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In the middle of away and home back to backs, the Hawks also made a middling trade today: sending winger Jeremy Morin to Columbus for defenseman Tim Erixon.
Columbus GM Jarmo Kekalainen summed the deal up best: (paraphrasing) "we needed a forward, they needed a defenseman."
Kekalainen has a scout's eye, and was responsible for some of the drafts that now have St. Louis among the league's elite teams. So evidently, he saw enough in Morin to ship off a former first round draft choice who has been playing off and on in the NHL for a couple of years.
Erixon's pedigree is somewhat like that of David Rundblad, tall, Swedish, and the Hawks are his fourth organization in 5 years, but Erixon is known as a bit more of a two-way player.
And let's face it, he's been acquired to log 6-7 defenseman minutes, get acclimated to the system, and see where he goes, joining what is now a growing horde of mostly Swedish blueline prospects on the verge: Rundblad, Klas Dahlbeck, the injured Trevor van Riemsdyk.
And Dahlbeck has been reassigned to Rockford after a solid couple of games, to make room for the more experienced Erixon.
Morin, like Jimmy Hayes, and to a lesser extent Brandon Pirri, in Florida, could see regular minutes as a top 9 forward in Central Ohio—something that wasn't in the cards in Chicago. The Blue Jackets have been struggling all season, especially on offense. Morin will get minutes, the rest is up to him and a Columbus coaching staff that eventually might need him to be the three zone player the Hawks might not have been convinced he would become.
So, Erixon in, Morin out and the Calgary Flames at the UC tonight to face a Hawk club that looked very tired in the latter stages of their first loss in 9 games last night on Long Island. It was bound to happen—too bad it had to be in a game the Hawks led 2-1 in the third period on the road.
But by that point, it was fairly obvious, the Islanders had the jump and the Hawks didn't. The Hawks have played a lot of hockey of late, and a lot of that on both coasts, staying in hotels.
Scott Darling continues to look very much like a serious contender for a #1 goalie job, somewhere in the NHL eventually, if not Chicago. Although Antti Raanta starts tonight, facing Jonas Hiller.
Calgary Flames at Chicago Blackhawks 8PM Eastern/7 Central NHL Network
THE BUZZ
The Flames have been skidding of late, after a strong start, struggling to score goals. They have a fairly mobile back end, capable of producing points, led most notably by Mark Giordano.
They also boast a lot of heavyweights, but with no one to really dance with on the Hawks, Brandon Bollig and Brian McGrattan are scratches tonight.
THE NUMBERS
Power Play Calgary, 11th, 20.8% Chicago, 19th, 17.1%
Penalty Kill Calgary, 24th, 78.2% Chicago, 1st, 90.6%
THE LINEUPS
Calgary
Glencross Monahan Jones Gaudreau Jooris Hudler Granlund Colborne Byron Bouma Stajan Raymond
Giordano Brodie Russell Wideman Diaz Engelland
Hiller
Chicago
Saad Toews Hossa Versteeg Richards Kane Bickell Shaw Sharp Carcillo Kruger Smith
Keith Seabrook Oduya Hjalmarsson Erixon Rozsival
Raanta
I'll have a recap tomorrow,
JJ