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Ol' JJ can never leave well enough alone.

So, building on a rumor I first heard after the Hawks' last roadie to Nashville, I did a little poking around the last couple of days with sources in Chicago and Madison.

The Hawks might very well be in on Ryan Suter. And those who pshaw or have Suter ticketed for Detroit or Vancouver might well take heed.

Suter might want to be in the Indianhead next season.

First, a highly placed individual told a source of mine that the Hawks would be/will be very interested in Suter should he reach unrestricted free agency. Then, I heard this morning that Suter will likely not stay in Nashville; Suter's father would very much like to have his son playing closer to home in Madison. And there is no NHL arena closer to Madison than the one that sits at 1901 W. Madison Street.

Further, Suter's uncle Gary was a Hawk for a number of years, very much enjoyed his time here and maintains ties to the Wirtz family.

How will the Hawks afford another $7 million or so on their blueline? Well, for a team that struggled so much keeping the puck out of its own net, the counter argument can be made: how can they afford not to?

Because of his contract and the number of superior goalies available this summer, Corey Crawford likely isn't being dealt. So you improve the defense. What this would likely mean is the departure from Chicago of Johnny Oduya and Niklas Hjalmarsson. Those two salaries roughly equal what the Hawks would pay Suter. So there you go.

With Suter or Brent Seabrook as a partner, the idea of Nick Leddy on the second pairing suddenly doesn't feel so bad.

I am also hearing that Dave Bolland, with the emergence of Marcus Kruger this past season and the possible arrival of Philip Danault (think: Mikhail Grabovski with some Bolland thrown in) as early 2013-14, could be ticketed elsewhere this summer as well.

I was told this morning last week's press conference was somewhat "scripted" to avoid delving into some of the changes on the horizon.

There are going to be significant changes this summer, as I've been saying all along. The pending CBA issue might be what's holding things up— or perhaps Rocky Wirtz is still taking stock.

More as I have it.



JJ

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