📅 Published on: 2024-11-26 00:18:45
⏱ Duration: 00:47:15 (2835 seconds)
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📝 Video Description:
On the latest episode of the Blackhawks Breakaway Podcast, Pat Boyle and Charlie Roumeliotis break down the highs and lows of the Blackhawks’ recent stretch. They discuss the team’s 2-0 lead that slipped away in Saturday’s loss to Philadelphia and highlight Lukas Reichel’s impressive play and growing confidence.
The duo also dives into the team’s ongoing struggles to generate power plays, as the Blackhawks have earned just one power-play opportunity in each of their last five games. They analyze how the team is holding up in Seth Jones’ absence and cover other key storylines.
Later in the episode, Pat and Charlie preview the upcoming 4 Nations Tournament, debating whether Connor Bedard will suit up for Team Canada. They close out the show with an update on Blackhawks prospects and their development.
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🕵️♂️ Transcript:
[Music] welcome to the Blackhawks Breakaway podcast for chsn we are brought to you by Toyota Toyota has more all-wheel drive and four-wheel drive vehicles than any other brand find yours and shine on Toyota Let’s go places with Charlie Rota some Pat boil it’s Thanksgiving week how you doing Charlie what’s going on Thanksgiving week but a busy week for the Blackhawks as far far as game Wednesday practice Thursday game Friday probably going to practice Saturday then back to back on Sunday and Monday so busy stretch for for the Blackhawks in the next week or so yeah so let’s start with h what we saw in Philadelphia they had a one-off road trip where they played a uh one of those great 12 o’clock Central starts in Philadelphia you were along for the ride as uh Troy Murray was with his uh son and new daughter-in-law as they got married um what was your biggest takeaway from the loss in overtime in Philly well my first big takeaway is they might not let me was it overtime yeah it was I was gonna say my my first big takeaway was gonna say they might not let me call a game anymore because uh Hawk squandered the two- goal lead and I thought it was going to be this positive win coming off a really big win against the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers and we’ve talked about it a ton over the last uh year or so but especially this season how the Blackhawks have really struggled to string together some wins and again disappointing loss against Anaheim last week they follow that up with a Redemptive Victory against Florida where they blew the 2-1 lead in against Anaheim held down the 21 lead against Florida by scoring the empty Netter and so you thought okay it’s on a silver platter here for the Blackhawks to beat a a beatable Philadelphia Flyers team and then they take a two nothing lead into the third period And I even said it in the second intermission when we were doing the intermission show next goal is going to be crucial Pat because that first 40 minutes in Philly it was a a quiet crowd like they did not have much energy there was really nothing to cheer for and when they scored that goal to make it 2 to one I thought oh boy this building just livened up and unfortunately for the Blackhawks they weren’t able to hold down the fort so you know you look at they pick up three three points out of a possible four over the last two games but it was an extremely disappointing loss against the Flyers not to be able to build on that win against Florida yeah too and it was it was going to the third period with a two-goal lead we’ve seen them when they’ve trailed going into third periods and put a more desperate effort together and uh come close to getting The Equalizer or getting The Equalizer in this case they had that two goal cushion and it was pretty much uh from that you know seven and a half minutes in they got the couturier goal and make it two to one then it was just two and a half minutes later that uh Kate scored um The Equalizer um it felt like it was lopsided for most of that third and and without Peter morazzi and I feel like they’ve wasted now not only a lot of Peter starts but Arvid solder blooms as well like you you think back at all the quality starts that those net minders have given them you look at the the the numbers right now they’re 31st in goals uh per game at 2.3 three they’re 19 in goals allowed per game at three so I mean if they could just somehow come up with one more goal per game uh you know I think we would see that production in the standings their power play is 12 at 20.8 their PK is 15th at almost 79% so you’re looking for when you add the PK and the power play uh to be 100 or slightly above it’s right around 199 to to 100 and then they’re uh they’re 30th in shots per game at 26 shots on goal the biggest issue too lately is they’ve only in the last five games garnered one power play per game yeah it’s a franchise record yeah I was just gonna say Ben Popa tweeted out that that that it’s a franchise record and I mean they converted on their opportunity in FL against Florida right and so um man unfortunate too because the Hawks were on the power play Early in the game against Philly two and a half minutes in and Bard has a great a scoring chance hits the post goes off the goenda too you feel like uh remember the