The-Rink.com co-hosts “Gatekeeper” and “Double J” are joined by staff member and Chicago Steel head writer  Ray Napientek to talk about the first two games of the Blackhawks regular season.

• The Blackhawks lay an egg in Prague.
• Some roster moves happen, including Carl Dahlstrom moving to balmy Winnipeg.
• Mario Tirabassi gives us another award winning #Warpigs report.
• The three old guys talk about the Blackhawks loss to San Jose.
• We also discuss Corey Crawford, Robin Lehner, Brendan Perlini, Erik Gustafsson, Dominik Kubalik and much more
• We wrap with Rinkrat PuckBag segment.

Please subscribe, rate this episode, and even write us a review. Reviews will be read on the air.

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The post Blackhawks Rinkcast – Season 3, Episode 2 – The regular season begins appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts “Gatekeeper” and “JJ” finally wrap up season 2 with Puckpedia’s Hart Levine to chat about salary cap related topics.

• The Traverse City rookie tournament starts Friday
• Five IceHogs rookie breakout candidates not named Adam Boqvist.
• Hart discusses escrow, RFAs and UFAs, Alex Debrincat and Dylan Strome extensions, Robin Lehner, and that beloved Brent Seabrook contract.
• The rookie tournament paperwork debacle.
• The “Blood,Sweat and Tiers” prospect segments.
• What are we looking for in training camp?
• We wrap with The-Rink #RinkratPuckBag segment.

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The post Blackhawks Rinkcast – Season 2, Episode 28 – The Hart of Puckpedia appeared first on The Rink.

And now is when decisions that look good on paper transition toward being put to test on ice.

To my eye, it is not just a matter of additions and subtractions, however. It is also Jeremy Colliton’s first full season as Blackhawk head coach—with his imprimateur on an unusually eventful offseason—and his first training camp and preseason slate.

Broadly speaking, the Blackhawks expended a lot of energy (and resources) this summer trying to accomplish two things.

First, they clearly wanted to become better defensively, especially in their own end, with the additions of Olli Maatta and Calvin deHaan. Both players are young, yet experienced; both are definitely defense-minded blueliners. Both battled injury last year. Both, to varying degrees, should probably be considered reasonable bets to improve the Hawks’ defensive play to some degree.

How much is an important question, because storied veterans Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith are both, also to varying degrees, on the downsides of their careers and abilities: Seabrook clearly more so than Keith. Erstwhile “fourth forward” Erik Gustafsson showed some marginal improvement defensively late last season after being put on a leash somewhat by Colliton—which also corresponded, not surprisingly, with a brief dip in his offensive output. Which Gustafsson will we see in 2019–20? Hard to say, but it is probably a safe bet his defensive reliability will continue to be an “adventure” (putting it charitably) this season.

Connor Murphy, for all that he is and is not, sort of falls in line with Maatta and deHaan, and may be more part of the solution than the problem this year.

Add in Carl “Don’t call me Calle” Dahlstrom and Slater Koekkoek—and possibly even 2018 first round selections Adam Boqvist or Nicolas Beaudin in their professional rookie seasons—and it is fair to say Colliton has more pieces around which to fashion pairings that will, at minimum, block more shots, win more 50–50 pucks in the defensive zone and provide more responsible coverage. While still generating that transition and push up the ice that drove a very good offensive year for Chicago last year.

The other thing the Hawk brass seemed to want to achieve this summer was to get a lot tougher to play against.

Now, let’s not kid ourselves: seemingly every summer, there has been a Lance Bouma or two brought in to add some more “jam,” with typically crappy results. So, how is this summer any different?

Hard to say, but looking more closely at Ryan Carpenter (UFA acquisition), Andrew Shaw and Zack Smith (trades), a pattern emerges. All can play center or wing, a couple of them (at least) are pretty good faceoff options (an underappreciated part of being a good defensive team), all can kill penalties, all have a bit of nasty to their games.

All of which, on paper, adds some elements the Hawks sorely needed last year. But again, as with deHaan and Maatta, the question is “how much.”

