** NEW FEATURE ** I stole this idea from Dynasty, but I wanted to do reports like he does as Bob Mackenzie from TSN. Unfortunately ever since Josh Mora was told to leave CSN Chicago I can't stand any of the guys that cover them, except Konroyd, but I didn't want to go that route so I decided to do the reports as if I was covering the Hawks for Hawks TV (A new TV station in the Chicagoland area the the Hawks just signed!)

This is George Cotugno reporting from Hawks TV, a brand new TV station dedicated to everything Blackhawks. Throughout the season we will have features on players, coaches, and maybe even an opportunity to sit down with the front office. Topics we will touch on today are how tight the West is, what has Haviland done to change the style of play, and what to do about the salary cap come next season.


We are just about 30 games in for all teams in the NHL, and as the air turns colder around North America, the competition on the ice heats up. Nothing illustrates this point more than how difficult the Western Conference is shaping up this year. The Hawks currently sit atop the Conference, which is a great thing, however, 8th place is currently TWO points behind the Hawks, that gap is unbelievable. With so many games going to OT and the SO, we are seeing a drastic increase in three point games and that is keeping things really close. Aside from that it shows that the Western Conference is tough top to bottom, there really are no nights off, and if you do have an off night, or two, you might drop 4 or 5 spots in the standings, fun for the league, but as fans, players, and coaches go they probably hate it.


That leads us into our next topic, the new head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, Mike Haviland. From all accounts the transition to Haviland has been seamless, probably because he has been around this club as an assistant for a number of years, but also because he implements a similar system as Quenneville. The major difference between the two bench bosses would have to be how much an emphasis Haviland puts on defense. "As much as fans love those 5-4 or 6-5 games, we can't have those anymore, I feel we have the fire power offensively to score like that, but I prefer to lock down on the defensive side of the game, and draw our offense from that. We have the ability, if we are patient we will get our chances," Haviland said. By no means are we talking trap hockey, we are just talking taking less chances from the back end up the ice, unless we need to. Every once in awhile we can if we have the opportunity, but the guys need to be responsible on defense first. The idea sounds great, but is it working, in a word, yes. The Hawks are giving up 2.24 goals per game this year, which is good enough for 2nd in the NHL, and tops in the Western Conference. A stat that as we go deeper into the season should continue to improve as games get tighter.

Finally, we will touch on the upcoming off-season. I'm sure we will get into this a little more down the road as we get closer to it, but it's worth mentioning. Currently the Hawks sit at roughly $10,000,000 under the salary cap, which is a great spot to be in, especially if the Hawks want to add at the deadline. However, if they do add they are going to have to take on an expiring contract given what lies ahead. Free agency could be a nightmare for Bowman and the front office, and there are sure to be moves this year with that thought in the back of the head of Bowman. The following players are UFA for the Hawks, Toews, Simmonds, Okposo, and Kane. Talk about a star studed list, that is two-thirds of the Hawks top line, the Hawks 2nd line RW, and the Hawks 3rd line RW, and top PK'er. Not to mention we are talking about two player (Toews and Kane) that literally brought this Franchise back from the dead. The RFA list is nothing to sneeze at either, Beach, Kruger, Pirri, Morin, Leddy, Leonov, and Niederreiter are all up as well. We are basically talking about the entire team almost being up save for a few defensemen here and there and Bolland and Giroux. The Hawks are going to have to lose a few of these guys, considering one would think Kane and Toews are at the top of the list to be re-signed for Bowman, and they are only going to go up, unless they accepts a hometown discount.

Some strange days ahead for the Hawks, but so far so good under Haviland as the Hawks look to have yet another competitive team this year, hope you enjoyed reading and I hope you check back soon for another installment of Talking Hawks, for Hawks TV, I'm George Cotugno.