Chicago Blackhawks
What to do about Patrick Kane?
Most of the hockey world has heard about it by now: Chicago’s Patrick Kane had a good time in Madison, Wisc., over Cinco de Mayo weekend. Photos showed up on the internet, and the world split into the “Boys Will Be Boys” camp and the “He Needs To Grow Up” crowd. Everyone is split, including the Chicago media.There are a number of facts that need to be considered with Kane.Yes, he was involved in an issue with a cab driver in his hometown of Buffalo in 2009. He was cleared of any felonies.Sure, there were pictures of him with Kris Versteeg and John Madden with some… unsavory female company in a limo in Vancouver later that season. No harm, no foul (unless you’re talking to Madden’s wife).And then there’s the most recent incident in Wisconsin. Madison Police were aware that Kane was in town, but no charges were brought against him.The list of incidents is growing for the young superstar. With that list comes growing concern that more than his imag…
Will The Blackhawks Re-Sign Defenseman Johnny Oduya?
There are few things associated with the Chicago Blackhawks that are more frustrating to discuss than team defense. “Good” would not be a word anyone would use to describe the blue line. “Mediocre”, “just okay”, “shaky”, and “abysmal” all would have fit the bill at one time or another in 2011-2012.
Brent Seabrook was really the only calming, consistent presence on a Hawks blue line that featured an inconsistent Duncan Keith, a green Nick Leddy, a misused Steve Montador, and a useless-in-everything-but-shot-blocking Niklas Hjalmarsson.
Those defensive issues made Johnny Oduya‘s arrival to Chicago much more welcome. The Hawks acquired Oduya from the Winnipeg Jets, to a massive uproar from Hawks fans that wanted more. Only “more” wasn’t availabe in this year’s market. Oduya was as good a move as Stan Bowman could have hoped to make.
For the most part, it was a move that worked out well for the Haw…
What To Do About Patrick Kane?
Since his weekend of “fun” in Wisconsin, most of the Chicago media has weighed in on what the Blackhawks should do with superstar Patrick Kane. Here is a collection of links to their thoughts: On Tuesday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported … Continue reading →
Blackhawks agree to terms with F Flick
The Chicago Blackhawks and forward Rob Flick have agreed to terms on a three-year contract.
The 21-year-old Flick had seven goals, six assists and 91 penalty minutes in 45 regular-season games with the American Hockey League’s Rockford IceHogs this season.
Flick was a fourth-round pick by Chicago in the 2010 NHL entry draft. He spent three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with Mississauga-St. Michael’s (2008-11). He is from London, Ontario.
Terms were not disclosed by the team in Tuesday’s announcement.
Blackhawks Sign Rob Flick
On Tuesday, the Chicago Blackhawks announced that they have come to terms on a three-year deal with Rob Flick. Flick, 21, was a fourth round selection (120th overall) in the 2010 NHL Draft. He split the 2011-12 season between the Rockford … Continue reading →
Chicago Blackhawks’ non-response to Patrick Kane antics have some crying for a trade
These days it seems there are more photos circulating of Patrick Kane off the ice than on the ice.
Patrick Kane, shown in this file photo, has proven to create as many reactions for his off-ice activity as much as his time on the ice.
His latest antics, in Madison, Wis., have proven to be memorable, laughable, but, also, disrespectful. A mixture of emotions pried from general hockey fans to traditional Blackhawks fans.
For the traditionalists who want to see their players represented in the upmost profession, disrespected is probably how they felt when these photos circulated.
Of course these photos have had a mention everywhere but from the Chicago Blackhawks franchise.
Unlike his taxi cab controversy, this display of public intoxication went without a Blackhawks PR trip. Is the front office done with trying to tame Kane? Or is this incident less evasive to the safety of others, and therefor, needless to be addressed?
Finally, after days of quiet on the “trade Kane” f…
Should the Blackhawks Trade Patrick Kane?
Last week Blackhawks center/winger Patrick Kane got drunk. Not just a little drunk. Not just pretty drunk. Kaner got girl-choking-fight-starting-kicked-out-of-bars ******* drunk.
