Tracey Myers of CSN Chicago: Chicago Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman said yesterday that trade talk is “still pretty slow.” It could be a quiet year for the Blackhawks at the trade deadline.
“I’m not expecting to make a deal this year, unlike previous years,” Bowman said on Tuesday, prior to the Blackhawks’ game against the San Jose Sharks. “I suppose anything can happen but I’ve said this from the beginning of the year and I mean it: we have a different dynamic this year because we have a lot more young players who have been with our team this year from the beginning. We’ve already seen it with a few of them: they’re better now than they were in October. And if they keep on that trend, we should be a better team even if we have the exact same lineup.”
- walleyeb1
Same thing he's said the last two years at this time. Fact. And what happened.
For all those looking at statements like those as validation of the "youth movement" or that the Duchene story was "made up," it wasn't. Same source as Vermette two years ago and the dominos last season.
The Hawks have investigated a LOT of scenarios with a lot of teams. Bowman may be recognizing in his comments that getting a deal done will be harder this year. But it is also a classic Scotty Bowman/Stan Bowman tactic to lower expectations prior to trade/free agent deadlines.
But ask anyone with more than a passing knowledge of hockey (which Bowman, the FO and the coaching staff have) this team, as constructed, is not a good bet to go far in the playoffs.
So if you take Bowman's statement as evidence he is NOT trying very hard to upgrade around the core, because the "dynamic" has changed, I hope you are REAL happy with Vince Hinostroza, Ryan Hartman, etc because that is as good as it's going to get.
No more Cups, just a long, slow slide to mediocrity a la Detroit of the last few years. The "futures" the Hawks have are all at best middling NHL players. So as the core ages, and the "kids" are the sum of everything else you have, the result is a less competitive team every year. None of those young guys are future top players in the NHL.