the Ridder cup um I I’m going to use a golf analogy here but Max homo was that ended up being on a podcast and he said one of the reasons why USA had a hard time flipping the rider cup is because right out of the gates the Europeans were like boom boom boom like they got they got hot and and they kept and USA kept looking up at the at the scoreboard and they’re like man we don’t have any blue up there and Max homo was saying the second we saw blue on the board it was like all right all right here we go like we we get some momentum here and for the Blackhawks it just feels like they just need that one game where they maybe score four or five goals and they’re like okay all right like let’s free ourselves up a little bit and you just felt like if they would have scored there Connor would have been more freed up the power player would have felt okay we’re we’re starting to build on something maybe they draw more penalties because they start to feel more confident scoring that early goal playing as more of the aggressors but yeah it’s really unfortunate and again I have no problem with the officiating over the last five games like the Hawks are not doing their part in drawing penalties um and it’s unfortunate because that’s that’s really the only way they’re going to be able to score three or four goals a game if they do get power play opportunities and if they get those opportunities and even if they don’t score on them just building on that momentum to carry over into the five on five game but when you’re not getting any power play opportunities it feels like if you just one per game you’re like all right here’s our one opportunity in this game we better take advantage and it’s putting way too much pressure on one power play the Blackhawks fourth line has been by far their most productive certainly in the last game with maroon reel and Craig Smith uh reel looks like a different player uh than he did at the beginning of the season and for parts of of last season as well the confidence just just his stature the way he skates and the way he moves up and down the ice um your thoughts on what you’ve seen from Reichel I know you spoke to him today after practice Yeah it was crazy because I saw I knew that he was in a goal drought so he snapped the the 10 game go drought in Philadelphia but then I was looking I’m like man he went seven games without a single point as well and I’m like it that doesn’t feel right because he feels like he’s been playing a little bit better than the number show um even I was talking to him today about the Anaheim game specifically I’m like there there were shifts where I’m like man he he’s flying today and then you look at the score sheet and you’re like oh he had no points um so it was nice to see him get rewarded I thought that was probably his best game of the season against Philly a goal an assist five shots on goal at one shy of his career high which is six from last year um I think it was against Montreal so that that’s the kind of version you want to see from Lucas reel but isn’t it funny how it started for him you know he gets his goal 25 seconds prior he topics which leads to an odd man Rush the other way for Philadelphia uh they turn it over right in front of the net when the puck went off of Owen tippit’s skate Murphy gets it to maroon maroon sauces a beautiful pass when he was thinking he was going to pass to Craigs Smith but he saw the way uh Lucas opened up and again we’ve talked about the mths on Patty maroon but my goodness some pass he’s made some of the best passes on this team not named Connor badar yeah I asked Lucas specifically about that and he was like I was just praying that Philly didn’t score after I fell because I knew I was going to end up on all the highlight reels and so it was night but think about think about the trickle down effect if Philly scores on that what does that do for Lucas’s confidence what just like you were saying the US the Ryder Cup analogy right you know you don’t see any blue on the board and and you’re like oh I’m already a dash one and I toe picked right like it couldn’t be any worse than a start like that but within 25 seconds it’s in the back of the net goal 10 game go droughts behind him seven games without a point whatever like it’s amazing how it changed in a blink of an eye and and that Luke Richardson rewarded that line the rest of the day because that was the one line that was that was really going I can’t remember when it was I think it might have been in this I think it was in the second period uh Philadelphia came out uh with a with a good stretch in the fir I think it was in between the second and third TV timeout or maybe the first and second and the Hawks had a couple tough shifts in a row throw there and then Luke throws out the fourth line it and it stabilized the game like the next few shifts tilted back in Chicago’s favor and it started with the fourth line and the fourth line of reel maroon and Smith ended up logging a shift right before the TV timeout and then Luke went right back to that line coming out of the TV timeout because it’s like this line is going for us tonight and sure enough they ended up getting another one uh connecting for a goal Patrick maron’s first as a Blackhawk so so yeah you you it’s the little things that add up that you don’t realize add