- Second City Hockey (Oct 26): It was nice to see the fourth line generate a little bit of pressure and physicality tonight, with Jake Dowell getting into an obligatory scrap with Shane Hnidy
- Chicago Blackhawks Examiner (Oct 26): Jake Dowell should stay up in Chicago, even when Toews comes back. Working a rotation with Fraser, Ebbett and Dowell would bode well for the Hawks, who can chose for a player based on the team they would be playing and the level of physicality. If Dowell, the Rockford IceHogs captain, is too valuable to the AHL to be kept up as an NHL scratch, then the Hawks should call up a player like Rob Klinkhammer or Bryan Bickell to fill the role of de-facto enforcer and fourth liner. Also, I sure hope that Jonathan Toews and Brent Seabrook don't need as much time as Ben Eager to recover from a concussion. I understand that the Eager has a history of concussion problems, but Jake Dowell's AHL/NHL status might as well be how Ben Eager is feeling that day. If it's bad, Dowell is in the NHL, good, Dowell is in the AHL. Overall, I'm not sure why the Blackhawks don't put a timetable on Eager so they can stop stringing players between Rockford and Chicago. Then again, this is the team that refuses to put Adam Burish and Marian Hossa on the long term injury lists, so logic isn't exactly first priority.
- Fifth Feather (Oct 25): The much maligned Hawks fourth line put together a respectable performance with some solid forechecking and pressure. I would venture to guess Jake Dowell will probably get to stick around a bit this time even when Toews returns. Not to take away anything they did tonight, but they were playing Nashville. The true tests will come when they play better teams.
- Jesse Rogers - ESPNChicago (Oct 25): Toughness vs. Fighting. There is a difference. When Toews got lit up at center ice by Willie Mitchell, it once again brought up a decade-old question: Do the Hawks have enough toughness? A heavyweight is nearly meaningless in this day and age. The rules have changed. There really are no more goons. At least not on great teams -- they can't afford to carry them. And I don't mean because of the salary cap.
I said that when Adam Burish went down, we would start looking back and saying, "Man, we could have used Bur in that situation." I think we can name about four or five situations already. It's not the heavyweight they miss. It's the energy and toughness that Burish and Ben Eager brought last season. They bring that partly because they can skate. Stan Bowman said as much on the Hawks' radio flagship after Saturday's game. He said the Hawks would consider replacing that toughness if they could find someone who can play a regular shift. Bowman said you can't hit what you can't catch, and he's right. Those guys are not as easy to find as you might think.
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