat makes me think of when you’re watching a long field goal and the kicker hits a 58-yarder and they say “that would have been good from 65 or 70.”  While the Hawks only matched the five goals in regulation, you got the feeling watching that if it was six or seven, they would have matched that too.

We thought this would be an exciting season, and it certainly looks like that will be the case.

In case you missed it, the Blackhawks and Red Wings kicked off the North American portion of their regular season schedules last night in Detroit, with the Wings holding on for a 3-2 win.

This was supposed to be–or at least had the chance to be–the statement game for the Hawks.  It was time to show the Red Wings that the Blackhawks were ready to dominate the Central.  As with a lot of sports stories these days, that was getting a little ahead of ourselves.  One thing the viewer could take from the game however is that the battle for the division this year is going to be hard fought and an absolute joy to watch.

It’s been a while, so you know what I was thinking?  Bullets?  Bullets.

• The contrast in defensemen was notable, hence the noting going on. For Chicago, the blue liners were jumping into the play and creating opportunities, while for Detroit there was a lot more bruising going on.  Brad Stuart played one of the best games I’ve seen him play for the Wings and dished out some huge hits.
• Speaking of defensemen getting into the action, a defenseman has gotten the goal or an assist every time the Hawks have put the puck in the net this season.  Seabrook and Barker had assists last night.
• The turning point last night was pretty clearly the Hawks failure to score on a lengthy 5-on-3 power play in the second period when they were already leading 1-0.  The Wings blocked some shots, Osgood made a couple good saves, and the Hawks took a couple bad shots.  Quenneville took a timeout toward the end of the advantage to set things up, but it didn’t work out.  The Wings went on to score three goals in the second period, including Franzen’s game winner on a Red Wing power play.
• Like I said earlier, this is going to be fun to watch.  There is so much talent on the ice when these two teams meet.  In addition, neither team is afraid to get physical and it rarely escalates to anything particularly dirty.  When Hossa returns, Detroit-Chicago will be a game you cannot miss, trust me.
• 1-1-1 isn’t a great start, but it’s only three games in.  If the Hawks play like they did last night, the wins will definitely come.  They outshot the Wings and seemed to have the bulk of the possession.  Huet looked pretty good as well, making some big saves in the third to keep his team in it.

The Hawks open the United Center on Saturday night against the Colorado Avalanche.  They have eight home games against two away games the rest of the month.  Try to get to the UC and check out a game.

I really can’t believe hockey season is about to start up again.  The Blackhawks have gone through a remarkable transformation over the last three or four years and the start of the 2009-10 season brings yet another new feeling for Hawks supporters.  

For one, a large group of Hawks supporters exists.  The combination of a fan friendly shift in philosophy and a markedly improved product on the ice worked to make the Blackhawks relevant once more in the Windy City.  People know who you’re talking about when you rave about Kane, Toews, or Sharp. 

Last year coming into the season I think the overall feeling was waiting to see if this was a team that could compete with the Detroits and San Joses of the Western Conference.  After a run to the Western Conference Finals and a few key pick-ups in the off-season the Blackhawks are the favorites to play for the Stanley Cup in the minds of some.  Expectations are high and Chicago has the guns to meet them. 

There are two major changes worth mentioning.  First, the Hawks went out and signed former Red Wing Marian Hossa.  Hossa is a bona fide goal scorer and playmaker and despite his struggles in the playoffs last year he can take over any game.  Hossa may well be the piece that puts the Blackhawks over the mountain that is the Detroit Red Wings in the Central Division.  Adding Hossa to an already potent attack should scare the hell out of opponents.  However, Marian is out until November or so after shoulder surgery. 

The second change is in the net.  After a stellar season last year, the loss of Khabibulin is major.  Huet was good at times last year and scary at others.  His performance in the last game of the Detroit series calmed down a lot of fans’ fears, but he’ll need to put it all together to get this team to where they want to go. 

Another addition that could end up being just as big is John Madden (not that John Madden), a top notch special teams player that put together a great run in New Jersey.  Other newcomers include Tomas Kopecky (Detroit) and Radek Smolenak (Tampa Bay), both forwards.  The blue liners remain pretty much the same, but you’ll notice Brent Sopel is back after missing last year due to injury.

