Pat Kane and Sam Gagner

[QuakersHockey12]

HAHa.......if people out there dont think gagner has good hands then you r messed up!! He is simply amazing when he has the puck lol

[tscjigga]

gagner will be doug weight

[ApachePiL0T]

Since Patrick Stefan, who is the worst Forward selected 1st Overall in the NHL up until Kane?

Here are your choices. Ilya Kovalchuk, Rick Nash, Alexander Ovechkin or Sidney Crosby?

I know who I'd take LAST. Candy Kane...

[LuSh993]

it wasn't that deep of a draft in 2007. i'd take any of them over kane too, but he was the best one in the 2007 draft.

[adoyleBU]

yeah, he's really not working out for the blackhawks. they're just not a good team with him.

moron.

[1jmdimatteo]

@ApachePiL0T true. but out of those who has their name on the cup?? Sidney and Candy Kane... Go Hawks

[laxdangla232]

thelargeyeti try making the nhl at 19 fagot

[Alexter9669]

Ilya Kovalchuk is better than both of those fools

[spongedom96]

@Alexter9669 fools? im pretty sure kovalchuk doesnt have his name engraved on the cup bud

[sauramaa]

nice..

[rawrcookies99]

keep your retarded comments to yourself douche bag.

[thelargeyeti]

kane is a talentless pylon.

[hckyboy14]

what??? how?? kane is a beast

[rawrcookies99]

kane is a talentless pylon? pretty sure he's going to the all star game in the show and he's only 19... what hockey you play? beer league... sweet buddy, ur unreal, probly got lots of talent.

[thelargeyeti]

shit i would school your ass in a game of hockey. you talentless pylon.

[takko99]

lol he has talent. hes jsut a snot nosed brat. talked to the guy. hes as cocky and emotionally retarded as phaneuf

[R3DWINGS14]

i love kane and gagner is sick too but its a shame that they dont get enough credit being young stars becuz everyones just paying attention to crosby i mean no doubt crosby is amazing but he also has a great team meanwhile kane who carries his entire team wasnt drafted into an already great team and hes turning them around and gagner is sick too , oh yeah and crosby is a bitch

[smallfootM]

i am a canadiens fan but i still like the hawks and i think they will be dangerous this year with toews, kane, havlat, huet, cambell and i think they deserve to start being a winning and competetive team who could go for a place in the playoff

[cookiedude00]

oh and ice time? kane was consistently getting in the top 4 ice time's off forwards throughout the season. wow you obviously are not a hawks fan and know nothing. good thing you are not a GM, otherwise we wouldnt have kane as rookie of the year. oh and we have a leader already: toews. kane is not a natural leader and he will play a supporting role and he knows that, and is going to be sick at it!

[Frostybeek]

Leadership is often mistaken to originate from a magical, mythical leader-type of the Mark Messier mold. Leadership usually comes from many sources and as one of the Hawks' best players Kane needs to be a big part of that leadership-core.

[cookiedude00]

oh and the hawks were in the playoff hunt with 2 games left so we were not out of it until the last 3 days when the blues sucked it up and lost twice to nashville. dont worry next year we'll go deep

[cookiedude00]

dome is an idiot. if kane is good enough for the nhl, he should be put in the nhl, not ohl. and he just proved you wrong: rookie of the year. what you have to say to that? oh and kane was playing on the top 2 lines when havlat and toews were not hurt. i am a huge hawks fan and watched every game and you are an idiot.

[cucdude]

Not necessarily true. Many players who have been "good enough" have been brought to the NHL and broken by all the pressure and take longer to develop or just fizzle out and become career AHL players. You can't rush young talent, although there are many exceptions, the best being Crosby. The thing they need most is mental toughness, which is easier to learn in the AHL. Since the Hawks missed the playoffs its not like they were going to miss anything. They will be good VERY soon though.

[Frostybeek]

Actually, Cary Price was likely the real rookie of the year. The Kane win had more to do with the league trying to breathe a little live into the Chicago fan base.

You have totally missed the point of the rest of the guy's opinion. Another year in the O would mean another year of growth and development in a less stressful environment. It's great that Kane excelled but there was a pretty high probability of him failing and losing his way like Gagner did.

[Frostybeek]

The rush to the pros looks great when it works. Sadly, it doesn't always work... just look at Gagner's experience with the Oilers.

