EHM The Blue Line

Chicago Breaking Sports

Latest from GM Kuula before the playoff series against the Blues

April 15, 2030 12:15 PM

By Barclay Donaldson

The regular season is over and Blackhawks ended up 8th in their Conference. That position will give them the worst possible opponent on the first round of the playoffs - St. Louis Blues - who are widely considered as the undisputable favorites to win the Cup this year. General Manager Mart ’D.C.’ Kuula was kind enough to give us a little interview and surprisingly enough he didn’t seem to be utterly worried about playing against Blues.

B.D.: How is the team preparing to the upcoming series against Blues? I guess there won’t be any intensive training in the schedule?

M.K.: You’re right. There is only some special teams training the team is going through now. And of course there is some ice time reserved to those who wan’t that. It’s unbelievable to see that after 82 regular season games and all the training during the winter there still are so many guys who want to go and take a drill or two.
And other than that we have talked a lot. I've presented some thoughts and methods to our players that may be like a new approach to them. We’ve watched some videos, not from Blues games but ours. At this point there’s no sense examinating opponent’s game, it’s much more important to know what we are doing on the ice and why.

B.D.: I’ve heard some table talks about some Hawks players still being somewhat unhappy with your leading methods. It has been said that you’re ”unpredictable and vague”. Do you recognize these attributes?

M.K.: I don’t even know what you mean by vague! I believe the biggest reason to the unhappiness of players must be derived from the fact I’m not speaking English as my native. In pressurized and hasty situations I may always not express myself in a best way, that’s why I try to lead mostly by deeds.

B.D.: Back to the Blues. Most of your fellow GMs in DMA seem to believe you have no chance against the winners of this year’s President’s Trophy. How do you think you can get your players believe another way?

M.K.: I quoted Napoleon Hill to them just today: ”Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat.” That is something to think about. I can understand it in many ways, for example that it means that the misfortune means facing Blues but we can turn it all around by shaking them a little. Or I can think that even if we lose against Blues, it is only a temporary defeat on the way to winning in coming years.
I also told them yesterday that we have fought a hard battle through the season and that there were good times and there were some struggles too, but we managed to claim a spot in playoffs anyway. From now on the fun part begins. There’s nothing to lose or to be afraid of anymore. Only way we can lose is by not even trying to win. No-one expects or demands for us anything so by playing good games and giving our all out there we will win. Not necessarily the games, but we'll win.

B.D.: A couple of short ones before you leave. Who do you think will be able to step up and lead Hawks to win games? And how about starting goalie, will it be Morin or Egger? And finally, who is the most dangerous Blues player to watch over?

M.K.: I'm not putting that kind of pressure on any of our players. We can win only as a team, they all need to help each other out shift after shift. Can't say anything about our starter either, as they are quite equal at the moment. And more than the first two shorties, this third one is a question I will not name any names at all. We would be digging our own grave if we'd start watching over some specific players of the Blues. They are the strongest team with best depth in the league, there is no way they could be defeated by watching them over. We need to focus on our own game. That's the only way we can win, and I don't mean the games, as I said earlier.
Now I got a meeting with Dani Isakov's agent, so I'll have to get going.

B.D.: Is there finally happening some progress with resigning Isakov?

M.K.: I have pretty good feeling about the meeting, but can't really promise anything yet. You will be sent an bulletin about it as soon as there's something to tell.

There's obviously nothing to do but wait for the series against the Blues now. And somehow Mr. Kuula managed to convince me too with his behaviour. I think we will see Hawks winning this postseason. If not the games, then in some other way. But we will see them win.

Aug 1st, 2031

Chicago Blackhawks Board of Directors invited me recently to long and thorough discussions as they wanted to know what if any are my long term plans considering the team and above all, what is the level of my commitment now.

I have to admit that I have been just barely doing my job for last few months and there is no excuse to it. I've been living through hard times lately but no way I'm leaving the league or the team. I missed the draft and didn't even manage to swap all the picks we had so there seems to be some prospects with no future in the system now because of that. Fortunately we also have so many decent prospects coming in next years we are not in any kind of trouble what comes to talent in the system.
I was (and still am) also trying to move Sam Miller and Jake Lawson. Right now it seems I blew that one too, as I haven't been able to carry through the deals Vic kindly pre-negotiated for me. I am ashamed of that, but even if I couldn't finalize the trades I am confident Hawks are going to be a competitive team next season also – it just means that I need to tweak the tactics more when I didn't tweak the roster.

What comes to the team and how it looks like now, there were just some minor changes in it. Only player from the opening line-up who left the team was 37-year old Josef Marak. Craig Jelitto left too but signed then a 3-year deal with us as an UFA. So more than the players who left (Marak, Elio Milette, Bart Fleck, Gardiner Donovan, Aleksandr Shepelev and Jed Sweeney) the roster changed because of the prospects who signed deals and joined the team.

Here are the new faces:
LW Lou Cohen, 20
This well determined youngster is described as a poor man's Jim Sjögren with bigger frame and he is projected to be a core player in Hawks some day. His last season in QMJHL was spectacular as he scored 63 goals and 54 assists in his 64 games in regular season. He will definitely see some ice time in Hawks but he also won't be pushed too hard yet.
C Marc-Antoine Delisle, 19
He is small but his physical play is recognized, he isn't too fast but he is good off the puck and he is already ranked as 4th in Hawks depth chart. There are some great expectations on Delisle, but we need to be patient with him.
LD Yann Godbout, 20
He is an offensive defenseman with great pokecheck, but he isn't too strong and physical. He may see some time on our 3rd or 4th line in future, but not this season, I guess.
C/LW Jerry Leach, 21
Leach is described as a flashy center with some 2nd line potential. His low determination is his biggest enemy as he does have enough talent to make it in the big team if he just wants it badly enough. He will definitely be given a shot in coming season. Hopely he will take his chances.
LW Joseph Keller, 18
Drafted on 3rd round in last year's draft Keller will be youngest of the prospects coming in this off-season. He is overly physical and is projected to be a two-way forward on 2nd line some day. If he can make it, I'll be more than okay with it.

There are also names like C Wade Vaughan, LD Yan Robitaille, RW/RD Trenton Stewart and RW/LW Andy Watt coming in who haven't played any or just a game or two in Hawks this far. So it seems there will be some great competing of the opening line-up playing spots next season.

We are eagerly waiting for the training camp to see the next prospects who are coming in. And it also will be interesting time to tweak the team tactics in pre-season to something more suitable to the current roster.

Review:
It's three years now that Hawks have been under GM Mart 'Dead Clown' Kuula's tenure. The former GM, retired Jeff Vanderloo lead the team to Cup success using especially his amazing ability to build powerhouse teams. D.C. Kuula's way of thinking about the game has been very different from the beginning, and there has been seen many deals where Hawks traded away talented young players and acquired some bigger, nastier and stronger players with not-so-soft-hands in return. Kuula turned former scoring machine to a defense-first team quickly but quite successively – Hawks have made it to the playoffs every year under D.C. Kuula's management. The biggest success this far came in 2029 playoffs, where Blackhawks went all the way to the Stanley Cup finals, where they lost the series to Bruins in 5 games.

Coming to the start of season 2031-32 Hawks have been trying to deal away their franchise center, 26 year old Jake Lawson but with no success this far. It has been said that the biggest reason why there hasn't been a deal done yet is because of some mediocre attributes of Lawson, such as his speed. GM Kuula is asking picks only for his players and that may also be hindering some GMs from contacting Hawks front office. If the trade of Lawson from Hawks would ever take place it sure will be interesting to see the reactions of the board of directors of Hawks as they are known to respect Lawson highly and are considering him as maybe the most valuable player in their roster.

Trading away players like Lawson in their prime and letting veterans like Josef Marak walk will make the team younger but also a lot more inexperienced especially if Hawks are not going to acquire any new players in their roster. After moving Lawson their center core would consist of Kenndal Vickers (21 years), Jouko Heikkinen (22 yrs), Andrew Slater (29 yrs) and Marc-Andre Delisle (20 yrs) and when their left wingers are even younger it seems pretty obvious that the team really needs some more experience to be able to win games under pressure. It is always possible though that GM Kuula has decided to go their youth first to get them all the experience available this year.

Team strengths:
1) Team's core has changed only a little in last years – this means the players know each other well and their game has merged together for long time. Team has also adopted GM Kuula's defensively oriented style of play well and they are really hard to score against.
2) Great and talented 1st line, especially it's Russian wingers Isakov and Kostyukhin but also Lawson and left defender Sam Miller.

Team weaknesses:
1) Team lacks talent especially in defence. Hawks are trying to cope with only two talented defenders and a bunch of strong depth dmen. It remains to be seen though what will be the contribution of 20 year old rookie defenceman Yan Robitaille who is considered as team's #3 dman already.
2) There is sometimes something too careful in Hawks style of play, they should play more offensively when needed and might have use for better tacticians to their staff.
3) Inexperience.

Roster players:

Goalies

Stephane Morin (27) – well balanced goalie, knows always where to be, skilled with his stick as well as with his glove. Has some problems in motivating himself every now and then.

Matthias Egger (29) – huge keeper from Swittzerland with great recovery, positions well and knows how to use his blocker. Determined, hard-working player, great back-up goalie.

Defensemen

Sam Miller (26) – franchise player born only a few hours away from Chicago, has developed to a true defence leader of Blackhawks. Has changed his style of play from offensive to a two-way dman during last years.

Dmitry Fedorov (31) – corner stone of Hawks defence, plays as well on PP as on SH lines. Reliable player with grit and toughness too, when needed.

Yan Robitaille (20) – Canadian, big and strong youngster from Sorel, Quebec with great speed. Needs to focus on his positioning and some physical atts though.

Samu Tauriainen (28) – hard-working defenceman born in Mikkeli, Finland (so called Headquarters Town), checks anyone he sees. Has some flaws like his poor strength that stops him ever becoming more than a depth defenceman.

Markku Mälkiä (23) – decent youngster, has lot's of work to do to claim a regular spot in an NHL team's lineup though. Now starting season will be crucial for his career.

Ladislav Cervenka (28) – huge defender (6'6”, 231 lbs) with good movement, cleans out the ice in front of Hawks net effectively. Values his weight of gold (well, maybe silver though...) in Hawks roster.

Craig Jelitto (28) – UFA catch, panned out better than anyone ever imagined. Signed a new, three year deal last summer, will be watched out closely this season if he can claim Hawks best producing dman's spot third time in a row.

Forwards

Danil Isakov (21) – tall winger from St.Petersburg, Russia, great talent. Would he be faster on skates he would certainly be a superstar one day but even with his speed he'd be a key player in any team for years to come.

Andrew Valliere (27) – dangerous two-way winger, good at scoring goals but at his best when in defensive duties. Not overly physical, but well determined and hard working.

Jonas Lundin (21) – big youngster, overly aggressive, hits with deadly force and never gives up. Playing his second season in Hawks and seems to fit in their playing style just fine.

Lou Cohen (21) – this American rookie winger born in Shelburne, Vermont has started his career in DMHNL with great morale. Getting to play in the same line with players like Oleg Kostyukhin should help him greatly in his development.

Jake Lawson (26) – franchise forward just getting in his prime. Great at making games, superb in passing and puckhandling. This very ambitious player is playing his 9th season in DMHNL and Hawks.

Kenndal Vickers (21) – this young man is ready to claim Blackhawks first line center spot now. He has all it takes to become a true franchise center for Blackhawks in near future.

Jouko Heikkinen (23) – in his age he is already wearing the ”C” in his shirt. Has no flaws, but is probably more like a defensive and penalty killing player than a goal scoring one. Fortunately there's always a spot for a player like that in GM Kuula's teams.

Marc-Antoine Delisle (20) – Hawks 1st round draft pick from 2030 is playing his rookie season in DMHNL. He still has some difficulties with the game speed, but is improving it all the time.

