Blackhawks shopping Byfuglien?

As noted earlier, Dale Tallon is looking to add another defenseman to the mix and it may be a forward who is shown the door out of the Windy City.

According to The Hockey News, the only forwards who would be considered "untouchable" are Kane, Toews and Hossa, this leaves RTB to wonder who the hell might be gone by training camp. There is some speculation out there that the spare prick in the woods may be Big Buff. I hope not. I thought Byfuglien really came into his own in the playoffs and was key to getting past Calgary and Vancouver.

For his part, Buff added 3 goals and 6 assists in 17 games during the 08-09 playoffs. That might not sound like a whole helluva lot, but it was the big man going hard to the net that helped push the Hawks through to the Western Conference finals. Night in, night out it was Byfuglien doing the dirty work for Chicago against two all-world goalies in Mikka Kiprusoff and Roberto Luongo. He got to them and you could tell that neither of those teams had an answer for him. So maybe his stat line isn't the best, but hockey is more than just stats, its toughness, grit and those intangibles which often tip the game one way or the other.

I know that some will say that his salary($3m per) makes him trade-able, but come on this guy is just hitting his prime. More likely would be a trade involving Patrick Sharp,Kris Versteeg or Andrew Ladd. All good players to be sure. I would like to see the Hawks keep all of these guys, but its unlikely they'll get something for nothing so someone would have to go.

Since next year's RFA list includes not only Kane and Toews, but also Duncan Keith, cap space will be at a premium. Although, I would rather see them part ways with either Cristobal Huet or Brian Campbell, it seems a good bet that any trade the Hawks make would involve a forward leaving town. Of those mentioned, Sharp has the biggest cap number at $3.9 mil, then Versteeg and Byfuglien at roughly $3 mil apiece, followed by Ladd at about $1.5 mil per season. So if moving salary is the goal, then it would obviously be Sharp who's gone, leaving Hossa and the others to replace his 26 goals and 18 assists.

Only time will tell, until then this is all just rampant speculation.