Apparently the wheeling-and-dealing Chicago Blackhawks aren't through just yet.According to a report in the Daily Herald today, the Hawks are looking to beef up the blueline with a stay at home d-man.
"We have tremendous depth up front and we're going to look and see what we can do to bolster the back end if we think we have to." says Blackhawks GM Dale Tallon.
It goes on to say that any move would have to come via the trade route because of the Blackhawks cap situation. Tallon admits, however, that he is prepared to go forward with the current cast of blueliners, should a deal not come along.
"Why not? They performed very well last year," said Tallon. "Hjalmarsson stepped up and really played well for us in the playoffs and we expect him to play more minutes this year."
This, of course, begs the questions: Who would they be looking to add and what would they be looking to give up to add a another rearguard?
The top five of Campbell, Seabrook, Barker, Keith, and Hjalmarsson don't appear to be going anywhere so that leaves us with Sopel and Johnson as potential starting defensemen in Rockford or someplace else.
Since Johnson is younger and comes much cheaper, the usual suspects think it could and should be Sopel and his 2.3 mil cap hit. Clearing his salary off the books makes more sense.
As for who they might be looking to add, thats anyone's guess right now. Their are rumours floating around that they may be interested in Jay McKee, but he hasn't found a home yet. Unless another team is planning a little sign and trade then it seems unlikely, but you never know.
At any rate Blackhawk fans, this is a good time for us. We've suffered long enough and its nice to see our team actually making waves, wear your Indian head proudly. Its a strange new world.
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