Blockbuster! (Or: This is What We Got For Patrick Sharp?)

This morning, The Hawks traded Ryan Garbutt to Anaheim for Jiri Sekac.
Just to get it out of the way, The Hawks have now netted Jiri Sekac and Rob Scuderi in exchange for one of the most dynamic players to wear The Indian Head.  Yeah, yeah, salary cap, bla bla bla... it still bugs me.  Were there that few GMs interested in Sharp?  

Anyway...
What We Lose:
Very little, as it turns out. Garbutt had the lowest shooting percentage of any Hawks player who has bothered to score a goal this season, despite having hurled more shots on net than Panarin or Anisimov, among others, and possessed the worst plus/minus rating on the club. He had a look on the Toews line and spent a very short period in the PK rotation.  He was a healthy scratch a handful of times, as well.  Garbutt had another year on his current contract which is now Anaheim's millstone.

What We Gain:
Hard to say. Sekac put up okay numbers while with Montreal last season (7G, 9A in 50 games) considering the ice time (not much) and the quality of his usual linemates (rarely good).  It appears that Sekac was unable to infiltrate Bruce Boudreau's Inner Circle (or possibly even his Outer Circle, if that's a thing), even after a brief audition on The Ducks' second line.  He missed about six weeks with an ankle injury and has been a healthy scratch off and on during the last week+.
Sekac is smallish "skill" player who is believed to have considerable offensive potential.  As he will likely enter The Hawks' lineup alongside Rasmussen and Panik he's not going to be lining up with premier talent but, that said, it's certain that Ras and Panik just got a better linemate.  Did that make sense?  I wouldn't be shocked, either, if Sekac gets deployed in Desjardin's spot on the third line, but that seems less likely due to the Des/Danault/Teravainen trio playing rather well together.
Money-wise it's a push, with Sekac earning a few bucks more than Garbutt, but that contract expires this spring, so Stan Bowman gets to Try Before he Buys.

                                                Drinks....drinks for all my friends...

True Test: Hawks 1, Lightning 0 and Saturday's Big Boy

I tend to be pessimistic when it comes to The Hawks and the potential for disaster when things like Duncan Keith being unavailable are concerned.  Last night's game shone a bright, sparkly ray of hope 'pon me.

This was a sterner test, too, than the semi-interested Panthers a few nights ago, as The Lightning figure to be around or thereabouts next June, as their lineup has hardly changed since losing to The Hawks in last year's Finals. What we got was an excellent, all-round effort (exceptions noted below) and possibly the best period that The Hawks have played so far this season; The Hawks had their way with The Lightning in the second even while having to kill two penalties, and only new guy Kristers Gudlevskis kept The Lightning in it during that frame. And there's more:

- The Hawks penalty kill was simply outstanding and I liked that they trotted out three separate PK units and none of them stood out as being more or less effective than the others.  Ryan Garbutt had his best period and best single shift as a Hawk while on the PK.

- The Hawks' defence, once again, rose to the occasion with a smart, confident effort from all six guys.  No, not every play or pass was spot-on but, on the whole, it was a very encouraging performance from the group.  I hardly noticed Daley (intimidated off the puck once) and Rundblad (a yippy pass to Daley), which I take as A Good Sign.  Svedberg spent way too much time standing and observing, often with the puck getting behind him, but his freakishly long reach sometimes enabled him to make a play that he wouldn't otherwise have pulled off.

- How many times has Kruger failed to cash in a gimme this season?

- All respect to Viktor Tikhonov but was he playing rugby in this one?  I believe he attempted twice as many passes down-ice than up.  Still, he works hard, gives Toews and Hossa a little extra working space and appears defensively responsible, so...

- Ok, Garbutt had a wonderful First Period but, after that, reverted back to what-the-hell-do-you-do-anyway.  What was happening on that odd-man rush in the third when he couldn't get the puck away from him fast enough and put Teravainen offside?

- I'm also not entirely sure what Vincent Hinostroza is accomplishing, so far, but he's probably doing it better than Andrew Shaw, who could likely fetch a decent #5 or #6 defenseman, if anybody was looking into that sort of thing.

- Nice to see Toews net his first of the year, especially a game winner and in such dramatic fashion.  I don't expect the floodgates to open or anything, but I'll bet he won't be gripping his stick quite as tightly for a few games.

Yeah, it was "only" 21 saves and a fat goalpost, but Corey Crawford successfully outdueled a young dude who had a pretty fine night, himself.  The Hawks can dominate possession and outshoot teams all they like but, if they're gonna wait until overtime to score, Crawford has to be there.

                                                                   I got this.