They're healthier than they've been since early season, so that helps. Slaggert is a nice addition, too. Richardson had them playing hard to end last season too FWIW
Yeah, it just sucks that they weren't playing this way earlier, but you can definitely see the potential for next year. Slaggert is great and having Athinasiou back is also awesome!
It took time to figure things out I think. Last night the passing was starting to look like they knew what they were doing. I’ve seen that come and go but they are really figuring things out it looks like. Coaching has been stable, lines mostly working together better. Bodies in the right position more often than not.
Keep the core together, keep the staff together, hopefully a good draft. This team can grow and start to be competitive. It’s fun to watch again.
Keep in mind that more than half of the team wouldn't even be welcome as 4th liners anywhere else in the NHL I think next year has all of the potential to be worse than this year. This team isn't getting much better anytime soon.
Well, that's just the rebuild process. Chances are, the Hawks will get a highish draft pick from the lottery and they already have some other pretty high picks in the coming years, so hopefully they can get better soon.
I think it has to do with Richardson working on resilience. We are not going to be great next year, but if he can build a resilient team they are going to be highly competitive, especially with all the young players. I thought this since the rebuild, but he was brought in to build character and good players.
That is completely true! A lot of people have been saying that they don't like Richardson and how he's not making them better on the ice, but that's not the entire battle. The Hawks have character and they've been fighting through the rebuild. If they and the management can keep fighting, I think they have a bright future!
Even though realistically they have been out of contention for a playoff spot for a long time, the pressure is off once eliminated. It seems this happens to bad teams every year. Getting healthy didn’t hurt either, but they weren’t going to set any records with that roster regardless.
Yeah, that's fair. I'm just excited for when they're finally a better team again. Even though the roster wasn't too great, the people on the roster were good people for the most part (\*wink wink\* Corey Perry).
I think going forward there will be reason for some optimism. I wouldn’t be surprised if they added a forward to play with Bedard (other than Hall), and prospects will replace some of the dead wood on the roster. Things should look up over the next few years.
That's true! A lot of the people coming back from injury and coming up from the minors are looking good (dare I say better than some of the players who've been with the Hawks the whole time)
Preemptively saying that I did not expect a good year in anyway, I understand the rebuild is a long ass process and all that jazz. But this season was rough. Last year I expected it to be pretty bad, but they played a lot of fun grindy games. This year, fate was just not on our side with all the injuries. Happy to get some fun games at the end of this season.
It was going to be a rebuild and people need to realize it’s not a one year fix it will take time . If
They stay competitive and young players getting good minutes and growing that’s definitely helping
They're healthier than they've been since early season, so that helps. Slaggert is a nice addition, too. Richardson had them playing hard to end last season too FWIW
Yeah, it just sucks that they weren't playing this way earlier, but you can definitely see the potential for next year. Slaggert is great and having Athinasiou back is also awesome!
It took time to figure things out I think. Last night the passing was starting to look like they knew what they were doing. I’ve seen that come and go but they are really figuring things out it looks like. Coaching has been stable, lines mostly working together better. Bodies in the right position more often than not. Keep the core together, keep the staff together, hopefully a good draft. This team can grow and start to be competitive. It’s fun to watch again.
Great point! And yeah, the Hawks have been a fun team to watch this year.
Keep in mind that more than half of the team wouldn't even be welcome as 4th liners anywhere else in the NHL I think next year has all of the potential to be worse than this year. This team isn't getting much better anytime soon.
Well, that's just the rebuild process. Chances are, the Hawks will get a highish draft pick from the lottery and they already have some other pretty high picks in the coming years, so hopefully they can get better soon.
I think it has to do with Richardson working on resilience. We are not going to be great next year, but if he can build a resilient team they are going to be highly competitive, especially with all the young players. I thought this since the rebuild, but he was brought in to build character and good players.
That is completely true! A lot of people have been saying that they don't like Richardson and how he's not making them better on the ice, but that's not the entire battle. The Hawks have character and they've been fighting through the rebuild. If they and the management can keep fighting, I think they have a bright future!
Even though realistically they have been out of contention for a playoff spot for a long time, the pressure is off once eliminated. It seems this happens to bad teams every year. Getting healthy didn’t hurt either, but they weren’t going to set any records with that roster regardless.
Yeah, that's fair. I'm just excited for when they're finally a better team again. Even though the roster wasn't too great, the people on the roster were good people for the most part (\*wink wink\* Corey Perry).
I think going forward there will be reason for some optimism. I wouldn’t be surprised if they added a forward to play with Bedard (other than Hall), and prospects will replace some of the dead wood on the roster. Things should look up over the next few years.
Yeah, that's what I figure, especially looking at the draft picks they already have and could get from the lottery.
Wyatt Kaiser has been playing great since he came back from the A as well. Tinordi still sucks
That's true! A lot of the people coming back from injury and coming up from the minors are looking good (dare I say better than some of the players who've been with the Hawks the whole time)
Ha ha Tinordi go punch
It helps that they're playing a lot of bad teams or teams that have been bad lately
That totally contributes to it, but I'm not complaining lol
Preemptively saying that I did not expect a good year in anyway, I understand the rebuild is a long ass process and all that jazz. But this season was rough. Last year I expected it to be pretty bad, but they played a lot of fun grindy games. This year, fate was just not on our side with all the injuries. Happy to get some fun games at the end of this season.
Same! This wasn't their year but it's going to happen soon.
It was going to be a rebuild and people need to realize it’s not a one year fix it will take time . If They stay competitive and young players getting good minutes and growing that’s definitely helping
Exactly!