Our old friend and one-time TTMI writer Dieter Kurtenbach joined me last night for this week’s PuckChatter~Radio. Dieter is now a sports writer at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and covers the Florida Panthers.
On this show recorded late Monday night, Dieter and I discussed the latest controversy surrounding Patrick Kane and what we think of the reaction it has garnered. Dieter also gives his take on the state of the Blackhawks as well as what steps need to be taken moving forward to get this team back to the Cup.
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Its been rare when big news breaks right before our show and we get to sink into it when its hot and fresh.
Well, that did happen on Tuesday as Joel Quenneville announced he had relieved assistant coach Mike Haviland of his duties effective immediately.
The Committed Indian and SecondCityHockey.com ‘s own Sam Fels joined me in this 75-minute edition of PuckChatter~Radio to discuss this and the rest of the (to this point) known fallout from another disappointing Blackhawks season.
Sam and I discuss why it was the popular Mike Haviland and not (now former) fellow assistant Mike Kitchen who got the axe. Sam dishes his points of discontent with the job Joel Quenneville has been doing behind the Blackhawks bench and also his concerns with the recent Dave Bolland trade rumors.
We also break down the validity of the Ryan Suter speculation, the state of Niklas Hjalmarsson, if the ‘Hawks are truly in dire straights, Corey Crawford, the rest of the news of the week and much, much more.
Oh yeah, and one more thing - Joel Quenneville’s confidential list of potential candidates he will choose from to replace Haviland….. which he claims he hasn’t started yet…. and once he does it will be a secret list…. However, he did tell us on Tuesday that Barry Smith is not on that list… which, again, is secret and not yet begun.
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Sam Fels, editor of The Committed Indian and emperor of SecondCityHockey.com is my guest tonight on PuckChatter~Radio.
I’m sure the rumored discord and power struggles emanating from Blackhawks Nation will be a topic of discussion, as will be today’s news of Joel Quenneville dismissing Mike Haviland from his duties as assistant to Quenneville.
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We’ll put a full show preview/post together later.
Al Cimaglia of MyFoxChicago.com and Sirius/XM Radio joined me tonight for the latest edition of TheThirdManIn’s PuckChatter~Radio.
Al and I dissected the fallout from the Blackhawks second consecutive first round elimination, this time coming to the Phoenix Coyotes.
We analyzed what general manager Stan Bowman spotlighted as the areas his team faltered and also what he didn’t say. We took a look at the supposed “core”, the Hawks’ inexcusable power play futility, Marian Hossa’s future, Phillip Danault, Dave Bolland, who is gone, Corey Crawford, if the goaltending should be upgraded and potential changes to the roster.
All this and much, much more in this sixty minute show.
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Our next live show comes on Tuesday night, May 8th at 7pm central. Our guest will be the illustrious Sam Fels of The Committed Indian and SecondCityHockey.com.
Al and I will be recapping the Blackhawks-Coyotes series and Chicago’s second-consecutive quick playoff exit and analyze what went wrong.
We’ll take a look at all the issues the Blackhawks will be facing this summer, including if an upgrade is needed at the goaltending position.
Also, we will examine post season comments made by the players, Joel Quenneville and Stan Bowman.
I’ll give my take on whether help is on its way from Rockford, who of the call-ups from this past season will start 2012-13 back in the minors and which 2011 ‘Hawks draft picks (excluding Andrew Shaw) have the best shot to make the Blackhawks straight out of training camp.
–For those who cannot listen live, Monday night’s show will be archived at our BlogTalkRadio page, here on our site as well as on Itunes.
–If you missed our recent, well-received Rockford IceHogs season-in-review interview series, you can listen to our chats with Ted Dent, Jeremy Morin, Joe Lavin and Kyle Beach here….. Read more »
Last Saturday in Rockford, we had a chance to catch up with IceHogs forward Kyle Beach for a season-in-review discussion.
The Blackhawks 2008 first-round (#11 overall) draft pick missed 57 games this season due to a dislocated right shoulder that needed surgery. Beach suffered the injury on October 28 in Peoria during a fight with Rivermen forward Stefan Della Rovere.
After extensive rehabbing and four and a half months sitting in the stands, Beach returned to the IceHogs lineup on March 23 against the Houston Aeros.
Prior to the injury, Beach had posted 3 goals, 3 assists in the IceHogs initial 8 regular season games. Beach registered an assist in his first game back and scored in his third game, which was the back end of a 3-in-3 at Milwaukee on March 25.
