Burish Joins Hossa On The Shelf

The Hawks still are a few weeks away from dropping the puck on the 2009-2010 season in Finland and already two of their key pieces for the year are out longterm.

Shortly after the hubbub of the Hossa signing had died down, it was leaked that the $62.8M winger had a lingering shoulder injury from that would keep him out possibly for half of the season. More recent reports have Hossa with a November return, only costing him 1/5 of the season or so.

Just today it was announced that Adam Burish, the scrappy fourth liner who really came into his own as both a penalty killer and source of unexpected offense will be out for six months with an ACL injury.

So what does this mean? It means that the Hawks are looking smarter than us all - that includes the commentators who were insistent the Hawks had to deal away some forwards and all of us fans who believed much the same (myself included). On paper the Hawks looked like they were over-loaded both on the bench and on the cap sheet, but injuries have to be expected in the NHL, and thanks to this surplus of talent and payroll, the Hawks are in good shape to weather both of these major blows.

I don't pretend to be an expert on the Cap, but it's my understanding that an injured player doesn't count against your number, at least in some situations. With both Hossa and Burish being shelved for a while, I'm blindly guessing this means they'll qualify to come off the books temporarily and alleviate the current cap concerns.

The other big part of this story is that it opens up a pair of roster spots for some of the promising young Hawks prospects. As things stand, the lines will more or less resemble the following:

Toews-Kane-Sharp
Bolland-Versteeg-Ladd
Madden-Kopecky-Buff
Frasier-Eager-Brouwer

Now JQ is notorious for moving guys around, so the above is more for understanding who the Hawks have and what level of quality they are then predicting who will actually skate with whom to start the season.

When Hossa and Burish were expected to play, Frasier was probably out of a NHL spot and Brouwer nothing more than the extra forward. Now both are regular skaters while the 13th forward spot suddenly is attainable for any young Hawk who can impress the coaching staff.

The early favorite has to be Jack Skille, a former first round pick who's got good speed, has skated with the Hawks in the past, and has been impressive so far in training camp. Skille had some injury issues last year that kept him from building on a decent 07-08, when he scored 3 goals and 2 assists in 16 games with the Hawks.

Skille has never really dominated in the AHL as you'd like to see (scoring 16 and 20 goals and 18 and 25 assists in around 60 games each of the past two seasons). But he is fast, does have some skill, and given the way he's been noticeable all over the ice in the pre-season, seems to be highly motivated. I'd like to see him get a real chance to show what he can do at the NHL level.

Last year's first round pick, Kyle Beach, could also get a look, but he's still got junior eligibility left and isn't terribly polished, so he likely will get returned to his junior squad. He's a bit of a head case, but also a physical presence and real instigator who could provide some edge to an athletic Hawks roster.

I haven't heard about anyone else doing much to warrant the final spot, but you never know when a guy will come on. Jacob Dowell skated in a game late last year for the Hawks and has been talked about as a possibility this pre-season. Tim Brent appeared in a pair of NHL contests as well. Especially because the spot will often be a healthy scratch, the Hawks may want to carry a low ceiling guy who they don't mind short-changing out of regular ice time rather than a prospect they have high hopes for.

Personally I hope Skille gets the nod and both Frasier and Brouwer are challenged to earn their regular starts. Frasier needs to follow Burish's example and make himself an invaluable penalty killer and high-energy offensive type. That doesn't mean Frasier will get much for numbers, just that he has to work really hard to at least create chances and pressure the other team during that 4th line shift. He showed signs of being able to that last year, but the way he was scratched for the playoffs shows JQ isn't sold on him yet.

I've made no secret of my distaste for Brouwer, whom I felt didn't do much for the intangibles and certainly didn't take advantage of the plethora of chances he got playing on the Hawks potent scoring lines. I'd like to see him remain as a 4th liner and develop into a serviceable grinder, rather than be a drag on a scoring line as he was last year.

Between those two and Skille, you hope you can find a serviceable producer capable of moving up to a scoring line when necessary and an impactful fourth liner with athleticism, grit, and smarts. I think that'll happen.


The one wrench in all of these plans - Versteeg and Bolland both have been out with mysterious ailments. Bolland's seems to be largely precautionary, but Versteeg's injury was suffered in a pre-season game and could be more serious than is so far being reported. If both skaters have to miss time, the Hawk's offense is really going to be short-handed. If even one is out for a while, it'll be noticeable.

But if both do come back to start the season, I think the Hawks should be fine until they get Hossa in November or December. At that point the Hawks will have some decent depth to play through the other random injuries that certainly will hit. The hope will just be that everyone - including Burish - can be at full speed come the playoffs, when the Hawks season will really begin.