This is the latest entry in Kane’s eventual scrapbook of misbehaved blackouts, and more that ever before, it’s causing him to catch some flack. When Kane punched a cabbie over nickels and dimes in Buffalo, he basically got a pass from the Blackhawks and fans. He was just a young and talented millionaire having a little too much fun. He’ll grow up, we thought. He’ll straighten out.
What the media and the ‘Hawks failed to recognize was that Patrick Kane is a moron. Whether Deadspin’s supposed eyewitness accounts of Kane’s Cinco de Mayo ******** are true or false is irrelevant. Anyone who’s familiar with Kane’s behavior read the accounts and figured, “yeah, that’s about right.” The only part that might be remotely alarming is the…
Patrick Kane: International Partier or International Light Weight?
This past weekend, Chicago Blackhawks All Star Patrick Kane went to spend some time at the University of Wisconsin with his pals. However, he didn’t just “spend some time” there, he lived up every single second of it.
Or at least he tried to.
If you haven’t seen or heard about the Deadspin story, it recaps Kane’s black out-drunk experience in Madison. He got kicked out of fraternity parties and bars, started fights with random people, upset many girls, and was all around a huge liability to everyone he was with.
At first, you may think that’s a pretty cool story; Kane partied with some lucky college kids and helped give them one hell of a day. But in my eyes, that is not at all the case.
Currently a student at Indiana University where the party scene in Bloomington is similar to that in Madison, I know exactly how annoying and troublesome he was.
At every party or event, there’s that guy.
There’s a big difference between having a drin…
Blackhawks cut off Patrick Kane access; Kaner on his way out?
Is Patrick Kane on his way out of town? Are the Chicago Blackhawks sick of his antics? The team is not answering any media requests at all regarding Kaner’s allegedly getting drunk, passing out at a bar, choking a woman, hurling anti-Semitic slurs while getting kicked out of a party at the University of Wisconsin.
The Hawks aren’t even bothering to do damage control or enact the spin machine on this one. They won’t even allow “Kaner” to talk to the Chicago Tribune, let alone any other media outlets. Taking it further, they won’t even allow anyone from the team to even discuss Kane.
Does this mean it’s the end of the Kane era in Chicago?
The Trib’s Steve Rosenbloom believes so. He also believes the silence means the Hawks regard the 23-year-old NHL superstar as guilty of what multiple people accuse him of doing.
From the Chicago Tribune Rosenblog:
Look, if the pictures were, say, photoshopped and Kane was being punk’d, then the Hawks w…
Time for the Hawks to flush Kane
Dead Spin Photo
It would appear that Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane needs to grow up and start acting like an adult and not a punk. Also, maybe Kane could learn a think or two from his fellow teammate Jonathan Toews on how to behave in public and not some spoiled brat.
After a subpar postseason series against the Coyotes during which he had four assists in the six-game loss and was off the ice in the final minutes of Game 6 following a misconduct penalty for, as Kane put it, “just kind of slashing (Coyotes) like Paul Bunyan out there,” the offseason arrived.
Not more than a few weeks into it, photos of an allegedly intoxicated Kane attending the Mifflin Street Block Party on Cinco de Mayo in Madison, Wis., were published on deadspin.com. They showed Kane cavorting with college students, apparently passed out at a bar and, in one, appearing to walk away while talking with a police officer.
At first, it fueled more head-shaking and “that’s just Kaner being Kaner” thoughts. Things suddenly got much more serious when the website began quoting anonymous sources alleging Kane choked a woman before being thrown out of a party and also hurled an anti-semitic slur during another altercation.
Personally, if I was the general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks I would trade this punk and get rid of the distraction that comes with this clown, while Kane had a down season last year, the GM could still try to get a decent replacement that comes with less baggage than Kane.
This isn’t the first incident with Kane; he was arrested in 2009 for roughing up a Buffalo Cab driver when the cab driver didn’t have the correct change. Kane and his punk cousin James ended up beating up cabbie over 20 cents, no that’s not a misprint, he assaulted someone over 20 cent’s. It’s not like 20 cents was going to break him, he is rich from playing a kids game.