One thing to watch early is the battle for the second goaltending spot.  Most teams only carry two goaltenders, but the Hawks have three, with Corey Crawford and Antii Niemi  backing up Huet.  My thought is that Niemi is only hanging around because the Hawks are in Finland, and Niemi is Finnish.  We’ll see what the roster looks like when the Hawks get back to take on Detroit on October 8th. 

Not sure how the lines will stack up, but I think Madden is a nice addition as a third line center and Kopecky fits in nice with Eager and whatever other bruiser they throw in on the fourth line.  Dave Bolland and Kris Versteeg will be interesting to watch this season as well, to see how they progress. 

So how will the Blackhawks finish up?  Wow, good question.  The experience gained in the playoffs was so valuable last season and the Hawks certainly have the tools to overtake Detroit in the Central, with the Wings throwing some young guys in and demanding production.  I expect the Sharks to finish at the top of the Western Conference in the regular season, but I suspect the Blackhawks will be right behind them.  Another prediction: Duncan Keith finishes the season as a finalist for the Norris Trophy. 

Get ready Hawks fans, the season starts tomorrow afternoon when the Hawks take on the Florida Panthers in Finland at 11 am Central Time.

A loss in preseason hockey typically means nothing, but the Chicago Blackhawks found out recently they lost an important role player for at least four months after winger Adam Burish took an awkward hit against Minnesota Sunday. 

Burish was a vital part of the Hawks fourth line last year and while he didn’t provide many points, he certainly brought valuable energy and wasn’t afraid to mix it up when needed, and often just for fun. 

As far as injuries to forwards go, Burish is by far not the worst case scenario.  The Hawks will also be without newly signed Marian Hossa until late November as he goes under the knife for shoulder surgery.  The improving youth and the depth on the roster should get the Hawks through the injuries just fine and they should have a decent shot at dethroning the “rebuilding” Red Wings in the Central this year.  More on that in the upcoming season preview. 

For Burish, this has to be tough to take in a contract year, but he should be back by March at the latest and will have a chance to get some time in before the playoffs and hopefully contribute in the postseason as much as he did last year. 

The Hawks will start the regular season overseas in Finland with two games against the Florida Panthers October 2nd and 3rd.  They travel to Joe Louis Arena to take on the Red Wings on October 8th for their North American opener.

• Top ten moments in Chicago sports in the last decade.  They aren’t all good either.  Yikes. [Pippen Ain't Easy]
• Soriano is upset about his recent benching.  Here’s what I have to say about that: Hit. [Tribune]
• Tallon cleaned up most of his mess regarding the Blackhawks qualifying offers.  It was expensive though. [Sun-Times]
• LeBron James got dunked on, and let’s just say that he did not handle it like MJ would have. [Zoner]
• Just when the Cubbies are getting healthy, BAM, down goes Dempster and Soto. [The Friendly Blogfines]
• Da Coach is a fan of Governor Quinn.  He loves his politics. [NBC]
• Stephen A. Smith is annoying.  As usual. [NESW Sports]
• Bulls signed Pargo.  I thought we discussed why this was a bad idea.  [Yahoo]

What’s up everybody?  After a week absence that seemed like forever, I finally found an Internet connection from which I can post and not get fired. 

The place I’m staying for a while in Michigan doesn’t have an Internet connection.  I know, I know, you’re thinking I moved into a cabin somewhere and my neighbors are a mile away plotting serial mail bombings.  Not true.  I’m in the booming metropolis of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Home of the West Michigan Whitecaps and their Fifth/Third Burger.  We’ll try to get Stormin’ Norman up here to battle that thing. 

Anyway, I’m keeping myself busy drawing on walls and fighting people with mastadon bones, so don’t worry about me.  As for the Blackhawks, that was a hell of a last game of the season.  Everybody feels a little better about Huet now, right?  I might have a little eulogy for the Hawks season and a look forward to next at some point, but it depends on the move. 

I caught a little bit of that Cubs-Dodgers series too.  Seemed like that thing went on forever, though I suppose that could be since it was longer than their playoff series.  I’m not going into panic-mode yet, as the Cubs just need to get healthy and go on a little run to get back on top.  It’s good to see the Brewers having early season success again.  I was a little worried after their quick start, but it appears they’ll be on schedule for their late summer meltdown. 

Hmm, what else?  I saw a rumor today about Brandon Marshall to the Bears.  I couldn’t read it because ESPN requires subscriptions to their ridiculous rumors, but this would be a disaster.  The guy’s arrest record would make Chris Henry blush. 