Andrew Slater (29) – reliable defensive center, positions himself well on ice, determined and hard working. Important depth player for Hawks.

Oleg Kostyukhin (24) – natural goal scorer, brightest star of Blackhawks. He has all it takes and more and what's more important, he is willing to give his all for a team playing with such defensive tactics like Hawks, where he will not be able to compete for personal trophies like Art Ross or Maurice Richard Trophies.

Peter Janco (27) – joined the team nearly by accident some two seasons ago but has claimed the 2nd line right winger spot sovereignly. Extremely talented especially with his stick.
Jaromir Straka (21) – youngster from Prague, Czech Republic, has both flaws and strengths – he is great with his stick but not so well determined. He should also get more aggressive and daring. It is really interesting what will come out of him one day. Hasn't yet been able to claim his spot in Hawks roster despite of many attempts.

Brant Richards (29) – strong and aggressive Canadian power forward, hits well and works tirelessly. Has good enough technical attributes to be able to score a goal once in a while, but is most valuable when making opponents life a misery.

Vladimir Spelda (26) – defensive winger with some great mental attributes. Little undervalued by some members of the staff. Does what he is hired for so he seems to be well worth his salary though.

It is certainly time to look at some statistics of the game while the regular season is about to end. There are some things that really gives a boost of confidence to us although there are some things that need quick improvement too.

Team stats, pros:
- Hawks are leading the shots on goal against statistics with 1984 shots, while next ones, Kings and Blues are having 2010 and 2060 shots on goal against.
- Hawks are also leading the league in shorthanded goals (13) and sharing the lead with Pengs and Bruins in shutouts (6).
- It is nice to notice that Hawks fans are really supporting their team as the average attendance is second highest in Chicago (20403) after the Habs (20644).
- It also is a positive thing that Hawks are leading the league in powerplay opportunities (382) but while we are only 6th in powerplay goals (82) there is something to improve too, especially when the leading Blues have scored 93 powerplay goals.
- There is only one shutout against the Hawks.
- It is not so satisfying to notice that Hawks are leading also in times shorthanded with 418 times. Lucky enough the penalty killing is good enough to keep us in TOP 5 of the league in penalty killing percentage (84.4%). There is still a lot to fix in our powerplay goals against stats, the opponents have stricken 65 PP goals against us while the league leading Pengs have allowed only 42 goals while shorthanded.

Team stats, cons:
- Hawks save percentage has dropped to an alarmingly low level being only 89.52%. With that we are on the 12th position in the league. That is not acceptable, especially when the whole team takes part in the defense.
- Hawks shooting percentage should get higher, now it is only 11.25 % and we are positioned as 11th in the league with it. League leading Maple Leafs are having the percentage of 14.24. Combined to the fact that Hawks are not amongst the highest shooting teams in the league we are lacking some goals this way.
- Although I admit that I chose more rough and hard-hitting way to play the game this season, there can be seen some unruliness in the total amount of penalty minutes (1199). Hawks are leading the league in this category followed by Thrashers (1088) and Canucks (1020).

Player stats, pros:
- Definitely the first thing to mention and the biggest surprise is Lou Cohen sharing the lead of game winning goals (11) with Bruins Zhuravlev and Kings Chudy. Cohen has been shocking the whole league with his game readiness this season.
- Most of the other actual pros are concerning Oleg Kostyukhin. He is 7th in scoring goals (47), 11th in points (96), 6th in shots on goal (323), 8th in average rating (7.88), 5th in first stars and this all with average time on ice of only a bit over 20 minutes (20.44) with which he doesn't rank in the TOP 50 of forwards in the league.
- Daniil Isakov is 8th in league in shooting percentage (28.6 %) and can actually be held as 2nd best in the category if the ones who have shot 20 shots or less are dropped off the list.
- Jouko Heikkinen is 2nd in scoring shorthanded goals (4) after Rangers Lhotsky (5). Bolts Clark and Sens Solovev are sharing the 2nd spot with Heikkinen.
- Andrew Slater is on the shared 3rd position in shorthanded assists with 3 helpers, Sabres Richardson is leading this one with his 6 assists.
- Lou Cohen is pretty much claiming the spot of #2 rookie skater of the year after Maple Leafs Akins who is superior in most of the categories. It is also nice to see that Yan Robitaille is holding 10th spot in assists (21).

Cohen had indeed been a nice surprise and when you factor in the number of shorthanded goals you've scored I'd say your PK is the top unit in the league! Ridiculous amount of shorties!!! Gonna be a very tough team to play against in the playoffs!

It really seems it'll be one really tight matchup if the stats are to believe. Special teams are usually taking bigger role in playoffs and that gives us hope, especially if we can cut down the penalties given to us and I believe we can.

There is a word out there that Hawks are missing experience and leaders this post-season. I say that is total bull, we have an experienced roster and what's more important, because of so few changes in it the lines have gelled together really well. And what comes to the leadership, our C Jouko Heikkinen has taken a long step forward this season due not only to the increased experience level but also due to the more responsibility given to him during the season and especially after moving Jake Lawson. All that is paying off immediately.

I'll have to admit I'm not totally satisfied to the core of our team as it is now and I see clearly where to focus on in the off-season, but anyhow I'm positive that we are ready for this matchup and the fans are going to see some great hockey down here in The Windy City and also in Nashville too. Be there!

By Barclay Donaldson

As brought up in the game preview in Kuula's Korner recently, the matchup between the Blackhawks and the Predators was going to be a close one and it was pretty obvious that the special teams were in key position. Hawks failed both in their special teams play and in avoiding penalties. Their biggest star Oleg Kostyukhin got two 10-minute misconduct penalties in the four-game series and the winning goal of the game #4 which ended the series to a sweep was made while Hawks were playing shorthanded. The penalized player was their captain Jouko Heikkinen who got 5 minutes for slashing and a game misconduct. Game time was 54:22 at that moment and the game was tied when he snapped and took the penalty.

What was even more unexpected and serious was that Hawks kept loosing faceoffs throughout the series so obviously they were hurting badly because of dealing Lawson away. Preds also outshot Hawks and left them on the bottom of the team stats of shoots against in playoffs - the same statistics which Hawks were dominating in the regular season.

"Predators succeeded superbly in their tactics when we sucked in ours" said disappointed Head Coach Dustin Brown in the morning right after their loss. GM Mart 'D.C.' Kuula admitted that better team won and sent congratulations to Nashville: ”We weren't able to put up a good fight this time but that doesn't take anything away from their win. I wish them all the best for the next round, now they need to show what they really can do on the ice.”
While asked about their off-season plans and possible changes in the team GM Kuula admitted that there is a lot of work to do and that there are some changes coming too: ”No-one can be 100% sure about his job in the business today and that counts all of us in Hawks too. I can't go to details yet but there is going to be some interesting names in our off-season trading block which is going to be out there soon. Especially the GM's looking for improvement in their goaltending or the ones interested in some quality goal scoring talent should be awake. And what comes to our staff, we could definitely use some fresh ideas in our coaching staff too. But the competition is tough and there are not so many good staff members available these days. So it is all pretty much open at the moment and we have a mass of job to do. Thank you for your attention!”
I guess Chicago Blackhawks fans start to wait for that trading block eagerly too, as it sounded like there's going to be some big names on it. GM Kuula is known of his radical moves and after his short interview I'm sure there is not a single member of Blackhawks who thinks that the well earned semester season started when the games ended.

After another playoff failure there was a big sweep in Blackhawks this offseason. First to go was Hawks Canadian AGM Massimo Joseph in mid June. Joseph, who is now working as an Assistant Coach of ECHL team Idaho Steelheads had some problems with accepting my way of looking at the team and how to build it. We lived with it for some time but when it started to disturb our co-operation he was better off.

Because the door was open I decided to sack our Head Coach too. Former DMHNL star player and three time Stanley Cup winner, American Dustin Brown worked with us for nearly four years but it started to look obvious that we needed a new approach there as it was clear that the kind of player material I was acquiring for us required another style of coaching.

After short discussions I hired 44 year old Russian Pavel Doronin from Tyumen as our new Assistant General Manager. He has played few seasons in DMHNL and has even a short history in Blackhawks as a player too (it happened in offseason 2025 and lasted only for a few weeks). Pavel was happy to join our staff and he shares my thoughts of our roster so I’m looking forward to many years of successful work together with him in Hawks.

Finding a new Head Coach took a little longer. We had some long and thorough negotiations with some interesting names and finally I managed to sign 53 year old Russian Vitali Atyushov from Novosibirsk as our new Head Coach. His player career took place in Russian Elite League and it lasted for over a decade. After that he has been working as an Assistant GM in Novocheboksarsk and as an Assistant Coach in DM Washington Capitals for over six years before his latest job as an Assistant Coach in Novosibirsk where he had been working from 2027. His biggest assets are coaching defensemen and his tactical knowledge but he is familiar with all areas of coaching so I believe he will truly help our players to reach a new level of playing. I am really looking forward to see how the season 2032-33 goes with the new lead.

We also signed 42 year old American Timothy Atkinson from AHL Milwaukee Admirals as our third Trainer and are also looking for one more scout to do the Youth Teams scouting.

Welcome to all,

General Manager
Mart ’D.C.’ Kuula,
DMHNL A Chicago Blackhawks

- The trading of Linus Lindfors from NY Islanders appears to be a successive move for both teams. As Daniil Isakov is enjoying his playing in Long Island, Lindfors was nominated for the Offensive Player of the Month in October. He is leading the team stats in points and he also rapidly claimed a position as a top 3 most important players of Blackhawks.

- The season has started in great way for Hawks. Young core is playing well and surprisingly consistently too. RD Colin Chartrand, LD Yan Robitaille, C Joey Matuszewski and RW Jeremy Crowder (and maybe even young LW Francois Laliberte) are about to claim their spots in the regular lineup. Hawks fans have been able to enjoy their team winning as Hawks have won all of their home games this far.

- Pulling a trade has become even more difficult these days. Goalie Stephane Morin has been on the block for ages now and there has been nearly zero interest on him. The only actual offer for him contained a 5 years older backup goalie and a 2nd round pick which wasn't enough for the Hawks board. Last season's Calder Trophy runner up LW Lou Cohen hasn't got any interest on him, not to mention the other players on the block. The worst thing is though the fact that there are too many GM's in the league at the moment who doesn't even bother to answer to the messages sent to them via TBL private messaging or MSN, says GM Mart 'D.C.' Kuula.

- Hawks are leading the league in shorthanded goals stats (again). In the latest game against Columbus C Andrew Slater scored the sweetest one this far while he netted the game winning goal on overtime after a terrible give away from Blue Jackets defence in their own end. The new Head Coach's touch in the team's playing starts to show up too, as the special teams playing has improved hugely after the first games of the season.

- Negotiations of resigning key players Sam Miller, Linus Lindfors, Dmitry Fedorov and some young hot prospects like M-A Delisle are going on in good spirit.

- Blackhawks traded away their starting goaltender Stephane Morin and key center prospect M-A Delisle to New Jersey Devils for G Turner Quinn and 2033 2nd round draft pick (DAL). It's a known fact that Morin has been unhappy lately, probably there has been some issues between him and GM M. 'D.C.' Kuula. Therefore also the negotiations of a new contract have been frozen for some time. Delisle has been struggling while playing in Hawks and there has been a word out that he is for sale. Devils GM Midas seemed to like Delisle's potential and he was willing to take a chance with Morin too. Hawks team and fans are sorry to see two such great players to go but they are also looking forward for Quinn, who is supposed to claim the starting goalie's spot left behind from Morin.

- Linus Lindfors is still continuing his great games in Hawks. Just recently he finished a hat trick in a game against Washington Capitals. It was his first while playing in Hawks. Lindfors leads the Hawks both in points and goals scored, after 33 games he has gathered 43 points posting 22 goals and giving 21 helpers. Oleg Kostyukhin has 20G + 22A and Kenndal Vickers has 8G + 24A. LD Sam Miller leads the team in assists having 4G+25A.