Although he appeared in just 19 games this season, there were some encouraging steps Beach took during his second pro season, as we discuss in this audio and the interview with Beach.
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In this interview with the 11th overall pick of the summer of 2008, we discuss….
-Positives Beach takes out of another disappointing season
-His thoughts after being left out of “Black Aces” group after ’10-11 season Read more »
We chatted with IceHogs winger Jeremy Morin this past Saturday, shortly before Rockford concluded its 2011-12 season with a 4-3 shootout loss to the Charlotte Checkers.
After being sidelined for ten months with a head injury suffered on January 15, 2011 in a game against the Chicago Wolves in Rosemont, Morin returned in October to score goals in back-to-back games and on his only two shots of that weekend. But the goals were difficult to come by for Morin over the following three months.
Morin wrapped his AHL season with 18 goals and 40 points in 69 games with the IceHogs.
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During the interview, we discuss…
-Starting his season with 2 goals in 2 games after being out of action for 10 months
Here’s the video of Raffi Torres hit on Marian Hossa
[Update: 12:00pm 04/18/12] The NHL has announced Raffi Torres has been suspended indefinitely pending an in-person hearing in New York on Friday. Torres could waive his right to an in-person hearing and conduct his hearing via teleconference today but chose instead to meet with Brendan Shanahan face-to-face on Friday. In-person hearings are typically only offered to players when the discipline is going to be in excess of three or more games.
As you can see, Hossa put himself in a bad spot in stopping and cutting back into the path of the hard Phoenix backcheck, last supplied by Torres. However, Torres leaves his feet and makes direct contact to Hossa’s chin to which there is no excuse for. Had Torres not jumped into the collision, there would have been nothing wrong with the play.
According to various reports, Hossa left Northwestern Memorial Hospital last night under his own power before the conclusion of the Blackhawks-Coyotes game with what was rumored to be a fractured jaw and is now resting at home.
Considering the severity of injury to Hossa, the probability that Hossa will miss some games and that Torres has been suspended twice in the past thirteen months, you would expect Torres will get whacked by the NHL’s czar of discipline, Brendan Shanahan.
Four months ago, Torres was suspended two games for leaving his feet to check Minnesota’s Nate Prosser in a game on December 31. Last night’s check on Hossa came a year to the day Torres, then a member of the Vancouver Canucks, knocked Brent Seabrook silly with an ugly hit in Game 3 of last year’s conference quarter finals at the United Center. Torres was not suspended for that play even though it was his first game back from a four game suspension incurred during a late regular season game when he took a run at Edmonton’s Jordan Eberle.
Torres is expected to have a disciplinary hearing with Shanahan as soon as this afternoon. Game 4 is tomorrow night (Thursday) at United Center.
Here’s the video of Torres hit on Seabrook a year ago. Read more »
We were fortunate enough on Saturday to sit down with Rockford IceHogs’ head coach Ted Dent for a lengthy season-in-review discussion.
In this twenty-five minute interview, Dent shared his take on the gamut of subjects from coaching, to working in unison with Joel Quenneville and the Blackhawks coaching staff to the ups and down season his IceHogs experienced in this 2011-12 season.
Dent also gives his take on the state of Kyle Beach‘s progression, where he thinks Beach could be had it not been for missing four months due to shoulder surgery and if Dent has been surprised at all by the rapid ascension of Andrew Shaw.
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In this conversation, Dent gives his analysis and discusses various topics including….
-Getting opportunity to be a head coach at AHL level
-Relationships with players and the transition from being an assistant to the head coach
-What aspect he looked to change in Rockford
-Dialogue ongoing between Chicago and Rockford
-Communicating with, and leaning on Joel Quenneville for advice. Read more »
This morning I had an opportunity to chat with Rockford IceHogs first-year defenseman Joe Lavin.
In his first pro season, Lavin has quietly risen into the top tier of upcoming Chicago Blackhawks prospects on the defense. Lavin turned pro last April after completing his collegiate career as the captain of the University f Notre Dame where he was a regular pair-mate with another Blackhawks’ prospect, Stephen Johns. The Blackhawks drafted Lavin in the 5th round (126th overall) in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.
At 23, Lavin is one of the older IceHogs but he also carries himself like a ten-year veteran. Lavin plays an intelligent game from the blue line and his improved agility and mobility have helped advance his offensive skill set as well at the pro level.
The interview is about ten and a half minutes long following an introduction.
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We touched on a variety of topics with Joe Lavin, including…. Read more »
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