Blackhawks Can’t Afford To Wait Until Trade Deadline To Make A Move

Published: 9^th Jan 12 1:08 am

Randy Holt
Randy Holt

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Dennis Wierzbicki-US PRESSWIRE

There’s no doubt about it, the Blackhawks have been struggling lately. They’ve lost five of six and have yet to win a game since the calender turned over to 2012.

Much of the time, each loss is relatively easy to figure it out. Sometimes it’s that whole “lack of effort” thing. Other times it’s the defense. And then you had that Edmonton game where Dan Carcillo decided to lose his mind and chuck Tom Gilbert into the boards.

Any way you want to put it, all signs point to the Blackhawks making some sort of move, or two, when the trade deadline rolls around towards the end of next month. But given recent events, can the Hawks really wait that long?

It’s pretty hard to sugarcoat how poor the defense has been. Not that it’s terrible every night, but it does struggle in a way that’s alarmingly consistent. Nick Leddy is in a pretty bad stretch and his inexperience doesn’t do him any favors playing next to Niklas Hjalmarsson. When Steve Montador went down, the Hawks had major issues trying to put together a decent blue line.

Outside of those top five, the team has rolled out any of Sean O’Donnell, Sami Lepisto, John Scott, and Dylan Olsen as that sixth defenseman. Olsen is back in Rockford, Lepisto doesn’t look like he’ll ever crack the lineup regularly and John Scott is…John Scott.

Then you look at the forward lines and that one spot that has always been an issue continues to be a concern for the Blackhawks: second line center.

They temporarily solved that problem with the move of Patrick Kane to the middle, but the shine on that move has dulled. Marcus Kruger has been out with a concussion, which erased any type of stability that they had at that spot.

Kane isn’t the answer there at all, nor is Michael Frolik. Even if they wanted to try out Patrick Sharp in the middle again, he could be out with that upper-body injury suffered against the Red Wings on Sunday. Even if Sharp is healthy, this team needs a veteran guy that they can throw in the middle on that second line.

The Blackhawks have pieces that they can move. As far as the NHL guys go, Bryan Bickell is very likely on the block, especially if Jimmy Hayes continues to play well in the lineup. It will also be interesting to see if the team shops Niklas Hjalmarsson and his $3.5 million salary at all.

That’s not to mention their wealth of youth developing down in the minors. The amount of depth in the organization is outstanding and could very well lead to them bringing back a high caliber player, whether it’s on the offensive end or on the blue line.

The Hawks are going to make a move of some sort. They did it last year on a small scale, acquiring Michael Frolik and Chris Campoli, and both worked out pretty well, with the former getting a three-year deal over the summer. Whether they could seek out both a forward and a defenseman isn’t quite clear yet, nor will it likely be for a bit.

I’m not suggesting the Hawks jump into panic move and make a move just for the sake of making a move, and Stan Bowman is smart enough to not do that. But if the slide continues, Patrick Sharp is out for anything more than a couple of weeks, and the defense continues to have as many issues as it has, the team might have to consider making a move in January, rather than waiting until deadline day.