Shaw and Smith have battled injuries. Reports out of Ottawa are that Smith has lost a step the last couple of years. Regardless, when the option for bottom-six and penalty-killing forward roles have been either proven has-beens or developing players better suited to top-six roles in Rockford, Bowman’s summer additions should provide some improvement in subtle, yet important, ways.

So all that provides at least some reason for encouragement.

The other thing that the Hawks apparently set out to do was meaningfully reinforce the goalie position—in a way that few expected (but we predicted might happen here at The-Rink).

The addition of Robin Lehner matters this year to the extent that Corey Crawford cannot play due to injury, or if Lehner simply outplays him (also a possibility). In our opinion here at The-Rink, all things considered and in spite of the “smooth it over” rhetoric of the Hawk front office, Lehner will probably have to prove he is not ready to take over the Hawk No. 1 goalie job long-term.

Sure, the “best one-two punch in the league” narrative sounds great, and may publicly placate Crawford and his camp and those fans who thought “Crow” was going to keep “bouncing back” from concussions and play until he is 45, but this season, especially if the Hawks are still giving up 40–45 shots most nights, it may not matter.

The other thing to consider is that you cannot assume anything going into this season, based on last season.

For example, you cannot assume that Dylan Sikura will not start scoring some goals and end up as an actual offensive weapon this year. Or, you cannot assume that Kirby Dach will not play more than nine games in Chicago and provide some kind of additional contribution, which would be great.

But, you also cannot assume either of the above will happen, or that Jonathan Toews might not regress from a statistical upward deviation in production last season or that Dylan Strome will not either.

You cannot assume relative team health or, on the other hand, a season wracked by injuries.

The truth is, while the Hawks continued a now three-to-four-season-long nosedive defensively, they excelled last year offensively.

But, because the defensive trend is longer term, it is safe to assume that is more the norm (setting aside the offseason changes), while the offensive uptick was likely more of an exception.

Time and, at minimum, 82 games will tell.

But where does that leave this team in April 2020?

Hard to say because, unfortunately, the Hawks also play in what is, top to bottom, arguably the best division in hockey. That said, the first three teams in the division will likely be some combination of St. Louis, Dallas, Winnipeg, Nashville or Colorado. It is hard to envision this (albeit somewhat improved) Hawk team edging in to that conversation and finishing as one of the top three teams in the Central Division. The other Central teams are just too good, younger and either bigger, faster or both.

So then the target becomes one of two wild card spots. And this is where the Hawks’ improvement over the offseason puts them—in the playoff conversation, potentially in contention for a spot. And even if the Hawks finished say, ninth in the conference and a point or two out of playoff contention, it would be measurable improvement over last year, when they were never realistically in playoff contention, in spite of a lot of breathless hype for about six weeks or so.

But, let’s say the Hawks make the playoffs. They are still going to win a lot of overtime three-on-three games and will probably have a good power play in the regular season. But, if they have to rely too heavily on those factors for points to get them into the playoffs, they likely will not last long once there, as those factors matter less or not at all in the postseason. And remember, the wildcards have to face the division winners in the first round.

Safe to say then, with some margin for error, the Hawks end up this season somewhere between a strong, improved ninth or 10th in the conference and losing in the first round of the playoffs in five or six games.

Likely improved, but, again, how much?

What must happen:

Team defense and penalty kill must improve, a lot. If not, it would not matter if your “one-two punch” was Ken Dryden and Dominik Hasek, the team will struggle to improve over the last two seasons’ miserable performances.

What cannot happen:

Regressions by and/or significant injuries to Toews, Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat or (less so) Strome.

What should happen:

If Gustafsson wants to appear in the playoffs in a Hawk sweater, and if the Hawks want to extend his contract after this season, he needs to show he can become a consistently better player defensively—even if his numbers suffer somewhat offensively as a result.

What does not have to happen:

Although the annual pressure to elevate rookies or prospects to the Hawk lineup is as strong as ever, there is no rush to insert Adam Boqvist or Kirby Dach this year.

