As we inch closer to draft day, we are going to start getting more news, rumors, and deals. We all know the Hawks situation, and the big moves for them will come closer to draft time when cap-strapped teams need to move some contracts to set themselves up for the opening of free agency on July 1st. With that being said, there were a few noteworthy announcements yesterday, so I wanted to touch on them here real quick.
Andreas Athanasiou resigns. The Hawks locked down one of their pending UFAs by signing the Greek Freak to a 2-year, 8.5-million-dollar deal that will have a cap hit of 4.25 million. Athanasiou had a solid end to his season last year, leading the team in points after the trade deadline with 18 (6-12). He seemed to thrive when given a big role, and he will be a key part of the top six next year. I think the takeaway from this deal is that this might be the type of contract we are going to expect KD to sign players to this offseason. These are low-risk, high-reward type deals that, if he can build off the last 21 games last season, could be a trade asset come deadline time, but no matter what, at the end of the day, he is an NHL body on this roster, which is important.
DeBrincat on the move? While this rumor doesn’t list the Hawks, in fact no team has been mentioned minus pure speculation, I feel like it needs to be addressed because Hawks fans all over are talking about the need to bring him back. While I love DeBrincat, I am just not sure if I like the idea of trading for him this offseason. For me, I think this year you still want to be building up the prospect pool, and I would have to imagine the ask for him will be great. I think if KD is going to move some of the extra picks he has this year and next year, I would rather he try to use them to get another pick in the first round this year. If he somehow hits the open market next offseason as an UFA, then I am all for exploring that, but for the current situation, I want to see the Hawks pass.
Michkov and Bedard to Chicago: Realistic? Elite Prospects Hockey is reporting that there are many people within the league who are convinced Michkov falls out of the top 10. Take that for what it is, but I think that it would be absolutely insane for teams to pass on this high-end prospect. If this is truly the case, then I think that the Vancouver pick at 11 becomes that much of a trade priority. I've talked about how trading that pick plus a bad contract is very realistic, and with the draft capital and cap space, the Hawks make a lot of sense to work with here. I would be shocked if Michkov was there at 11, but crazier things have happened.
Darren Pang Comes Home Rumors broke yesterday, and it was confirmed today that Darren Pang will be joining the Hawks TV broadcast team. He joins Chris Vosters in the booth and will hopefully make watching Hawks games more tolerable. It was also announced that Colby Cohen will not return and Patrick Sharp will not be back as he is rumored to be taking Keith Jones place on TNT. Those are just a few things I have read and heard over the last day or so and I will do some more of these quick note blogs as information and rumors come out. I think once the Cup is awarded I think we are going to get absolutely hammered with news so it is definitely getting exciting and can’t wait to see what KD has up his sleeves. The Latest WCBPodcast