Most normal people can fathom beating up a cab driver over a minuscule amount like that – most normal people would have also landed in jail for an assault like that because most of us don’t the ability to buy an expensive defense team like Kane can. Seriously! Maybe Kane should learn to control his anger and stop acting like a spoiled entitlement kid; if I was in the Blackhawks front office I would put this punk on double secret probation and would cut him the next time he gets out of line and embarrasses the Blackhawks organization. There is no way you can excuse this type of behavior and I haven’t seen anyone doing so, yet.
The ‘Boy’ Still Remains In Patrick Kane
from Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Sun-Times, Twenty-three-year-olds still have some wild oats to sow. I was 23 once and so were many of you. But we weren’t representing an NHL hockey team. We didn’t score the goal that won the Stanley Cup for the Hawks. Our lives weren’t very public….
If you Googled “Patrick Kane’’ on Saturday, the first item that came up was “Patrick Kane’s drunken weekend.’’ That’s not something the image-conscious Blackhawks want when they’re trying to sell themselves to families. That’s not what you want 8-year-old Timmy seeing when he’s researching his favorite player for a school report.
Athletes are role models, whether they want to be or not. It comes with the money and the fame. Your every move is watched, analyzed and judged. Some of those moves are emulated, even the stumbling-drunk ones.
I don’t want to go all Puritan on Kane here. It can’t be overst…
When Will Patrick Kane’s Drunken Adventures Become Too Much?
Aside from the rift in the Chicago Blackhawks‘ front office, Patrick Kane‘s life away from the ice might just be the worst kept secret in all of sports, mostly courtesy of Deadspin.
It seems we can’t go an offseason without some sort of drunken mishap from the star winger. This summer has already included an adventure in Madison, Wisconsin, with alleged violence against women (see previous link) and blackout drunkenness. Pretty much what you’d expect from any frat star on a college campus, but not an NHL superstar.
Not that Kane should be sitting at home on weekend nights catching up on the latest episodes of Mad Men, an activity I’d expect more out of Jonathan Toews. Kane is 23 and has more money than he knows what to do with. Let him have his fun.
But when it gets to be an embarrassment to the organization, there is an issue. With these latest photos, Kane is walking a fine line that is going to make someone at the top of the Hawks’ front office…
USHL goalie makes a barehanded save
Making this save barehanded increases the level of difficulty ten fold.
Goaltender Stephon Williams backstopped his Waterloo Black Hawks to a 6-2 victory over the Lincoln Stars in USHL playoff action by stopping 29 29 of 31 shots he faced, the most difficult of which was a point blank glove save on the Stars’ Kevin Roy. While the save in and of itself would have been über impressive in it’s own right, the fact that Williams did it sans glove sends the awesomeness of it all through the stratosphere.
Hey, fractures caused by stopping frozen pucks with your bare hand heal (although probably not in time to face Green Bay in the Clark Cup final, which will probably destroy your team’s chances at victory), but the glory of a save like this lasts forever. And by forever I mean a week, two weeks tops when it comes to Internet fame.
[H/T to Puck Daddy]
Can Quenneville And Bowman Co-Exist?
from David Shoalts of the Globe and Mail, There is an extraordinary situation in Chicago where head coach Joel Quenneville and general manager Stan Bowman now have an uneasy peace after months of conflict both in and out of the public eye.
Both Bowman and Quenneville will now go about their jobs under the demanding presence of Blackhawks president John McDonough, who does not hesitate to put the boots to anyone he finds lacking. Just ask Dale Tallon, whose thanks for putting together the team that eventually won the 2010 Stanley Cup was a one-way trip to Florida.
If the Blackhawks recover from two consecutive exits from the first round of the NHL playoffs since their Cup win, Quenneville and Bowman will live happily ever after, albeit with the odd forced grin. If not, Quenneville and maybe even Bowman will have to answer to McDonough.
The uneasy truce was necessary because the tension between Quenneville and Bowman was starting to affect the players.
continued
Patrick Kane Went To A Party
Deadspin.com has photos of Patrick Kane having a good time at a number of parties at the University of Wisconsin last weekend. The stories are pretty wild, and leave a lot to the imagination. My sources echo what Jay Zawaski … Continue reading →