If Dach or Boqvist are measurably better in all phases of the game than the players the Hawks have, then this is truly a rebuilding season. And where either or both players play this year should not be dictated by what fans or team pr would like to see, but purely by what is best for the development of two 18- and 19-year-old kids.

All we have for now. Comment below.

The post Examining the goods: What to expect from the 2019–20 Blackhawks appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts “Gatekeeper” and “JJ” step back into the dusty Rink podcast studio to discuss the prospect camp and the Blackhawks fan convention with staff writers Mario Tirabassi and Aaron Goldschmidt.

• Blackhawks traded Artem Anisimov to Ottawa for Zack Smith
• Thoughts on Development camp
• Fan convention came and went.
• Chris Kunitz retires and joins the Blackhawks player development staff
• New jersey leak?
• Ian Mitchell corner, Brent Seabrook’s trial, Gus’s garage, Sekac street.
• We are only scratching the surface.  Many good things and guests to come!!!!
• We wrap with The-Rink #RinkratPuckBag segment.

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The post Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 56 – Gus bus to Camp Colliton appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts “Gatekeeper” and “JJ” rush to the The-Rink podcast studio to discuss the big trade today, the Andrew Shaw trade, and the UFA signings on July 1st.

• Now that the Andrew Shaw trade has marinated, what do we think?  You might be surprised…or not.
• What happened with the Blackhawks and Henri Jokiharju?
• Is this trade as bad as first thought?  Can Alex Nylander help the Blackhawks?
• Following JJ’s revelation that the Blackhawks might swing big on the goalie market they did just that.
• A hearty thank you to the Rink fans and our amazing staff for a great year.
• We are only scratching the surface.  Many good things and guests to come!!!!

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The post Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 55 – UFA/Nylander Trade Reactions appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts “Gatekeeper” and “JJ” are joined once again by The-Rink NHL draft guru Bill “Wiz” Placzek to wrap up the draft.

• We discuss the trade for Olli Maatta
• We discuss the trade for John Quenneville
• The crew reconvenes to go through the Blackhawks draft picks, some #WordsOfWizdom, and the trade for Calvin de Haan.
• Some opinions on what might happen with the goalies this next season
• Some vintage #GateRage
• We answer some listener and reader questions along the way
• We say thank you and best of luck to a Rink writer, and a potential HUGE podcast guest coming.

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The post Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 54 – Draft/Trade wrap with Bill “Wiz” Placzek appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts “Gatekeeper”, “JJ” and staff prospect writer Eric Andrews are joined by The-Rink NHL draft guru Bill “Wiz” Placzek and hold a mock draft.

• After a short hiatus, the crew convenes to go through the first round of the upcoming draft and some #WordsOfWizdom.
• John drives the short bus for this episode.
• Eric, Gate and Wiz plead their case for the Blackhawks pick with JJ.  Does it work?
• Gate throws the whole thing off the rails with one of his picks.
• Wiz takes us through picks 11-32
• Koekkoek extended, IIHF World Championships end with some Blackhawks players winning gold.
• The-Rink is expanding with four new writers, a potential BIG podcast guest coming, and a promising new season.
• We answer some listener and reader questions along the way

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The post Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 53 – Mock Draft with Bill “Wiz” Placzek appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts “Gatekeeper” and “JJ” are joined by staff writer Ray Napientek to chat about the few things abuzz in Blackhawks speculation.

• Blackhawks potential suitors for Ilya Mikheyev
• Kris Versteeg returns to Rockford
• Derek King named Rockford head coach
• Mark Eaton discussed Hawks defensive prospects
• Just what IF the Blackhawks draft Bowen Byram?
• Kane officially a nominee for Ted Lindsay Award
• Don Granato and the Blackhawks mutually part ways
• A little Chicago Steel talk at the end
• We answer some listener and reader questions

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The post Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 52 – School’s out for Summer appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts “Gatekeeper” and “JJ” are joined by staff writers Mario Tirabassi, Eric Andrews, Ray Napientek to talk about the end of the Blackhawks season.