- Hawks have been playing far too inconsistently lately. Team has lost some games they definitely should have won, in some games their defensive playing system has failed too and there has been some goal scoring races. Moving Morin will not resolve all the problems although it can't hurt much to get rid of an unhappy goaltender. It is expected that GM Kuula is trying to pull a trade or two more before the trade deadline, names involved should be some of these: LD Samu Tauriainen, LW Andrew Valliere, RW Peter Janco, RW Jaromir Straka. Team needs some depth in center and in left wing, but knowing their defense-first-philosophy it wouldn't be too surprising if they'd try to strengthen their defense too.

- Hawks farm team Norfolk Admirals have been playing well this season. They are leading their division and Hawks players have been important ones in their success. C Wade Vaughan, RW Vladimir Spelda, RW Gennadi Taranov, LW Jessy Vandermeer and RD Yannick Albert are the TOP 5 in points after 28 games. Goalie prospect Tuomas Kivekäs has been playing well too, his saving percent is .922 and his GAA is 2.45 in 21 games played.

- Blackhawks signed a multi-year contract with their newly acquired goalie Turner Quinn. The five year contract is worth 16 million dollars and it consists both player and team option years.

- Blackhawks offered a three year (plus options) deal to their franchise defenseman Sam Miller too. Miller and his agent ended up signing a contract only for a year plus player and team options though.

- Earlier in January Blachawks resigned LW Lou Cohen, his contract length is 3 years plus PO/TO and it is worth 3 million dollars.

- Negotiations of a contract extension with Linus Lindfors are still going on.

- The honeymoon between G Quinn and Blackhawks defense is over. After a huge start with the team (21 goals allowed in the first ten games in Hawks, 7 wins and two losses in them) team has now allowed a tad more goals in their last games. There isn't still any lack of confidence to be seen but rather it is a result of some tweaking in the tactics (and facing red hot Kings team twice in last five games...).

- Hawks front office is trying to pull a deal or two still before the trade deadline. Players on the block are hard hitting LD Samu Tauriainen, who has ended up as the 7th dman in Blackhawks while young Colin Chartrand has claimed a spot in the lineup permanently; 28 year old LW Andrew Valliere, whose time on ice has also been reduced to only few minutes per game because of the youngsters like Lou Cohen and Jonas Lundin; 2nd line RW Peter Janco, a proven goal scorer with a decent contract OR young RW Jaromir Straka, one of them needs to go in order to free a spot for the one who is staying. It is also said that strong and physical 3rd line RW Brant Richards may be leaving team due to personal reasons, he could be inquired too. In return Blackhawks are looking for an older and experienced rental player, preferably LW or C/LW – and picks.

Team leaders:

Goals[table][tr][td]Lindfors[/td]
[td]31[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Kostyukhin[/td]
[td]29[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Janco[/td]
[td]22[/td][/tr][/table]
Assists[table][tr][td]Miller[/td][td]33[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Kostyukhin[/td]
[td]33[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Vickers[/td]
[td]31[/td][/tr][/table]
Points[table][tr][td]Lindfors[/td]
[td]62[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Kostyukhin[/td]
[td]62[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Vickers[/td]
[td]43[/td][/tr][/table]
PIM[table][tr][td]Richards[/td]
[td]112[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Vickers[/td]
[td]76[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Cohen[/td]
[td]61[/td][/tr][/table]
Average time on ice[table][tr][td]Fedorov[/td]
[td]24:48[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Miller[/td]
[td]23:52[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Kostyukhin[/td]
[td]20:17[/td][/tr][/table]
First stars[table][tr][td]Kostyukhin[/td]
[td]7[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Lindfors[/td]
[td]6[/td][/tr][tr][td]Heikkinen[/td]
[td]4[/td][/tr][/table]

- Quote from the Daily Herald: ”Another sadly quiet trade deadline in Chicago. GM Mart 'Dead Clown' Kuula was unable to pull any trades in order to help team's playoff run once again. Only one trade during the entire season makes the whole organization look stagnated and inefficient. No matter how good the rapport GM Kuula has with the fans this makes him look bad.”

- Norfolk Admirals is playing a great season in AHL. Team is currently 3rd in the league with winning percentage of 0.729 after 59 games. Manitoba Moose is leading the league and has already claimed a spot in playoffs, Chicago Wolves is the first runner up.

- There are several players currently in Norfolk with an ending contract. Players like goalie Paxton Caputi (24), defensemen Graham Connor (25), Todd Devereaux (25), Ferdinand Fournier (27) and Markku Mälkiä (24), centers Jerry Leach (22), Krister Siitonen (25) and Gleb Fokin (26) and wingers Joseph Keller (20), Jessy Vandermeer (22), Gennadi Taranov (29) and Vladimir Spelda (27) are still without contract and there are rumors that only 5-6 contracts will be renewed. It is also said that no-one aged 25 or over is safe. 29 year old power forward and projected 4th line talent RW Gennadi Taranov is 4th in scoring points in the AHL at the moment, we shall see if these kinds of shape ups will make any difference when the contract negotiations start.

- Rookie notes: RW Jeremy Crowder is pleasing the Hawks coaching staff with his game readiness. With his limited ice time (10:02 ATOI) he has netted three game winning goals and four first goals this far. Crowder is proving to be very valuable scorer while his breakthrough season should yet to be come. RD Colin Chartrand's +/- rate of +20 is remarkable, he is on 5th place in team stats with it. C Joey Matuszewski's shooting percentage of 13.8 with which he is holding 5th spot in team stats is delighting the Blackhawks staff.

- While 17 games left of the regular season Blackhawks is sitting pretty tight on the 6th place in the Western Conference. Remaining games in the schedule aren't going to be easy ones, all except one are against conference rivals and in five of the games Hawks is facing one of the five teams who are fighting for the last two spots in the playoffs and four games will be against teams placed higher in the conference. Odd enough there will be no games against the Blues which is the only team that has ensured playoff spot already - actually they did it on trade deadline day which is rather early.

Salary cap issues in Chicago?

After quite a disappointing season including another early playoff exit Hawks headed to the off-season 2033 as a seller. There were several great players on the trading block, some of them as a result of poor contract negotiations by GM M.Kuula where for example the recent acquisition of Hawks, flashy left winger Linus Lindfors somehow got his salary raised from 1,3 m per year to 4,4 m per year. Lindfors only took 1-year deal with player option so his raise was rather hefty considering that. Few other top 2 line players got their salaries raised too so GM Kuula was left with no choice than put some of them on the block.
Unfortunately there were more than a few other teams trying to sell almost all their roster at the same time so the interest was (and has been) saddeningly low. But something happened though.

Bye bye Kenndal

Some time after Carolina Hurricanes claimed Stanley Cup their GM Bear192 contacted the Hawks front office and made an offer one couldn't refuse of – and no, there were no horse heads involved. He wanted Hawks young stud center Kenndal Vickers who was put on the block to see what kind of interest he would raise if any. Canes offer was another young star-to-be center, Russian Ilya Orlov and two 1st round picks for 2034 draft. GM Kuula who is known about his slow motion trade negotiations didn't hesitate this time. It took some twelve minutes to accomplish the trade. Later when asked about his atypical speed Kuula told that ”it was clear that there had been some heavy celebrating after winning the Cup and I was afraid Bill could sober up and back off if I'd linger a bit with this one”.
Afterwards there was a word out there that the reaction of Canes Board had been very fierce after the trade so there were some others too who were thinking that Canes paid a high price for Vickers.

Lindfors leaving Hawks

There is another trade agreed but not yet taken place. LW Linus Lindfors is moving to Atlanta for two young prospects and a mid-round pick. Players coming Hawks way are former Caps 1st round pick two years ago, 19-years old Russian center Vasily Plyuschev and another center, 21-years old Jaromir Dvorak from Czech Republic. He was drafted by Thrashers in 2030 on round 4 (pick #94). In the trade there will be included also Thrashers' 2035 3rd round draft pick.
Plyuschev is big and skilled center with some great abilities, but he lacks speed and his working ethics isn't the best possible. It will be interesting though to see what happens when Hawks' Russian Head Coach Vitali Atyushov takes the charge with him.

Entry Draft '33

Hawks possessed only six picks in this year's draft which was said to have more quality in it than few former ones had. Two of the picks were on the 1st round and another two on the 2nd so there was something to expect from the Draft Day anyway. Here's what happened from Hawks angle of view:

• #19 (rnk 19) RW Regan Jensen, Kitchener (5/28/15)
  This speedy sniper from Lively, Ontario is projected as a key player for Blackhawks and compared to no less than Oleg Kostyukhin. Jensen has no actual flaws but his hockey sense and skating abilities were the ones that pleased Hawks scouts the most. Due to the talented youngsters already in the roster Jensen may have to wait for a year before he gets a contract - although he would be ready to have a try in Hawks at once.

• #23 (22) C Valeri Yakutsenya, Mytischi (12/27/14)
  Russian center with versatile skills pack. His hockey sense could be better but what convinced Hawks staff was his leadership. He can easily be the future team leader if everything goes fine for him. Not getting a contract offer this summer.

• #34 (60) C/RW Rejean Dupuis, St. John's (10/25/14)
  Dupuis is a Canadian power forward, he is said to be a more talented version of Mike Erickson and he is projected as a future core player for Hawks. His stats in QMJHL show he has developed well in recent years and Hawks staff didn't see any reason why that trend wouldn't continue.

• #49 (164) LD/RD Tyler Howe, Peterborough (9/11/15)
  Howe comes from Washington, DC and has some excellent attributes although all in all he has to work hard to become a regular DMA player one day. Howe is projected as more talented version of Florian Meier so it wouldn't be that big surprise though if he'd make it.

• #169 (163) LW Duane Fransoo, Vancouver (5/18/15)
  Power forward from Canada, third line potential. Typical late round pick.

• #199 (NR) LD Bobby Bloodoff, Ridge Meadows (1/9/15)
  Canadian playmaking defenseman with great hockey sense. Lacking technical skills. Projected 5-6 dman but there is only an outside chance he will ever get that far.

Shorties

- AHL's Norfolk Admirals claimed the Calder Cup this year. The succesful playoff run brought some invaluable experience to some of Hawks' youngsters. During the season there were 18 players contracted in Blackhawks playing in Admirals, including such prospects as RW/RD Trenton Stewart (21), RD Yannick Albert (21), LW Jessy Vandermeer (23), LW/RW Lubomir Smid (21), C/LW Jerry Leach (23), G Tuomas Kivekäs (21), RW Jaromir Straka (22), LW Joseph Keller (20) and LD/RD Markku Mälkiä (24). There were some veterans too in the lineup who are not seeing their contracts renewed after the season. Congratulations to all of them for their win!

- Considering the way Blackhawks lost their series to Canucks on the 1st round of playoffs it looks obvious team needs some fundamental tweaking. Hawks wasn't able to keep the lead after they won their first two games in Vancouver and lost four straight losing the whole series 2-4. Hawks lost the games on special teams once again – the PP percentage of 3,0 is something to remember and forget at the same time.

- The Russian twins (AGM Doronin and HC Atyushov) seem to have something to say in Hawks' team building – last two trades have brought in a talented young Russian and in the entry draft there was picked up one too. It will be interesting to see where this kind of trend leads the team and how does it impact to the playing itself.

