Kimmo

"The Chicago Blackhawks announced today that they have acquired defenseman Kimmo Timonen from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for a second-round choice in the 2015 National Hockey League Draft and a conditional fourth-round choice in the 2016 NHL Draft."

It's hard to say if this is much of an upgrade, or not. If Timonen plays instead of Rozsival then, yes, even with a year's rust anyone can expect more assurance with the puck and, even with Timonen's defensive faults and his age (39) more foot-speed than any of The Hawks' bottom three.  Timonen was cleared to play on Saturday by The Flyers so, presumably, he's healthy enough to play but he will need some games to get his timing sorted out.

GM Stan Bowman might not be done, yet, but even if this is The Hawks' big splash in terms of defensive help, they could do a lot worse.  Rundblad and Erixon were okay the last two games but I don't know about going to war in the playoffs with that combo.  When and if Oduya and Van Riemsdyk are ready to return The Hawks will certainly have a lot of options, ones that, hopefully, won't require leaning on Rozsival and Cumiskey.  That said, I half expect Quenneville to trot out one or both of those guys.

Brad Richards would appear to have plateaued, at best, and is possibly even declining as we reach the last quarter of the regular season, so we have to figure that Bowman will be looking to shore up at center.  Of course, this was the expectation each of the last few seasons, too, and look where we are.  Antoine Vermette would appear to be the only real upgrade available and how serious The Hawks are about overspending on a rental, that may or not be much of improvement over what they already have, will determine whether or not Stan is done dealing.  With 20 games remaining it's conceivable that Teravainen could slot in at the 2C position, but with the coach's reluctance to even try him in that role, I doubt that he'll get a fair crack at that.

About Last Night
Versteeg has been far better than last season and better than most would have predicted, but taking two interference penalties in the third period of a game that The Hawks were still very much in, underlines how his brain can just shut off from time to time.  It's easy to forgive him overhandling the puck as long as he's still creating chances but last night's performance was just lunkheadedness.  With all the penalties last night the second line ended up playing less than many of the third and fourth liners which is definitely not a recipe for success.  Penalties happen, but Versteeg's indiscretions last night were selfish, poorly timed and put he and his linemates squarely behind the eight-ball.  This is just the sort of thing that causes Quenneville to resume tinkering with his lines. Shaw at 2C?  Genius!