That’s all I have for now, as I have to get going, but I’ll be back around these parts for sure in the future.  Especially after I call Al Gore to see about getting some Internet in my new place.

• In a great hockey game, the Hawks dropped Game 5 to lose the series to the Red Wings.  Huet made a phenomenal save to force OT.  [ESPN]
• The ratings are out for Madden 2010.  Favre gets a “retired” apparently. [Awful Announcing]
• Everyone was waiting for the big blow up by Lou to get the Cubs going.  Well, it was actually Big Z doing the yelling as he got tossed from the Cub win yesterday, then decided to throw the ump out.  [Sun-Times]
• There’s a report that Memphis will be under investigation for some NCAA violations in their basketball program.  Sounds like Rose may have cheated on his SATs.  Shocking! [ESPN]
• Gavin Floyd pitched well for the Sox, but Jared Weaver was better as the Angels won. [Sun-Times]
• Guess who’s still looking for a job….Rex Grossman! [FanHouse]
• Some people still think Brian Urlacher is sweet. Even more wouldn’t dare tell him he was washed up to his face.  [Zoner]
• Umm, Best Sign Ever. [Puck Daddy]
• This is a couple of days old, but here is Mr. T singing Take Me Out To The Ballgame the other night at Wrigley.  It would be better if you could hear all the grunting he did after in the booth. [Luol's Dong]

Turns out they are actually going to play Game 5 despite everyone saying the series is over.  So take some time from all that reading you’re doing about a Stanley Cup Finals rematch and remember that the Western Conference Finals aren’t over yet. 

The Blackhawks have plenty going for them that no one talks about.  First, no one thinks they can win.  Seems like a great way to motivate a young team while taking the pressure off at the same time.  Second, Detroit is still banged up.  I know it didn’t matter in Game 4, but that wasn’t the same Hawks team I watched all season long.  With the Kronwall fiasco hopefully behind them, it should be a much more competitive game tonight.  Finally, they had the three day break again to refocus and put the ugliness of Game 4 behind them. 

That’s not to say the deck isn’t stacked against them.  Detroit proved itself the better team even without two of its stars on Sunday.  The Wings have the experience and rarely have trouble closing teams out in the playoffs.  Let’s get on with the bullets. 

• Pavel Datsyuk and Nick Lidstrom are out again for Game 5.  Wings coach Mike Babcock noted that sometimes it’s easy to step up and replace guys in the short term, but the longer players are out, the harder it becomes.  Don’t celebrate too soon though.  Martin Havlat and Nikolai Khabibulin are out for Chicago.  Havlat played well in his abbreviated return Sunday, and the Hawks struggled hard without their goaltender.  Hard to say which set of injuries is worse, but based on depth the Hawks are feeling this one more. 
• Injured or not, the Blackhawks will be fighting to continue their season.  A good start is always important, but even more so tonight.  Fall behind by multiple goals and thoughts of the golf course or finding whatever beach Joakim Noah is at start to creep in.  The Hawks have done well when facing adversity throughout the playoffs, but this will be the first game they face elimination.  Chris Osgood has the most elimination game shutouts in NHL history and it will be important to ensure early that he doesn’t add to that record number. 
• Cristobal Huet doesn’t get much of a grace period.  He played well in the third period of Game 3, but was awful in Game 4.  The NBC guys were saying that the Wings needed to shoot high on Huet, but really anywhere they shot it seemed to work out. 
• Oh and it might be a good idea to stay out of the penalty box.  The Wings could lose three more players and still have two good power play units.  Also, if the Hawks continue their passive play on the kill, they’re just asking for trouble.  When you have guys that might not play the blue line on the advantage due to Lidstrom being out, they need to be pressured.  Last game the Hawks just sat back while the defensemen peppered the goal. 
• Leave Kronwall alone.  Sure, if someone has an opportunity to finish a hard, clean check on him then go for it, but the first guy that goes out of his way to hit Kronwall or takes a penalty trying to get some kind of revenge should be reduced to Chelios-minutes.  I’m looking at you Versteeg. 
• Quenneville needs to keep his cool this game.  His tirade in Game 4 was the start of the meltdown and tonight quiet confidence needs to be the theme.  Back to basics for the Hawks who need to mind their responsibilities defensively, stay out of the box, and capitalize on the power play to win. 

