Hawks 5-0 in Preseason Surprise

Despite all the offseason negativity, it appears at least on the face of it that Dale Tallon's moves have paid off: The Blackhawks, despite some injuries to key players, are 5-0 in the preseason and have pretty much dominated all 5 games. Having said that, the prospects have not been getting much playing time and the victories have come at the expense of such teams as Columbus, Florida, Minnesota & St. Louis, none of which can be considered NHL powerhouses.

Time will tell if this is all just a mirage or the real thing.

Ruutu Signs

Evidently in response to fan pressure,
the Blackhawks (finally) signed Tuomo Ruutu. Perhaps there is hope for the 2006-2007 season after all..............

Chicago Cheapness May Mean No Ruutu This Season

According to Tuomo Ruutu's agent, Bill Zito of Chicago, the Hawks have refused to respond to Ruutu's request for a 2 year contract at $850,000 per year. This would have simply meant an extension of the previous contract at roughly the same terms. Reportedly, the Hawks have been holding out for a 1 year deal only with Ruutu--the team's only solid scorer--taking a pay cut.

Simply more Hawk stupidity...............not to mention cheapness.

Training Camp Starts on the 14th

Here is the complete Hawks training camp roster from the official website:



2006 Training Camp Roster
Player Name # Pos HT WT Birthplace Age Birthday
Arkhipov, Denis 19 C 6-3 206 Kazan, RUS 27 5/19/1979
Aucoin, Adrian 33 D 6-2 211 Ottawa, ON 33 7/3/1973
Barker, Cam * 25 D 6-3 222 Winnipeg, MB 20 4/4/1986
Berti, Adam * 45 LW 6-3 207 Scarborough, ON 20 7/1/1986
Bickell, Bryan * 38 LW 6-4 226 Bowmanville, ON 20 3/9/1986
Blunden, Michael * 28 RW 6-3 207 Toronto, ON 19 12/15/1986
Bochenski, Brandon 20 RW 6-0 196 Blaine, MN 24 4/4/1982
Bolland, David * 36 C 6-0 170 Toronto, ON 20 6/5/1986
Bourque, Rene 14 LW 6-2 213 Lac La Biche, AB 24 12/10/1981
Brophey, Evan 59 C 6-1 203 Kitchener, ON 19 12/3/1986
Brouwer, Troy * 29 RW 6-3 220 Vancouver, BC 21 8/17/1985
Burish, Adam * 37 RW 6-1 189 Madison, WI 23 1/6/1983
Byfuglien, Dustin 52 D 6-3 238 Roseau, MN 21 3/27/1985
Caron, Sebastien 30 G 6-1 170 Amqui, QUE 26 6/25/1980
Corazzini, Carl 49 C 5-10 182 Framingham, MA 27 4/21/1979
Crawford, Corey 50 G 6-2 190 Montreal, QC 21 12/31/1984
Cullimore, Jassen 5 D 6-5 247 Simcoe, ON 33 12/4/1972
Durno, Chris 64 LW 6-4 205 Scarborough, ONT 25 10/31/1980
Fraser, Colin 46 C 6-1 183 Surrey, BC 21 1/28/1985
Handzus, Michal 26 C 6-5 217 Banska Bystrica, SVK 29 3/11/1977
Havlat, Martin 24 LW 6-1 190 Mlada Boleslav, CZE 25 4/19/1981
Hendry, Jordan 42 D 6-0 196 Nokomis, SK 22 2/23/1984
Hobson, Adam 67 C 6-0 209 Lund, SWE 19 1/9/1987
Holmqvist, Michael 17 LW 6-4 210 Stockholm, SWE 27 6/8/1979
Keith, Duncan 2 D 6-0 187 Winnipeg, MB 23 7/16/1983
Keith, Matt 12 RW 6-2 202 Edmonton, Alberta 23 4/11/1983
Khabibulin, Nikolai 39 G 6-1 208 Sverdlovsk, RUS 33 1/13/1973
Koci, David 48 D 6-6 228 Prague, CZE 25 5/12/1981
Kukkonen, Lasse 6 D 6-1 187 Oulu, FIN 24 9/18/1981
Lalime, Patrick 40 G 6-3 192 St. Bonaventure, PQ 32 7/7/1974
Lapointe, Martin 22 RW 5-11 218 Ville St-Pierre, QC 32 9/12/1973
Lawson, Tom 60 G 6-5 188 Whitby, ONT 26 9/15/1979
Low, Reed 34 RW 6-4 227 Moose Jaw, SK 30 6/21/1976
MacDonald, Craig 27 C 6-1 195 Antigonish, N.S. 29 4/7/1977
Maunu, Mitch 57 D 6-1 222 Thunder Bay, ON 20 7/30/1986
Munn, Steve 73 D 6-2 215 North Battleford, SK 28 6/15/1978
Nordqvist, Jonas * 32 C 6-3 202 Leksand, SWE 24 4/26/1982
Richmond, Danny 44 D 6-0 192 Chicago, IL 22 8/1/1984
Ruutu, Tuomo 15 LW 6-2 200 Vantaa, FIN 23 2/16/1983
Salmelainen, Tony * 8 RW 5-9 185 Espoo, FIN 25 8/8/1981
Seabrook, Brent 7 D 6-3 217 Richmond, BC 21 4/20/1985
Sharp, Patrick 10 C 6-0 197 Thunder Bay, ON 24 12/27/1981
Shutron, Ben 62 D 5-11 192 Ottawa, ON 18 6/14/1988
Siklenka, Mike 56 RW 6-5 225 Meadow Lake, SK 26 12/18/1979
Smolinski, Bryan 11 C/LW 6-1 208 Toledo, OH 34 12/27/1971
St. Pierre, Martin 47 C 5-9 185 Embrun, ON 23 8/11/1983
Vandermeer, Jim 23 D 6-1 208 Caroline, AB 26 2/21/1980
Vrbata, Radim 16 RW 6-1 190 Mlada Boleslav, CZE 25 6/13/1981
Wisniewski, James 43 D 5-11 207 Canton, MI 22 2/21/1984

The Blackhawks on the Blogosphere

Currently, this blog is the only regularly updated Hawks related blog on the Internet. Hopefully, that will change soon since this blog is simply not enough when it comes to covering a legendary club such as the Blackhawks that receives but little press coverage (at least in comparison to the Bears) and too much of that coverage is inaccurate.

Fire Dale Tallon

One thing that should be clear about the forthcoming 2006-2007 NHL season is that the Chicago Blackhawks for the 9th time in the past 10 years will miss the playoffs. This is because of manifest incompetence at the top. Dale Tallon was hired at GM to provide a breath of fresh air at the top and he has failed to make the grade.

If there is to be any hope for the Hawks in the long term, then Dale Tallon must be fired and new blood brought in.

Tim Sassone

It is the lot of the fans of the Chicago Blackhawks that the reporters who are assigned to cover their favorite team are often clueless hacks. One of the worst of these hacks is Tim Sassone of the Daily Herald. Sassone often gets his facts wrong even when they are right in front of him in the form of the box score.

If only the media would take the Hawks seriously enough to assign good reporters to the pro hockey beat..................However, that would mean having Hawks mgmt get serious about winning which is something that is most unlikely in the short run at least.