pass as the sens, teply is okay but we already have similar level prospects and the future second doesnt move the needle enough

I very much agree with this premise. If Fleury doesn't want to go anywhere at the deadline we should sign him another year and build a better team in front of him. They don't have a reliable enough prospect pool to jump into a rebuild right now without being absolutely awful for a while. So why not give it one more shot next season. And with all the money coming off the books after next season they could continue to play the UFA market and be competitive while our prospects are getting heavy minutes and experience in the AHL and juniors.

Connor Brown would probably cost way more than you’d be willing to pay.

I'm not sure this moves the needle enough to be a real contender without major leaps in players development. Playoffs, maybe but not a lock. I also don't know if it'll be that easy to dump Johnson.

If the premise is to go for it for another year under Fleury, Kane, and Toews, then I think dropping $49M worth of term at Lindholm's feet is not the best long-term solution. I think the better fit is some other quality defender with 3-4 years of term.

If you lock yourself into the declining years of Lindholm and the team bottoms out post Fleury, Kane, and Toews, you're left with a contract that would be virtually impossible to move. Perhaps the first few seasons aide in recouping higher draft capital, but you're looking at inbound dead cap as the only viable future for that deal. A name on a shorter-term deal, even if they aren't as prolific as Lindholm, would be easier to move sometime down the road should the Blackhawks need to hit the eject button.

I also don't think the UFA pool is where Chicago should be looking to find such a defenceman either. I think an offer sheet to any of the top-7 (in TOI) LHD RFA's probably represents the best middle-ground approach. I think Mikey Anderson would be a hell of a name for this team to invest in if the cost is only going to peak at a 2nd round pick (say, $4M/4y?).

I get Kubalik is having a down year, but Chicago shouldn't sell that low on him.

I agree. The year Kubalik is having is beneficial if the hawks want to resign him. We won’t be giving him the massive contract that was once expected and can now be kept at a low price. If he has any sort of bounce back it could be a huge win.

I would much rather have Stillman in the lineup than Mitchell. Brings physicality and the willingness to fight that this team lacks much of. Before his injury, Stillman was playing some really good hockey.

LA probably matches that on Anderson. Overall I just don't don't see a better option in the LD market that's going to be available other than Lindholm. Maybe plug the hole for a year and come after Sergachev in 2023? I do get what you are saying though overall and appreciate the thoughts.

Hawks have so many D prospects that at this point should be NHL ready. How long can we really keep Beaudan, Mitchell, Galvas, Kalynuk in rockford? Pretty soon that ice time in Rockford is going to be needed to develop Vlasic, Allen, etc. Maybe Stillman is better than mitchell right now (I say maybe, because imo Stillman isn't good), but regardless we need to see what we have in these D prospects and in theroy Mitchell is supposed to be the best

I see a lot of 3-year bridge deals for Anderson at or below $2.5M and the extension to Petersen eats up most of the money they'd find from letting Brown walk this summer. Walker coming off of IR takes away the savings from an expired Maatta. I don't think it's impossible for them to match but it might not be in their best interests if the Kings are long on Sergachev themselves.

I wouldn't say it's a guarantee but offering Anderson the chance to play closer to home and right up to UFA status could be enough to sway him.

I don't think the Blackhawks have the assets to trade for Sergachev and the value in that offer sheet makes it a bit nonsensical for the Blackhawks.

Maybe mikey anderson makes more sense if LA lands Chychrun. Or maybe it doesn't, i'm not sure. Their projected Blue line long term would look something like:

Chychrun-Clarke
Anderson-Doughty
Bjornfoot- Walker/Roy/Durzi

If anything I see a need for LA to move out a righty or two but definetly not a lefty in Anderson

In all seriousness, the Kings might have enough assets to get both Chychrun and Sergachev.

I completely forgot they had Spence and Grans too. Absolute riches at RD.

Not many seem to understand how good he is...

Even if you completely ignore his PK work, 2-way game and flawless work ethic, his production has been pretty good for 3 straight years and even improving each season. As I posted elsewhere :

Since 2019-20, only 91 forwards have scored more points... I don't know but 31 teams x 3 first liners = 93 first liners... so he has a borderline first liner production for 3 years but he's an "average 3rd liner"?

So Connor scored 105 pts with Ottawa, tied with Oshie, Necas, E. Kane and Hyman during that period of time. He played more games? OK let's look at paces then

Since 2019-20, only 106 forwards have a better scoring pace (minimum 82 games). Again, that's HIGH 2nd line production.