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Trade Deadline: What did you expect?
Fan Commentary, by Mr. Miller
February 26, 2008
Another trade deadline has come and gone. As expected, the Dale Tallon and the Blackhawks made little, if any, noticable waves.
Gone are overpaid, 4th line, aging, veteran Martin Lapointe and struggling winger and soon-to-be-Restricted-Free-Agent Tuomo Ruutu. Lapointe to Ottawa; Ruutu to Carolina. In return, Chicago picks up Ottawa's 6th round draft pick in this year's draft and Carolina forward Andrew Ladd.
That's it. No blockbuster deal involving Nikolai Khabibulin. No salary dump with Martin Havlat. Not even a late round draft pick or two for guys like Robert Lang, Yanic Perreault or Andrei Zyuzin.
At the very least, it can be argued that salary is being freed up for next season and this summer's potential free agent signings. Tallon's worked a few wonders in the past in that regard. Maybe he's got something planned once again.
Yet there are a couple of angles in which to look at today's somewhat questionable situation.
For one, head coach Denis Savard recently was quoted as saying that the Blackhawks would not be sellers. Fair enough. But were we to conclude that they would, instead, be buyers? Buyers looking to improve their team for a run at the postseason? A draft pick and Andrew Ladd hardly qualify as a team pushing for the playoffs.
Secondly, Chicago sits 13th in the Western Conference and 25th overall in the league. Perhaps understandably, they weren't in position to trade off any underachievers for bona fide NHL players to fill in some holes. Yet Washington, also towards the bottom in the standings made some big moves today to better their team. Therefore proving it can be done.
Columbus clearly has thrown in the towel for the 2007-2008 season by trading big names in Sergei Fedorov and Adam Foote. Tallon and the Blackhawks had to have noticed that. With Columbus sitting two spots above Chicago, certainly within striking distance, shouldn't have there been something available for Tallon to improve his club to better the odds of passing Columbus (and perhaps St. Louis in the process)? Third place in the Central Division doesn't scream "playoffs", but it's surely better than sitting at the bottom screaming "help!"
Finally, what happened with the rumors that involved players like Jordan Staal from Pittsburgh for Ruutu and Havlat? Or Martin Havlat, straight up, for Phil Kessel in Boston? There were even rumors last week that Chicago was in the mix for signing Peter Forsberg.
Tallon said awhile back that until a deal is done, it isn't. But how could Chicago be involved in so many rumors involving several teams and big names, and walk away with a late round pick and Andrew Ladd?
I defend Tallon and will continue to do so. I completely understand that he was not in a very favorable position today in terms of trading up to improve the Chicago Blackhawks. But there sure seems to be a lot more questions than answers while watching the 2:00 p.m. trade deadline come and go.
There's clearly a plan in place in Chicago. For the life in me, though, I just don't fully understand it. Nor do I completely understand the slowness in which it's taking to be implemented.
Patience, it's been said, is a virtue. But how soon does it become nothing more than an excuse?
Mr. Miller
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