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Hawks "Close" On Deal Last Night |
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Follow me @jaeckel
My apologies upfront for ambiguity. But that is the nature of what I hear sometimes. I have to protect my sources—and often, they have to protect theirs.
I was told last night the Blackhawks were "seriously" considering a trade offer, and also that the likely loss of Steve Montador for the year (or forever) HAS impacted the Hawks' plans moving forward. This morning, I received further elaboration on this deal from the same source—it involves an upgrade in net and the Hawks are hoping for a "tweak" to the deal before pulling the trigger.
Also, the Hawks are continuing to talk to "Eastern Conference teams" today.
While I have not specifically heard this, I have to take that as any deals might involve Hawk forwards, goalies or prospects going the other way—and/or a defenseman coming back. Twitter buzz (Tracey Myers/CSN) this morning has the Hawks recalling Brandon Saad, Brandon Pirri and Ryan Stanton for the start of training camp.
Forward Ben Smith has allegedly (per Al Cimaglia/Chris Block, thirdmanin.com) suffered a hand injury possibly requiring surgery—otherwise, he likely would have been a recall.
Carter Hutton has not been recalled at this point to the best of my knowledge, perhaps indicating that Ray Emery's absence from informal workouts was not injury-related.
All for now,
JJ