up and and sometimes that you can magnify the negatives in your head like I think of the the Conor Bard when he was in Vancouver like just shanking on the the The Dumping attempt which led to the empty Netter it’s like man just even things like that where it’s like oh it’s so dumb but it’s like that even that could maybe psychologically play a role where you feel like you’re really grinding it and so for Lucas to to come out of that point and go drought with a with a couple points must feel nice for him because I feel like he’s been playing better as as of late even though the numbers don’t show it and I want to give him credit for pulling himself out of you know the funk that he was in and accepting this role on on a fourth line I mean if he can produce on a fourth line and get minutes and and and Garner the trust of the coaching staff uh more power to to him and there must be something that Patty maroon is bringing to they’re on the the bench together going over plays on the tablet we’ve talked about uh Scotti Powers did a story a few weeks back about they sat next to each other on the plane did you notice by chance were they sitting together on the plane um I don’t think they were sitting next to each other but they were in the same area okay like yeah they were they were unless yeah LC will yeah and and just like you know in that piece that Scott Road he talked about how uh maroon was trying to give reel encouragement for things he did in practice out on the west coast knowing that how you practice is how you play and and when you’ve got a fragile player you’ve got to build them up and I I was thinking like you know this goes for a lot of players on this team and of course I think we’re all thinking about you know Connor Bard and can he learn something from where Lucas has been at this season and seemingly how he’s coming out of it yeah the one thing the one huge difference I’ve seen in reel this year compared to last year is last year when he was in and out of the lineup dealing with the healthy scratches he would come out and he would be drooping his shoulders like you just didn’t see the confidence this year even though he started in a top six role in training camp didn’t seize that opportunity and started the season as a healthy scratch for the first four games he came out of that still looking like a confident player like at no point was this slow buildup of reel trying to regain his confidence before he could get his form it’s like the confidence was there and now it’s just him untapping that potential and so the confidence mentally I’ve seen it in practice kind of stay the same practice games reel is has been a confident player and I think you know with Conor man he he’s such a this is probably one of the toughest stretches that he’s ever had to go through in his hockey life because he’s always used to just playing his way out of it but it’s not uncommon for a young player to go through something like this even of his caliber like we were mentioning on the last episode The the points that Nathan McKinnon went through from years one to four I mean McKinnon had 53 points or what it was in year four in in an 82 Game season like he struggled and at no point I mean I’m sure the confidence waned a little bit for some of those for for a guy like Nathan McKinnon but he came out of that and I bet you he’ll point to some of those early Seasons like man I learned a lot about myself like I went through adversity now look at where he is he won the heart Trophy last season and I think for for bard it’s easy because it’s easy for him probably at this stage of his career and at this age thinking like to to kind of maybe second guess himself but when he’s through this and he gets on the other side of this he’s going to look back at that and say man I was a better player for f finding a way to grind through that and yeah I just think tup Pat the the inconsistent linemates is has probably played a role but also the quality of of players that he is going to be playing with three four what however many years from now is going to be a night and day difference that he’s going to be looking back on some of the early years of this Blackhawks roster and be like man that that was a that was a tough stretch again no disrespect to the the current Blackhawks roster but we all can acknowledge that they’re temporary stop gaps until the guys that are going to be here long term are part of the fold you talked about this is probably the first time he’s gone through even when he was in Regina and that team was struggling to get wins you know there were still opportunities for him to have fun on the ice for him to score goals for him to create and maybe it didn’t lead to uh a final score that had Regina you know on top but he didn’t feel like he was the person that is bringing them down and I think right now they you got to look at this as a collective offensive issue this isn’t a one one guy having it’s not just if Conor starts scoring all of a sudden they’re going to start winning games uh they might have won a couple over the last 15 but um a couple more than they did but um I think this is about you know right now he’s all in on hockey it’s it’s anything and everything um that he has had in his life since a very young age and right now it’s it’s not going great in the National