Everything With Duncan Keith, Lightning "Break" The Stanley Cup, and Other Blackhawks Bullets

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Everything With Duncan Keith, Lightning “Break” The Stanley Cup, and Other Blackhawks Bullets

Chicago Blackhawks

Well, yesterday was a trip. The Chicago Blackhawks traded Duncan Keith to the Edmonton Oilers after 16 seasons with the club.  It’s still hard, from a fan perspective, to wrap my head around the idea that Keith will not finish his career with the Blackhawks. He seemed like one of three sure-fire players from the modern-era Blackhawks that would play their entire career in Chicago. Now there are just two. Even at that, there’s no guarantees.

•   While trading Keith seemed inevitable over the last few weeks, the deal itself actually comes out on the better end for the Blackhawks.

•   Chicago sends Duncan Keith to the Oilers and didn’t have to retain any salary on the final two years of his deal. They get Caleb Jones and a 2022 conditional third-round pick in the process. They also send Tim Söderlund to the Oilers as well.

•   From a Chicago perspective, it’s a great deal. From an Oilers perspective, not so much…

•   I’m pleasantly surprised that Stan Bowman was able to get this kind of deal done with Keith. Imagine what the deal could have been if they agreed to eat some of Keith’s cap hit?

•   Blackhawks President of Hockey Operations and General Manager had this to say about the legendary defenseman following the trade.

•   Take a trip down memory lane with Duncan…

•   Gah. Still seems like a bad dream that Keith is no longer a Blackhawk. He’s one of my favorite players all-time and his run with the Blackhawks might never be duplicated with the club in the modern era.

•   Keith left the Blackhawks with a message on his Instagram, following his first media availability after the trade was made official.

•   The “One Goal” era of the Blackhawks is almost completely gone from the organization. It’s weird.

•   And a fond farewell to Tim Söderlund, a prospect I had high hopes for and he did not get to reach them with the Blackhawks.

•   The return for the Blackhawks in the trade could end up becoming a second-round pick next season if Keith helps lead the Oilers to a deep postseason run. It also hinges on Caleb Jones and what he might be able to do in a bigger role with Chicago.

•   It also doesn’t hurt that Caleb is the younger brother of Seth Jones, a MAJOR trade target that the Blackhawks are interested in. We’ll see where that ends up going in the next few days/weeks as the offseason continues.

•   The organization made another trade with the Oilers yesterday, but it was not part of the Keith deal. The Rockford IceHogs acquired former Penn State standout Liam Folkes from the Bakersfield Condors.

•   Again, it was a wild day.

•   So wild in fact, that I nearly forgot that the Lightning had their Stanley Cup boat parade and rally yesterday. It went just about as well as you could expect, given the standard that was set in last year’s parade.

https://twitter.com/TBLightning/status/1414686160371261452?s=20

•   I’m not convinced Nikita Kucherov has been somber at all since the end of Game Five.

•   Ladies and Gentlemen, the best goaltender on the planet…

https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1414618397267136512?s=20

•   But you know, it’s all fun and games until the Stanley Cup gets broken.

•   I’m sure it’s fine. Leave it to the Florida men the ruin a good thing. Wild.

•   You know, speaking of the Wild, we got breaking news this morning. Remember right before the 2012 lockout? The Minnesota Wild signed MASSIVE identical contracts with Ryan Suter and Zach Parise. Well, today those contract come to a premature end in Minnesota.

•   Both Parise and Suter signed 13-year, $98M deals on July 4th in 2012. Now they both have been bought-out on July 13th, 2021. According to The Atheltic’s Michael Russo, the buy-outs breakdown like this: “The Wild will pay each $6.7 million over the next eight years and be charged with $2.371 million, $6.371 million and $7.371 million cap hits in the next four years, respectively, for each, then $833,333 cap hits the four years after that for each.”

•   OUCH. You hate to see it.

•   Other breaking news this morning, long-time Nashville Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne has called it a career.

•   For as much grief that Rinne has caused the Blackhawks over the years, he was an incredible talent and an incredible person. Best of luck to him in whatever he does in life after hockey.

•   In other league news yesterday coming from the annual GM meetings, it appears that there is slow progress being made on the NHL participation in the 2022 Winter Olympics.

•   Also around the league, the Columbus Blue Jackets Foundation has created a memorial fund in honor of Matiss Kivlenieks.

•   In news somewhat related to the Blackhawks, the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL are changing their logo. If you haven’t seen it, it’s 99% identical to the Blackhawks logo.

•   The Winterhawks have used the logo ever since the team was founded, but said that the change is to give the team their own identity with a logo that is their own, not borrowed from Chicago. I’m very intrigued to see what comes of the Winterhawks new look, coming tomorrow.

•   Finally, another moment of zen from Stephen Johns…

https://twitter.com/stjohns28/status/1414735182473531392?s=20

•   That’ll do it for today. Go enjoy your Tuesday!

Filed to: Chicago Blackhawks
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Author: Mario Tirabassi

Mario Tirabassi is a writer for Bleacher Nation. You can follow him on Twitter @Mario_Tirabassi.