Do we finally have a suitable CapGeek replacement? Thoughts on Goligoski, Despres and more …

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If you were to rate Chicago’s game throughout the year on a scale of one to 100, there would be some weeks and some games where maybe you’d give them an 85. At other times, they played poorly and perhaps you’d score them at 40 or even 30. But what I’m seeing out of them this round is 100. I mean, everything is perfect right now. Offense. Defense. Coaching. Even Corey Crawford is in the zone. The scorers are scoring, the hitters are hitting and the checkers are checking. At this point, the Blackhawks are making me waver on my Rangers Cup pick. Yes, I still think the Rangers will take out the Caps (all due respect to the Caps, who look real good right now).

And of course Kane scored the only goal of the contest. Was there any doubt? These days, if you see a game with only one goal scored and No.88 is playing in that game, then you can safely bet your life savings on him being the player to score it.

On Monday in the Ramblings I railed against Brad Richards getting too much ice time. Does Quenneville read my stuff? Richards was down to 12 minutes last night. As he should be.

Chicago had just one power play and they scored on it. The Wild had three and were shut down. That’s textbook hockey – keep the penalties down to a minimum. And they still couldn’t win.

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Here’s some evidence that Crawford is in the zone – look how close this puck is to crossing the line (best replay is at 27 seconds):

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Simon Despres has five assists in seven playoff games. As a prospect, I had him tagged as a promising offensive defenseman. I figured he was potential 40-point guy and on the Penguins maybe he could tweak that up to 45. But then some untimely injuries hit, and he struggled at times. Was given very little power-play time. Scratched a lot this year. I wrote him off. He gets traded to Anaheim and after six points in 16 games I still had him written off. His ice time increased and he wasn’t getting scratched anymore, but he’s still not seeing PP time.