Hockey League as far as production and so he feels like he’s got the weight of the world on his shoulders and you know they switched lines up at practice on Monday Taylor Hall was out there uh Bard was back at Center and Phil kurashev who you know they had chemistry with last year and Phil had a big season uh are are are reunited and you know like Darren Pang we were watching practice with Darren he likes having that Lefty Kev on the right wing because of the way Bard passes and it gives Kev the opportunity uh to one time the puck and set him on on that flank yeah and weirdly this is gonna this would be the first game that kurashev is on the rightwing with Conor Bard all season long when the last time Bard and Kev were together or the previous instances this season he was on the left side so it was still I don’t know how much we read into the whole left right side but Kur kurv is now going to finally be in a comfort zone at least for where relative to where he played last year and Kev is coming off two healthy scratches as well um by the way Jason Dickinson had a maintenance day at practice so he wasn’t part of the the line combinations I asked Luke Richardson whether he’s going to be good to go for Wednesday and they he said they expect uh Dickinson to play on Wednesday so I’m not sure if that’s going to change if that’s going to change the Top Line in any sort of way um going into the game but it it sounds like it the top line is going to be Hall Bard and kurashev and so and and here’s what I’ll also say about about Connor psychologically too it’s easy when you get in a rut like this where you go backto back games without recording a shot on goal like is it always going to be this hard you know and and it’s just not the case like there are going to be it’s just a tough stretch in his career right now where he’s he’s kind of fighting through it and I think two things can be true I think if you’re an opponent facing the Blackhawks you know that if you Center your game plan around shut shutting down number 98 you’re probably going to win the hockey game on on the flip side if you’re Conor I I think you can’t put all that pressure on yourself that if I’m not producing we’re likely going to lose the hockey game and I’m the reason for the struggles I think that’s when coaches get involved teammates get involved and you’re like we have to find a way that to one free up Connor both mentally and on the ice like where can he where can we give him some more time and space but also if you’re a depth player a guy like a Taylor Hall A Philip Kev where you those are guys that are being counted on to produce you you have to step up and we we’re seeing it slowly with Lucas Reichel like he’s providing some sort of offense now from the fourth line third line is more of shutdown right if you’re Terra vinan if you’re Taylor Hall if you’re Tyler berzi if you’re Philip Kev you have to look in the mirror and say we have to be better for this kid too because we cannot have him think think that because he’s not producing and we’re not he’s shouldering the blame for some of the uh for for some of the offensive struggles that we’re kind of absolved from because when it’s Conor Bard you expect him to produce but when it’s guys like Taylor Hall terraine and you expect it to kind of be like secondary right so they have to elevate their games as well and and Troy Murray actually brought up a great point when we were talking about the the Taylor Hall healthy scratches uh healthy scratch in Vancouver you know Taylor Hall you know publicly said a couple days later in the media saying like I didn’t know I was be I was close to being in that position of being a healthy scratch and and Troy was like everyone’s got to look in the mirror no one’s been no one’s been really good and if you’re if you’re a guy like Taylor Hall like you have to you you you have to elevate your game because Conor is holding himself to such such a high standard going on Hockey Night in Canada saying I’m I think I’m the reason for the offensive struggles it’s like yeah I think you to hear that from guys like Taylor Hall too absolutely and I think you’ve seen in recent weeks pretty much all of those veteran Wingers take a night where they watch the game in the Press Box so you know the coaching staff is trying to hold uh everybody accountable if they’re not looking at themselves in the in the mirror and doing it themselves then you know it’s up to the Blackhawks coaching staff to make sure that that messages sent uh we talked to Luke today he expects more from Kev to be more assertive um you know I think you Phil was pushed to Center at the beginning of the season I think that that adjustment could have gotten him off on on the wrong start different defensive responsibilities as the centerman different responsibilities in general and uh may have taken him out of his comfort zone being on the wing and then when he did play Wing like you said it was left side with Conor you know so you know you use him as an example but I we could go player by player and I I think they do when they when they find some chemistry or semblance of a line I think they need to commit to it uh for a little bit longer than they have and and it might partly be a road uh home situation where uh they make some of the the so-called dra more drastic