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Blackhawks Looking into Ryan Murray + 15 Other Trade Targets |
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It was reported on Friday by Mr. Scott Powers of The Athletic, that "The Blackhawks recently talked to the Columbus Blue Jackets about acquiring defenseman Ryan Murray, according to a league source. As of now, it doesn't appear a deal is getting done, but that, of course, could change in the coming weeks."
This made me happy.
It made me happy to hear from multiple people that a top 4 D man was the Hawks priority this offseason, along with this Ryan Murray insight from Powers.
This is not a shock to hear that Stan Bowman has identified that defence is the area of need for his team. However, I'm pleased to hear the quality of defencemen in Murray is being inquired about as he's well above the addition last year in Brandon Manning.
Manning, a good guy I'm sure but was never going to be more than a 5/6 on the depth chart. In Murray, the Hawks are showing that they are targeting a legit top 4 dman; a guy who ranked 3rd in Average TOI for Columbus last year, who was a +20 and former 2nd overall draft pick who is just 25 years young.
Yes, Murray has had some injury issues, however, some suggest if Murray was healthy his entire career, he'd be a $5-6M per year defender. It would suggest that if the Hawks could acquire Murray, it would be a high risk, high reward move.
Murray fits Bowman's recent moves as well as he's been targeting former 1st round picks. Strome, Perlini and Koekkoek were last season's acquisitions that followed that pattern.
Aaron Portzline of The Atheltic stated that it might not be too steep of a return that the Blue Jackets would be asking for in a Murray deal. He pointed out that Columbus only has a couple of draft picks in 2019, so a combination of picks and prospects would probably get it done.
Why would they want to trade him if he's so good, Tyler?
I'm glad you asked. The Blue Jackets might be just ready to move on from Murray as he hasn't fully lived up to his potential with his 2nd overall status. The Jackets also have the benefit of a couple of studs on the backend in Seth Jones and Zach Werenski, as well the steady David Savard and promising Markus Nutivaara.
Also, keep in mind that this summer could serve as a fresh start for Jarmo Kekalainen. He will surely lose Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky. Then, there are the deadline acquisitions of Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel who may be checking out of their hotels and heading to another city.
It's possible a full overhaul is in the works and GM Jarmo is looking to utilize his salary cap space in a big way on the open market instead of double-down on his own.
For the purpose of this blog, now that we know that Ryan Murray is a target for Chicago, let's look at others in a very specific comparable.
Let's set the stage – who else could the Hawks be looking via trade ONLY in the same mold as Murray – who is:
* Top 4 D
* Young (25)
* Left-Handed
* Strong two-way defender
Please keep in mind, I'm just looking players very closely aligned to Murray. The search by the Blackhawks is surely to expand to UFA and other trade targets but I'm going to use this information to see who else could fit for Bowman; here are the top 15 other players that could make sense:
* John Moore (28) / $2.75M until 2023 - his 18:46 average ice time in the regular season and limited playoff appearance is not very appealing. Moore's birth certificate might be an old, worn out story to most as he's an Illinois native but his former 1st rounder status is a trend that would make sense for Stan Bowman. Boston wouldn't be asking for a lot in return and his $2.75M AAV is very feasible for Chicago.
* Matt Grzelcyk (25) / $1.4M until 2020 – he's only 5'9 so I assume Blackhawks fans would go nuts if they acquired him, however, he's proven to be an effective player (even at his height). Along with Grzelcyk, the Bruins employ a series of good to great defenceman in McAvoy, Krug, Chara, Carlo, Miller, Moore (mentioned above) and Clifton. Also, the B's have left-handed Finnish prospect Urho Vaakanainen who is waiting in the wings.
* Jake McCabe (25) / current RFA coming off of $1.6M contract – McCabe is the type of physical, defensive dman that the Hawks should covet. The Sabres need to fix whatever is going on in Buffalo. A new coach will have his say how important McCabe is moving forward. If he's deemed expendable or seen as a strong trade chip, Chicago should jump on it.
* Calvin De Haan (28) / $4.55M until 2022 – Carolina is going to deal a defenceman or two and while Pesce, Hamilton and Faulk are the more rumoured players to go, could the Hawks convince the Canes to move De Haan instead? He's a LHD and fits the more stay-at-home type that the Hawks should have just signed last summer.
