It's only Martin Hanzal, right?
Until yesterday evening, it was widely assumed, and as reported here, the Blackhawks were "in" on Arizona center Martin Hanzal. Hanzal himself added to the speculation with comments about joining the Blackhawks, made to Chicago media while the Coyotes were at the UC last week.
What I heard then was that Arizona's price for Hanzal was "still too high," but that the Hawks felt they made progress in talks with Arizona executives before the team left town, and would continue to talk. What happened after that is anyone's guess. I didn't hear anything 'til last night, when, like everyone else, I read the tweets describing a Hanzal deal as imminent.
Not long afterward, I heard from a source that the Wild were in the picture along with two other teams, the Hawks were out and from the sound of it, had been for at least a day or so. A bidding war had erupted for Hanzal. This was/is consistent with what I had heard over the weekend: the Hawks were letting the market come to them—taking quite a few calls yesterday—and not willing to overpay (i.e. would not join a bidding war).
So Hanzal landed where the Hawks would probably least have wanted him to: Minnesota, a team already strong down the middle. And a very possible second round opponent for the Hawks (assuming the Hawks themselves get there.).
Well, the Hawks look very much right now like a team that will make the second round, winning their fourth game in a row versus the Blues. It was a typical Chicago-St. Louis game, close, high intensity, decided in the last five minutes of regulation when Artem Anisimov snuck down to the goal line uncovered and converted a gorgeous tic-tac-toe play for the game winner.
More good news for Chicago, like flipping a switch, over the last several games, the Hawks are now routinely outshooting the opposition, as they did again last night, putting 42 shots on a very solid Jake Allen.
But Scott Darling, filling in for Corey Crawford, came up huge on 3 saves close in versus Paul Stastny over the course of the game, and carried the Hawks to the win.
But there's another stat to look at: center play. The Hawks got goals from three of their centers last night. But they were also 45% in the face-off dot, 48.5% for the year. Anisimov and Jonathan Toews are good defensive players, but the former is weak on draws, while the latter is one of the league's best. The other centers are Marcus Kruger and Tanner Kero. Kruger is playing through a wrist injury and basically unable to take face-offs. Kero is showing improvement in the dot, but still 45% for the year.
There's lots of valid debate about the importance of face-offs. But as Hawk fans should know all too well, late in playoff games, face-off dominance can be the difference in a close contest.
The Wild added a 55% guy in Hanzal, and they were already 51.9% for the season, with three good, physical two way centers. This is important because as Hawk fans saw in the 2014 Western Conference Finals versus the Kings, a team stacked with big, good, physical centers can wear yours down. And assuming the Hawks could get by Minnesota in the second round, who awaits them? San Jose? Anaheim? Washington? All teams with big, physical center depth.
Bottom line, before Minnesota acquired Hanzal, the Hawks needed a secondary face-off option to Toews—unless Kruger (benched for much of the third period last night) makes a quick and dramatic recovery.
Now they really need one. There are lots of players out there that could be acquired to fill that role, preferably someone who can kill penalties. But, they have to get a deal done.
The other possible need is defense, where Niklas Hjalmarsson sat out last night with a bad back. How bad is his injury? Not known. He is listed as day to day and by the sound of it, it's a typical back spasm type injury. Rest is required until it heals up.
Finally, don't listen to the post-trade rhetoric that filters out to the "legitimate" media. Or take it with giant grain of salt.
Teams, and especially your Chicago Blackhawks, are in full spin mode right now.
So when the Hawks do complete a trade for a guy who has been a healthy scratch more often than not, you hear "Chicago was after him for 6 weeks." Please.
Or when the Hawks drop out of the bidding for a player, "Chicago was never a serious bidder." Maybe not, it's just hard to define serious. Unwilling to go past a certain price, definitely.
And the obligatory "we like our team."
Of course, they're going to say that. Because they're not going to come out and say "wow, Minnesota just made a big move and upped the ante, we better get busy."
But the last I heard yesterday evening about an hour after the Hanzal trade is the Hawks are getting very busy, going into a more "proactive" mode.
I'll report more as I hear it.
JJ
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
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