changes because they’re worried about matchups and last change and they can obviously control that uh at home but you know the schedule does become very home friendly in the month of December um so maybe it’s at that point in time where we start to see some cohesion hopefully before then but I don’t think it’s it’s good for anybody to have a different linemate every night yeah and I’m I’m in agreement there and I think I think Luke Richardson is desperately trying to find like I don’t think he likes changing up the lines right you know like you you want to be able to roll out consistent lines on a nightly basis and and put the onus on the the opponent saying you defend us like this is this is our these are our lines we’re going to try to assert ourselves into the hockey game game and so I agree I I think a little bit more consistency in the line combinations would probably benefit a lot of players but I don’t think Luke is changing them just just to change them I think he’s just desperately trying to find something that sticks and you mentioned the you know the the Hawks are going to have like a stretch here of home games but man like look at the schedule it’s like Dallas Minnesota you got Toronto Boston Winnipeg the Rangers The Devils the capit like all these upper echelon teams are going to start filing in and it’s like this is going to be a tough stretch for the Blackhawks if they don’t snap out of this offensively um but as we know they play they play playoff and upper echelon team better than they play lower Echelon team that is true that is touche Pat They this might actually be the stretch they need that’s what they need tougher opponents Charlie tougher opponents makes no sense uh how how do you think they’ve handled things uh the light of Seth Jones injury and his absence yeah I I think they’ve been somebody had put out a graphic I think yesterday morning or this morning saying like the Hawks are like 16th in the NHL and expected goals against so they’ve really last year they were bottom three so they’ve really tightened things up defensively again I mean this goes back to what you were saying too if they could just find away to get one more goal per game like if you can score three goals in in a hockey game the Hawks have a decent chance of winning cuz they there haven’t been many games where they’ve given up more than three goals I think most of the games that they have are probably because the other team got an empty Netter to to score the fourth goal and so man it I feel like defensively they’ve been they’ve been solid um has it been perfect by any means no but I think part of the defensive lapses come because they’re barely in the offensive zone so when you’re just spending more time in your defensive Zone you’re just going to be more Su skeptical to giving up some chances I will say I was a little bit surprised to see Wyatt Kaiser a healthy scratch in Philadelphia I feel like he’s one of the guys that has brought has been a stabilizing presence on that back end especially when Kaiser was with perir uh what when he was paired with Jones but I feel like you know that’s probably Again Luke just saying hey like we kind of an X-Man up um he’s changed up the group up front nine nine of the 14 forwards have been healthy scratch on some point this season so I think he’s doing something similar on the back end where he’s like got to look for some fresh blood as well by putting Crevier in there so yeah and I don’t think it was in in uh an answer to Wyatt Kaiser’s uh lifting the puck for delay a game in the Florida game like I don’t think because I think he played pretty strong throughout that game and I think that even Luke in his postgame remarks talked about how he just needed to take an extra stride or so and probably take a hit to make a play yeah for sure I don’t think it was correlated at all but the reason why I was a little bit surprised too is because there is no set Jones and for me I I I I threw this idea out a while ago but I kind of like want to although power again one power play in the last five games but like I feel like Kaiser should get a shot on the power play he he actually quarterbacked the power play in col and and when Derrik plant was the head coach and so they have some history there and Kaiser also played on the power play in Rockford so without without SE Jones I thought okay maybe it’s gonna be it’s GNA be Alex vasic on the first unit and pro maybe Wyatt Kaiser but they ended up putting Alec Martinez and it’s probably more of a respect Factor than anything but I man even when we were debating about who should be the power play quarterback between Jones and vasic I feel like I would I should have thrown out Kaiser’s name there too because I I he can he can run that point and so maybe if we got more than one power play per game we could see some changes I agree and that’s why it’s hard to say that now because they they’ve there hasn’t really been an opportunity for him to participate on it or get an opportunity on it but it was just a thought where when I saw him sit I was like oh wow I was about to bang the bang the table that he should be on the power boy and now he’s not even in the lineup so uh it sounds like he is going to return to the lineup though on Wednesday it looked like he was on a pairing with Alec Martinez