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Arizona Dreamin'

February 24, 2017, 11:31 AM ET [217 Comments]
John Jaeckel
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT




Huh? What?

I know, I've had better blog titles, but this morning, Arizona seems to be the story with the Blackhawks, both on the ice and off.

On the ice, the hawks eventually prevailed in a very sloppy game last night against the Coyotes—a team that has been playing better pif late against good teams.

Off the ice, I heard this morning, while Arizona executives were in town, the Hawks made some progress in trade talks surrounding Arizona center Martin Hanzal.

As I was told yesterday, Hanzal is not the only viable trade target for Chicago at this point, but as he checks a loot of boxes for the team, size/skill/style of play/good faceoff ability, he is high on the Hawks' list.

As for the game on the ice, maybe the biggest news was the early departure from the game of Niklas Hjalmarsson with what sound like a lower back issue. It also sounds like there may have been an issue prior to game time.

Backs are funny things. Look no further than Jonathan Toews, who fought through a similar issue for the first few months of this season. The Hawks may want to shut Hjalmarsson down, depending on how he feels and the advice of doctors, until he is fully healed.

As far as the Hawks' momentum, or any loss thereof, as with convincing wins over good teams, losses, or sloppy wins over teams like the Coyotes, you can't get too high or too low in response.

It seems fairly clear that the Hawks are not quite as good as their best play this season nor as bad as their worst. Most predictably, somewhere in between, a work in progress.

Back to the rumor front, I am hearing some conflicting information from different sources about the extension of (now) minor league goalie Jeff Glass and its impact on a possible move by the front office this summer, still digging on that one.

This should be an interesting weekend as far as off the ice activity—and there's a pretty big game Sunday night at the UC versus the Blues. I'll be back with news or a Blues preview, whichever comes first.


JJ
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