"So, I guess it's time for the pre-nup, sexy pants"
Saturday, it was announced that the Hawks and Brent Seabrook had agreed in principle to a 5 year extension, and yesterday it was made official. The contract is a 5 year, $29 million deal, with an annual cap hit will be $5.8 million. Yes, this is a high number, but if the Hawks didn't have to deal with almost 7.2 million Brian Campbell dollars and 3.5 million Niklas Hjalmarsson dollars annually, this wouldn't be an issue. Seabrook is a must have, plain and simple. Anyone who thinks they could afford to let him go needs to have some sense smacked into them. He is the sole physical defenseman on this team, and there is NOONE in the system that can take his spot. Seabrook is solid on defense when his partner seems to have the attention span of a young Retriever on hunting day, and he has been the co-quarterback of the top powerplay in the league, and all this at 26 years old. If they would have kept Hammer and let Seabrook go, I would have burned every Hawks piece of clothing I own, in my front yard, wearing a Redwings jersey while wearing an octopus on my head.
On the flip side, if Stan needed to unload that obnoxious albatross named Brian Campbell, there are young variations of Soupie in the lower levels like Connolly, Lalonde, Olsen, Vishnevskiy, youngster Nick Mattson, and lets not forget Nick Leddy's potential. I would not want to see Soup go, because he has shown his value, but with that contract, he might be up against the firing squad. By no means, am I saying any of those guys are Campbell's equal, but they have the potential and skillset to some day resemble his style.
Before deferring to the madness that is the NHL trade deadline, I have to add a late development that came about last night, which is the Jordan Hendry injury. Hendry had to be helped off the ice last night, and it didn't look good. The Hawks are being very closed mouthed about it, as they should, because it could affect any trade bargaining position they have. The fact of the matter is that if Hendry is out, they NEED to make a move. Cullisnore is not the answer, and if they think he is, I do not want to know the question. There is no one else in Rockford that can fill the spot either. This could send the Hawks into the abyss if not handled correctly, so StanBo needs to lay his sack out on the table and make something happen. If we end up with another Sammy Paulsson or Nick Boynton, I'm closing up shop until July, because I don't have the stomach for this.
Trade Deadline Updates
I will be commenting on any Blackhawks moves that might go on today...Stay tuned.
- At about 1:00, it was leaked that the Hawks sent Ryan Potulny and a second round draft pick, to Ottawa, for Chris Campoli and possibly a conditional seventh round pick. More to come.
