From blackhawks.nhl.com:
The Chicago Blackhawks today acquired a second-round pick (50th overall) in the 2016 National Hockey League Draft and a third-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for forwards Bryan Bickell and Teuvo Teravainen.
So the good news here is that The Hawks just saved themselves $4 Mil cap space that had been soaked up by a fella who would never again set foot (skate?) on United Center ice.
The obviously disappointing news is that the associated cost of ditching that salary was Teuvo being packaged into the deal.
But, maybe it's not the worst idea, dealing Teravainen, although this is perhaps indicative of who's really in charge of the organization. Coach Quenneville has rarely deployed Teravainen "properly", as in "the way any sane person would" and, when he does appear to get it right, it's only because he's out of other options. Teuvo still has another year on a mighty cap-friendly deal but, after that, he'll be expensive whether Q chooses to utilize him efficiently or not. It's likely that GM Stan Bowman saw this as perhaps the only real chance to get Bickell's salary off the books and that it might be best to not break his neck protecting Teravainen if Q only inserts him into the top six when Hossa's injured. It's also possible that it was Teuvo's preference to leave. Also, we're one year away from Panarin becoming extremely expensive and possibly requiring another veteran to be dispatched, so it's probably okay to let Rasmussen / Hinostroza / Motte / whoever get a full season in before having to fill a more important gap.
Teravainen found himself in a weird spot with The Hawks, some of which is down to him not having been granted admission into Q's Circle of Trust and some of which may well be his own fault. Ostensibly a center, Teravainen failed to click with any combination of wingers he was matched with. Granted, one of the wingers he was often saddled with was Brandon Mashinter, but there no chemistry with Fleischmann and Weise, either, which would have been a kickass third line if it had worked out. His brief spells on the top two lines were, as mentioned, due to injury or suspension to others and, while he had some good moments during those auditions, it clearly wasn't enough to entice Q to extend the engagement. I think we'll miss Teuvo on the power play - I thought he was a quite capable point-man - but, looking at the remaining centers I don't think we'll miss him too much in that capacity. Dennis Rasmussen can endure Mashinter, or whatever lout inevitably fills that role, as well as Teuvo can.
Looking ahead, I guess we can expect Stan to try for a UFA or two because, at it stands right now, we have only seven forwards ready to go and I do not anticipate The Hawks planning to make do with four or more Icehogs in the lineup. I hope Stan re-ups Richard Panik and wouldn't mind Rasmussen returning. There may be a chance that Shaw remains but I don't see Fleischmann, Ladd or Weise being invited back.
That is all, until the next shoe drops.
No comments:
Post a Comment