• The Blackhawks moved up from 12th to third in the NHL Draft Lottery!
• What should/could the Blackhawks do in the draft?
• Is it possible they trade up or down?
• How does the change in draft order change summer free agency?
• Airing of grievances.
• We answer some listener and reader questions

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The post Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 51 – Season Wrap / Draft Lottery appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John “Double J” Jaeckel are joined by NBC  Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis to talk about this dead-man-walking week for the Blackhawks.

• Mario Tirabassi has a lengthy #Warpigs report
• Where do the Blackhawks go with defensemen?
• Where do the Blackhawks look for depth scoring?
• Gate looks to fire up the Erik Gustafsson fan club
• How realistic is this Kevin Hayes stuff?
• We examine many different trade and free agent scenarios
• We have a new review (thanks “The Cyto”)
• We answer some listener and reader questions

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The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 50 w/ NBCSN’s Charlie Roumeliotis appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John “Double J” Jaeckel are joined by surprise guest Mark Lazerus, formerly of the Chicago Sun-Times and currently of The Athletic, as the Blackhawks roll into the final ten games of the season.

• We open up with the statistical breakdown of the week.
• What kind of player are the Blackhawks rumored to go after in the offseason?
• Mario Tirabassi gives us a War Pigs report.
• We open up with Laz about the great Erik Gustafsson
• Are the Blackhawks a playoff team?
• The unrealistic “wish” that will never die, Artemi Panarin
• We talk about reality of the “vocal minority” on Twitter and dealing with them
• We answer some listener and reader questions
• We wrap up with some random Blackhawks fodder.

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The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 48 w/ The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John “Double J” Jaeckel are joined by The-Rink NCAA expert Aaron “A-A-Ron” Goldschmidt and convene to talk about the Blackhawks west coast road trip.

• Once again, we start off with the positives (we know, we’re shocked too)
• What happened on the road trip?
• Suddenly the mainstream media is reporting some very familiar sentiments
• John has some Blackhawks rumors!!
• The NBCSN poll.
• Evan Miller gives us an indy report
• Ward hurt, Delia recalled
• We wrap up by answering some listener and reader questions

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The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 46 – Fading Slowly Away appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John “Double J” Jaeckel wrap up an uneventful Blackhawks trade deadline.

photoshop creation by @Wm_J_Lepetomane on Twitter

• The Blackhawks drop 2 to division rivals.
• Are we happy with Stan Bowman standing pat?
• WHY DID UNT DA HOCKS TRAYD FER DAT STONE AN DA BRED GUY?
• Corey Crawford is back but, once again, temper expectations
• Are we now the Statler and Waldorf of the Official Stan Bowman fan club?
• Our homage to the Daily Herald’s John Dietz.
• We wrap up by answering some listener and reader questions

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The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 45 – Trade Deadline Wrap appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John “Double J” Jaeckel are joined by returning Rinkcast guest Tyler Cameron aka Justin Lowe from www.HockeyBuzz.com to talk about the Blackhawks latest streak and the trade deadline.

• The triumphant return of the Warpigs report with Mario Triabassi.
• Let’s start off with some positive thoughts.
• The Blackhawks made a small trade.
• We go through Tyler’s bold and not-so-bold predictions.
• Crawford might be back soon, now what?
• Carl Dahlstrom hate?
• Gate brings up Jesse Puljujärvi, as a wild swing
• We wrap up by answering some listener and reader questions

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The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 44 w/ Justin Lowe from HockeyBuzz appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John “Double J” Jaeckel are joined by the great Forklift from www.HockeeNight.com to discuss what is going on with this Blackhawks franchise and their 5 game winning streak.

• • Fork tells some HockeeNight history, has many quips in the middle and a tells a few stories at the end.
    
  • Has the 5 game winning streak made a difference in where the Blackhawks should be looking long term?
  • Why these silly theories are just that; silly theories.
  • Erik Karlsson and Artemi Panarin.
  • We answered some great listener and reader questions

New for 2019, the Rinkcast is also available on YouTube

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The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 43 w/ Forklift From HockeeNight appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John “Double J” Jaeckel are joined by NHL Network Radio Blackhawks correspondent Uncle Al Cimaglia to discuss what we can expect from this Blackhawks franchise.

