Either Stan Bowman is pretty stupid or he knows some things some fans and bloggers and other scribes don't.
We know why Bryan Bickell was traded to Hurricanes today. We've known that for going on two years now: $4 million per year price tag, no legs left.
Subject of debate is why was Teuvo Teravainen the sweetener—and that said—why was the return just 2nd and 3rd round draft picks?
It speaks to something else only the ostrich segment of the fan base has failed to recognize: cap space, with a new deal coming up for Artemi Panarin and stagnant cap growth, is at a premium for a club with a mature and well-compensated roster. Teravainen, also, was due a raise next year. Were his potential demands enough to tip the scale and send him packing?
One thing is for sure, whether fans or writers agree, the team had decided that Teravainen's future was not worth the price of holding on to him and likely compensating him next summer more on the basis of potential than actual production.
During a recent interview in Finland with a Chicago writer, the 170 pound, heretofore contact-averse forward alluded to hanging out with friends and playing golf as his pastimes in the offseason.
Contrast that with the image seen on message boards last summer, of a shirtless, hard-as-tungsten Panarin, grinning at the camera from a boxing ring.
It's not so much the optics as the team making a commitment to players, to paraphrase Denis Savard (I promise, I will only do this once), committed to the Indian.
The team had likely decided Teravainen was not going to be its future second line center. Or they would have found a way to keep him—and just bought out Bickell.
Are they right? Time will tell.
I don't like the idea of throwing good money after bad—in this case trading an asset with upside in order to lose a bad contract for a couple of meh, ok draft picks.
But you also really shouldn't look at moves out of context. What will the Hawks now do with the added cap room? Add the LW that tried to force TT and Marko Dano to become last year in place of the departed Brandon Saad? Keep Andrew Shaw in town? Are there other moves in the offing?
The other question is the one I've already laid out. It really remains to be seen what Teravainen's upside is.
Questions rose early on in the 2015-16 season, where TT not only didn't build on a solid turn in the 2015 playoffs, but he seemed to regress. He definitely played better defense, but his studious avoidance of contact was often a possession killer. The team tried him at 1LW, 2C and 3C, with less than stellar results. It seemed his best (and future best) position would be as a top 6 right winger—a position occupied by Marian Hossa (even at 38, a better player than Teravainen), and Patrick Kane.
So there you have it.
Cause for gnashing of teeth? I'll submit neither of these guys, especially with TT's self-proclaimed offseason agenda and previously reported training (or lack thereof) habits, was going to be any more of a key cog in next year's team than they were last year.
Cause for celebration? Depends what the Hawks do with the picks and cap room, and anything else they pull off in subsequent moves this summer.
Talk amongst yourselves.
JJ
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
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