I've covered 8 trade deadlines as the Hawk writer here. This one has required the most work—and simultaneously been the most fascinating and most challenging.
And I don't think it's over.
Fascinating because I've observed—and learned— some new things about the dynamics of how teams operate at this time of year, how to interpret GM speak, and seen in real time how a team's needs can change almost overnight during the run up to the deadline.
Challenging because I don't think I've ever worked a deadline quite this hard—trying to stay on top of all of the above.
Yesterday, the Hawks culminated the deal that I reported went from simmer to boil 2-3 days ago—bringing Johnny Oduya back from Dallas. What I heard then and I believe today is the sudden move toward Oduya—there had been contact with Dallas around Oduya and Patrick Eaves at least a couple of weeks ago—was precipitated by concerns over Niklas Hjalmarsson's back injury. I also heard after the trade yesterday (thanks Amazon) that the Hawks have concern over asking too much of LD Michal Kempny in the playoffs.
Naysayers want to believe that the Hawks never contacted Detroit about Tomas Vanek or Tomas Tatar, that they wanted the other Tomas, Jurco, all along. And that there was no perceived need in the top 6. My sources said otherwise, as did some in the "legit" media that the naysayers love to cite (when it's convenient).
But the "we were after Jurco for six weeks" narrative doesn't pass the sniff test. You don't pursue a nightly healthy scratch on a mediocre team for six weeks—to get him for a third round pick.
I would bet the house that what really happened (and outside Stan Bowman and about 5-6 others, no one really knows 100% for sure) is the team saw how their top 6 coalesced the last couple of weeks, especially the Toews line, and pulled back on the more aggressive pursuit of a top 6 option (Vanek, Tatar, Matt Duchene) and decided to go into more of a "listening/don't overpay/look for value" mode. And then with the Hjalmarsson injury, and apparently a very negotiable price with Jim Nill and Dallas, they decided to go hard after Oduya, and bolster their defense rotation.
Something like that anyway.
Today, I would expect one more move for a lower line forward, driven, again to a degree by an injury. In this case, the re-injury to Marcus Kruger's wrist. Again, that's what I'm hearing. But the proof is in the doing.
Oh, and there's a game tonight, an important game against one the league's other elite teams:
Pittsburgh Penguins (38-16-8) at Chicago Blackhawks (39-18-5) 8PM Eastern/7 Central NBCSN/RSN/TVA
I haven't heard whether Oduya will suit up in his old #27 tonight—maybe a safe assumption. This is another big test of the Hawks' recent surge, hosting the reigning Stanley Cup Champs, a dangerous and deep team.
Another bit of news now widely reported, was the signings of veteran Jordin Tootoo and Michal Rozsival to extensions, a move that clearly seems to be about amassing expansion-draft eligible veterans.
Anyway, yesterday was a busy day. Check out the Puckin' Hostile trade deadline Shoutcast posting tonight (I'm on).
I'll recap the Pens' game and the deadline tomorrow.
JJ