The Chicago Blackhawks are 8-1-1 in their last 10. That doesn't mean much to the Co-GMs in Dave Yee and George Bachul.
"Actually we inquired about Jason Blake about 10 times over the season. He is a great veteran with a great contract. He is going to solidify our 3rd line. He is scoring at a point a game pace on a team that isn't performing that well. Actually his numbers are better than Kovalchuk's. If you can add a player of that calibre, then you have to do it."
"We are blessed with the depth to be able to move out a first rounder, Stralman and Greiss are nice prospects, but we have Mike Green who is going to play for us next season, so Stralman is a guy we could move, and we have Pavelec as our goalie of the future. It was a deal we felt that had next to zero impact on us long term. As part of the deal we also had the ability to move out Derek Morris' salary and acquire Brett Clark who is a little older but signed at a good salary for long term. It made all the pieces fall into place."
Bachul wouldn't say if Blake would be on the Hawks roster for the long term. "We have actually had two GMs inquire about Blake in anticipation of us getting him. If we move him, then so be it."
In a separate deal, the Hawks moved out Nicklas Wallin to the Islanders for a group of B prospects in Tomas Zaborsky, Phillip Gogulla and Viktor Alexandrov.
"I have no idea. I took out a dartboard and put all of the NYI prospects on it and threw three times....those are the names we opted for in a deal for Wallin."