at practice today um so I imagine he’s going to draw back in against a really good Dallas team so we saw that eight Blackhawks including Conor Bard went to Soldier Field on Sunday for the Bears Vikings game I don’t think all of them stayed to the end so they missed pretty much a uh one of the crazier finishes you’ll see in the National Football League but uh for my money it’s always uh I always like seeing especially with thing the things have gone on the ice I I like on a day off that uh some team bonding takes place and somebody like Connor who loves football and is uh a big fan of the NFL it was cool for him to to experience that yeah I wonder if he was able to connect a just a little bit with Caleb Williams yet because I know that they hadn’t met yet I I don’t think officially um I did see most of them wearing mics so I’m sure this will be on an episode of every shift in the future uh which will be fun to watch in the behind the scenes but um yeah it’s it was nice to see I I’m all for those team bonding activities as teammates and they were coming off that tough loss against Philly it’s been a really tough road stretch too and so you know off day on Sunday was nice for them to spend a an after or the afternoon at Soldier Field as a team um and even Nick feno’s kids got a little uh VIP access on the on the uh the sideline as well yeah it would be uh I think it’d be cool for at some point down the road without cameras and microphones for Bard and uh Caleb to uh sit down and Converse because I think there’s similarities in the expectation level coming in where the team is at uh dealing with those expectations from fan bases that are that are very uh uh rabid and uh I think they could uh and again one is much older than the other and by just a a handful of years but I think they’re very important years um as far as your maturity and your uh uh your path is when it comes to your profession and that’s something that uh was it last year when Kyle Davidson and Ryan poles connected too just to share like hey young firsttime GMS in a big market so it’s I like when there’s crossover in the same Market in sports where you can kind of lean on you know not saying Caleb and Connor have exactly the same thing in common but you know it’s it’s nice to have some support in other sports as well and not just within the game of hockey all right we are a couple of weeks away not even that from the four nations Cup roster announcements I think it’s December 4th right yep December 4th and uh at the beginning of the Season some of the mock Team Canada rosters uh most of them had Connor on there in a in a fourth line role or as the 13th forward uh but I think with the way things have gone so far this season that uh the likelihood of him making Team Canada it’s going to be a little bit more difficult than we thought a few months ago I think so I would still be a little bit surprised if he’s not on the roster though because he’s basically going to be the face or one of the faces of Team Canada in the future and typically in those tournaments you try to bring in if it’s an extra forward someone who’s younger to help steer the ship or help be part of the next great team Canada team I remember when um man what was it was it Team USA or was it Team Canada I can’t remember was it Team USA they brought in oh team North America a while ago but when like Austin Matthews was like not he was like a prospect and they’re like hey yeah let’s just bring him over on team North America and help him prepare for these International tournaments because he’s probably going to be the face of Team USA in the future so I I do think Bard is is still going to make the team um I don’t know is that you do you think maybe that’s part of the reason why there’s like an added layer of frustration in his production with the Blackhawks because he wants to be on that team too I’m sure there is I’m sure he would not you know share that with people he he keeps his goals uh to himself and to his inner circle and uh but I would think making the four nations Team Canada roster was at the beginning of the Season high in his priority list I think think it has added to that and I think the noise uh from the Talking Heads about you know who should make it who should not and people on you know social media and weighing in whatnot like I’m sure that has added like you said a layer to the uh the burden that has been placed on him uh some of it self-inflicted some of it just because of the path that he has been on since a very young age and the expectation level um if he does make it I I don’t see him making it as a center I think it would definitely be on Wing you look at the centers Conor McDavid Nathan McKinnon cydney Crosby you know likelihood Nick Suzuki would be your fourth line Center so um I could see I I just don’t know if if Team Canada is in a position where they would look at it as we’re bringing somebody on to teach him the ropes for years to come like I think they’re more based on what ha what have you done and um if that is is the highest criteria and where your game is at how you can help us win I don’t know if if Conor will will make it and if he does I think it would be in that like 12 or 13 forward type of uh range yeah you know just looking at the roster I mean you can you could try to to sell like if you’re