Busy Blockbuster Trade Frenzy, Nashville’s Leadership Changes, and Other Blackhawks Bullets
Before we get into the busy Sunday that saw six (6) NHL trades take place, a quick update on the Bad for Bedard Sweepstakes standings. Chicago visits Anaheim on Monday night and Arizona on Tuesday night, so these are important games for the tankathon. It’s also noteworthy that the Blackhawks will be without at least Patrick Kane and Sam Lafferty for these two games because of trade-related reasons. If anyone else isn’t available… stay tuned.
- The Blackhawks made a couple roster moves on Sunday evening. They announced Alex Stalock has been activated off IR, which is great news. Jaxson Stauber was sent back to Rockford to make room on the roster. And then the Blackhawks traded defenseman Jack Johnson back to the Colorado Avalanche for defenseman Andreas Englund.
- I noted this on Twitter on Sunday, but the Blackhawks acquiring a defenseman making only $750,000 this season is intriguing because the New York Rangers have a veteran banged up and zero cap space available to make the trade for Kane (which is why this continues to drag on this week). I wonder if there’s additional minor pieces involved in the deal to send Englund to New York with Kane so they have affordable depth on their blue line in the interim.
- The world outside of Chicago does continue spinning even without a Kane trade. The San Jose Sharks moved arguably the biggest forward — including Kane — on the market on Sunday, trading Timo Meier to the New Jersey Devils in a blockbuster deal that involved 13 pieces! Thirteen! Nine players and four draft picks changed hands in this mammoth deal. Now we wait to see if the Devils get an extension done with Meier.
- The St. Louis Blues made another big trade on Sunday as well, trading forward Ivan Barbashev to the Vegas Golden Knights for forward prospect Zach Dean. Dean, 20, is a teammate of Blackhawks prospect Sam Savoie this season at Gatineau. He was also a part of the Canadian roster that won gold at the World Juniors in January. Dean was the 30th overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. That’s a nice pickup for St. Louis, who have had a very efficient sell-off over the past few weeks.
- The Nashville Predators made maybe the biggest news on Sunday — and it didn’t involve a player. David Poile, the original Nashville employee, is retiring and will be replaced by longtime Preds head coach Barry Trotz.
- Despite announcing his pending retirement and replacement, Poile made a shocking deal on Sunday. Not because of who left, but because of the stunningly enormous return he got from Tampa. How about five draft picks and a decent prospect for a player who has five goals in 56 games this season!!!
- Oh, by the way, the trade deadline is still Friday at 2 PM CT. Will anyone be left to trade by then?
- Finally, the Bears already own the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, but they’re reportedly shopping it. Hard. And ESPN is reporting that, with the NFL Draft Combine beginning soon, the line is forming to make the Bears a substantial offer to get the top pick.
