All Entries Tagged With: "Jack Skille"

Hawks trade coming?

Tim Sassone thinks a trade is coming for the Blackhawks, he feels they are looking for a physical defenseman. Sassone even mentions Patrick Sharp as trade bait.

This is Hawks GM Dale Tallon talking Thursday afternoon: “We’re looking for the right guy, maybe on the back end. We have a lot of assets we can trade.”
This is how I believe the Hawks are going to find that big, physical defenseman they are lacking, via a trade, and Tallon came about as close as he could to confirming it.

The Hawks have a lot of forwards to offer around the league. I wouldn’t be shocked if it was a scorer such as Patrick Sharp or Kris Versteeg that the Hawks at least explore dealing for that “right guy.”
With a serious salary cap issue to deal with after next season, the Hawks can’t keep everyone. Maybe it’s Troy Brouwer they try to move. Dustin Byfuglien might have been a trade candidate before the playoffs, but you need that big body, and if he performs like he did in the postseason, then he is worth his $3 million salary.
Moving a high-priced forward would allow the Hawks to slip either Jack Skille or Kyle Beach into the lineup at lower salary cap hit.

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Tallon: Hawks might get younger

Dale Tallon tells Tim Sassone in part two of a three part interview, that he sees the Hawks getting even younger. Tallon points to the Hawks system and wingers Jack Skille and Kyle Beach could be two of those players, assuming defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson has a spot nailed down.

The 20-man lineup the Blackhawks used in their season-ending Game 5 loss to Detroit in the Western Conference finals featured 10 players who were homegrown draft choices.

Drafting well and developing their players is what general manager Dale Tallon believes will keep the Hawks not only competitive but an elite franchise for years to come.

Good drafting and having players ready to step into the lineup with entry-level salaries has never been more important for NHL teams in what is now the salary-cap era.

Especially for a team such as the Hawks, who have some huge contracts with more on the way, slotting at least a handful of players into the payroll at around $600,000 is a key to managing the salary cap.

“We might even be younger next season,” Tallon said at one point during the playoffs.

Certainly removing 36-year-old Nikolai Khabibulin from the mix would bring down the average age of the team, but what Tallon was referring to was the possibility of one or two prospects cracking the roster at training camp.

Skille and Beach could replace, say, Ben Eager and Colin Fraser should the Hawks decide to go that direction for financial reasons.

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Hawks prepping for move?

The Hawks did some roster tinkering on Tuesday, which made it look as if they were setting themselves up to make a deal or two before Wednesday’s 2 p.m. trade deadline.

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Wisniewski and Skille on the table?

Tim Sassone reports the Blackhawks are considering dealing James Wisniewski or Cam Barker. Supposedly, Jack Skille was recalled for showcase purposes.

It’s believed the Hawks were talking to the Ducks about Chris Kunitz before Kunitz was traded to Pittsburgh on Thursday for defenseman Ryan Whitney. The Hawks offered Anaheim a defenseman that wasn’t Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook or Brian Campbell.
It’s possible the Hawks would consider moving James Wisniewski or Cam Barker in the right deal.

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