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With a few days off from work, I have been obsessing over this center thing and as we all know, too much time on my hands is fertile ground for the creation of bad analogies. Without a solid second line center, Hossa seems kinda like a Rolex clock radio. You see the quality just looking at, it tells time like nobody's business and really rocks when you drop in some euro thrash metal CD. In the right room, it's functional, stylish and aesthetically pleasing but it's also a bit handcuffing. Once you buy it and take it home and plug it in, you are pretty much stuck with decorating around it or it stands out as that thing you bought simply because you could (sorta like my new skates). No matter what the Hawks do, Hossa is still going to be useful and do some cool things with the puck. But with the price tag he has attached to him, the Hawks need to see more goals out of him and I don't think this is going to happen until they find a solid guy to center for him. The Sharp as center thing seemed to work reasonably well, but the Hawks really don't seem wedded to that idea. Also, looking around the internet there seems to be a pretty fair amount of comments suggesting that Sharp really doesn't want to be that center guy and as we all know, if it's on the net it's unquestionably true. As an aside, if they can finally figure this out and we have the first and second line centers fixed, I think Q's line juggling becomes less of an issue and I like Sharp at wing. A big debatable question is whether Bolland can be that second line guy. I honestly don't know if he can be that guy, but as a shut down guy he has excelled. Hossa is a two way player but the reality is that he was brought here for offense. Between Hossa and Bolland you have a great skill set, but I just don't think it's a complimentary skill set for what you want to accomplish. Besides, if the Hawks move Bolland up, I then think they are stuck as they would then need to go out find a shut down guy. Madden in this role is intriguing. But, at his age, I don't think he can be that shutdown guy night in and night out for a full season that would hopefully include an extra quarter season playing for the cup.
In house, I don't know that the Hawks have the guy that can either step up and play second line or step up and play third effectively. Just looking at numbers, I like what there is on McNeill. I haven't seen a ton of stuff saying he is ready to go right now but most accounts I have read say that if nothing else he is close and should make it in the bigs. Then there's that Kruger kid and the jury really needs to deliberate a little more before passing judgment on him. He seems to have some nice hands but as we complained about with Campbell, he doesn't have size. On paper, I like what there is on Danault as well. But my outlook is kind of like this, if these guys are not ready to come up play at where you project them to play, are you doing their development a disservice by playing them in fourth line roles? In a lot of cases I think you are. Also, there is the issue of burning off a year of entry level contract just to take a risk and see if the kid can produce. A lot of people don't care about starting the clock, but in a cap world I'd rather see the kid come up when he's as ready as he's going to be before starting that clock. Until prospects and pre season, I don't think we are really going to have any idea what these kids look like and that brings up the question of what to do in free agency.
Laich was the guy I was really kind of looking at and I thought he would look good with Hossa but he reupped. Looking around at different writers speculations and parsing SB quotes, it doesn't seem like the Hawks are in the hunt for Richards and honestly, I'm kinda glad about that. With his talent and experience, he should be looking at serious money and a long term deal. If the Hawks really feel like they have something in one or more of these kids, then I don't think you lock up a long term guy unless it is someone like Laich who is still on this side of 30. To me the question has started to become, Can the Hawks find a decent center that perhaps is a little older but can do a decent job for a year or two, or can they find a guy who is not currently second line but that might fit with Hossa anyway? Some names below the level of Richards include Marcel Goc, Madden, Jason Arnott, Tomas Fleischman and some dude named Kopecky who won a couple of cups (I kid, but he is listed on one site as a center). Without a qualifying offer, Tyler Kennedy could be in the mix as well. Luckily, I'm not in SB's shoes, but my thinking is to look for the guy who is reasonable for a shorter deal or look to trade for a center who might have a breakout year with some good talent to play with like Hossa.
Admittedly, I tend to watch non Hawks games a little more passively with respect to really knowing other players that aren't near the top of their position, so I'll hang up and listen to your responses. 29 Jun, 2011
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Source: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/blackhawks-puck-pow-wow/2011/06/center-of-the-storm.html
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