He's not being extended an offer by NYR, he'll be a UFA as of July 1st.

5 teams in 3 years, couldn't crack the Rangers' lineup very often last year.
- ObeseOprah

It's unfortunate, because he actually did very good when he was in the lineup. great possession and shot suppression numbers. Could do a lot worse as a 3rd pair/7th D-man.

Jocelyn Lemiuex anyone?
- golfbard

Loved the Human Canon Ball!!!!

Jocelyn Lemiuex anyone?
- golfbard

Little Jocelyn..

It's unfortunate, because he actually did very good when he was in the lineup. great possession and shot suppression numbers. Could do a lot worse as a 3rd pair/7th D-man.
- JRoenick97

Couldn't hurt to give him a two way deal. He's not busy status yet. Maybe NYR was just stubborn using their vets.

given his performance with the Wild, any chance Hawks have a case to sign Martin Hanzal as a shutdown 3rd line center? A short 2-3 year deal?

given his performance with the Wild, any chance Hawks have a case to sign Martin Hanzal as a shutdown 3rd line center? A short 2-3 year deal?
- arps714

Probably too expensive.

With AA gone, I think it needs to be, if possible, multiple parts coming back.

Think: Hammer got back a defender 6 years younger with a slightly smaller contract and Laurent Dauphin, who is an RFA and could probably be signed for around $1M. Both have very high upside. One cap hit for Hammer almost covers 2 players.

Panarin + Motte got back a more complete player in Saad though one who is not as much of a pure goal scorer. Same cap hit though longer term for Saad, but the shiny, younger player with high upside is Forsberg.

So AA: for E. Kane, whose cap hit is $5.25M? And who is UFA in a year? Besides the headache, that's not exactly cost certainty for the next 4 years a la Murphy and Saad.

AA for Galchenyuk? He's RFA, and recent RFA's like Saad have gotten a lot of term and a LOT of money. Doesn't help the cap hit even if he signs a reasonable deal for AA's $4.55M.

Is there another under-the-radar move? AA for a centerman of equal or lower age but with a cap hit of $3-3.5M locked in for several years. Maybe hasn't quite posted AA's numbers but the potential is there to be a lot better than AA.
- DMChi2010

This is a very solid post on all counts, especially concerning E Kane. ........ StanBow spread the risk/cap hit out to cover more players, got a bit of longer term cost certainty and younger.

He took this route of dealing with the cap instead of saying moving a Seabs for a prospect and pick lopping off a ton of cap hit like Stevie Y sort of did with Drouin for Sergachev. ........ Like Dmen centers aren't easy to acquire. But if they do move AA I wouldn't be surprised to see em keep Kruger as insurance at that position plus keep his shutdown center as well.

given his performance with the Wild, any chance Hawks have a case to sign Martin Hanzal as a shutdown 3rd line center? A short 2-3 year deal?
- arps714

Hawks had interest in him for a couple years when he was with AZ.

I think he'd be too expensive and I don't think the Wild would want to deal an asset like that within the division.

given his performance with the Wild, any chance Hawks have a case to sign Martin Hanzal as a shutdown 3rd line center? A short 2-3 year deal?
- arps714

I would much rather have Nick Bonino.

I thought I saw the Blue Jackets might be buying out Hartnell. He wouldn't be a bad pickup to throw on LW for lines 2 or 3.
- Dannyboy

If Hartnell has any gas left in the tank, he'd be a good fit. Need guys who will go to the net.

Then add as of today they only have a sure top 3 Dmen, some would say Murphy is a question mark as the 3rd of those 3, and you are thin at the all important up the middle and at defense positions.......... Doesn't mean they will open this way or that it wouldn't work but scary to be that thin at important (old thinking/pre hard cap?) positions.
- Mr Ricochet

Center is more important.

Based on what I saw from Kempny last year, he isn't going to kill the teams ability to defend or make any more mistakes than an Oduya or Campbell at this point. Plus he has the wheels to make up for it, a bomb of a shot and can destroy guys.

Murphy skated on the top pairing on a garbage team and by all the available relative metrics he was the best defensive defender on the team. The Keith + Not Seabrook pairing can't get any worse than it was last year and even with Hammer it was an absolute disaster. The kid has proven he can play in the NHL, eat 20 minutes \ night and skate.

The third pairing of the hawks last year was a mess as well.

Most of their defensive issues were due to the fact that they were poor at picking up and off pucks in the neutral zone and they yielded the blue line far to easily. They also gave up a crap ton of free point shots because they didn't pressure appropriately and passively sat in the circles. A better instructed forward group (starting with the player up the middle) applying the appropriate amount of pressure will provide more of a boost to the defense than one player or another on the blue line.