@ Stars 4-5 s Oct. 5 2033
Hawks started the season in Dallas. The game was even, Hawks tried to upset their hosts with their checking but Stars couldn't be scared that easily. Both teams lead the game and in the end Stars won it all in shootouts.
Game by stats: SOG 33–35; PP 0/5–1/8; Takeaways 1–6; Board Battles Won 36.1%–63.9%
Hawks Game Characters: Ilya Orlov 1G+2A, +4; C.Jelitto 1G+1A; J.Straka 0G+1A, +3
Hawks goal scorers: Jelitto, Korotkov, Kostyukhin, Orlov (Miller and Heikkinen in shootouts, Kostyukhin missed)

Blue Jackets 3-1 Oct. 6 2033
First game in front of home fans was a success. Hawks ruled the game with their balanced defense and scored goals from the scoring sector. Hawks dominated the board battles but in passing there was something left to improve.
Game by stats: SOG 32–25; PP 1/7–1/7; Giveaways 13–8; Hits 10–4
Hawks Game Characters: C.Jelitto 1G+0A; O.Kostyukhin 1G+0A, +1; S.Miller 0G+1A, +2
Hawks goal scorers: Jelitto, Matuszewski, Kostyukhin

Flames 3-2 Oct. 11 2033
Hawks dominated the game in shots, in puck possession and overall. Ineffectiveness in goal scoring was obvious but it is great to see how the team consistency helped them to protect the lead. Chicago Place was not sold out which was a little surprising.
Game by stats: SOG 30–25; PP 0/6–0/5; PIM 20–22; Board Battles Won 58.3%–41.7%
Hawks Game Characters: J.Lundin 1G+0A; T.Staal 1G+0A, +1; R.Jensen 1G+0A, +1
Hawks goal scorers: Staal, Lundin, Jensen

Oilers 4-3 Oct. 13 2033
Another tight game. First round was total rallying from end to end with 5 goals scored together. Second period was a shot down round and in third period each team scored once. Oilers rookie goalie Vladimir Fedorov's DMHNL opening game wasn't too easy for him, his saving percent being .862.
Game by stats: SOG 29–27; PP 2/5–1/5; PIM 20–10; Passes Completed 91.2%–90.6%
Hawks Game Characters: O.Kostyukhin 2G+0A, +1; J.Matuszewski 2G+0A, +1; S.Miller 0G+2A
Hawks goal scorers: Kostyukhin 2, Matuszewski 2

@Canadiens 4-2 Oct. 16 2033
Hawks scored 3 straight goals in 1st period and added their lead to 4-0 in 2nd before Habs got their scoring going. Four goals of the six scored in the game were PP goals. Home team goalie Bill Green didn't have his best day.
Game by stats: SOG 24–34; PP 2/5–2/5; Hits 7–8
Hawks Game Characters: Staal 1G+0A, +1; L.Cohen 0G+2A, +1; T.Quinn SV% 0.941
Hawks goal scorers: Staal, Matuszewski, Richards, Kostyukhin

Predators 1-6 Oct. 18 2033
Nashville is a team performing well. They tore our defense apart fiercely and quickly. Hawks starting goalie Turner Quinn stopped 2 shots and allowed 3 goals – not much to remember for him there. A.Slater picked up an injury in second period while colliding with Nashville player and will be out for about two weeks.
Game by stats: SOG 23–27; Giveaways 8–15; Hits 9–6; Board Battles Won 37.6%–62.4%
Hawks Game Characters: O.Kostyukhin 1G+0A; J.Keller 0G+1A, +1
Hawks goal scorer: Kostyukhin

Sabres 4-3 Oct. 20 2033
Ugly loss to Preds last game didn't upset Hawks too badly. This match was alike the earlier games against Flames and Oilers, Hawks domination and a tight win. This time it was Buffalo though who was leading the game in the beginning of 3rd period. Newcomers Staal and Orlov hit two goals in a minute and helped the Hawks to another one-goal victory.
Game by stats: SOG 36–32; PP 1/4–1/5; PIM 10–8; Blocked Shots 6–11; Board Battles Won 65.0%–35.0%
Hawks Game Characters: O.Kostyukhin 0G+3A; J.Keller 1G+1A, +1; S.Miller +2
Hawks goal scorers: Lundin, Keller, Staal, Orlov

@Oilers 5-4 s Oct. 22 2033
Oilers were pressing hard throughout the game but they still had some problems in scoring goals. Hawks succeeded well in their forecheck game forcing Oilers to give away the puck in their own end.
E.Carriere suffered a broken finger and will be out of action for about 2 weeks.
Game by stats: SOG 29–38; PP 3/8–2/8; PIM 26–16; Hits 9–3
Hawks Game Characters: J.Matuszewski 0G+3A, +2; I.Orlov 2G+0A, +1; S.Miller 0G+1A, TOI 37:07
Hawks goal scorers: Orlov 2, Keller, Cohen, Straka

@Wild 5-4 Oct. 23 2033
In Minnesota Hawks were the dominating team but hosting Wild were able to capitalize their scoring opportunities well. Hawks hit three goals in less than 30 seconds in 1st period but in the end they were barely able to keep their lead.
J.Lundin will be out of action for a few days after he suffered a dental injury in game.
Game by stats: SOG 33–27; PP 2/5–1/6; Giveaways 9–6; Hits 11–8; Faceoffs Won 39.4%–60.6%
Hawks Game Characters: J.Straka 2G+2A, +1; J.Heikkinen 1G+2A, +2; Y.Robitaille 0G+1A, +3
Hawks goal scorers: Straka 2, Miller, Matuszewski, Heikkinen

@Flames 0–2 Oct. 25 2033
In Calgary home team's defense played a superb game blocking huge amount of Hawks shooting attempts and Flames red hot goalie S.Boucher too care of the rest. Young Chicago players W.Vaughan, J.Keller and R.Jensen lacked patience to open Calgary's defensive lock, F.Laliberte who was assigned from Norfolk to fill the lineup for injured Lundin fought his first fight in DMHNL – and he lost it too.
Game by stats: Shot Attempts 47–32; SOG 24–23; PK 7/7–6/6; Blocked Shots 5–20
Hawks Game Characters: T.Quinn SV% 0.913; D.Fedorov HT 2, SB 2, -1
Hawks goal scorers: -

Blues 3-2 Oct. 27 2033
Extra ice practice after goalless visit to Calgary helped. Blues have been a tough opponent to Hawks for several years so every win from them is welcome. This time the victory seemed to be an easy one as St. Louis players weren't as aggressive as usual. Kostyukhin stepped up and lead the team to regular time win.
Game by stats: SOG 32–23; PP 1/4–1/6; Takeaways 2–2; Hits 8–2
Hawks Game Characters: O.Kostyukhin 2G+1A, +2; I.Orlov 1G+1A, +2; C.Chartrand 0G+2A, +1
Hawks goal scorers: Kostyukhin 2, Orlov

2035 16th Apr

Chicago Blackhawks Season Summary 2034-35

Building the team for the season

After finishing on 6th or 7th spot in Western Conference in several consecutive seasons the Blackhawks board decided to give a go for an alternative approach to a season. The first step was the hardest and the biggest one to take and it was taken already in June 2034 when I made a huge deal to move speedster LW Conor Clark from Tampa to the Hawks. My intention was to bring in someone to play aside with Oleg Kostyukhin and make our 1st line a deadly weapon. That attempt never came true, not even half way true. We ended up splitting them in two lines and only after that the Hawks game started to click. After disappointing first half of the reagular season the Hawks then succeeded to claim not only the place in playoffs but even the 4th spot in conference and the home advantage.

Acquiring Clark was not the only major move we did during the season. If there was some high hopes with Clark, we didn't expect that much from 28 year old LD Dan Rantala, who we traded for Dmitry Fedorov. Feds was nearly on status of untouchable in the Hawks but when GM Cap'n Schult offered Rantala and the Kings 1st '37 for him he was as good as gone. Rantala had spectacular end of regular season in Chicago and we are hoping to see him as a member of the team for a long time.

Other new faces in roster were young LD Tyler Howe who was our own 2nd round pick from 2033, right winger Pavel Augusta, former 1st round pick of the Caps in '27, LD/RD Romy Whitfield, the Lightning's 1st round pick in 2020 who was claimed from waivers and left winger Ilshat Ponomarev, the Habs 2nd round pick in '27. The Hawks also contracted their own prospects C Felix Cyr and LW Josh Cohen but neither of them dressed the Hawks jersey during the season.

Clark was the best in points

Conor Clark played 77 games in regular season scoring 52 goals and giving 40 assists. That made him the best point scorer in the team this season. Following him were C Ilya Orlov with 87 points (28 G + 59 A) and Oleg Kostyukhin with his 85 points (37 G + 48 A). Best in Plus/Minus stats were RD Oleg Korotkov (+28) and C/RW Jouko Heikkinen (+21) and Kostyukhin (+21).
I can't say that Clark's point production was disappointing in itself but what I was hoping to was that he would have given Kostyukhin a good chance to a productive season. But instead of boosting Kosty's game Clark kind of dulled him down.

Tyler Howe played in 11 games in the Hawks before he was sent back to his juniors team by our long cursed AGM Pavel Doronin. In those 11 games he was +3 and scored 4 points (2 G + 2 A). Pavel Augusta was a pleasant surprise finding his potential and scoring his all time high in DMHNL and what's most important: from bottom lines. He played all the regular season games and had 40 points (20 G + 20 A). Whitfield spent most of his season in Norfolk but got his chance after some injuries of starting lineup dmen. He did quite well, especially his +/- rating of +10 in 17 games pleased the team management. Ponomarev spent only 2,5 months in Chicago before moving again, now to Ottawa. He filled his spot in our roster but after LW Theran Staal returned from his long term injury we didn't have use for them both.

Fedorov and Jelitto left the team

There should be a word or two of the players who left the team during this season too. Fedorov was the biggest name but the team fans were left missing another defender too when RD Craig Jelitto was claimed from the waivers by the Bolts. Soon after that he was waived again and claimed by the Preds where he is still playing – although the word is that Nashville GM Gavin Stuart II is very unhappy with him. It means he may be UFA soon again...
Former Caps 1st round pick from 2031, center Vasily Plyuschev was moved to Boston for the Bruins 1st round pick in '37. Plyuschevs biggest flaw was and will be his speed. Even if he'd be able to do miracles with his stick he is still so slow he couldn't be fitted in the Hawks roster.
We also moved a couple of youngsters of us, LW Jonas Lundin and RW Jaromir Straka. Lundin went to the Caps and Straka moved to the Habs. LW Lou Cohen, RW/RD Trenton Stewart and LD/RD Markku Mälkiä were all lost to waivers. And finally, a minor move which approved to be something more, I traded our backup goalie Matthias Egger to Nashville to make room to Tuomas Kivekäs who might well be our future starter one day. It went all quite well in regular season, Kivekäs played in 19 games winning in 7 of them and having SV% of .884. But right before the last game in regular season Turner Quinn caught an injury (olecranon bursitis, 12 days) and Kivekäs appeared to not be ready for PO games. And when the injury of Quinn relapsed in his comeback game, now for 11 days, the Hawks season was over. Although it was not the only reason for the sweepout loss to the Oilers shaky goaltending was the last thing we needed in those playoffs.

Post season actions and some statistical analyze

The same day the Oilers defeated us for the 4th time I released the Hawks trading block. Conor Clark is the biggest name on it but I ended up putting Ilya Orlov there too. Romy Whitfield and Oleg Korotkov are the veteran defensemen on the block and young left wingers Joseph Keller and Lubomir Smid and also promising RW Regan Jensen are available. And all the players in minors too. I'd define that the Blackhawks are in semi-rebuild condition now. We are not going to rely only on prospects but we are also looking for some 3-4 line players with grit and poise. Someone to give his all in every game he wears Hawks jersey.

When looking the Blackhawks statistical trends it was interesting (but not encouraging) to notice that the amount of goals against has been on the rise for some seasons now. We managed to cut it down to 212 goals in 2030-31 but since that it has been growing and was 276 this season. In goals scored there may be seen a rise which can be connected with the presence of Conor Clark although the tactics we followed this year were more offensive overall too.

