Even after executing one of many NHL’s first trades of the offseason Saturday, buying defenseman Olli Maatta from the Penguins, the Blackhawks stay more likely to make quite a few extra strikes within the close to future.
General supervisor Stan Bowman stated Sunday that he’s concerned in a whole lot of discussions coming into the week of the draft, which begins Friday in Vancouver. It’s sometimes one of many hottest durations of the league calendar for buying and selling — for each gamers and picks.
“Right now, the trade chatter has been pretty active throughout the league. I’ve had a number of conversations, and I expect that to continue over the next week,” Bowman stated. “We’re going to continue to look into other ways to improve our team through trades, and if none of that comes to be, then we’ll look at the free-agent market. We expect to be active.”
The Hawks had been linked to a number of different well-liked rumor topics across the league, together with the Blue Jackets’ Ryan Murray, the Ducks’ Corey Perry and the Hurricanes’ Justin Faulk, however to not Maatta previous to the stunning Saturday evening deal.
Bowman prompt the Hawks’ gameplan to repair their struggling protection could also be to gather as many potential top-six gamers as potential, then let the Opening Day roster and pairings get sorted out in coaching camp. The crew already has arguably too many defensemen to carry on to all summer time, nevertheless, so even when that technique holds up, they could want to maneuver one or two guys out whereas making one other addition or two.
“As far as who’s going to be in our lineup on the opening night, that’s a long ways off and that’s not really the focus of the discussions we have right now,” Bowman added. “We’re trying to bring in as many options as we can.”
Draft picks might additionally come into play, albeit in much less thrilling vogue.
Twenty-eight alternatives modified arms on the Friday and Saturday of final yr’s draft, and the Hawks have made not less than one draft-weekend commerce for six years working. The No. three general selection might be not on the desk — and whether it is, solely in a trade-down fairly than trade-out scenario — however the Hawks’ 5 different picks may very well be.
“This is a great start — we’re a week out from the draft here, and we’ve already improved our defense in a big way,” Bowman stated. “We’re going to keep looking at other ways to improve our defense and the rest of our team. So from that perspective, I expect it to be active over the next couple weeks.”