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EXCITING PROSPECTS:

• C Kirby Dach, 19 - 3rd overall pick in the 2019 draft, big dude (6'4" 200lb), lots of talent.
• C Evan Barratt, 19 - Excelling in college hockey, still a year or two away from signing with Blackhawks.
• C Philipp Kurashev, 20 - Killed it in Europe, and barring some weirdness will probably start year in Rockford.
• D Nicolas Beaudin, 19 - Defensive defenseman turned heads in the QMJHL, promising heir to Keith?
• D Ian Mitchell, 20 - Playing out final year in NCAA, intends to join Blackhawks for 2020 season and has spoken about being a Blackhawk for a good long time.

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YOUNG GUYS TO WATCH:

• LW Alex DeBrincat, 21 - Guy has proven his size shouldn't be a concern and is a dynamic scoring presence (as well as one of the only right-handed threats on the roster). Should thrive playing with a more physical team around him, and with contract talks on the horizon, this would be a great time for him to continue to remain an exciting talent.
• C Dylan Strome, 22 - Expected to anchor a showtime line of DeBrincat/Strome/Kane second line, Strome has been a pleasant surprise. The +/- isn't the best but he's proving he belongs, and makes Anisimov's place on the roster tenuous.
• D Henri Jokiharju, 20 - Juggled around with Rockford last year, may start '19 with the big squad but Colliton seems to prefer him in the minors. Injuries or a dip in scoring may get him another opportunity to make a case as to why he should stay in the bigs.

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NOTABLE ACQUISITIONS:

• G Robin Lehner, 27 - 1 yr, $5M - Vezina finalist with the Isles, Lehner is betting on himself to outshine the often-injured Corey Crawford and earn a long-term deal with the Blackhawks (Crawford's contract expires after this coming season). Huge acquisition for a player that wasn't expected to be available.
• C Ryan Carpenter, 28 - 3 yr, $3M - Bottom-6 center with a penchant for winning faceoffs and killing penalties. Invaluable depth asset for a team that has struggled where he has excelled.
• FW Andrew Shaw, 27 - 3 yr, $12M - He's back! After some injuries wobbled his start in Montreal, he bloomed into a reliable engine piece for the Canadiens and had a career season. In typical Bowman fashion, Shaw joins the old gang to try and reignite a locker room that misses friendly faces. Blackhawks inherited the remainder of his contract. He joins Saad, Kruger, Oduya, Sharp, Campbell, Ladd, and Versteeg in Bowman's "getting the band back together" efforts.
• D Calvin de Haan, 28 - 3 yr, $15M - Rendered expendable by Carolina due to a deep defensive lineup and impending cap crunch, de Haan's a bonafide defenseman who can solidify a Blackhawks team that needed badly an excuse to phase Seabrook into a lesser role. He's having offseason surgery on his shoulder but all expect him to be ready for the 19/20 season.
• D Olli Maata, 24 - 3 yr, $12M - Had a disappointing 2018/19 season and carries some injury baggage, but Maata's a 24 year old with the hockey experience of something well into their thirties. Maata excels at defensive hockey and should provide much-needed improvement to the penalty kill, as well as buffering emergency callups of some of the Blackhawks defensive prospects, who may or may not be NHL-ready this season.

https://www.secondcityhockey.com/2019/7 ... -nhl-draft" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dach signed a 3 year entry level deal, which means he gets up to 9 games in the NHL before he burns a year of his contract. I'm guessing he'll get a year in the WHL before fighting for the roster next season.

Jokiharju just got dealt to Buffalo in exchange for Alex Nylander, so so much for that.

Nylander is an okay prospect, but not a great return for a fairly promising defensive prospect.

Yea, really don't understand that trade. Bowman must think the current group is a win now group.

Otis Day wrote:Yea, really don't understand that trade. Bowman must think the current group is a win now group.

As he tends to do.

A Sabres beat writer ripped the trade the other day:

"StanBo should fire the scouts who gave him these reports on Nylander. And if these are his conclusions, I barely know what to say."

https://twitter.com/ByMHarrington/statu ... 2968419335" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Scott Powers of The Athletic had some insight on why the organization moved on:

• thought Joker was soft and shied from contact
• felt he'd peaked and wasn't likely to get much better
• felt like fans and the press unduly appointed him
• didn't want Joker's likely AHL demotion hanging over the roster during camp

There's some optimism that Nylander could bloom in the Blackhawks organization and tap into what made him the #8 overall pick.

It's all coin flips, really.

UOK wrote:It's all coin flips, really.

Yep.

Feels very much like "here, take our problem and we'll take your problem and maybe they won't be problems anymore."

Interesting twitter read there. Hopefully it works to the Hawks favor.

Blackhawks swap mediocre junk with the Senators, sending 31 year old Anisimov to Ottawa for 31 year old Zack Smith.

Opens up a million or so in cap space. Smith is just a guy.

edit: I guess Smith is better than Anisimov at faceoffs (50.2% vs 45.1%).

Ben Pope speculates Blackhawks will use that cap relief to re-sign Perlini.

Smith also can play either wing along with center, though none of it with a lot of scoring punch.

I'm lukewarm. Anisimov hasn't seemed like much of a threat in a while now anyway.

Basically a salary dump.

Blackhawks Player Tracker/Contracts

so what about Perlini? he seemed to be a good fit ... nothing special or flashy, but pretty solid I thought

he is a Restricted Free Agent right now and wonder if the Blackhawks will make an effort to keep him or if he will be a cap casualty

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2019/2020 Blackhawks preview from LastWordOnHockey. Good stuff.

https://lastwordonhockey.com/2019/08/25 ... lackhawks/