Quoting: ChiHawk
Like the trade but....
Cap will go up again likely to $82M in 2019/2020 so would make sense to go after another forward or two. Either one big impact player like James Neal, David Perron or even JVR or E Kane could be huge. A softer approach is someone like Riley Nash, Patrick Maroon, Wingels to fill in the bottom 6. Where is Martinsen....he looked great as a optional checking 4th liner to rotate in and out of the lineup.
Cat needs to play 2nd line minutes not Ritchie.
DEFENSE is the biggest need for the Hawks. They have too many 3rd line D guys in the system an not enough in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions. Need a vet, Calvin De Hann maybe?
No way does Bouchard come into the league and play on the top line...not a chance; he's 18 years old and never has played at the AHL level let alone NHL. Also, where is Jokiharju?
Also, need to carry 22 players.
Defense should be first and foremost but the Hawks need to make improvements at forward too.
The Hawks need a top 4 and bottom 6 defensemen, and the Hawks could really use a couple of defensive specialist forwards to fill out the bottom 6.. Vermette, Wingels and Dominic Moore would be nice, then perhaps sign John Moore and trade for a guy like Faulk and the Hawks would be set..
If Bowman makes some trades and has enough cap space after that filling that #2 LW spot should be looked at... The Hawks could use a legitimate backup too, because I'm not so sure that Forsberg or Berube is ready.
The Hawks really are a handful of veteran depth players/specialists away from contending again - this UFA class has everything the Hawks need and hopefully Bowman will have enough cap to take advantage of it.
Either way I think we will have a better idea about what could happen after the draft lottery..... Because if the Hawks win any of the top 3 picks things will certainly change because all 3 top picks are NHL ready and the Hawks landing any of them would be huge.