Breaking Down What The Blackhawks Have Done In Free Agency
When you’re effectively out of the playoff race by March 1st, the NHL Draft and free agency become HIGHLY anticipated. For the first time since the Blackhawks signed Hossa in 2009 they actually had some money to play with and supposedly some chips to trade. Stan and Company were in a good position, we all thought.
This tweet…did not age well
Aside from adding a competent veteran backup goalie in Cam Ward, Stan Bowman did NOTHING to improve the team since…well since I don’t know when. Maybe the Antoine Vermette trade in 2015. On paper, Chris Kunitz and Brandon Manning don’t add much of anything to the group that finished last in the division and didn’t sniff the playoffs. There’s a reason why the Blackhawks were linked to top 6 wingers, Top 4 defensemen, and bottom 6 centers…because those things are all GAPING and obvious holes. None of which were addressed by Bowman. The best thing that Stan could say about his signings were that they were short-term contracts which wouldn’t impact re-signing guys like Schmaltz, DeBrincat, Sikura, etc. What?! Remember when this was the rallying cry?
One Goal: Win the Stanley Cup. Now Stan is talking about how bright the future is. WHAT? Last summer the tone was angry after winning the Western Conference, but getting buzz saw’d by Nashville. This summer after bottoming out the message is “We are rebuilding”. Rebuilding while Toews is 30, Kane is 29, and they’re both on the books for a combined 21 million over the next 5 years is a BOLD move.
The pervasive message that the Blackhawks leaked to everyone as the reasoning behind trading Ryan Hartman at the deadline was that they were concerned about his foot speed. They didn’t think he was fast enough to be an effective player in the new NHL. Hartman scored 19 goals as a rookie, but okay. Whatever, they got a decently regarded prospect(who also isn’t fast) and a first round pick. Then the Hawks decided they were going to get fast by signing…Chris Kunitz? A guy who will be 39 years-old by the opening night of the season. Kunitz is a smart veteran player, but he played a bottom 6 role for Tampa last year. Mostly on the left side with Ced Paquette and Ryan Callahan. He finished with 13 goals and 29 points. And if you’re thinking ole Chris Kunitz can play a 4th line role and maybe be a bit of a power-play specialist in Chicago…WRONG. He had one assist on the PP last year. ONE. No goals and one assist for the entire season. Couldn’t crack the PP units. And he sure as SHIT better not be an answer for the LW spot next to Schmaltz and Kane. He can’t keep up and his last year in Pittsburgh he finished with 9 goals on a team that was an offensive juggernaut. 13 goals is pretty good for an aging 4th line player, but Kunitz also had a RIDICULOUSLY high shooting% last year at 16%. It is very unlikely that he will be able to duplicate that in Chicago this year. So Kunitz can’t play in your top 6, you probably don’t want him as a 4th line LW. Maybe as the LW on the 3rd line? NOPE. Anisimov is penciled in as the 3rd line center. That’s a pretty slow line if you have Anisimov and Kunitz so he can’t play there. HE. CAN’T. PLAY.
Brandon Manning. I like a defenseman with a little bite. A little snarl. Manning certainly brings that edge. In a vaccum I don’t mind his game. He just doesn’t fit with this group. At all. He’s a guy that needs to be in the 3rd pair…like just about every other defenseman currently under contract. He’s a left shot dman, which puts the Blackhawks in a position where either Manning or Seabrook have to be in your top 4 because they definitely shouldn’t play together.
On the left side the Blackhawks have Duncan Keith, Gustafsson, Forsling, Oesterle, and Hillman. I don’t think it’s a slam dunk that Manning is better than any of them. So why pay $2.25M for a guy who isn’t an obvious upgrade? He’s likely a guy who should be your 6th or 7th dman. The Blackhawks have a lot of guys with comparible ability for cheaper rates. There’s no reason to pay Manning. Sometimes the best moves are the ones you don’t make. A lesson Stan probably should’ve learned last summer. Traded Nik Hjalmarsson for Connor Murphy because they wanted “cost certainty” and cap predictability. Well now they are paying Jan Rutta, Brandon Manning, Erik Gustafsson, and Connor Murphy a combined $9.6M, and Hjalmarsson just re-signed in Arizona for 5 million a year. I’d rather have Hjalmarsson at 5 mil than those four guys at $9.6.
The only passing grade so far is the signing of Cam Ward. The goaltending was a disaster last year. It clearly impacted everyone on the team and made the whole defense unit play tight. Afraid to make plays with the puck because they knew any mistake was going to end up in their net. So they Blackhawks NEEDED to get an upgrade there. Cam Ward does just that. He will be better than Forsberg, Glass, and Berube. I also think there is just going to be a psychological benefit from having a veteran name like Cam Ward. A calm hand. A pro’s pro. Name recognition that the D can trust when he’s out there for 25 games or so.
The obvious caveat to all of this is that Stan Bowman probably isn’t done. There might be trades coming. I mean there should be trades coming. Whether or not Stan can make it happen remains to be seen. However, this is not a great time to be wheeling and dealing. After free agency and the draft, most teams tend to like the way they look. They’re going on vacation telling themselves that they had a good offseason. Now Stan is going to come calling looking for takers on Hossa, Anisimov, and Connor Murphy when most teams feel as though they addressed their needs already. You basically have to hope that there’s an RFA out there who refuses to sign and it gets ugly. Otherwise you’re begging teams to take players off your NHL roster in July and August. That’s not exactly negotiating from a position of strength.
