What a fantastic 26 hours the Chicago Blackhawks and Stan Bowman had. Adding Andrew Ladd, Dale Weiss, Tomas Fleischmann, and Christian Ehrhoff in a flurry of trades completed on both Thursday and Friday. While the investment by the Blackhawks front office to win this season should be enough for Blackhawks fans to get excited, there is still another move Bowman will attempt to make in the coming days.
While Stan completely revamped the Blackhawks roster in just 26 short hours, he mostly improved the team’s forwards while not doing a ton to improve the team’s defense. Ehrhoff is a start to give some help to Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson, and the crew, but his additional alone still leaves a hole to be filled.
There’s a problem, and here’s a solution.
It is safe to say that Bryan Bickell has completely fallen out of favor in Chicago. After his remarkable 2013 Stanley Cup run, his production has dropped off significantly. Yes, he has had some freak medical issues which have certainly impacted this, but if you are trying to win a championship you don’t build a roster with players that don’t produce for you. The issue is, where do you send a guy that just appears to not know how to play hockey at the NHL level any more?
Toronto.
The Maple Leafs have been attached to Bickell for some time now, and according to a recent report, they have begun to kick the tires on the 29 year old winger again. The Maple Leafs had a nine player blockbuster trade a couple of weeks back which sent their captain, Dion Phaneuf to the Ottawa Senators. One of the players that Toronto received in return was 24 year old defenseman, Jared Cowen.
The Maple Leafs have yet to dress Cowan, which could be the result of some hip issues he had been dealing with, and there is a lot of thought that Toronto wants to flip him in another deal.
Jared Cowen: “It’s frustrating and disappointing at the same time.”
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) February 26, 2016
Here’s why Cowan makes sense for the Blackhawks. This is a young defenseman that is just a couple of years removed from putting 20 minutes of ice time per night. Additionally, he has a very attractive cap hit, and could be an option for the team to buyout in the offseason. The money factor is exactly why the Blackhawks would make this move, per Sportsnet out of Canada.
Carrying a $3.1-million cap hit through 2016-17, Cowen is a potential buyout candidate this summer. His contract is unique. If a team were to buy it out, the club would receive a salary cap credit of $650,000 for 2016-17 because Cowen is under 26 years old.
If the Blackhawks could shed the salary of Bryan Bickell and get some salary relief in return (which could be cut in what is shaping up to be the most important offseason since 2010) it would be a huge move. Additionally the Blackhawks help fill a position of need.
Another option is blueliner, Matt Hunwick. Matt had been getting top defenseman minutes (22.5) in 2015-16 and could slide right into the lineup. Additionally he poses a chance for the Blackhawks to reduce salary through sending Bickell’s $4 M cap hit this year and next to Toronto in return for Hunwick’s $1.2 a season over the same span.
If you haven’t noticed, there’s a little theme here… which is trading Bickell and acquiring a defender. But the potential deal would serve the purpose of becoming a little more flexible under the dwindling NHL salary cap which ultimately threatens the Chicago Blackhawks chance of future championships, and threatens Blackhawks fans chances of running into the Stanley Cup in their favorite Chicago watering hole.
With the Blackhawks certainly a favorite to get back to the Stanley Cup Final, they are not the favorite to win it all right now. With every move Stan Bowman makes, it ensures that the team, and Blackhawks fans, will be celebrating in Chicago once again.