Regular season week by week

Week 1, 2-0-0
A great start winning the Sharks at home and the Bruins in Boston. Defense works well, only 3 goals against in two games.

Week 2, 3-2-1
Lost to the Nucks at home, won the Rangers in NY, then left without goals in Toronto and ended up losing to the Preds on overtime at home. Kostyukhin scored 4 goals this week including a hatty in the Predators game.

Week 3, 4-4-1
Started the week with a good game against the Yotes winning them 6-1. But it didn't go on very well as we were defeated first in New Jersey by the Devils and then at home by the Red Wings. In the Wings game Theran Staal was also injured by Yan Caron and the news from the hospital weren't good ones: partially torn ACL, out at least 3 months.

Week 4, 7-4-2
After losing against the Blue Jackets in Columbus on shootout the Hawks continued their road trip with three close wins. The Wild lost by two goals and both the Nucks and the Avalanche by only one goal. Clark scored twice against the Wild, Plyuschev against the Nucks and Augusta against the Av's.

Week 5, 7-7-2
Ups and downs. Now it was the turn of a down week. First game back home after the home trip was against the Blue Jackets. They closed us out and won 3-0. Then another home loss, now against the Blues and finally we were defeated by the Coyotes in Phoenix.

Week 6, 8-9-2
Week started with a promising overtime win over the Blues but then the down slide continued again: losses against the Flames and the Preds. Poor games by any standards, problems started to accumulate.

Week 7, 9-11-3
First another loss to Nashville in back to back games, now in Chicago. Then a win from the Flames and after that two home losses, first against the Caps and then against the Wild. The Wild loss came after a shootout competition.

Week 8, 9-12-5
Two shootout losses and one in regular time. The Pengs (home) and the Red Wings (away) defeated us on shootouts and the Kings then defeated us in a goal scoring race at home 5-6. The Kings game was lost in the last 25 minutes of the game as we were leading it 5-2 before the visitors stroke four straight goals behind Quinn.

Week 9, 12-12-6
December started to look much brighter during this week. A regular time win, a shootout win, another regular time win and a shootout loss. The Red Wings and the Sharks suffered the regular time losses and the Sabres lost in shootouts. The Sens was the only team winning us this week. Augusta and Matuszewski connected quite well this week.

Week 10, 15-13-6
This week started with a tight one goal loss to the conference dominating the Blues in St. Louis. The final result was 4-5 and the funny thing is that both teams' goalies, Saffer and Kivekäs got rated 4 in this one. Next we won the Caps in shootouts in Washington, then the Panthers at home in a high scoring game and finally we defeated the Stars at home 4-1. In that game Orlov was in flames assisting all our four PP goals.

Week 11, 16-14-7
Last week before the Christmas break. We fought a win from the Blues at home but lost the next game in Columbus against the Blue Jackets with the same numbers, 1-3. And in the last game before the break the Red Wings took us out in shootout competition. Kostyukhin missed a penalty shot once again.

Week 12, 18-15-7
Last three games of the year. The Flames lost by one goal, the Blues took a clear win from us with score 3-6 and in New Year's Eve the Thrashers visited in Chicago and had to leave home with empty hands. Young Regan Jensen was the player of the game with his goal and a pair of helpers.

Week 13, 22-15-7
First four game four win week of the season! The Canes lost their home game by one goal and the Kings, the Blue Jackets and the Habs visited Chicago Place with no success. The Hawks won three of the four games by one goal but all on regular time. On this week our goal scoring wasn't only on 1st line's responsibility, there were five different players scoring two goals in these four games.

Week 14, 24-15-7
Only two games on this week but fortunately the Hawks won them both. First we visited Montreal in back to back games against the Habs and managed to grab another win from them, now on overtime. In the second game of the week the Blues visited us and lost 5-4.

Week 15, 25-17-7
A two-parted week. The Hawks started the week with a great 6-1 win from the Ducks. But in the next game - an away game against the Stars in Dallas - only 1:26 in game Conor Clark caught an injury and it messed up the Hawks game for good. We lost the game 2-5 and two days later we lost another game against the Kings at home by same numbers.

Week 16, 26-17-9
None of the three road games on this week was solved on the regular time. First we lost in shootouts to the Sharks, then we claimed a win in shootout competition from the Ducks and finally lost on overtime to the Yotes. In the game against the Ducks we lost three of our dmen when Erasmo Carriere had a 5+20 min penalty and 1 game suspension and both Thierry Boudreau and Colin Chartrand got injured. Fortunately both Boudreau and Chartrand were able to play in the next game against the Coyotes.

Week 17, 30-17-9
Another four game winning week! The Flyers and the Canes visited Chicago losing their games and then the Blackhawks visited Edmonton and Columbus robbing the points from there. Kostyukhin on the run but all in all the scoring came from at least three lines.

Week 18, 33-18-9
The Stars snapped the Hawks winning streak in the first game of this week but after that loss there came three wins again. In the losing end of the games were the Oilers, the Wild and the Ducks. The Wild game was Quinn's and the Blackhawks first shutout game of the season.

Week 19, 35-19-9
The Red Wings visited Chicago and lost to us 5-3. The Wild lost their home game 4-1 and on the weekend we traveled to Vancouver, where the home team was just enough better and more lucky and took the game by one goal, 4-5.

Week 20, 37-19-10
Our visit on Rocky Mountains brought us only one point as we lost to the Av's in shootouts – both Clark and Kostukhin missed their shots. Then back home where we hosted the Islanders and the Avalanche and beat them both. Quite a good week though.

Week 21, 39-20-10
Another week started with a loss and ended with two wins. This time the Nucks took the points from Chicago Place and the Bolts were forced to leave home without them. And then the Hawks visited the Music City and left the Preds without points in their home game.

Week 22, 42-21-10
Three straight home games and a visit to Anaheim. Win, loss, win and an OT win. The Yotes were defeated 5-1, the Blue Jackets won a tight game 2-3, the Av's lost 4-2 and the Ducks suffered the overtime loss 7-6. Still going strong.

Week 23, 42-24-11
Four road games, four losses. First one in San Jose on overtime and then in Los Angeles, Dallas and Edmonton. The tactical experiments backfired badly and almost cost us our 4th place in the Conference. Fortunately only almost.

Week 24, 45-24-12
We were able to straighten up our lines after the disastrous last week. But even when we did the four game losing streak in the end of the regular season left kind of unease feeling in the team.
What comes to the games of this week it all returned back to the so-called normal. The first two games of the week were in Chicago Place and we won them both. The Oilers lost 4-2 and the Flames got defeated 6-4. Next we traveled to Nashville where the Preds lost in shootouts. And in the last game on the road we visited the Red Wings and lost 3-5.

Week 25, 46-24-12
There was only one regular season game left. The Predators came in Chicago to play a game meaningless to them and lost it 4-2. We instead ensured the home advantage only in this last game.

Playoffs
Getting swept out in playoffs after rather good latter half of the regular season is not acceptable. The biggest problem overall must be the Blackhawks staff''s tactical abilities and the most crucial issue this year was losing our #1 goalie to an injury. First he was out from the games 1 and 2 and then he got injured again in the first period of his come back game and that injury kept him out from the other two games of the sweep out series.

June 28th, 2035

Coming to the 2035 Draft weekend Hawks little by little stacked draft picks and when the draft took place we got 18 picks overall. The picks were split followingly:

1st rnd: #18, #21, #24
2nd rnd: #38, #51
3rd rnd: #76, #78, #84
4th rnd: #108, #114
5th rnd: #138, #141, #144
6th rnd: #171, #174
7th rnd: #190, #201, #204

Toronto Maple Leafs who were holding 1st overall pick had announced in advance that they will take Czech right winger Frantisek Kratna who was first in Hawks papers too. All in all the first six picks taken were the first six on our list too, only not in the same order.

The seventh player on our list was Russian Vasili Belousov who nearly dropped in our hands but was then taken as 16th overall by Boston. And when it came our turn to pick I briefly considered picking more like BPA wise but decided then to go by my list.

#18 LD Alexei Plyuschev, Togliatti Rus Jr, 50 GP / 5G+20A=25P / +13 / 22 PIM
A mobile defensive defenseman, creative and willing to give his all for his team. He has great size and strength. Projected as a 3-4 defenseman in Hawks in near future.

#21 LD Dan Henderson, Ottawa 67s OHL, 67 GP / 11G+50A=61P / -5 / 128 PIM
Another well-moving defenseman. Physical and fearless, hard-hitting and well balanced. Projected as a more talented version of Erkki Mårs. A future 1-2 defenseman.

#24 C/LW Mac Pisani, Erie Otters OHL, 68 GP / 17G+64A=81P / +14 / 21 PIM
A small but strong center with ultra speed. Great in faceoffs and laser wrister makes him a threat in offensive end but he can do his defense too. First line potential.

#38 RD/LD Karl Leblanc, Acadie-Bathurst Titan QMJHL, 69 GP / 22G+38A=60P / +6 / 61 PIM
A well balanced, skilled defenseman with soft hands and excellent conditioning. Scouts compare him to Yves St. Onge. Potential 3-4 defenseman.

#51 G Arthur Plante, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds OHL, 43 GP / 24W-18L-1T / 2548 MIN / 152 GA / 3.53 GAA / 0.914%
A huge goaltender with excellent positioning and rebound control. He needs to polish his skills still but with hard work he may see himself as a decent backup goalie in Hawks some day.

#76 LW/RW Willie Milburn, Oshawa Generals OHL, 68 GP / 29G+24A=53P / +17 / 66 PIM
A speedy winger who never stops skating. He has great poise and even technical skills. Second line potential.

#78 LW Bradley Axent, Tri-City Americans WHL, 67 GP / 8G+20A=28P / +5 / 191 PIM
A power forward with superb poise. His defensive play is what made him raise so high on our list despite of getting no official ranking. Enforcer, third line potential.

#84 RW Murray Ringrose, Barrie Colts OHL, 65 GP / 6G+10A=16P / -9 / 52 PIM
A big winger, strong and hard-working. Exceptionally creative. Third line potential.

#108 RW Francis Lacroix, Baie-Comeau Drakkar QMJHL, 70 GP / 24G+17A=41P / -12 / 70 PIM
A small-ish power forward with great physical attributes. Determined team worker, excellent conditioning. Third line potential.

#114 RD Antti-Tuomas Nurminen, Rauma Fin, 50 GP 3G+7A=10P / +5 / 22 PIM
A huge hard-working defenseman. Excellent conditioning. He lacks some key attributes though. Limited potential, my scouts don't see him to develop into a regular for Hawks.

#138 LD Wade Joyal, Brampton Battalion OHL, 62 GP / 5G+18A=23P / +6 / 14 PIM
An offensive defenseman, strong and determined. Good vision, excellent conditioning. No. 5-6 potential

#141 LW Lee Langen, Calgary Hitmen WHL, 71 GP / 15G+12A=27P / +2 / 274 PIM
An aggressive winger, excellent deflections skills. Has totalled 650 penalty minutes in his three seasons in WHL. Third line potential.

#144 RD Kraig Gallant, Red Deer Rebels WHL, 63 GP / 8G+30A=38P / +4 / 114 PIM
A smooth-skating defenseman, good stickhandling and excellent conditioning . His few weaknesses include his limited hockey sense and ability to get open. No. 5-6 potential.

#171 LD Tiger Cassidy, Prince George Cougars WHL, 6 GP / 0G+2A=2P / 0 / 6 PIM
A huge and strong defenseman, great on skates. Good defensive skills. Limited hockey sense. No. 7 potential.

#174 G Ville Immonen, Pori Fin, 9 GP / 7W-2L-0T / 535 MIN / 16 GA / 1.79 GAA / 0.933%
A small, mobile goaltender. Great recovery, good blocker and glove. Potential backup goalie.