[dad5004]

GO SHARKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Treyzaacs]

why would kane still be in the OHL i would know i was drafted to the OHL as a 16 year old for one personally i would not rather line up against pkane

[dome1972]

I doubt that.

[Forumryder101]

body you have no idea what your talking about think before you talk!!

[dome1972]

Kane and Gagner should still be in the OHL. The Hawks and Oilers have done a pretty good job of screwing young kids up in the recent past. Another year in the "O" would have allowed them to take on all the responcibilities of leadership. Anyone who watched the Knights' and Whalers' last year knows that they still had some growing up to do. I just hope they can put it all together up there because they are fun to watch.

[ak2112]

Yes, Kane should still be in the OHL instead of leading the NHL rookies in points.

Good call.

[dome1972]

Part 1

I don't think you get it. I not saying the kids can't have a degree of success in the pros. I just think that for their long term development it would have been better to have them come back to junior. If they came back this year they would have been leaders and that would have helped to develop them as men and athletes.

[dome1972]

Part 2

For instance, Kane receives semi-regular ice time while Gagner is essentially a shootout and power play specialist. Obviously, this will not assist Gagner's development, it's like a lost year. Meanwhile Kane is not being allowed the time to develop his defensive zone and game-play awareness.

[dome1972]

Part 3

I'm all for the kids getting paid but an additional years worth of experience at the junior level would likely be worth more to their overall career. Oh, and for the record, Kane wouldn't be leading rookie scoring if Toews wasn't injured. Toews is ready to play pro, Gagner and Kane are not.

[mbobobo2]

that was the dumbest thing i have ever heard

[dome1972]

You just don't have the capacity to understand.

[mbobobo2]

what the hell are you talking about..kane led all rookies in points and completly dominated th OHL with 145 points..and Kane's ice time had nothing to do with Havlat or Toews..Why would the hawks pick a guy first overall who they aren't going to play? And you gain game play awareness by getting experience in the NHL...but yeah you're right i know nothing

[dome1972]

The growth and development of a player, even one as skilled as Kane, takes time. The Hawks drafted Kane because they believed that he could develope into something special when he is in his mid twenties, not what he could do today. If he had played junior this year he would be learning how to compete at the time of the year that means the most. I watched all of Kane's OHL games and he needed to work on being competetive when it mattered in the playoffs. Hopefully he plays for USA at the WC.

[olthunder7]

are you serious kane is taking the hawks to the playoffs this is the most exiciting year they have had in a real long time ur a idiot

[dome1972]

When I wrote this the Hawks were a long ways from 8th place. For what it's worth, they won't make it this year but they are fun to watch.

My assessment of the benefits of another year in junior are still sound. In junior, Kane and Gagner would have played in all situations and would have been doing so from the beginning of the season. Kane's ice time increased only because Havlat and Toews went down with injuries. Gagner's ice time grew because of the loss of Horcoff, Torres and Moreau.

[Frostybeek]

This guy seems like he knows what he was talking about. Even though Kane as thrived in the NHL the same cannot be said about Gagner. Here's hoping that Gagner catches a second wind like big Joe Thornton did in his 3rd and 4th years in the pros.

[Ogilthorpe1977]

Let's remember that Kane grew up in Buffalo, NY and to quote Don Cherry "It's part of Canada".

[canucksfan91]

LOL

[mNag]

As far as franchise players go, typically Canadians are far more likely to develop into such a player. Americans often fizzle into steady 1st liners. I'm not saying Gagner is necessarily going to end up developing into a better player than Kane, but I feel his upbringing will give him an edge in becoming a franchise player.

[tblach04]

Gagne didn't always live in Cananda. He lived in Texas and Florida when he was younger. His dad coached my brothers team down in Texas. Sam played on that team.

[mNag]

Understood, but he was brought up with a Canadian mentality of the game. Not saying Americans can't be as immersed in hockey as a Canadian can be... and I mean, anyone who has made it into the NHL draft for that matter, has obviously committed much of their life to hockey.

Just think of it this way, more girls out here will swoon over a hockey player than movie stars and every other proffesional sport combined. It's almost like we're brainwashed with hockey - if that makes any sense?

[canucksfan91]

Gagne or Gagner?

Cause there's a Simon Gagne in the NHL too.

[LeadMeNoWhere]

SAM GAGNER

what it says

[Rangers99995]

kane is beter. gagner will be niice, but not as.

[oehieze]

If not for getting hurt half way during the OHL season, sam would be humber 1... keep an eye out... a really hungry kid