Team Canada putting together the roster you can look at you can look at the roster and say okay our first Power Play unit is set mckinon McDavid Heyman Mitch Marner Crosby I mean there’s so many options but if you look at second power play unit there there are guys like Sam Reinhardt uh on the team which he’s really good in the bumper role but it’s like do you want to allocate his minutes more on the penalty kill because he’s one of the best penalty Killers a sky type forward as well and do you do you feel like okay Conor Mard we can our second unit if you’re talking about Team Canada could be better than a lot of teams first unit um I’m not sure but yeah it’s I I still think he’s going to to make the team um you know just I look at some of the other team or some of the other players that are kind of like on the bubble like Mark Stone like Steven Stam Co and you know I think Stone as Stone still hurt I think he’s still hurt like Stam Co is more of like a power play specialist and so if it’s kind of like between the two I think you want to lean towards the Conor Bard and getting him propelled into this tournament versus a guy that’s maybe doesn’t have the legs to keep up with some of the teams in this tournament that are Fielding some fresh blood yeah and I um as as I look at it you know I got into a debate with bar stool chief on the radio last week and he’s like I don’t want him to go to the four nations and I’m like why wouldn’t you want ah you know I I don’t want to just you know as a uh a token appearance on the on the team Canada roster and I’m like why would you deny I him if if if what we believe is true this team lacks talent and there isn’t we haven’t found the right secret sauce uh to the Connor Bard line uh you know year two into his career why wouldn’t you want him to go and play with some of the the most gifted players on the planet who see the game the way he does who think it who perform at the level he does why not give him two weeks with that to see if that you know helps him unlock something I I want to give him all the experiences he can possibly get and if you can tell me he’s going to get two weeks with some of the the most talented hockey players in the world I’d say sign me up yeah I I I prefer that Connor participates in a tournament like this versus participating in the world’s last year where it comes during the off seon and it’s like Ah that’s valuable time that you can just recover your body rest up give yourself a full training whereas when you’re in a tournament like this it is the best of the best and even despite what his ice time might look like just being around those players and absorbing like oh this is I know I’m qualified to be here but also just be a sponge and take things and learn from playing the game at a high level and then you can carry that back into the NHL with you and kind of realize too like okay it’s not going to be like this all the time you look at a guy like Nathan McKinnon when he I’m sure in his early years he did not have great line mates right and so now you all the players that he’s playing with now ranin was landeskog for a while you know all those players you’re like okay like let me get used to playing with players like this because I know that’s going to be me in a few years and so yeah I I totally agree it it’s um this will be a good experience for him if he ends up uh getting nominated getting uh picked to to be on Team Canada we had Frank surali on uh chsn Blackhawks countdown show and he said at that time again that was a week ago that Bard was trending on the way out trending up was Alex vasic at least on the radar for Team USA but a lot of the mocks that I’ve seen have not had vasic as one of the six I imagine they’re carrying seven um I I see Quinn Hughes Charlie McAvoy Jacob slaven Adam Fox Zack rinsky and Brock Faber uh do you think Alex vasic will end up making Team USA so it it doesn’t look like he will but here would be my case for Alex vasic if I was the team you USA general manager I’m looking at the defenseman and like you mentioned it’s Quinn Hughes Charlie McAvoy Jacob slaven Adam Fox Zack orensky Brock Faber Noah hanifen of th of that group I think slaven is like the shutdown guy of of the group and then I would throw in Charlie McAvoy as well a guy that can play both ends really well Quinn Hughes Adam Fox Brock Faber Noah hanifen and I might even throw Zack rensky in there those are more offensively minded defensemen so if you were Team USA would it be redundant to have five offensive-minded type defensemen in the lineup versus if you do bring an Alex fasic you know that he has some offensive potential but you know he’s going into that tournament expecting him to be a shutdown type player and he would play that role very well and so that would be my only case it’s really hard for me to put Alex above those seven defensemen that we listed but that would be the only case that I would have if I was running Team USA like do we have too many of the same defenseman should we bring it and like you know KN on wood but like what if slaven or makoy what if they get hurt between nowan that goes for any of these guys there’s basically two months from the time the rosters are announced and we know how things can change right but even if they get hurt like within the tournament it’s like