Alex DeBrincat, Actually Good
In the words of Uncle Chaps…Alex DeBrincat is ACTUALLY GOOD. The boy can flat out play some hockey. That’s the best way I can say. Everyone knows about his lack of size, he doesn’t have super elite speed, but the boy can just play. Giant brain and a giant heart to go with an elite shot. Someone asked me on twitter last night what his ceiling is and…I have no idea. He’s already better than I thought he would be. DeBrincat has 12 points in 11 games this month. It doesn’t matter who he is playing with, in what situation, the puck ends up in the net. Coach Q called him “special” last night. I call him dangerous. He’s a guy a defense can NOT lose track of in the zone because if you do you’re dead.
Don’t lose him in trasnisition either
Alex DeBrincat is always quietly around the net. By the time you realize where he is its too late. I’ve seen people advocating for him to get top 6 minutes. I kinda like him where he is. Give him PP time with the big boys, but last night was a great example of how dangerous and deep the Hawks are if they have it rolling. 4 lines, 6 D, special teams, the Hawks had it going big time last night. The haters will say that they basically played Corey Perry and the San Diego Gulls because the Ducks are so beat up right now. While that’s true, you know what a good team would do a team that’s beat up? They would beat the brakes off of them from the opening puck drop and step on their throat all night. That’s exactly what the Blackhawks did. They faced an inferior opponent and put up more points than the Bears did on Sunday. The mark of a good team.
A few more loose pucks
–I thought it was odd that Crawford got the start last night. Anaheim limping in, that was likely going to be a win even if the Blackhawks had Loui Domingue in net. Now you either need play Crawford on back to back nights, or let Forsberg play against Nashville. Seems to me that it would’ve been more prudent to have Forsberg play last night, and have Crawford available against the stronger team, the division rival, on a night when the rest of the legs on the team might be dragging.
–Corey Perry is a little bitch
Anaheim still leads the league in assholes. Perry, Ritchie, Bieksa are all the worst. And that’s their team without Kesler.
–Gustav Forsling is becoming a stud right before our eyes. He does it all. Plays in all situations and he led the team in ice time last night. With Forsling developing into a legit top 4 defenseman, and the modern type of top4 dman who can skate and move the puck, the Blackhawks can now properly slot everyone else. It reduces the wear and tear and responsibilities on Seabrook who can be more effective in third pair minutes and matchups. Last year the hot new dmen to talk about were Slavvin and Pesce. Not to say that Forsling is as good as Slavvin at this point(he’s not), but I think people will talk about the jump in his game in a similar way.
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Stan Bowman needed everything to come together. In the summer it felt like he was playing for an inside straight draw with the D group. Murphy, Forsling, Kempny, Rutta Oesterle, Franson…and just hope it works out…well it is. Forsling might be a star, Rutta is so reliable, Franson really compliments Keith’s game well, and Murphy gets better every night while playing his off-side.
–You could say the same thing about the Centers too. Who would be the bottom 6 centers? Hartman and Wingels of course. I’m surprised how well Hartman has transitioned into that role. I don’t think he gets enough credit for being able to jump into a position at the NHL level with virtually zero experience. He’s added responsibility to his game while still doing all the things that made him an NHL player to begin with. He’s a tough dude to play against.
–Great to see Sharp pot one last night. Obviously it’s been a struggle for him to score the first part of this year, but since Hartman and DeBrincat settled in on his line he’s been more dangerous himself. He had a few good chances against Florida, and had a couple last night before burying one in the first period. I think he will get it going now. Just needed to see one go in and that line has been buzzing. What has separated the Hawks from the pack in the Cup years has been depth. If 10-38-12 can produce consistently then the team is in VERY good shape.
–Someone needs to have a talk with Dick Panik. He hasn’t scored in a month and with a golden opportunity last night in the second period he tried to go between his legs. Buddy, cut the shit. Be a straight line player. Skate hard, forecheck, and get to the net. He needs a lobotomy. Just cut out the part of his brain he uses for thinking because that’s getting him in trouble. It’d be easy to say, “hey just put DeBrincat in that spot and slide Panik down”, but that gets you in an unintended consequences situation. The team has chemistry everywhere else. The Toews line is starting to produce without Panik being particularly effective. The team isn’t broken, so don’t try to fix it. Just tell Dick to skate and park his ass in front. That’s why he’s here.
I didn’t even mean to do a long blog today. I was just going to give some love to DeBrincat because of the hatty, but here we are at almost 1000 words. Can’t help it, gotta give the people nuts and bolts. Big time game tonight in Nashville. I’m fired up for it. Let’s go