#190 RD Quinn Mann, Guelph Storm OHL, 63 GP / 21G+15A=36P / -4 / 20 PIM
A smooth-skating defenseman. His game is built around his defensive play, nifty stickhandling and laser of a wristshot. No. 7 potential.

#201 LW Pasko Murphy, Toronto St. Michael's Majors OHL, 68 GP / 20G+32A=52P / -12 / 64 PIM
A strong winger, soft hands, good shooting ability. Third line potential.

#204 RD Mel Madill, Erie Otters OHL, 67 GP / 21G+35A=56P / -5 / 40 PIM
An aggressive offensive defenseman, good conditioning. Strong and well-balanced. No. 5-6 potential.

As it can be clearly seen Blackhawks target in this draft was to strengthen the defense pool. We picked up two goalies, nine defensemen, one center and six wingers. As a rough estimate some 5-7 of these 18 players may be able to make some kind of career in Blackhawks.

August 15th, 2035

After reading Vic's fantastic Top 10 Review and talking with him about drafts and drafting I decided to look at my drafts in Blackhawks more accurately.

Blackhawks have been under my tenure from December 2028. There has been seven drafts during that time. I've attended in six of those but have had picks in every one of them (I wasn't able to attend 2031 draft and traded away some of my picks but was then BPA'd with the rest of them, 5 later-round picks).

The first chart below shows all my 73 picks in the seven years mentioned. The OA numbers that are red indicate the players who have gained any DMHNL experience.



On the second chart I have listed all the players I've picked who have then been able to make their way to the big league. They are in order by the amount of the games played in DM.



Looking at that list it is obvious that Breault is the biggest bust of my times in Hawks. It is so screaming obvious I don't even want to think about it more than this. The next biggest bust would be Marc-Antoine Delisle who has ended up playing small time minutes and gathering minuses. That is not what was projected to him when he got his ranking (he was ranked 11th overall in final rankings that year).

In my opinion there are no other real busts amongst the players I've picked. Unfortunately there isn't any actual steals either. Joey Matuszewski is close to one though as he was picked as 23rd OA and he has played most games in DM from that draft and he is 5th in points too.

I'm quite happy with Colin Chartrand, Yan Robitaille, Joseph Keller and maybe even Regan Jensen too. And I have to mention Lou Cohen who I lost to waivers and who I'm still missing. They are my kind of players and it is nice to see them developing and little by little building up the core of the Blackhawks.

There still is lot to improve in my draft scouting. I looked through the 2030 draft to see if there would have been plenty of players to pick before Delisle. To my luck there was no-one with rapid smashing breakthrough into the DM behind Delisle but there was few players who had made it much better than him. So I'll have to develop my scouting and create maybe a new system too. Fortunately there is some time to do it before the next draft.

January 1st, 2037

Looking back in season 2035-36

Season 2035-36 was a success to Hawks especially considering the fact we traded away Conor Clark on the off-season and didn't acquire any replacement to him. The only star player in the roster was once again Oleg Kostyukhin and the roster gaps were mostly filled from our own prospect pool. Hawks defense was solid but I was very doubtful of our offense. The team proved me wrong anyhow, finishing the season with second highest winning percentage of my seven year tenure. And even that wasn't all but in playoffs Hawks advanced all the way to Conference finals defeating Ducks on the first round and then sweeping the conference winner Red Wings next. Blues was once and again too tough to conquer and we lost our series to them in five games. All in all that was much more than anyone in the Hawks front office dared to expect.

Off-season 2036

On the off-season Hawks put Thiery Boudreau on the block. I was surprised and to be honest a bit disappointed to notice that there wasn't too much interest on him. Because of that he wasn't traded on the off-season but stayed with Hawks when the new season started.

Because of timetable issues I wasn't able to scout the draft and I had to trade away all the Hawks picks. I swapped couple of picks with Anaheim and most of them with San Jose. I was getting back picks in drafts '38, '39 and '40 but we are more than okay with that as we have plenty of picks already for the upcoming draft. Now we just have to get the most out of them with no more "Breaults".

Hawks didn't sign any free agents except Joseph Keller who didn't resign with us while still under contract. Other players who didn't resign even after long-ish negotiations were Jeremy Crowder and Yan Robitaille. Robitaille then got an offer sheet from NY Islanders and moved there. Brett Belanger, Brant Richards, Lubomir Smid and Josh Cohen also didn't continue with us any more. Mac Pisani, Dan Henderson, Willie Milburn and Francis Lacroix joined the organization signing entry level contracts with Hawks.

I had high hopes with Henderson and of course especially Pisani. Therefore we decided to give both of them enough ice time to show what they are made of. Henderson has proved to be ready for some 15 minutes of ice time per game including some PP time. To really see what Pisani is capable for he got LW spot in our 1st line beside Ilya Orlov and Kostyukhin. It turned out as a great solution, in the middle of the season Pisani is 2nd in scoring points in Hawks and also 2nd in league's rookie stats.

The course of the season

Hawks lost the first four exhibition games on pre-season. While I'm not giving too much weight on the scores on pre-season the fact that we were facing our AHL affiliate Norfolk Admirals in back-to-back games and then visiting in Germany playing against few local DEL teams there the scores were somewhat embarrassing. In the last one of the five-game exhibition game series we played with our season opening line-up and defeated Mannheim with the kind of numbers I expected.

We lost the season opening game in Dallas in a game where the Stars outshot the Hawks clearly. But the team was evidently going to another direction and showed it by taking points from the next eight games, the row including straight wins over the Avalanche, the Blues, the Wild, the Flames and the Predators.

In the game #21 of the season the Hawks defeated the Predators 4-1. That game was a milestone to me as it was the 400th win of my DMA career. At that point the team was 13-7-1 in the season and it has only gotten better as we are now 24-11-2. It actually tells pretty much about our system that while we aren't too deep on the roster and despite of all the concurrent injuries (Boudreau 3 months, Oleg Korotkov 3 months, Theran Staal 2 months, Francois Laliberte 4 weeks, Pavel Augusta 2 weeks, Frederik Ballas 2 weeks) we were (and are) able to compete that well. Most of the players in the organization are ready and able to play the game the same way and follow the Hawks tactics.

The rebuild - is it needed or not?

Before the Xmas roster freeze of '36 I put out the Hawks rebuild trading block. I had been talking about it all the way from the season start but decided only to do it when the injuries started piling. On the block there were almost all the veteran players of the team - only Turner Quinn and Dan Rantala were left out. Orlov wasn't on either but he isn't actually a vet player after all.

Only three players on the block (Boudreau, Kostyukhin and Jouko Heikkinen) got some interest. That wasn't so surprising at all to be honest, but I got serious offers for only two of them and that is not too much. Boudreau was traded back to Boston where he came from, bringing in return Mikael Välimäki, Ales Cerny and Vladimir Varlamov. This far there hasn't been any other trades and as there are some three or four other teams who published their rebuild blocks after us I think I may as well close the shop and go another way. There are some veteran players with expiring contracts. I will let them go and bring in new faces to fill their spots - this far it seems to be working rather well too.

Did you know this?

- Hawks have the longest row of consecutive approaches to playoffs in Western Conference - 17 straight seasons. The only team with longer streak is NY Islanders, 19 years in a row.
- The average age of Hawks team is the lowest in the league, 24.96 years. It is the only average age in the league under 25 years.
- 12 of the roster players in Hawks are also drafted by Hawks. All of them have been playing whole their career in Hawks. Oleg Kostyukhin (12th season) and Jouko Heikkinen (10th season) are now the players with longest career in Hawks.
- Hawks are holding four 1st round picks in the upcoming draft. That's more than ever while the team is under my tenure.

December 27th, 2037

The Blackhawks is in the middle of a partial rebuild at the moment. The first half of the season has been hard time to the team, there hasn't been found any permanent lineups and many of the youngsters have been struggling with their game recently. When asked about the team situation right now GM Kuula answered this way:
”I'm very well aware that the team is more vulnerable now than in many years. I have been trying for some time to get us the best suitable players possible. That doesn't always mean the best players at all but the players I feel would serve the teams purpose best. I think I've been able to acquire many great players here and what's most important, the players have merged to a team that has been better than it's components were. That happened for instance in last season. Now we've lost some more leadership and experience and it is time for few new players to step up and lead the team to winning more games.”

GM Kuula was then asked about the playoffs and the Blackhawks getting there. Kuula said that it wouldn't be the end of the world if the Blackhawks wouldn't make it in the playoffs this year. He said that every playoff game is ten times more valuable in experience for every player of the team but that a normal team just can't rebuild and fully compete at the same time. ”So, as unfortunately it is, we are now in the position we just have to be patient and play every game and every period as well as we can.”

Who are the Blackhawks future players then? Who are the ones the team fans are cheering to in upcoming years? ”They are the players who are giving all their hearts and all their souls and effort to the Blackhawks”, answered GM Kuula. ”We are not needing stars and we are definitely not needing primadonnas. We need players committing. We need one hundred percent Blackhawks players.” GM Kuula also told that the new trading block will be announced in near future.

June 23rd, 2038

The New Dawn in Chicago

The Playoffs

The Blackhawks fought their way to playoffs '38. They managed to force them ahead of Calgary Flames who ranked 9th in Western Conference getting 91 points, three points less than Hawks. On the first round the Hawks faced the Red Wings, winners of the Western Conference. In that matchup Hawks was completely unarmed losing the series 4-1 and being outscored 32-16.

GM Mart D.C. Kuula told to the press after the series that although he is sorry for his team wasn't able to obtain better results they fought hard and that he is convinced the fans saw it that way too. ”And the most important thing was absolutely the experience of the playoff games especially for all our youngsters. That is something that will pay in the future with no doubt,” Kuula ended the short press conference looking as a winner of the series instead of falling in the other end.

Trading heated in spring

The Blackhawks front office made six trades during the latter part of the season. The first four trades were made before the trade deadline and they had some impact to Hawks' getting in the playoffs. The last two were made after the playoffs and with them the board aimed to balance the roster for the coming season.

Trade #1:
PIT 1st 2038 and LA 3rd 2038 to Sabres for RD Lev Berkutov and RW Kirk MacIntyre – this trade was made in late January and it's main purpose was to bring Hawks a top pairing RD. Berkutov turned out as expected but MacIntyre's strong play in 4th line was the actual – and joyous – surprise of this deal.

Trade #2:
C Jerry Leach to NY Rangers for NYR 5th round pick in 2040 – this and next two trade were made at trade deadline and this one was not actually a balancing trade but NYR GM asked for Leach and we thought we could give the man (Leach) a chance.

Trade #3:
LW Theran Staal to NJ Devils for C Percy Larsson – Hawks had excessive amount of left wingers but not a single defensive minded center. This trade brought us one. What comes to Staal it seemed unlikely he would've signed a new contract with us. Larsson was priceless when Hawks fought for the last playoff spot in the end of the regular season.

Trade #4:
RW Ales Cerny to Atlanta Thrashers for RW Ales Kriz + ATL 3rd in 2040 – Cerny didn't fit in our system so he just had to leave. Atlanta gave us a 3rd and a young winger Kriz. Kriz hasn't panned out and he's on the block as we speak but in the end I would have settled with a 3rd for Cerny so everything is alright here.

Trade #5:
LD Erasmo Carriere and LW/RW Shaun McDonald to NY Rangers for RW Saku Tuominen + NYR 3rd 2042 – Carriere spent 6 ½ years in Chicago and his departure may be the hardest one to stand but it is time to give more ice time and resposibility to our young defenders like Dan Henderson and Alexei Plyuschev. McDonald gives room to Frederik Ballas and Tuominen will take a spot in 3rd line instead of Kriz.