Game is at Joe Louis Arena and on Versus at 6:30 CT.  The Hawks need to win three straight to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals, so we’ll see if they can start tonight.

I’ve noticed this season that Patrick Kane does a lot of chewing on his mouth guard.  Apparently, Red Wings forward Johan Franzen did not care for it and took some action.

h/t Puck Daddy

Earlier in the Western Conference Finals, everyone thought the series was over when Detroit went up 2-0 with an overtime win in Joe Louis Arena and I was quick to disagree.  Now, they’re saying it again calling Game 5 a formality.  Are the writers on the mark this time? Well, maybe.

Game 4 could be an aberration and a momentary lapse, but it looked more like a surrender.  All the things we were talking about the Blackhawks needing to avoid were evident in Game 4.  They couldn’t spend their time chasing Niklas Kronwall looking for revenge, and Kris Versteeg and Ben Eager both fell victim to antagonizing the Wings defenseman.  It’s hard to say how out of position they got chasing big hits, but the penalty box door got a workout because of it.

The Hawks also had to harness their emotions after a tumultuous Game 3, and they failed miserably.  Two things are to blame for the failure: youth, and more importantly Joel Quenneville.  In my opinion Quenneville should be a serious candidate for coach of the year the way he handled the Blackhawks this season, but Game 4 was a meltdown.  When emotions are flaring up all over the place, the last thing your team needs is an explosion on the bench after a first period that ended with your team down 2-0.  The Hawks looked lost before Q’s screaming at the officials about a roughing call against Matt Walker, but after it they were out of control.

Was there a penalty on Walker in the scrum? I sure didn’t see one.  Was it the worst call in sports history? Umm, really?  It was an irrational overreaction by the coach that led to much of the same from his young team.  Especially with a young captain who hasn’t been through this before, the coach needs to be the guy that keeps it together.  Quenneville’s outburst was followed by dumb penalties from Versteeg, misconducts from Eager, and a couple ejections.

Quite a bit of praise has been doled out for the Red Wings, who dominated the Hawks without Lidstrom and Datsyuk, but the Hawks cost themselves the game.  They gave up a shorthanded goal in the first period after four Hawks were caught below the goal-line in the Wings’ end.  They probably should have kept Huet’s start a secret from Cristobal so he didn’t have time to mentally prepare.  He was awful.  I’ve seen the Red Wings do this to teams for years now, but I didn’t think the Hawks would get sucked in; it’s not like the Wings are above cheap shots, they just pick their spots and I’d venture a guess to say they get less retaliatory penalties than just about anyone.  You can’t get pissed at them and try to bait them into fighting you, they aren’t the Flames or Canucks.  The Hawks ventured way off the gameplan and that’s why it’s 3-1.

There are really very few good things to say about the situation right now, but let’s see what we can come up with.  The Hawks will have the benefit of another three day break.  Last time they were counted out of the series, they responded after the extra rest with a great performance and a win.  This time will be tougher in the Joe, but the Hawks have also proved they can play with the Wings there.  The Red Wings still have some injury issues too.  Draper is out for the series, while Datsyuk and Lidstrom haven’t been cleared to play yet.

Finally, what do they have to lose? No one thinks they can win.  Coming into the series there were plenty of people who thought the youngsters had a chance, but not now.  The problem was that Kronwall’s hit and the reaction got them thinking too much.  If they can get back to just playing hockey, anything can happen.  Right?

• Havlat’s return for Game 4, though brief, was amazing according to an expert.  Seriously, I was shocked he was out there.  [CBC via Puck Daddy]
• It’s a rain delay dance-off! [Awful Announcing]
• The Chicago Fire beat the New York Red Bulls 1-0 on Sunday to extend their unbeaten streak to 10 games.  [Sun-Times]
• Hawks Coach Joel Quenneville was fined $10k for his comments after Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals, calling a penalty at the end of the first period “probably the worst call in the history of sports.”  [ESPN]
• Matt Clapp over at Sharapova’s Thigh has started a Cubs blog.  Go check it out!  Now! [Friendly Blogfines]
• Ever wonder what celebrities were thinking at Lakers games?  I haven’t, but that doesn’t mean I won’t help you out.  [World of Isaac]
• Milton Bradley thinks the umpires are conspiring against him.  Ah, what the hell, I believe him just for fun.  [Bleacher Report]