Skilled Sundin would fit Hawks well

All summer long, there were two players you had to figure were on the Blackhawks' radar: Chris Pronger and Mats Sundin.

What you couldn't figure out, however, is how the Hawks could possibly fit them in under the cap.

To this point, they haven't found a way, but that hasn't stopped the rumor mill from cranking up, and the big talk making the rounds Saturday night - during the Hawks' 6-5, shootout loss to Detroit at the UC - was that the Hawks will be a player in the Sundin Sweepstakes once he's back in shape and ready to play.

That's probably a month away, so it gives GM Dale Tallon time to move goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin and perhaps another salary to make room for Sundin.

And it's a ghastly understatement to say the Hawks could use Sundin up front, where he would not only add some desperately-needed skill and creativity, but also take pressure off Jonathan Toews, who has yet to light the lamp in eight games and is squeezing the stick pretty tight.

The Hawks' captain had another handful of terrific chances Saturday night, including a point-blank shot with 2:14 left in OT that he fired right into netminder Ty Conklin's midsection.

He was the only Hawk to score in the shootout, where the Red Wings' skill advantage over the Hawks was once again apparent.

It's appropriate that the Sundin talk heated up on a night when the Hawks blew a 4-2 lead in the third.

The Red Wings, tired after a victory Friday night, seemed to just flip a switch as they poured in 3 goals in seven minutes to take a 5-4 lead.

Though the Hawks tied it on a power play and earned a point, it really should have been a deuce.

And despite the Hawks' belief that they've seriously closed the gap on Detroit, at least when it comes to pure skill, there's still a large disparity.

"It's a good measuring stick for us,'' said Hawks coach Joel Quenneville. "They have a couple great 1-on-1 players with a lot of skill. There's not too many teams in the league that have what they have.

"They don't need much (room) to create with the skill level they have.''

Despite the tough loss, it was a terrific night on the West Side, a real barnburner in the style of the Old Barn, with the Hawks setting a regular-season, UC attendance record (22,690), and more highlights from Quenneville.

Troy Brouwer, finally getting a chance to play under a new coach, was brilliant on the power play and around the net, constantly harassing Conklin, clearing out room for Martin Havlat to score his third goal of the season, and collecting 2 assists.

"Coach said he was going to give me some chances to play in some good situations and he's done that. It's really a good feeling that he has that confidence in me,'' Brouwer said. "(Assistant coach Mike Haviland) knows me well from Rockford and he knows I make my living in front of the net.

"I love it there. You take a lot of punishment, but I'm good at drawing a lot of attention and it creates some space for the other guys.''

Quenneville also had Dustin Byfuglien play two shifts on defense in overtime, and continued to tinker throughout the game.

"We played all right and will take the 1 point,'' Quenneville said, "but we're disappointed to leave a point when we had a 2-goal lead."

That sort of honesty, along with pointing out some of the defensive mistakes, sends a message to the club that he's not satisfied, another nice change from the recent past.

"We can talk about it,'' Quenneville said, "and learn from it.''

At the same time, Red Wings coach Mike Babcock was effusive in his praise for Chicago.

"I thought we played a good game,'' Babcock said. "Chicago is showing that they are a better team than last year and they are ready to challenge the upper-echelon teams in the conference."

That may be reaching a bit, but then again, a couple of very large bodies could be on the horizon, and that would put the Hawks in a position to think big.

Mats Sundin would be one heck of a way to start.

brozner@dailyherald.com