Chicago Blackhawks trades going to far, or are they just right? We will see next season when the Blackhawks try to defend their Stanley Cup. Looking at this as a fan, I am starting to get a little upset and a bit nervous about next season. With all the deals going on, the Blackhawks are losing many good role players. Nothing as important as a Toews or a Kane, or a Hossa, but one of my favorite players. Kris Versteeg. He recently was dealt along with Bill Sweatt to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Viktor Stalberg (STAHL-buhrg), Philippe Paradis (fihl-EEP, PAIR-a-dee,) and Christopher DiDomenico. Viktor Stalberg played 39 games on the Mariles and 40 on the Maple Leafs with a combined total of 21 goals and 26 assists with 47 points last season. He is fresh out of college where he went to University of Vermont. He scored 41 goals in three years at Vermont and 43 assists. He played for the Frölunda HC in the J20 where he played 41 games, scored 27 goals and had 26 assists combining for 53 points. He had his first playoff experience there when we played 7 games, scored 6 times and had 5 assists. Might be the replacement for Kris Versteeg? He might on the ice, but I doubt he will in as one of my favorite players. Steeger, I will miss you. Philippe Paradis seems like he will be playing in Rockford. Not that much done in the AHL, where he played 4 games. He did play in the QMJHL for three seasons where he played 170 games, had 54 goals and 61 assists. Christopher DiDomenico played well in the minors where he had 90 goals and 161 assists. Maybe another player to Rockford? That was the most recent trade, lets look back at the first big trade the Blackhawks had. Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Sopel, Ben Eager and Akim Aliu for Marty Reasoner, Joseph Crabb, Jeremy Morin, Kevin Hayes and Justin Holl. The Blackhawks selected Hayes and Holl. This trade is a hard one to look at. Marty Reasoner stats are garbage, 4 goals and 13 assists last season?! We defiantly could of snagged a better centermen then him. Morin and Crabb both make up his this trade, only if they play in a Blackhawks sweater, not a Icehogs sweater. The lose of Eager is a hard one to take, hes not a goal scorer, like i've said many times, but he is a hell of a good position player. His rough tough attitude gets in the minds of the other team. With the lose of Eager, the Blackhawks are looking less of a fighter team then they were in 2010. Hey Toronto, we like tradeing? Earlier than this most recent trade, the Blackhawks and Leafs traded, Jimmy Hayes for Draft Pick #43. Jimmy joins his younger brother Kevin as a Blackhawk. Another trade that occured during the draft was drafting Mirko Hofflin (pick 151) after trading away Colin Fraser. Fraser is now an Edmonton Oiler. Not to upset about losing him, hes replaceable. Lets grade these trades and the players. First I will look at the players we lost. Higher grade means that losing the player is not that much of a big deal. - Dustin Byfuglien (F) Buf is a big man, plays very well infront of the net. He will be missed in the lineup. Overall, sad to see him go. I will root for the Thrashers. -Brent Sopel (C) Sopel is ageing, 33 years young. But he is to slow imo. I saw fast guys fly past Sopel and score. He is replaceable, the Blackhawks have depth on D. If you want to see what I am talking about, go look at the Defensemen from the Rockford Icehogs. Overall, not that big of a deal to see him go. I will root for the Thrashers. -Ben Eager (D+) With the lost of Eager, the players to stand up for Toews, Kane and Hossa are weakening. Overall sad to see him go, he will be pissed. I will root for the Thrashers. -Colin Fraser (B) Not to worried about trading him away. We did get Jimmy Hayes, Kevin Hayes older brother. Fraser was a fourth liner, played 70 games and only scored 7 times. Overall not a big deal to see him leave. Probably will not become a fan of the Oilers because of him, but I will hope for the best for Fraser. He did help the Blackhawks win the Stanly. -Kris Versteeg (F-) So pissed off about this trade. We might of got good players from this, but Steeger is one of my favorite players. Overall, pissed off that Versteeg had to leave. I will miss him, and will be rooting for him and the Leafs only because of him. -Andrew Ladd (D) Little upset that he was traded. I'm not sure what they have planed for the offseason. Ladd will be missed. Go Atlanta! Edit: ESPNChiHawks tweeted "bowman sounded confident all RFA's will be back..maybe after tonight, they will be! i mean someone has to stay right? lol." These RFA consist of Niklas Hjalmarsson and John Madden. Having both of these guys back would be amazing. Edit: The Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks traded restricted free agent forward Andrew Ladd to the Atlanta Thrashers in exchange for a 2011 second-round draft pick and defense prospect Ivan Vishnevskiy.
Bowman: "In a week, we've added a lot of young assets who are going to be contributors, surrounding the core group of players." Jesse Rpgers "Blackhawks blog: Stars agree to deal with ex-Hawk Burish http://es.pn/a2lhmf"
Instead of losing Versteeg, Ladd and Madden, we could have simply dumped Brian Campbell. What do I think? No one wanted him. I'm sure there will be more moves in the coming days as well. The smell of gloom and doom is heavy in the air. Anyway, we still have some amazing youngsters that are more than ready to move up.
I think your looking at Campbell the wrong way. List of FAs. Available UFAs: F Danny Bois, F Mark Cullen, F Kyle Greentree, F John Madden, D Nick Boynton, D Jassen Cullimore, D Kim Johnsson, D Richard Petiot, D Danny Richmond Available RFAs: F Bryan Bickell, F Evan Brophey, F Nathan Davis, F Adam Hobson, F Peter MacArthur, F Jack Skille, D Mike Brennan, D Jean-Claude Sawyer, D Jordan Hendry, D Niklas Hjalmarsson, G Antti Niemi, G Hannu Toivonen
I believe I read on nhl.com last night somewhere that Madden, Hendry, Johnsson and Boynton will not be retained. And again, we can agree to disagree on Campbell.
Only one of that list I really liked was Madden. Johnsson/Barker deal was horrible. Hendry is talented, but not that talented. We can bring up another D from Rockford. I like Boyton, he would be nice to have, but not sad to see him leave.
I was against the trade at first too, but eventually figured he wasn't worth his price against the cap.