• • There is actually some positivity (contrary to some beliefs)
  • More “Gus”. (We know, we’re sick of it too)
  • We cover the Blackhawks from stem to stern with Uncle Al for almost an hour!
  • NCAA head writer Aaron Goldschmidt comes on to discuss his much maligned Patrick Kane trade article
  • We answered some great listener and reader questions

New for 2019, the Rinkcast is also available on YouTube

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The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 42 w/ Al Cimaglia appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John Jaeckel are joined by HockeyBuzz Blackhawks writer Tyler Cameron aka Justin Lowe to discuss the team’s return to earth.

• • The Blackhawks trade Jan Rutta and a pick to Tampa for Slater Koekkoek and a pick
  • The roast of Erik “future Norris Trophy winning Defenseman” Gustafsson
  • We discuss some draft ideas
  • Who should and shouldn’t the Blackhawks target via trade or free agency?
  • The Panarin thing will not go away.
  • Some goalie talk
  • We answered some great listener and reader questions

New for 2019, the Rinkcast is also available on YouTube

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The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 41 w/ Justin Lowe appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John Jaeckel get together to talk about the  Blackhawks and their happenings over the holidays.

• Our Indy Fuel beat writer Evan Miller gives us the first Indy Fuel report.
• The Blackhawks lose to Boston in the 2019 Winter Classic.
• Blackhawks trade Manning and Norell to Edmonton for Caggiula and Garrison
• Where does Caggiula fit in the lineup?  Does anyone get sent down or waived?
• Goalie talk with the Gatekeeper
• We answered some great listener and reader questions

As a new year gift, we close out with “On My Side” from The-Rink friend and huge Blackhawks fan Patrick Judge with his bandmates in Demon Hunter.

New for 2019, the Rinkcast is also available on YouTube

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The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 40 – Winter Classic appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn, John Jaeckel and The Rink Feature NCAA Writer Aaron Goldschmidt get together to talk about the latest developments in Blackhawks land heading into the holidays.

• Corey Crawford is out with another serious concussion
• Marcus Kruger joins him as the walking wounded increase
• Collin Delia, Dylan Sikura, Carl Dahlstrom and Luke Johnson all get recalled
• The Gustafsson delusions
• Addressing the Panarin nonsense again.
• We answered some great listener and reader questions

As a special holiday gift, we close out with “On My Side” from The-Rink friend and huge Blackhawks fan Patrick Judge with his bandmates in Demon Hunter.

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The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 39 – Injuries Aplenty appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John Jaeckel get together to talk about the Blackhawks’ sinking ship.

• The Blackhawks have officially dropped to last place and lost 8 in a row.
• Blackhawks recall Dylan Sikura and Carl Dahlstrom, while sending down Alexandre Fortin
• Warpigs Report from Mario Tirabassi
• Early take-a-ways from the Schmaltz/Strome trade appear even
• Who needs to stay and who needs to go?
• We answered some great listener and reader questions

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As a special perk, listen to Jeff talk with the Shawn and Maya in the Morning about the Blackhawks at the 2:33:00 mark, from Wednesday morning:

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The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 38 – Taking On Water appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John Jaeckel get together to talk about the big trade that happened Sunday night.

• Blackhawks make a trade featuring Nick Schmaltz, Dylan Strome, and Brendan Perlini
• They then go out and lose 8-3 to the Vegas Golden Knights
• Who should the Hawks attempt to trade?
• What are the latest rumors?
• The Blackhawks power play is epically bad
• We answered some great listener and reader questions

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The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 37 – Schmaltz Ya Later appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John Jaeckel get together to chat about the first six games of the Jeremy Colliton era.

