Are the Blackhawks now rulers of the Central?
THE WATERCOOLER
QUESTION: The Blackhawks acted quickly and agressively when NHL free agency opened Wednesday, most notably inking Marian Hossa to a 12-year, $64 million deal. This comes on the heels of signing top free agent defenseman Brian Campbell last year. Already stacked with players like Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp, have the Blackhawks now supplanted the Red Wings as the team to beat in the Central division?
JEREMY RUTHERFORD
Chicago began that process even before the Marian Hossa signing. The Blackhawks were 2-2-2 against the Red Wings during the 2009-10 regular season, and even though the Wings beat the Hawks 4-games-to-1 in the Western Conference finals, two of Chicago’s losses came in overtime. Now Hossa and his 40 goals are moving to Chicago, and he’s bringing with him Tomas Kopecky, a nice young player. The Red Wings also are losing Mikael Samuelsson, who scored 19 goals last season
Chicago lost forward Martin Havlat, a big loss, and goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, who had a terrific season, in free agency; but if Hossa can play as well as he has, he should top the numbers of the injury-prone Havlat. And goaltender Cristobal Huet should benefit from being the definite No. 1 netminder in Chicago. If Huet can match what the aging Khabibulin did last year, the Blackhawks should be the team to beat in the Central Division next year.
TOM TIMMERMANN
Well, the last two seasons, Marian Hossa has been a good indicator of who will come in second place. I think it’s too soon to say the Hawks have passed the Wings. The Hawks have a lot of parts, but it remains to be seen if they all fit together. And as Sidney Crosby can tell you, there’s a lot of pressure that comes from the high expectations put on young superstars. I do think that Chicago is clearly the No. 2 team in the West, which makes the Central Division that much tougher for the Blues since they’ll have to play two very, very good teams a lot. Hossa hasn’t shown himself to be a savior the past two seasons — though this year the gap between the Wings and Penguins was pretty small — so I don’t know if he gets the Hawks over the Red Wings hump.
KEVIN WHEELER (Host of “Sports Open Line” on KMOX)
Not a chance. Detroit has won the division 8 straight years and losing Hossa isn’t going to change that much with the depth of talent they still have on that roster.
Besides, Hossa (40 goals, 31 assists, 71 points) is merely replacing Chicago’s 2008-2009 leading scorer Martin Havlat (29 goals, 48 assists, 77 points), who left for Minnesota in free agency. Hossa had 11 more goals than Havlat but had fewer points, though it should be pointed out that Hossa played in 7 fewer games than Havlat.
Oh and the Hawks lost goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, the guy that carried the load late in the season and in the playoffs. A team led by Cristobal Huet doesn’t exactly inspire me. The Blackhawks and Blues are getting closer to Detroit’s level but there is still ground to make up.
ANDY STRICKLAND (Hockeybuzz.com, KFNS)
In my opinion, the Chicago Blackhawks won’t supplant Detroit until they start beating the Wings in seven-game series, winning Western Conference Championships and, ultimately, the Stanley Cup. Last time I checked they have yet to do any of the three.
Obviously they have made some considerable strides over the past few seasons, they’ve spent money in free agency and have collected some impressive names, but with that being said, Detroit isn’t going anywhere in the short-term. Last time I checked Detroit just went to the seventh game of the Stanley Cup finals and are bringing back a loaded roster once again.
Chicago better find a goaltender or it really won’t matter who they have on their roster. Anybody believe Cristobal Huet is the answer in net? Martin Havlat was their best player in Chicago for much of the second half of the season and they replaced him with Hossa, who will receive nearly all of his salary in the first eight seasons of his 12-year deal. Chicago still has some important players to sign this season and moving into next year, and oh, by the way, the cap is expected to go down after this coming season.
I don’t get caught up in hype created by monster free agent signings, but I do recognize they are very, very talented and have a great coach. We have seen plenty of teams make a splash in free agency only to fizzle. Ask the Rangers or Philadelphia where that has gotten them?
Hawks ownership is out of control. What are they doing? What is the rush? They’ve created a salary cap nightmare for themselves, which means some of that young talent they got is eventually going to bolt town. And that’s what got them to the final 4 last year, their young talent, not Hossa, or any of these other free agents they just signed. Hossa, just played the biggest series of his life, pride on the line and all, he and scores zero goals in a 7 game Cup Final. If Chicago wants him, then fine, they can have him. And Huet as the #1 goaltender? Does anyone remember game 4 against the Wings and how Huet just choked away the series? So now they got Hossa, big loser, Huet is #1, they sign more free agents, all of a sudden the emphasis is to win now, sounds like a good recipe for self destruction. As long as Zetterburg, Daytsuk, Franzen, Flippula, and Lidstrom are there anchoring that team, Detroit is still the class of not just the Central Division, but the entire NHL. Not only do they have the players, but they have a smart organization as well, you have to have both.