Blackhawks continue wheeling and dealing before deadline
Andrew Ladd may have been Stan Bowman's main target ahead of the NHL trade deadline, but the Blackhawks' GM clearly wasn't done after Thursday's headline-grabbing deal.
Bowman made two more moves Friday, acquiring forwards Tomas Fleischmann and Dale Weise from Montreal, and defenseman Christian Ehrhoff from Los Angeles.
The Hawks parted with center Phillip Danault and their second-round pick in the 2018 draft in the trade with the Canadiens, and sent Rob Scuderi to the Kings.
According to reports, Montreal retained 30 percent of Weise's salary and the Kings retained 15 percent of Ehrhoff's. The Hawks are on the hook for 50 percent of Scuderi's deal, which runs through next year and will cost them $1.125 million against the cap.
The 6-foot-1, 192 pound Fleischmann is a 31-year-old veteran who had 10 goals and 10 assists this season for Montreal. Weise is a 6-2, 208-pound winger who has a career-high 14 goals in his second full season with Montreal. Either - or both - could wind up on the third line with Teuvo Teravainen at center.
Both the 37-year-old Scuderi, whom the Hawks acquired for Trevor Daley, and 33-year-old Ehrhoff were playing in the AHL. Ehrhoff played in 40 games for the Kings this season, scoring 2 goals and adding 8 assists.
Danault was the Hawks' first-round pick (26th overall) in 2011. He played in 30 games this season, mostly centering the third line.
Losing Dano:
Blackhawks fans were expecting to see Marko Dano at some point down the road wearing the Indian Head sweater. But Dano, acquired in the Brandon Saad deal last off-season, was deemed expendable Thursday and sent to Winnipeg in the Andrew Ladd trade.
It was hoped Dano would take over Saad's spot on the top line, but the 21-year-old never caught on and only played 13 games for the Hawks. He had 4 goals and 19 assists in 34 games with Rockford.
"He's got a bright future ahead of him," Bowman said. "We certainly wish him well and I think he's going to be a good NHL player for a long time."
The Hawks also gave up a first-round pick for Ladd, meaning they won't pick until the third round this year.
"And that's the trade-off in these kind of deals," Bowman said. "We're looking for Andrew to come in and provide a lot of elements. That's always part of it - the give and take of the future and the present. But we're really excited for what Ladd brings to our group."
Dano told reporters in Winnipeg that the trade took him by surprise, but he's excited to join the Jets.
"Chicago has a team with a lot of great players and a lot of old(er) players," Dano said. "Here is a lot of young guys and a good group of guys. There's opportunity to get more ice time. ... Every player wants to have (that) when he's growing up and not play in the minors. I'm excited about this chance."
There was a game?
Lost in the frenzy surrounding the Andrew Ladd trade is that the Blackhawks actually played a hockey game on Thursday, falling to Nashville 3-1.
The Hawks' only goal came from Brent Seabrook in the second period. Jonathan Toews had two golden opportunities to score in the first period, but Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne made highlight-reel saves to thwart the Hawks' captain.
Nashville won when Mike Fisher threaded a perfect pass between Niklas Hjalmarsson and Duncan Keith and right to Calle Jarnkrok, who buried a one-timer top shelf past Corey Crawford with 1:51 to go in the game.
"It was a good game," Crawford said. "We played with speed … and we went to the net hard. We had a bunch of shifts where we were buzzing around in their zone and creating some stuff. Their goalie played really well and they were just able to make a really good play at the end of the period."