Stan Wasn't Kidding: Saad Returns, Panarin becomes latest Blue-watchamacallit

A day or two ago, Stan Bowman said something to the tune of "you don't just go out and get another Marian Hossa".  Well, this is about as close to doing that as one can imagine.
No need to drone on about what Saad brings to a team...any team, as he's a known quantity.  His trade to Columbus was easily the most regrettable of the spate of necessary deals made over the last couple of years.
Along with Saad, The Hawks get a potential backup for Corey Crawford, one Anton Forsberg. Forsberg, 24, has had only a handful of NHL starts with Columbus but posted good numbers in the AHL, and will presumably duke it with Jeff Glass (right...) and Lars Johansson for that gig.

And of course, off to CMB is Artemi Panarin.  I wondered if Panarin might be vulnerable after his utterly indifferent effort in The Hawks' rather short playoffs.  One could argue that the bad press Panarin generated after a video from his KHL days surfaced with the young Rus chuckling through some racist remarks might have had some bearing on this...but I doubt it, and the less said about that the better.  More likely, and back to the first sentence in this post, Stan identified what The Hawks need and went out and got it.  Tyler Motte, who began last season with The Hawks but found himself behind Schmaltz, Kero and even Hinostroza before too long, joins Panarin in CMB.

We're not giving up much in the goal-scoring department with this move and, while Saad isn't the passer that Panarin is, he is the more complete player, able to kill penalties and win puck battles rather than skate around them.

And maybe, just maybe, if The Hawks feel he's ready for prime time, you just parachute wee Alex DeBrincat into Panarin's slot and see what happens.

Maybe I'll just hold off on posting again until after the weekend rather than running to the typer every time Stan dials his phone.  Fun times, fun times, indeed.