* Oscar Klefbom (25) / $4.16M until 2023 – Klefbom would be a big fish but you can expect Ken Holland to make some bold moves. The Hawks would need to send back a key asset or two (Saad, Gustafsson, etc.) to make this work but a boy can dream.
* Michael Matheson (25) / $4.87M until 2026 – word is that Florida might be having buyers remorse on Matheson's 8 year / 39 million dollar deal that they signed October 2017. A deal between Chicago and Florida is almost inevitable with the Bowman, Tallon and Quenneville connection. Coach Q surely has a couple of players lined up and if they are of higher quality (Saad, Jokiharju, etc.) then Matheson could be a potential target.
* Thomas Hickey (30) / $2.5M until 2022 – Lou Lamoriello doesn't seem satisfied with the Islanders 103 point season. They have key UFAs in Anders Lee, Jordan Eberle and Robin Lehner that they have to lock up or decide on. They also have a crowded blueline with the emergence of Pulock, Pelech, Mayfield and Devon Toews. Hickey is a the oldest on this list at 30, but he fits the mold of what the Hawks might be looking for to help out their team defence – potential for top 4 minutes, former 4th overall pick and 55% of his starts in the Def. Zone.
* Mirco Mueller (24) / current RFA coming off of $850k contract – with Greene, Vatanen (edit: he plays the right) and Butcher ahead of Mueller on the left-side depth chart, there could be room for the Hawks to add the 6'3 Swiss defender.
* Robert Hagg (24) / $1.15M until 2020 – Hagg is more of a bubble top 4 D playing mostly on the 3rd pairing (16:57 ATOI) but he and Gudas – his usual partner - started the most in the D Zone than any other Flyer (57%). The Young Swede is also a block machine with 158 that led the team (13th in the league)… oh and he hits people – his 258 was 8th in the entire NHL.
* Olli Maatta (24) / $4.08M until 2022 – Maata could fit in real well alongside fellow Finn Henri Jokiharju. Pittsburgh is a team to watch as they will be looking to shake this up this offseason. Maata has had some injury issues and has been rumoured to be not a very sought after around the league; that's probably not a good thing, however, if the Hawks can buy low and see Maata fitting in, the former 22nd overall pick could be had.
* Brenden Dillon (28) / $3.27M until 2020 – the Sharks are still holding out for Erik Karlsson returning and have the money to pony up but who knows how that will play out. GM Doug Wilson has some work to do ahead of him and if the Sharks think Joakim Ryan can take the next step Dillon could become expendable. Dillon would serve as a great veteran and physical presence on the left side in Chicago if they could pry him away.
* Travis Dermott (22) / $863K until 2020 – I'm sure the Leafs don't want to part with a cost controlled player like Dermott but if he was a part of a larger deal, the Hawks might be able to snag him away. Offseason surgery has Dermott out for another 6 months or so – maybe Chicago can offer off multiple valuable pieces to help shape their roster for 2019-20.
* Ben Hutton (26) / current RFA coming off of $2.8M contract – The Canucks are looking to reshape their defence and while Hutton might not be on the block as he was 2nd on the team on ATOI with 22+ minutes, he fits.
* Brayden McNabb (28) / $2.5M until 2023 – this is a name that's been brought up in past blogs. McNabb is also a strong physical defensive-minded defenceman that I'm sure Vegas would love to keep. Unfortunately for GM George McPhee, his team is in cap hell already and needs to shed weight. Can the Hawks take advantage and poach a player like McNabb?
* Dmitry Kulikov (28) / $4.33M until 2020 - a lot of talk has surrounded around Trouba and Myers and their future with Winnipeg, however, no one has mentioned Kulikov. He has one-year left and could be a low-risk move for Chicago. He wouldn't cost much in a trade as it would be really helping Kevin Cheveldayoff out in his cap crunch.
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Remember, these are potential trade targets and current unsigned RFAs ONLY. I will look at potential UFAs as we get closer to July 1st.
Also, keep in mind that I'm looking at realistic targets. Sure, I'd love the Hawks to land Hampus Lindholm and/or Morgan Reilly, but those guys aren't even close to real options in my mind.
What type of defender would you like to see the Hawks acquire in a trade? Would you be happy with Ryan Murray or would you prefer someone else above?
See ya out there,
TC
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
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