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Arizona Coyotes at Chicago Blackhawks
7:30PM Central/6:30 Mountain
FS Arizona/CSN Chicago/NBCSN


GOALIES:
Mike Smith/Arizona
Corey Crawford/Chicago


NOTES:
No need for stats—the Hawks are a good team that is playing better of late. The Coyotes, and no disrespect to Coyote fans, are again in rebuilding mode.

It's definitely important for the Hawks not to have a letdown tonight at home against Ariuzona, coming off a big road win in Minnesota.

Let's just say that.

Seems like the bigger issue today is the looming trade deadline. Probably a good time for me to clarify a few things, and offer a few opinions.

First, to varying degrees, literally every year at the deadline, Stan Bowman tamps down expectations with statements like "we don't anticipate doing anything big." And then what happens? This year, he's added the caveat to those statements—that he loves his young players and wants, no, plans, to hold on to them.

Now, if you consider that he often diverges from the first part, what does that tell you about the second part? Potentially, at least?

Here's why you should believe Stan Bowman is a good GM, even if you don't believe every word that comes out of his mouth leading up to trade deadlines and free agency. The first part: he's a good GM.

What he says publicly is meant to establish bargaining psychology. it is also meant to set favorable expectations for himself.

Think about this:

If Bowman came out and said the following:

"We'd really like to add a left wing for the playoffs. We like our young guys, they've come along a lot this year, but we also recognize that playoff hockey is different than regular season hockey. We'll feel better about our chances to go deep or win a fourth Cup if we can make an add on the left side. And that might even mean dealing one or two of these young guys. We have a lot of them in Chicago and in Rockford who have shown promise. But if we make that add, even at that price, we like our chances in the playoffs better, and we're all about winning Cups in Chicago. And we can still roll with our young guys but we'll feel like we have more options and depth in the playoffs."



It doesn't sound unreasonable. And some might ask—yeah, and why doesn't he say that then?

Because it sets up an expectation—if not met—that somewhat devalues his rookies/prospects (something the Hawks never do) if he can't pull off that trade, suggesting other teams turned up their noses—and that he's failed as a GM to do what he set out to do.

Doesn't it?

Right. So that's why, as reasonable as that might sound, he doesn't say that. He says, this: "meh, we don't need to make a deal, we really like our young guys, and we wouldn't want to have to deal any of them."

Even as, I'm told anyway, he's fairly thoroughly exploring doing just that.

It's about setting expectations and market perception.

Does that mean Bowman will make a deal of any significance—or at all? No, that's why he keeps expectations low and valuation of his trade assets high. Because if he doesn't deal any now, he may want to later.

I would expect any activity on the trade front of the Hawks to happen or start happening this weekend. If you go back through the last handful of significant deadline acquisitions, to 2011, Bowman typically moves with 48-72 hours of the actual deadline.

Enjoy the game, I'll recap tomorrow and pass along trade info. as soon as I hear it.


JJ

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