Jenner primarily plays on Dubinsky's wing. I'd expect him to play Wing for the Hawks, as well.
- EnzoD

Torts lined him up at center quite a bit. Think he took maybe 200 draws IIRC...... With all this Jenner talk what I found interesting is how CLB went to great measures to see Vegas didn't draft 1st yr guy power forward Josh Anderson.

Probably too expensive.
- JRoenick97

Yeah he wants to go get paid

I wish the Hawks could get Dubinsky so bad.

If Hartnell has any gas left in the tank, he'd be a good fit. Need guys who will go to the net.
- Kewl1

Sure would but as another poster noted he would have to be bought out by CLB first as he has 2 yrs left on a 4.7 per deal.

Jenner primarily plays on Dubinsky's wing. I'd expect him to play Wing for the Hawks, as well.
- EnzoD

But yea Zo you're right. Jenner and Atkinson flanked Dubinksy most nights although Torts has a line blender he likes to use too. https://leftwinglock.com/...&strength=EV&gametype=ALL

Schmaltz was 30.1%. That's remarkably bad. Probably comes with needing to be a little bigger an stronger in the upper body. Will be interesting to see if he comes to camp a bit bigger.
- JRoenick97

Jayzuz

I wish the Hawks could get Dubinsky so bad.
- Hank3Henshaw

Always thought this guy was underrated, especially his skating. Tough bastard that is borderline dirty..... I think Crosby would pay half his salary to the team that got him out of the conference.

Every C who plays with Kane scores, even guys on fumes like Handzus and Richards were.

Anisimov is a useful player, especially parking his big Russian butt in front of goalies on the PP, but he is not an irreplaceable offensive force. An Evander Kane or Galchenyuk opposite Patrick Kane, with some homeless guy off the expressway at center, will provide plenty of offense. So, before we declare dealing AA "madness" I would wait and see what the return is.
- John Jaeckel

Its not about every C who plays with Kane as much as it is wtf do they do if JT misses 6 weeks due to back or concussion.

Always thought this guy was underrated, especially his skating. Tough bastard that is borderline dirty..... I think Crosby would pay half his salary to the team that got him out of the conference.
- Mr Ricochet

Dubinsky is a guy you want ot play with, not against. He's Kesler level dirty when he's singling out a guy in the playoffs.

Center is more important.

Based on what I saw from Kempny last year, he isn't going to kill the teams ability to defend or make any more mistakes than an Oduya or Campbell at this point. Plus he has the wheels to make up for it, a bomb of a shot and can destroy guys.

Murphy skated on the top pairing on a garbage team and by all the available relative metrics he was the best defensive defender on the team. The Keith + Not Seabrook pairing can't get any worse than it was last year and even with Hammer it was an absolute disaster. The kid has proven he can play in the NHL, eat 20 minutes \ night and skate.

The third pairing of the hawks last year was a mess as well.

Most of their defensive issues were due to the fact that they were poor at picking up and off pucks in the neutral zone and they yielded the blue line far to easily. They also gave up a crap ton of free point shots because they didn't pressure appropriately and passively sat in the circles. A better instructed forward group (starting with the player up the middle) applying the appropriate amount of pressure will provide more of a boost to the defense than one player or another on the blue line.
- fattybeef

You're preaching to the choir on all counts, fatty............ I agree with the C position being really important especially defensively. Hard to cover up a weak C position but you can tweak more systems to cover the D position.

But you have to admit even with AA and without Kruger and the reconstructed defence there is concern, as the roster sits today.

Schmaltz need upper body strength. It was pretty evident during his first season. He's got skills, but he could use some toughness to not get pushed around.
- JRoenick97

Couldn't agree more JR97, I certainly hope he started hitting the weight room within a week of the Nashville series under the tutelage of the training staff and shows up with more bulk upstairs and downstairs for that matter. Stronger upper and lower body should help our future #2 centerman (fingers crossed)........

Sean Couturier makes about the same AAV ($4.3mil), signed through 2022, 4 years younger than Anisimov, better on draws, and probably has more offensive upside than 15. A trade package around AA for Couturier would be interesting.
- EnzoD

would be indeed!

Eric Lear
@BHTVeric
#Blackhawks sign Anton Forsberg to a two-year deal and ink Tomas Jurco to a one-year extension.

Can we get an Adam Creighton reference in the next blog?
- Tanuki

We'll be referencing Murry Craven when Stan signs an over 30 re-tread for league minimum in mid July.