Dale Weise has spoken out against his former employer, the Chicago Blackhawks
Former Chicago Blackhawks forward Dale Weise is at it again. Weise has been outspoken about his time with the Blackhawks, and not in a good way.
Weise cited his lack of playing time hurt his goal production Chicago. Weise had 14 goals with the Montreal Canadiens before joining the Blackhawks.
“I had 14 goals by mid-February,” he said. “Going to Chicago was a disaster because I played like five minutes a night. [Actually it was just under 10 minutes, which is still a paltry average.] It’s pretty tough to do anything when you play so little. It was a new experience for me.” from Philly.com
He is right; his time in Chicago was a disaster. Weise fails to mention that he was playing top-line minutes in Montreal and played third- and fourth-line minutes in Chicago.
He was added along with Tomas Fleischmann and was supposed to add depth scoring to third line with Teuvo Teravainen. As we all know, the experiment failed and both players did not enjoy success in Chicago. Both Weise and Fleischmann were relegated to being part-time players.
Weise had one assist in 15 games while averaging 9:57 of ice time per night. In the playoffs, he appeared in four of the Chicago Blackhawks’ seven games against the Blues. He played less often in the playoffs, only averaging 8:24 and scoring one goal.
But Weise’s future isn’t all that bad
Weise still parlayed his play in Montreal and Chicago into a four-year, $9.4 million deal with the Philadelphia Flyers. So his time in Chicago wasn’t all that bad.
Weise is not the first player to be believe and state that he was underutilized in Chicago. Trevor Daley was very outspoken about how he was used in Chicago. Daley would state in an interview that he believed he had more to give than he was being allowed to do.
“You went from a situation in Dallas where you were getting a lot of minutes and playing in those situations to suddenly not getting them [in Chicago], and for me to say I didn’t lose confidence? I lost a lot of confidence,” the 32-year-old defenseman said this week over the phone from Pittsburgh, where he has rediscovered that confidence. From Espn.com
Daley and Weise were just bad fits for the Chicago Blackhawks, and their playing time reflected it. Both players have now found teams more suited for their style of play.
Weise should be thankful he got a contract with the Flyers. His former teammate Fleischmann is still without an NHL job, and he performed better in his tenure with Blackhawks. Fleischmann had one goal and four assists in 19 games with the Blackhawks.
It’s over now, Weise. Let it go!
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