The Fifth Liners

Chicago Blackhawks centre Michal Handzus will be missing for action for a while at least  after reportedly tearing his MCL in his wrist during the final against the Boston Bruins . Speaking directly to NHL.com , Handzus stated that his wrist in still in a cast he expects to be out of action for at least another four weeks. The Slovakian was acquired by the Hawks from San Jose Sharks at the NHL trade deadline and became something of a lucky item for them and helped Chicago capture their third Stanley cup, finishing the playoffs with three goals and 8 assists (thats 9 more points than his regular season as a Shark brought) and was rewarded with a new one year deal on July 5th. Here's to a swift recovery Michal- from both of us here at Seven Days in Hockey!

Brent Seabrook was the overtime hero once again; as the Chicago Blackhawks came from behind in an exhilarating 6-5 win against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden in game 4 to level the series at 2-2! After Tuukka Rask ’s shutout in game 3 on Monday, the Blackhawks have come back strong. The Hawks began the first period strongly when Brandon Saad set up Seven Days in Hockey favourite Michal Handzus on a 2 on 1 after 7 minutes, but Saad became the enemy soon after as his giveaway led to a long range leveler on a Power Play by Rich Peverley . But the game burst into life in the second period when Chicago skipper Jonathan Toews scored a tip after 6 minutes to put them in front 2-1, this goal was Toews first goal since the Western final against the Red Wings and two minutes later the in-form Patrick Kane pushed them further ahead!   Milan Lucic however, put the Bruins back in the game when he scored a backhand rebound off a Zdeno Chara shot before Marcus Kruge...

The Chicago Blackhawks fought back from 2-1 down against the LA Kings at the Staples Center last night to secure a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference final and to leave the Blackhawks one win away from guaranteeing their place in the Stanley Cup final! All around there was an anticipation in the air that the Kings could produce a fight back like their Quarter Final win against St Louis previous and the sell out crowd expected big. When Slava Voynov drove in the opener from distance, it appeared it would be party time all the way for LA! But Chicago had no desire to fade away quietly and were level after 13 mins when Bryan Bickell scored! But less than two minutes into the second period, Dustin Penner beat Corey Crawford to score his first goal in over 11 games and to put the Kings 2-1 ahead!  Justin Williams had the chance to put them further ahead but his breakaway effort was superbly stopped by Crawford But again Chicago responded strongly and again tied the scores whe...

The voting for the new cover man for NHL 14 continues and it seems someone must have been listening to Mike's wise words about a goalie gracing the cover as we have not one- but two potential men in net who could grace it! Hockey Fans, I give you the final contenders! Martin Brodeur Sergei Bobrovsky  Pavel Datsyuk  John Tavares Voting is still open for this better get voting on Twitter, my personal vote shall go to Brodeur, purely because he deserves a cover after all he's achieved in net! Go to NHL.com to find out how! Shame that Handzus didn't make the list though, oh well we both still love you here Michal! Mike says 'vote Datsyuk!'

Good news for the Chicago Blackhawks , winger Viktor Stalberg will return for tonight's game. The Swede netted nine times in regular season and clocked up 14 assists. Michal Handzus is also back for game three of the series to shore up the Blackhawks' fourth line.

Alex wants you to vote for Michal Handzus , it's a good choice, but it's the wrong choice. Why is it the wrong choice? Because we shouldn't be voting for a skater, we should be voting for a goalie. The last goalie to make it onto the cover of an EA NHL game was John Vanbiesbrouck , the Vezina Trophy winner was on the cover on NHL 97. Current draft hotshot Seth Jones was 2 years old when a goalie was last on the cover. Why is this? The goalie is the glue that holds a team together, the man at the back, the last line of defense, etc etc. As I've pointed out  before,  quite often the goaltender is the difference between success and failure. We've established that this is the season of the goalie, so why Cory Schneider ? 5 shutouts, .927 save percentage 2.11 goals against average. These numbers speak for themselves but there's more. Some keepers will play day in, day out. They're first choice and it's a given that they're always going to skate. Sc...

Tomorrow we shall officially announce the candidates for the NHL 14 game cover- but before any announcements are officially made, I would like to propose an alternate candidate, hold on to your hats, this will be a bit of a shock! My official candidate is veteran Blackhawks centre Michal Handzus! Now hold on a moment before the WTF cries fill the air! I appreciate the 36 year olds point stats haven't been amazing (all 3 points scored) and his ageing years may be catching up with him. But this man has one fact that makes him stand out- he is amazing at taking faceoffs! For this very reason the Stanley Cup chasing Blackhawks acquired his services from San Jose and everyone knows a faceoff can win or lose a game! The Slovakian may not be up for the Maurice Richard scoring trophy this season, but it would be nice to see him get a little recognition for his under-rated skill! Let's see if we can a twitter trend going, if you agree put #handzusnhl14 on your twitter page! Than...

It's official. Chicago Blackhawks have confirmed  TSN's Bob McKenzie 's earlier report that Chicago have picked up Michal Handzus from the San Jose Sharks. The trade is in exchange for a fourth round draft pick. Time will tell if this is an extremely smart move or a lemon. Handzus is an experienced player with over 400 points, he's good in the faceoff circle too. This season though he has 2 points (1 goal, 1 assist) and is currently -9. Feedback from the Blackhawks faithful is mixed. The opinion being that the move is solely based on the fact that the team currently sucks at faceoffs, and Handzus is pretty good at them. This move is a sure sign that the Hawks are deadly serious about their Stanley Cup campaign and are doing everything possible to cover any weaknesses in their play.  Does not smile. Ever. Pic by Kristen Jerkins. Handzus, who played 8 games for the Hawks in the 06/07 season does add depth to the roster and his experience will be good for the team...