Trade #6:
LW Jan Valasek and C Vladimir Varlamov to Atlanta Thrashers for LW Dimitri Moskalev – in this final trade Hawks bring in super talent and experience. Valasek was evaluated as Hawks #1 left winger but he didn't bring much in to our top lines and ended up playing as a 3rd/4th line winger. Varlamov is good but not great young player and some of his atts weren't too good for a center. Moskalev is very talented left winger but he's aging so he won't play for us very long. It will be interesting though to toss in the Russian line of Moskalev – Orlov – Kostyukhin and find out what they are capable of.



The 2038 Entry Draft

The Blackhawks had 15 picks overall in their possession. There were two picks on both first and second round and the expectations were high. The top pick was San Jose Sharks 1st which ended up to be the 5th oa. Hawks board was at the same time hoping to get a great prospect with the pick and on the other hand the disaster of 2029 was still in everybody's mind – it was the 5th oa that time also. Lot of nervousness and superstition in the air.

The top two picks changed possession just before the draft started. Islanders proved to be after #1 ranked winger Howard. Maple Leafs wanted another strong winger, Swede Magnusson. Coyotes went after Roger Villeneuve and when Tampa Bay – who has three great young goalies – had the 4th oa pick it suddenly turned out that the super promising Russian goalie Igor Korneev was still available when it was Hawks turn to take a pick. The feeling was awesome when typing his name! This is definitely a new dawn to Hawks organization. Korneev is a corner stone to build a young, defensively solid team on. The whole Hawks board was and still is very enthusiastic about this lucky strike. ”I was like lightning had struck on me – as it kind of did”, mumbled GM Kuula still stunned after announcing the first pick of theirs.

Hawks prospects from 2038 Entry Draft:
# 5 – G Igor Korneev – *****+
# 15 – LW/C David Vinš – a small winger from Czech Republic, fearless, well positioning, very ambitious
# 45 – LD/RD Tom Brännström – a big and strong hard-working defenseman from Sweden.
# 52 – LW/RW Vincent Nadeau – a Canadian winger, ended up 2nd in QMJHL regular season points
# 64 – LD Jiří Vlasák – a flashy defenseman with well balanced atts from Czech Republic
# 75 – C Henri Vuorela – a center from Finland, strong character, relies on good vision and stickhandling.
# 81 – RW/LW Graeme Brunet – a power forward from Canada, great in defense, poised
# 94 – C Jade Bourne – a hard-working Canadian center with soft hands and good vision
#105 – LD Nicolas Laliberté – a flashy defenseman from Canada, excellent conditioning
#109 – C/LW Jindřich Rohlík – a well-rounded defensive center from Czech Republic
#135 – C/LW Alexcei Cheechoo – a smooth-skating center from Canada
#139 – RW Ryley Schell – a scoring speedster from Canada
#165 – C Sam Sylvestre – a hard-working center from Canada
#169 – RD Terrance Lyons – an offensive defenseman from Canada
#195 – LW Joff Whelan – a grinding winger from Canada

The Off-Season

The Blackhawks waived C Todd Dwyer and RW Aleš Křiž. Both of them got claimed, Dwyer by Oilers and Křiž by 'Yotes. LD Ladislav Červenka's contract ended and he left the team as an UFA. G Tuomas Kivekäs, LD/RD Tyler Howe, LW Arturs Kenins, C Pierre-Marc Hamill, RW Regan Jensen and RW/C Pierre-André St. Jacques left the team as restricted free agents.

The Blackhawks made no effort to sign any UFA players but put in two offers for RFA players. Another one of them, Sabres' right winger Gennadiy Khlebnikov accepted Hawks' offer sheet but it is yet to be seen if the Sabres match the offer or not.

Negotiations with the unsigned RFA's continued in July and this far Tyler Howe, Arturs Kenins and Pierre-André St. Jacques have signed new contracts. Regan Jensen agreed with the offer sheet from Dallas but the Hawks decided to match it.

The Blackhawks also signed a bunch of their prospects to entry level contracts. G Igor Korneev, LW/RW Jean-Claude Rioux, LW/RW Vincent Nadeau, C Henri Vuorela, C/LW Jindřich Rohlík joined the club in off-season.

The Depth Chart
[table][tr][th]Goalies[/th][th]Defensemen[/th][th]Left Wingers[/th][th]Centers[/th][th]Right Wingers[/th][/tr]
[tr][td]I. Korneev[/td][td]D. Rantala[/td][td]D. Moskalev[/td][td]I. Orlov[/td][td]O. Kostyukhin[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]T. Quinn[/td][td]L. Berkutov[/td][td]A. Kenins[/td][td]M. Pisani[/td][td]K. MacIntyre[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]M. Kivekäs[/td][td]C. Chartrand[/td][td]F. Ballas[/td][td]P. Larsson[/td][td]S. Tuominen[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]A. Plante[/td][td]M. Välimäki[/td][td]F. Laliberté[/td][td]A. Frolov[/td][td]R. Kostyukov[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]C. Clark[/td][td]A. Plyuschev[/td][td]W. Milburn[/td][td]J. Matuszewski[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td][/td][td]D. Henderson[/td][td]J. Rioux[/td][td]M. Johnston[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td][/td][td]T. Howe[/td][td]V. Nadeau[/td][td]J. Rohlík[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td][/td][td]K. Leblanc[/td][td][/td][td][/td][td][/td][/tr][/table]
The Board Expectations

The Blackhawks board expects roster to be improved this season. After adding Korneev and hopefully Khlebnikov to team roster GM Kuula has set the goal higher. ”We should make the playoffs this year too”, he says, adding ”and we most definitely should go further than just on the 1st round. And getting there would be much easier if Hawks is a top 5 team in West after regular season. But it's a long way there and there are more competition in the Conference than in ages.”

Sep 2nd, 2038

The Chicago Blackhawks Draft Analysis 2029-37

As the discussion about drafting and draft picks has been very vivid in last days, the Blackhawks front office decided to dig into the stats and see how we have succeeded in drafts during my GM tenure.

I was hired to Hawks on November 30th 2028 so I've been around for ten drafts. Leaving the last one out is obvious because one can't tell anything about the players drafted this off-season yet. That leaves us nine drafts to focus on. In one of them – 2036 draft – Hawks didn't have a single draft pick to use but that doesn't actually count as the picks from that draft were swapped for picks in other drafts that are either gone or coming.

In those years the Hawks have had 71 draft picks to use. That is a bit more than what we should have in nine years. The picks have been divided as following:

• 14 x 1st-round picks
  14 x 2-round picks
  16 x 3rd-round picks
  7 x 4th-round picks
  6 x 5th-round picks
  7 x 6th-round picks
  7 x 7th-round picks

From those 71 prospects 25 have made it into the NHL and 23 have played for the Blackhawks.

Here's how the first round picks were divided:

• 2029 – 2 (#5, #28)
  2030 - 3 (#16, #18, #25)
  2032 - 2 (#23, #25)
  2033 - 2 (#19, #23)
  2034 - 1 (#27)
  2035 - 3 (#18, #21, #24)
  2037 - 1 (#27)

We counted the efficiency of our picks by comparing the number of games played in NHL and games played in Hawks. The whole era's 1st-round pick efficiency was 0.625 (2002 : 3221). Here's how the rates are year by year:

• 2029 - 0.046 (26 : 564)
  2030 - 0.559 (557 : 996)
  2032 - 1.000 (707 : 707)
  2033 - 0.581 (308 : 530)
  2034 - 1.000 (70 : 70)
  2035 - 1.000 (334 : 334)
  2037 - 0.000 (0 : 0)

As can be seen, the first draft was a disaster for us (me) – drafting I. Breault and T. Stewart on the first round brought us 26 games in Hawks' jersey, all played by Stewart. Next draft was better but not good as picking M-A. Delisle drops the efficiency rating down (65 : 504 = 0.129). The rates may be too delicate as there are only 2-3 players per year so moving one makes a big difference but we still think it tells a lot about when the draft has directly served the needs of the team and when not.

If calculated the same way, our 2nd-round pick efficiency looks like this (total efficiency was 823 : 1058 = 0.778):

• 2029 - 0.710 (574 : 809)
  2030 - 1.000 (48 : 48)
  2032 - 0.000 (0 : 0)
  2033 - 1.000 (187 : 187)
  2034 - 1.000 (14 : 14)
  2035 - 0.000 (0 : 0)

These figures of course doesn't tell the whole truth as there are included only the players who have played games in NHL. Amongst our 1st-round draftees there is only one player without any games in NHL (J-C. Rioux, drafted in 2037 and signed this off-season) when in the 2nd-round draftees there are eight players without any experience from NHL and only six players who have played in NHL. The better efficiency amongst our 2nd- and 3rd-round draftees (the 3rd-round numbers are 488 : 619 = 0.788 and only 4/16) tells also about the fact that it is easier to trade away a non-suitable player who is drafted on 1st round whereas there is nearly no value to be found for players drafted in lower rounds. So those players are usually staying with the team and the staff is trying to use them the best way possible.

Here are the links to the statistics materials used in the analysis:
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff30 ... L/2029.jpg
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff30 ... L/2030.jpg
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff30 ... L/2031.jpg
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff30 ... L/2032.jpg
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff30 ... L/2033.jpg
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff30 ... L/2034.jpg
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff30 ... L/2035.jpg
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff30 ... L/2037.jpg

Apr 15th, 2042

The Chicago Blackhawks season 2041-42 in Central Division: 100 points and no playoff spot

The most awkward season to Hawks indeed. A great start turned somewhere in the middle to multiple losing streaks. Team still reached 100 points in regular season but was left out from the playoffs, ending on 9th spot in the West. In all 37 seasons of the league Hawks has never had as much points and still been out from the post season games (it is very possible that no team has...). And when added that LA Kings reached the PO's winning the Pacific Division with 86 points and that if in East Hawks would've been on 6th spot, one has to admit that there is some disturbance in the balance of the DMA league at the moment. Blackhawks board is said to be considering to move the organisation to East Coast asap.

"Blackhawks 1st line was better than ever!"

Blackhawks GM M. Kuula marked that the 1st line of the team was now better than ever in his 14 year tenure in the team. ”Therefore it is even more sad that we couldn't make it as the players would've deserved better”, said Kuula. German Naumov was the leading point scorer in the league with his 144 points (80 G + 66 A). He made his career high points this season, as did also Mac Pisani (31 G + 83 A, 22nd in points in the league), Colin Chartrand (15 G + 61 A, 6th on defensemen list) and Bryn MacIntyre (14 G + 60 A, 8th of dmen). Marc-Antoine St. John scored 48 G + 62 A. In spite of having players like Oleg Kostyukhin, Conor Clark, Ilya Orlov, Boris Lawson and Sam Miller in their roster Hawks hasn't been able to put up as good 1st line before. Unfortunately it didn't take them anywhere and it is most likely that the team roster will be seeing some changes in the coming off-season too.

