The Blackhawks Have Traded Alex Debrincat To The Ottawa Senators For A Couple Of Picks...
Look...I can't say that I am thrilled with this return. It is extremely underwhelming. We've seen the market for guys with term on their deals. The Avs got a HAUL for Matt Duchene. The Senators got a big package for Karlsson. The Jackets got 3 first round pick assets for Jones. The Hawks got two roster players and two first round picks for Brandon Hagel like 4 months ago. For the Blackhawks to have a 24 year old STUD winger who falls out of bed and gets you 30 goals to only receive the 7th overall pick and an extra 2nd round pick in a weak draft is a tough pill to swallow.
Stan Bowman and Panarin are both trending in direct reaction to this trade. I understand why. I was onboard with trading Panarin just like I was onboard with trading Debrincat. It's the execution that felt off. The Panarin-Saad trade was a failure from the word go and it was a slap in the face to Patrick Kane. This feels similar in many ways at this stage of the process.
The only way, to me, that this trade "works" is the Hawks get SOOOO bad because they removed 40 goals from the lineup that they get the 1st overall pick. That is a BIG if. I believe that the best odds you're allowed to get in the NHL lottery is 18%. That feels a bit like chasing an inside straight. God forbid that the Hawks end up in the 3-6 range and they can't get either Fantilli or Bedard, well...it's going to be a LONG walk back to mediocrity.
I've seen this sentiment on twitter from many people
I don't think this is accurate.
Of that group listed the only player that moves the needle is Jake Sanderson and the Sens were NEVER going to include him in a trade. Ever. The other guys...the shine is off Brannstrom at this point. He's no longer considered a lock to be a top 4 type guy. Greig is a worker, but limited and probably a bottom 6. The other guys are also bottom pair/bottom 6 types. Which is why I was never really excited about the idea of a trade with Ottawa anyways. I always wanted to New Jersey and I wanted Shane Wright plus plus. Maybe that never on the table.
That is the important thing to remember. We aren't privy to these negotiations or the inner workings of the market. We are in a recession and apparently it is messing up the trade market too. Smh.
I have seen people online losing their shit at Davidson. I won't do that. Because I don't know. I am underwhelmed by this trade, but I was overwhelmed by the Hagel trade. I like the coaching hire. I liked the Lafferty-Nylander trade. Just felt like this was an opportunity towards accelerating the rebuild and right now I don't feel like we are any closer to competing in a real way. All they did, in theory, was make the team worse and less expensive against the cap to hopefully get more assets. Which is good, but doesn't make you feel like the rebuild is going to be successful.
You probably also REALLY pissed off Patrick Kane. Why would he agree to a trade now to help this organization? He owes them NOTHING. He has done everything for them at every turn. This regime said that they would be in communication with 19 and 88 and it is hard to imagine that they were involved in any of these discussions. If I were Kane, and I am a spiteful person at times, I would simply have a surgery around say like 10/14/22 and take my time coming back and then just walk after my contract is up. I wouldn't help them sell one more single ticket and I wouldn't feel inclined to uproot my life and family to help the organization get extra assets after they've traded anyone he ever enjoyed playing with.
Tough one to swallow and wrap our heads around. We talked about things at length on spaces. 2000+ concurrent listeners. It'll be over 10K total plays by the time the draft starts. Love you guys. Best, brightest, and biggest audience there is.
