Blackhawks Roster Rebuild Update: Stan Bowman Will NOT Stop Acquiring Russians
You know that part in the Lion King when Scar is talking to the Pride right after Mufasa died and then he announced that he’s forming a partnership with the Hyenas? That’s kind of how I feel with what Stan Bowman is doing to the Blackhawks right now. One minute we(me and the team) are spraying champagne from a balcony and the next minute Saad, Richards, Vermette and probably others are replaced by Anisimov, Panarin, and Tikhonov. I mean my clothes are still damp with Cristal and Stan is replacing my friends with my sworn enemies. Give me some time to adjust, man. This is not exactly how I envisioned free agency. I do appreciate the fact that Bowman didn’t sign anymore Russians over the 4th of July weekend. I’m sure that was hard for him. I do think Anisimov is pretty good as far as Russians go and these guys are complimentary players to a strong core, so hopefully it works out ok. It’s not like the Capitals where the soul of the team is Russian. That never works.
Updates On The Roster:
Patrick Sharp: Still here
Rumors are out there that even with the Saad trade the Blackhawks are still looking to trade Sharp in order to make room for Oduya, Kruger, and maybe even save some money for Seabrook next year. Philadelphia, Florida, and Montreal are the most talked about destinations, but according to George Richards(Miami Herald) the Panthers aren’t interested. Now you’re probably thinking “Hey Chief, you’re best friends with Patrick Sharp. You could just call him and get the real scoop”. Yeah guys, I could do that, but as his friend I don’t want to interrupt vacation time. Sorry for caring. Now, it’s more probable than not that Sharp gets traded, but that does leave a gaping hold on the left side in the top 6. It wouldn’t totally shock me if Sharp stays.
Marcus Kruger: Still an RFA
Kruger had the opportunity to file for arbitration and didn’t. Electing to wait for the Hawks to clear some cap space and work out a long term deal to remain in Chicago. Both sides seem to want a deal, but we’ve heard that before.
Johnny Oduya: Still an un-signed UFA
Similar situation to Kruger. Oduya is reportedly waiting for the Blackhawks to clear enough cap space to bring him back. I’m honestly kind of surprised Oduya is willing to do this, because at 33 years-old this is his last real cash grab opportunity. Re-signing Oduya would really solidify the back-end in 2015-16 as the Hawks will be mixing in rookies on the blue line next year.
Bryan Bickell: Still here
There never seemed to be much chatter about Bickell. Only the Bruins, supposedly, but that was before they added both Belesky and Jimmy Hayes. The majority of the league can theoretically absorb his contract, and maybe one of these young team will want a power forward with 2 Stanley Cups.
Kris Versteeg: Still here
See: Bryan Bickell. Versteeg only has a $2.2M cap hit, but his name hasn’t been out there much.
Opening Night Line-Up
Teravainen-Toews-Hossa
Shaw-Anisimov-Kane
Panarin-Dano-Hartman
Desjardins-Kruger-Tikhonov
(extra forwards:Morin, Tropp)
Keith-Hjlamarsson
Seabrook-Oduya
vanRiemsdyk-Johns
(extra defense: Rundblad)
Crawford
Darling
Still a very good lineup. Hopefully the Panarin and Tikhonov pan out and Turbo takes the next step in his development. This roster(assuming a similar cap hit for Oduya at $3.5M and Kruger at $2.2M) would have about $2.5M to play with in case they need to add some help at the deadline.
Zero Russians=3 Stanley Cups
3 Russians=???
In Stanislov We Trust