I really enjoy reading Tim Sassone and Barry Rozner in The Daily Herald. They are the best two writers who will discuss the Blackhawks. Rozner had an interesting take on the way the Blackhawks are handling Dustin Byfuglien in his piece dated January 11 under the header "Vanity Fair". Rozner states...

"The Hawks' constant trashing of Dustin Byfuglien lately is a transparent prelude to moving the kid back to forward.

Of course, if they hadn't messed with him already, wasting valuable learning time, maybe Byfuglien wouldn't be minus-8 and second-guessing himself on defense right now.

Meanwhile, you don't hear a veteran like Andrei Zyuzin blasted for his minus-10, but that's Blackhawks politics for you, and an abject lesson in handing over the car keys without first insisting on driver's education."

Not sure what he means by the last sentence. Is he ripping Savard and saying he's not ready to coach an NHL team? Is he saying that Byfuglien has been given too much responsibility too soon? I know he has been critical of the Blackhawks for counting on the rookies too much.

Tim Sassone then, seemingly in response to Rozner, states in this piece dated January 17 under the header "Learning Curve"...

"Dustin Byfuglien wasn't benched by Denis Savard for the third period at Nashville on Sunday for making a mistake. He sat for a series of poor decisions made that night and over the previous week, including one in overtime at Montreal that led to the Canadiens scoring the winning goal.

Savard hasn't ripped Byfuglien once to the media, nor did he tell the entire world that Troy Brouwer couldn't skate.

Anyone who saw Brouwer's one game against Detroit on Jan. 6, it was obvious the kid couldn't keep up. Savard was asked about it and said simply that Brouwer needed to improve his skating -- just as honestly as when he said Jack Skille needed to be better along the wall and Jonathan Toews needed to improve his faceoffs."

I've got to agree with Sassone here. I have no idea what sort of "trashing" Rozner is refering to. Savard has, if anything, been to kind to some of his players as far as I'm concerned. Savard realizes he has a young team and in my opinion, is handling them perfectly. Savvy is teaching Byfuglien. Zyuzin is what he is...a guy to put on the ice because you have to put someone out there!

I'm looking forward to Rozner's response to Sassone.