oh now they don’t now they don’t have a a true shutdown guy or they don’t have enough of them and so that would be my only case for vastic but it feels like he’s definitely on team radar team USA’s radar moving forward it just might be a tad premature for this one it looks like the only lock for sure is that Tabo teravan will make the team Finland roster yep I agree I was looking at like like which Dark Horses could make it for the Blackhawks and the only one I would think of but then I looked at their goal tending I was like oh yeah right was would be Arvid solder blo for Sweden just like he’s been playing well and usually you that’s a situation where sometimes countries will bring a third goalie that is kind of like teetering on like getting ready to knock on the door but the goal tenders for Sweden Lena salar Jacob markstrom Philip guson so that that uh debunked pretty quickly all right uh we have time to do it or we can hold it do you want to talk uh prospects um let’s do we’ll do a quick rundown I’ll just I’ll do an abbreviated version okay let’s let’s kick things off with Nick lardis who’s been lighting it up in Branford okay so Nick lardis he is having an unbelievable season in the HL 36 points in 22 games but no more notably he’s tied for first in the league with 23 goals and he’s currently on a 10 game point streak he has 12 goals and 10 assists over those 10 games so that’s more than a two points per game over the last 10 games for lardis he has been awesome for the Branford bulldogs and how about Aiden Thompson the center out of uh University of Denver yeah he had he had an inconsistent year last year his sophomore year but he’s now in his junior year 22 points in 14 games and by the way he has a point in every single game this season 10 goals 12 assists he’s also averaging 1805 of ice time um and his 22 his 10 goals and 22 points rank second among all players in the nation the thing to keep an eye out for him he’s an older guy he turns 23 in February so kind of an older prospects and so we’ll see where he La lands with the Blackhawks if he signs his entry-level contract after this season let’s go to Minnesota Oliver Moore I’m gonna I’m gonna couple Oliver Moore and Sam renzel together so both first round picks by the Blackhawks they’re roommates so they they’re already building some office chemistry moris had a little bit of a tough start he’s got 11 points in 14 games as a sophomore here’s what I do like about him he’s won 113 of 208 faceoffs for a win percentage of 51.8 so he’s above 51% in the faceoffs he’s taking a lot of them which you like to see and then Sam Roselle he had only two goals last season in uh 39 games he already has six goals in 14 games this year so renzel I’ve always said for me renzel feels like the X Factor of the pipeline on the back end for the Blackhawks because his package is extremely appealing and if he ends up reaching his potential that could be a potential game changer for the Blackhawks he could be another vasic type right he’s 64 almost 200 pounds big reach yeah but um I would even say like a significantly higher offensive upside so that’s where yeah the ceiling is is higher in that regard how about R Ryan green at Boston you yeah interesting he’s an intriguing Pro Prospect for me second round pick a couple years ago he’s in his junior year at Boston University the Blackhawks felt like he was ready for Pro Hockey this year and they were hoping that he was going to sign after his sophomore year they respected his decision by going back to be he’s now the team captain he has 10 points in 12 games and then here’s another thing we like mentioned with Oliver Moore 114 of 28 faceoffs for a win percentage of 54.8 and so he’s one of the leaders in the faceoff department and the one thing I like about him 6 foot I think he’s 6’2 just under yeah 6’2 195 pounds Hawks don’t have many bigger type forwards and so if you got a guy like him that could be a potential long-term second or third line Center that wins draws two-way player appealing package for the Blackhawks Amen to that how about Sasha B yeah last one last one here number number 18 overall pick this from this past draft he’s freshman year at North Dakota he’s got 11 points five goals six assists and 13 games this season so he’s almost a point per game player the thing we like about him too his his size 6’2 183 pounds he’s got some got some muscle to to grow grow but he’s got some time the one thing I remember about him that he said at the draft he described himself as a two-way skilled power forward who can shoot the pluck and also play a physical game so again Hawks probably need some more jam on the roster long term they’re they’ve kind of cornered the market of skilled players and so you’d like to see a guy like boy boy ver if he does get to the Blackhawks and is a long-term piece he’s going to bring a different element than some of the current Pro Prospects all right tough slate for the Hawks Dallas at home on Wednesday at Minnesota on Friday uh two Western Conference playoff hopefuls that uh they’ll lock horns with that is going to do it for the Blackhawks Breakaway podcast on chsm for Charlie rottis on Pat Bo we’re brought to you by Toyota Toyota Let’s Go Places and we will catch you next time [Music]
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