Trade Rumors
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported yesterday that the Capitals may be kicking the tires on Marc-Andre Fleury. The Fourth Period also added that the Capitals may not have enough cap space to swing a deal and the Blackhawks can only retain up to $3.5M (50% of total salary) so a third team may need to join the fray to make the money work.
If that's the case, the Hawks could stand to gain at least one asset from the Caps and at least another asset from the third team. Or they only get one asset from one team or the other. If interim general manager Kyle Davidson plays his cards right, he should broker a deal to gain multiple assets -- ideally prospects and picks -- from one or both teams.
Also in Friedman's 32 Thoughts from yesterday, he mentioned that the Red Wings may think about getting former 2018 1st rounder Filip Zadina a fresh start by shipping him to a new organization. A reclamation project like Zadina would be right up former general manager Stan Bowman's alley. Zadina has tantalizing scoring ability but hasn't impressed as a pro.
--
Next Game @ Red Wings
The Blackhawks are in Detroit tonight to face their long-time rival in the Red Wings. In the first meeting of the season on October 24, the Wings doubled up the Hawks by a final score of 6-3 where rookie phenom Lucas Raymond bagged a hat trick. The always dangerous Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi also racked up 3 points apiece that game.
If I had my druthers with the starting lineup, I would go with this:
Hagel - Strome - Kane
DeBrincat - Toews - Dach
Kurashev - Borgstrom - Kubalik
Lafferty - Carpenter - Entwistle
de Haan - S Jones
McCabe - Murphy
Kalynuk - Gustafsson
Fleury
Soderblom
Scratches:
Connolly, C Jones
Alas, this likely isn't close to what will be hitting the ice this evening.
--
IceHogs Updates
The IceHogs are back in action today, too, as they host their bitter rival in the Iowa Wild. These teams simply don't like each other. Remember that fight over the weekend between MacKenzie Entwistle and Connor Dewar of the parent Wild club? That may have been a byproduct of residual animosity from their teams' AHL bouts.
Here's a possible starting lineup for the Hogs:
Altybarmakian - Reichel - Teply
Hardman - McLaughlin - Busdeker
Barratt - Slavin - Gicewicz
Howarth - G Mitchell - Gabriel
Phillips - I Mitchell
Stanton - Galvas
Watson - Beaudin
Delia
Aubrun
--
Prospect Updates
Not a Blackhawks prospect anymore but congratulations to former IceHogs goalie Matt Tomkins on his selection to represent Team Canada at the Winter Olympics next month. While not surprising, a notable omission is Brandon Pirri who supposedly signed a PTO with the Hogs in order to boost his bid for Team Canada.
--
See you on the boards!