• BREAKING: The-Rink will be covering the Chicago Steel of the USHL!
• In a special segment, Gate and Aaron Goldschmidt talk to David Eckert from Blue White Illustrated and The Daily Collegian about Penn State center and Blackhawks prospect Evan Barratt
• What about that Brandon Saad / William Nylander trade speculation?
• Can Dylan Sikura save the organization?
• Positive stuff about Jeremy Colliton.
• We spend a good hour focussing on some great listener and reader questions

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The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 36 – Colliton Away appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John Jaeckel get together with The Rink Rockford Icehogs Head Writer Mario Tirabassi to talk about the Blackhawks firing Joel Quenneville and his assistants, then promoting Jeremy Colliton.

• Joel Quenneville out, Kevin Dineen out, Ulf Samuelsson out.  Jeremy Colliton in, Barry Smith in, Don Granato stays, Jimmy Waite stays.
• Derek King takes over in Rockford while Sheldon Brookbank stays there as an assistant.
• We dissect yet another awkward press conference in Blackhawks lore.
• Mario give us more insight into Coach Colliton.
• Very in-depth talk about the move, what led up to it, what the future could hold.
• We spend a good hour focussing on some great listener and reader questions

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The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 35 – Quenneville Fired appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John Jaeckel get “very dude” and discuss the Blackhawks success, and their failures with Rink staff writer Marc-Louis Paprzyca.

• The Blackhawks go 2-2.  Impressive wins vs Columbus and Anaheim, but pretty bad games vs Tampa Bay and Arizona.
• Corey Crawford is back, and looks surprisingly well.
• Anton Forsberg heads to Rockford.  What do they do with all these goalies?
• Some good discussion about Alexandre Fortin
• Gustav Forsling and Connor Murphy will be back, then what?
• We wrap up the episode with some great listener/reader questions.
• Also, Let’s talk a little about #SmokingNickSchmaltz (You heard it here first!)
  

  photoshop creation by Marc-Louis Paprzyca @pappy_hour

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The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 34 w/ Pappy Hour appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John Jaeckel discuss the unexpected Blackhawks success, and discuss the newest, most robust NHL salary cap website, PuckPedia, with its founder, Hart Levine.

• The Blackhawks lose to the Wild and beat the Blues……both in overtime.
• Fans will be happy to hear that we point out several Blackhawks positives
• The Blackhawks are also, technically, undefeated and winless…in regulation.
• The newest saga with Brandon Saad
• Will Corey Crawford play Thursday?
• What is PuckPedia, and why is it different than all the others?
• We discuss things like the complexities of LTIR and IR with Hart.
• We wrap up the episode with some great listener/reader questions…
• ….and a trolling review.

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The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 33 w/ PuckPedia appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John Jaeckel discuss the start to the Blackhawks regular season.

• A new podcast review from JDofNations
• 2-0-1 is about as good as it gets for the start of the season
• Is it sustainable?
• The Corey Crawford inaccuracies.
• Toews is back, Kahun looks good
• Alex Fortin makes his NHL debut as we record
• Chris Kunitz stinks and so does the powerplay
• John is always wrong and ruins everything, maaaaaan
• We wrap up the episode with some great listener/reader questions.

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The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 32 – Parade Planning appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John Jaeckel discuss the Blackhawks pending start of the regular season with Rink Rockford Icehogs writer Mario Tirabassi .

• Blackhawks finish the preseason
• The Corey Crawford saga continues
• The opening night lineup, what are our thoughts?
• What happens now?
• We have added a “@Pappy_Hour” to The-Rink’s coverage
• We wrap up the episode with some great listener/reader questions.

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The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 31 – Season Preview appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John Jaeckel discuss the Blackhawks start to training camp and first preseason game with Rink prospect writer Aaron Goldschmidt .

• Blackhawks lose to Columbus with a very young inexperienced roster
• Not a lot of positives in preseason game one
• The Corey Crawford injury and situation, and how the team finally released the official injury
• The team announces that injury reports will be more specific
• The defensemen still look bad and the outlook got no better with reports of Murphy and Rutta injuries
• We play rapid fire game with your host your Aaron Goldschmidt
• We wrap up the episode with some great listener/reader questions.