The Depth Chart
[table][tr][th]Goalies[/th][th]Defensemen[/th][th]Left Wingers[/th][th]Centers[/th][th]Right Wingers[/th][/tr]
[tr][td]S. Leroux[/td][td]B. MacIntyre[/td][td]P. Schwendinger[/td][td]M. St.John[/td][td]G. Naumov[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]T. Kivekäs[/td][td]C. Chartrand[/td][td]R. Morin[/td][td]G. Palmer[/td][td]D. Thibault[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]A. Plante[/td][td]R. Fitzpatrick[/td][td]D. Vinš[/td][td]M. Pisani[/td][td]P. McRae[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]R. Foster[/td][td]M. Välimäki[/td][td]F. Ballas[/td][td]J. Matuszewski[/td][td]A. Crowther[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]R. Savage[/td][td]K. Baird[/td][td]B. Axent[/td][td]S. Brewer[/td][td]F. Lacroix[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]V. Immonen[/td][td]A. Plyuschev[/td][td]W. Milburn[/td][td]K. Gibson[/td][td]S. Tuominen[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][/td][td]T. Brännström[/td][td]R. Desmet[/td][td]A. Redmond[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td][/td][td]T. Howe[/td][td][/td][td][/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td][/td][td]H. Bordeleau[/td][td][/td][td][/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td][/td][td]M. Lemieux[/td][td][/td][td][/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td][/td][td][/td][td][/td][td][/td][td][/td][/tr][/table]

Trade block

LD B. MacIntyre – Bryn is great (he still is!) but he's getting old – and Hawks have a whole bunch of dmen coming up
LW P. Schwendinger – veteran winger with some fuel still left in his tank, he just isn't a fit in Hawks
RD C. Chartrand – Colin is looking for new challenge which is pity as he's been improving his game season by season now
C/RW G. Palmer – Gaby is a great player and I feel no need to move him but I'd like to see if I could trade him for someone more suitable for team's needs
LW/C D. Vinš – David needs more icetime than we can provide him to become a great player
LW F. Ballas – Frederik is all speed and hits, call me if tha is what you're after
C S. Brewer – Stewart may be the odd man out if Palmer stays with us – or even without it

* * * * * * * * *
RW S. Tuominen (about 300 points in AHL in last three seasons) is leaving the team and can be had with virtually zero price. So are Henri Vuorela, Francis Lacroix, Willie Milburn and maybe some others too.

Team needs

Hawks is dearly needing some depth in goaltending, a good 2nd line left winger and some winger prospects. Nothing would please the team's front office more than a blockbuster trade or two which would fulfill most of the needs in the chapters above. "Put there that they all have my name and number and I'm waiting for them to contact me", ended GM Kuula the interview.

Feb. 23, 2043

#1 Colin Burt
Profile
2042-43 Team: Norfolk
League: AHL
Position: Left Wing
DOB: Dec. 29, 2023
Height: 6'1”
Weight: 187 lbs.
Drafted: Blackhawks, Round 1 (#14) in 2042 NHL Entry Draft

Projection
Talent Score: 8.5
Prob. of Success: B+

Colin Burt is a determined two-way winger from Canada. While goal scoring and shooting skills are not the best part of him as a player Burt will find his place in front of opposing team's goal. His contribution will also be the best in grinding, backchecking and pressing fronts. They say he is a prototype of a Blackhawks player like their GM sees it.

#2 Stew Leroux
Profile
2042-43 Team: Chicago
League: NHL
Position: Goalie
DOB: Feb. 7, 2022
Height: 6'1”
Weight: 194 lbs.
Drafted: Blackhawks, Round 1 (#26) in 2040 NHL Entry Draft

Projection
Talent Score: 8.5
Prob. of Success: B

Leroux is a talented goaltender from Canada. He is athletic and very ambitious and he projects as a franchise player as he has enough skills to go all the way. It's only his work ethic that can prevent him reaching his full talent.

#3 Marc-Ancre Lemieux
Profile
2042-43 Team: Norfolk
League: AHL
Position: Defense
DOB: Sep. 25, 2022
Height: 6'2”
Weight: 218 lbs.
Drafted: Blackhawks, Round 1 (#18) in 2041 NHL Entry Draft

Projection
Talent Score: 8
Prob. of Success: B

Marc-Ancre Lemieux is a hard-hitting defenseman from Canada. His very aggressive style of play will bring him lots of penalty minutes but he will also be a strong deterrent in front of Blackhawks net. His stay-at-home role keeps him from being very productive but his input in defensive play will be valuable to his team in the future.

#4 Aleksandrs Bisofs
Profile
2042-43 Team: Ozollapas
League: Latvian
Position: Defense
DOB: Jul. 22, 2024
Height: 6'1”
Weight: 180 lbs.
Drafted: Blackhawks, Round 2 (#44) in 2042 NHL Entry Draft

Projection
Talent Score: 7.5
Prob. of Success: A

Bisofs is a two-way defenseman from Latvia. He is competitive and amongst his strengths are his defensive and physical play, good hockey sense and excellent conditioning. He'll need to improve his offensive play to become a full threat on ice but considering his age he has time for that.

#5 Roberto Carroll
Profile
2042-43 Team: London
League: OHL
Position: Centre
DOB: May 4, 2023
Height: 6'0”
Weight: 169 lbs.
Drafted: Blackhawks, Round 3 (#86) in 2041 NHL Entry Draft

Projection
Talent Score: 7+
Prob. of Success: C

Carroll is a speedy center from Canada. He's hard-working and his excellent conditioning makes him a great penalty killing forward one day but his stats in London (55 GP, 44 G + 48 A = 92 Points) tell us that he is a threat in the offensive end of the game too.

#6 Charles-Philippe Charbonneau
Profile
2042-43 Team: Maine
League: UCHE
Position: Centre
DOB: Oct. 22, 2022
Height: 6'2”
Weight: 187 lbs.
Drafted: Blackhawks, Round 2 (#48) in 2041 NHL Entry Draft

Projection
Talent Score: 7
Prob. of Success: B

Charbonneau is a skilled forward from Canada. He is hard-working and his conditioning is utmost excellent. His well-rounded technical skills make him an interesting prospect for the future.

#7 Tyler Lemieux
Profile
2042-43 Team: Windsor
League: OHL
Position: Left Wing
DOB: Sep. 3, 2024
Height: 5'9”
Weight: 165 lbs.
Drafted: Blackhawks, Round 1 (#30) in 2042 NHL Entry Draft

Projection
Talent Score: 6.5
Prob. of Success: B

Tyler Lemieux is a goal-scoring forward from Canada. He is a good at handling stick and his offensive abilities are promising. His small size combined with his mediore skating keeps him from being a top offensive prospect.

#8 Alfie Crowther
Profile
2042-43 Team: Norfolk
League: AHL
Position: Right Wing
DOB: Mar. 5, 2022
Height: 6'0”
Weight: 185 lbs.
Drafted: Blackhawks, Round 2 (#40) in 2040 NHL Entry Draft

Projection
Talent Score: 6.5
Prob. of Success: B

Crowther is a grinding winger from Canada. His main strengths are his physical play and good vision. He needs to improve his skating to claim a spot from the regular line-up in Hawks.

#9 Markus Pettersson
Profile
2042-43 Team: Frölunda
League: Swedish
Position: Right Wing
DOB: Apr. 18, 2024
Height: 6'2”
Weight: 174 lbs.
Drafted: Blackhawks, Round 6 (#153) in 2042 NHL Entry Draft

Projection
Talent Score: 5.5
Prob. of Success: C

Pettersson is a power forward from Sweden. His speed and his shooting ability are his best assets but he has a long way to go in order to play on the level that is required in NHL. A third line potential tops.

Mar 10, 2045

The Chicago Blackhawks News - The State of the Organization

There has been lots of questions about what has happened to Chicago Blackhawks in recent few seasons. Or actually no, there hasn't been lots of questions about it but some anyways. I can recall two.

The truth is that the Hawks is a mess. The organization has stalled totally. Nothing happens there, there's no fresh air – or to be honest there's no air at all. Suffocation.

And what has led to all this you ask. Well, that's a long story. Or then there is a bunch of short stories, I don't know. One way or another it all started a couple of seasons ago when we acquired star winger German Naumov from Detroit. In that deal we made an utmost rare decision and traded away our own future 1st round pick. It was a great trade for us, nothing to complain about there and the price I payed was very reasonable. No, it was a steal – two 1sts, a 2nd and a depth winger who ended up playing 33 games in Red Wings. Naumov's merits are something else as most of you know.

Nevertheless that's where the regression of the Blackhawks started. After getting German into our lineup we have tried time and again to find him good enough line mates in order to his talents wouldn't all be wasted. And of course to win something for the team too. We've had players like Schwendinger, Palmer, Doucet, Jensen, St. John etc. etc. Every single one of them excluding maybe St. John was a bust. Well, Palmer is still with us but his place would actually be in 2nd line with Thibault. Anyway, we (I) have been wasting our assets in these trades and now the team is a mess.

After all the failed experiments with these players I (we) decided to start a full rebuild as soon as we'll possess our own 1sts again – that means after season 2043-44. And the rebuild was what I intended to do but wasn't able to as there happened something extraordinary in the league at that time. The GM's of two powerhouse organizations – Detroit and Toronto – decided to step down. And before that they started to ”spread the talent”. Suddenly most of the teams that were in need of players like Naumov or Pisani (to name just a couple of my players) got one or more for very low return. The value of my players collapsed. I couldn't move anyone – there was nearly no interest even in Naumov. A star player that had scored 80 goals two seasons earlier. I had no other option than keep the players and move on.

Since last off-season I've tried repeatedly to move players. I managed to move one. After this season I'm letting four or five players from my starting lineup walk. That is the only way I can give ice time to my youngsters. Although there isn't too many prospects stepping up, maybe two or three. I have to start a slow rebuild from inside. A very slow rebuild indeed.

2045 24th Jun

The Blackhawks attended to the 2045 Draft with 11 draft picks. The 1st round pick we had was 12th overall. We had multiple picks on 2nd (2 picks), 3rd (3) and 4th (2) rounds and one on each of the later rounds.

The scouting system in Blackhawks has grown very deep and precise over the last few seasons and it seems to start working too. At least most of the top ranked players from our list got actually picked early.

We have rights to quite a lot of prospects at the moment but the talent pool is not too deep though. Therefore we couldn't head to the draft looking for filling one particular void. We hoped we could bring in two to four prospects ready to play for us in next couple of years.

In the 1st round we were happy to see Swedish winger Herman Bäckström who was ranked 4th OA to be still available when it was our turn to pick. Bäckström is offensively talented, strong and determined forward who would have probably been picked in top 5 unless his stamina wouldn't be a bit low. We didn't hesitate a minute though when it was our turn to make the decision. It was a great moment to see him wearing the Hawks jersey in front of the audience there and we're hoping to see him playing for us when the season 2045-46 starts in October.

From 2nd to 7th rounds:

#42, LD/RD Samuli Palmroth, FIN (ranked #37 OA)
Palmroth is a huge defenseman who checks well and has great passing skills. His movement and positioning needs some improvement so it is likely that he needs some time before he'll join the Hawks. He's probably coming to NA for the next season though.

#50, LW Stefan Hjelm, SWE (UNR)
Hjelm is a winger with decent playmaking and offensive skill pack. Physical style of play isn't the biggest strength of this forward but he's ready to take a hit when needed.

#72, C/LW Jayme Brennan, USA (#156 OA)
Brennan is a determined center. He is small-sized but strong and he has been lethal in his two seasons in NAHL scoring 245 points in 109 games. Considering his age he is very likely seeing some games in lower leagues before stepping up.

#76, LW/RW Tomek Karjalainen, FIN (#118 OA)
Karjalainen is a strong and fast winger. He is utterly physical power forward, some would say that he looks like Hawks type of player. He needs to improve his technical atts before being able to compete for an opening in Blackhawks - or even in Norfolk.

#80, C Stewart Hall, CAN (UNR)
Hall is a center with slow feet but masses of skill. He has been playing quite well in WHL for the last two seasons and he looks like he's ready to move ahead. He will get his entry-level contract and hopefully he's joining the team soon.

#102, C/LW Mikael Leblanc, CAN (UNR)
Small center, determined and hard-working. He has played well in St. John's for two seasons, now it may be time to move ahead.

#118, LW/RW Kalevi Levonen, FIN (#151 OA)
Levonen has a lot to develop in physical field but if he's able to do that he has all the skills and atts to go far.

#132, RD Jyrki Jyrkkiö, FIN (#83 OA)
Jyrkkiö has some great playmaking abilities and as he is still young he has a lot of time to improve his skating. He will be coming in NA after next season and we will find out what he is capable of.

#162, C Maxim Roach, CAN (#188 OA)
Roach is a big and mobile center. We hope to see him in Hawks lineup in some two years crushing opponents.

#192, RD Erik Skogs, SWE (#179 OA)
An aggressive defenseman with size and strength.