Blackhawks (Mostly) Stand Pat At Trade Deadline
By Rob Winn in News on Apr 3, 2013 8:20PM
New Blackhawks center Michal Handzus.
The Hawks have sputtered a bit of late, allowing the Predators to score two late goals Monday before winning the game in the shootout and losing to Anaheim for the third time this year. (They did blow out Detroit on the road Sunday.) But they survived the mid-season grind while holding on to first place in the conference and, with two key players coming back the Hawks look to enter the playoffs playing their best hockey. They will get Marian Hossa back from injury Thursday for their game against the Blues, with Patrick Sharp soon to follow. Both players contribute offensively as well as defensively which will help the team where they have struggled as of late.
One of the few weaknesses facing 2013 Blackhawks was their inability to win faceoffs. Trading a fourth round pick to San Jose for center Michal Handzus will help that problem. Handzus has won 55.6 percent of his faceoffs this season. How often he will be on the ice is anyone's guess; he practiced at wing on the fourth line with Marcus Kruger and Brandon Bollig today. His key contributions will probably be when the Hawks need to win a key faceoff in their own zone.
Bowman expressed confidence in his core players Monday saying, "I think the group here has really earned the right to see what we can do as a group. The strength of our team has been our consistency and depth. You don't rule anything out, but I think our focus is to keep to this group together and add to it."
Around the league only a few key moves took place, Jerome Iginla joined the Penguins and Jaromir Jagr moved to the Bruins. Both are good pickups for each team but won't impact the Hawks unless they meet either team in the Stanley Cup finals. Also, the Coyotes traded part-time hockey player, full-time goon Raffi Torres to the San Jose Sharks. That will be interesting should the two teams meet in the playoffs.