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Also, Please help spread the word to more #RinkRats and visit our sponsor www.PUCKHCKY.com. Use the discount code “THERINK” for 10% off all orders.

The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 30 – Season 2 Begins appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John Jaeckel are joined by NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis for a 2 hour extravaganza to talk about the dog days of the Blackhawks summer with Rink writers Mario Tirabassi and Aaron Goldschmidt .

• Mario has a sit down with Rockford head coach Jeremy Colliton
• Back with this Troy Brouwer talk, and other PTO potenials
• A whole bunch of defensive prospects.
• Aaron talks NCAA prospects.
• Charlie unloads a prospect HOT TAKE!
• Will Quenneville be around all season.  If not, who will be?
• We wrap up the episode with some great listener/reader questions.
• And lastly, John battles Charlie in a heated battle of the Hair Wars (Gate still wins the beard wars)

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The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 29 w/ Charlie Roumeliotis appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John Jaeckel get together in this short and sweet episode to discuss the scraps of Blackhawks news.

• What is a Puckpedia?
• John McDonough, Stan Bowman and the Blackhawks circus are still peddling the snake oil
• The Blackhawks convention ends, mercifully
• The we talk a little about the big hammer, John Scott, and his brand new podcast “Dropping The Gloves with John Scott”
• What is all this Artemi Panarin nonsense?
• RIP, Stan Mikita
• What upcoming guests might be joining us soon?
• We wrap up the episode with some great listener/reader questions.

thanks to @Wm_J_Lepetomane on Twitter for this fine creation

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Also, Please help spread the word to more #RinkRats and visit our sponsor www.PUCKHCKY.com. Use the discount code “THERINK” for 10% off all orders.

The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 28 (Farewell to Stosh) appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John Jaeckel are joined by Rink prospect expert Eric Andrews to wrap up Blackhawks Prospect and Development Camp.

• The Blackhawks trade Marian Hossa’s contract, Vinnie Hinostroza and Jordan Oesterle for some prospects and the corpse of Marcus Kruger.
• What about Tobias Enström?
• Stan Bowman has another virtually useless press conference regarding trades and Corey Crawford full of more fluff, empty words and lisp service
• Lots of prospect talk but did any really stand out?
• RIP, Ray Emery
• We wrap up the episode with some great listener/reader questions.

thanks to @Wm_J_Lepetomane on Twitter for this fine creation

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Also, Please help spread the word to more #RinkRats and visit our sponsor www.PUCKHCKY.com. Use the discount code “THERINK” for 10% off all orders.

The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 27 (Prospect Camp) appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com host Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and co-host John Jaeckel throw together a last minute episode to address the recent insanity following the end of the NHL season.

Happy Fathers Day to all the wonderful fathers out there!

• The “terrible” Michal Kempny is now a Stanley Cup Champ
• The Blackhawks sign Jacob Nilsson, Andreas Martinsen, and Henri Jokiharju
• Corey Crawford is actually alive, ALLEGEDLY
• Then things get interesting as they talk about:
  • Suggestion of a Brandon Saad buyout
  • Talk of a trade involving Marian Hossa for Scott Darling
  • Talk of a trade involving Brandon Saad for Justin Faulk
• We wrap up the episode with some great listener/reader questions.

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The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 24 appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John “JJ” Jaeckel reconvene after John’s bout with the black plague.  They are joined by lead The-Rink.com Rockford Icehogs writer Mario Tirabassi to talk about the Blackhawks slowly fading season, and the Icehogs more promising season.

• Back to back Jeff Glass starts vs Calgary.
• We follow-up John’s article about the Blackhawks bungling the goalie situation.
• More talk on just what the Blackhawks “should” do. Will they?
• Connor Murphy sits again while Brandon Saad has been banished to the fourth line.
• Mario gives a very comprehensive Rockford Icehogs update.
• Jeff, John and Mario tease some in-depth content coming out this week on The-Rink.com.
• Wait until you hear the lineup of future Rinkcast guests.
• And, as always, some great listener questions.

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The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 14 appeared first on The Rink.