Seeing what Dorion got for karlsson, I think Ottawa would be inclinded to take that offer.

Yeah that’s along the lines of what I said in my first of the posts.

I'd personally prefer to trade away Chad Krys than the 2nd Not because of talent level. He's a solid player, but he's in the NCAA and the Hawks could possibly lose him for nothing considering the shear number of D prospects in the system. Also OTT LOVEs BU prospects since they already have a number of them. Chad's line mate Bowers is an OTT prospect. Kinda like Ian Mitchell and Blake Hillman for CHI.

This is actually a really great point from Exo here. I like Krys a lot too, but the pipeline is getting a little out of control for the future, so definitely an angle I'd play.

I appreciate your attempts Stanley, but I feel like Ottawa would need a little something younger and flashier to sell the loss of their #1C in an already shitshow offseason.

I’d like to think that the Sens take this deal to devalue their own first and flip the guys for assets later. That with the Karlsson trade today (which I would argue the senators lost by a lot compels me to think they would take this trade.

You are certainly not wrong, if I were to revise this I would either trade forsling to Ottawa (keep chad Krys on elc) or trade Krys outright.

I don't think this trade is appropriate for several reasons:

First, despite Ottawa's return for EK, you shouldn't assume they will take on everyone else's spare assets for an elite scorer. Both Anisimov and Murphy are depth pieces that suit the Hawks' system under Q; not sure Ottawa would envision integrating them the same way. I think the Hawks could trade for Duchene (along the lines of packaging Krys and a first rounder), but that leads to my second critique of this trade.

Duchene seems to be a vacuum for team chemistry. He's undoubtedly a proven elite scorer in the league and has even demonstrated this at the international level with Team Canada, but how many teams has he helped succeed? The Avs made the playoffs once with him and last year, without him, they gave the Preds a run for their money in the first round. We remember how the Hawks fared against the Preds in 2017, right?

Third, so many folks that post about the Hawks on this forum bemoan the contract terms for guys like Keith and Seabrook, even though they HAVE been good with the Hawks. Now You're suggesting a 7-yr/$8 mil deal for guy that has been individually good and never made a team great. And on top of that, most of this contract would pay out after Duchene turns 30. This doesn't make fiscal sense in a cap-strained league that boasts a high level of talent parity amongst clubs.

A move like this seems desperate and unnecessary. The Hawks know what they have in Anisimov and Murphy (even if the latter is injured) and really can't afford to gamble with draft picks. The team resides in the tenuous position between "win-now" and "sustain for the future." I don't see Duchene pushing this team back above the Jets and Preds, offensively or defensively, and that, my friend, is goal numero uno when you are last in the division.

You share some creative suggestions on this forum, but this one is a stinker.

I disagree for several reasons.

on your first point about Anisimov and Murphy being “Spare Parts” I would counter that they are extreamly useful to Ottawa as plug guys who help improve the on ice product and provide some veteran leadership and experience in the locker room. The Sens May be going through a rebuild, but if the long and tenuous rebuilds of EDM and BUF are lessons to anyone then you have to understand that bottoming out doesn’t guarantee your franchise turns around, in fact if you have incompetent leadership (Look at Ottawa seriously) then you do more harm than good. If Ottawa wanted to bottom out then they could also try to flip both players for future assets. Anisimov is not going to be a number 1 center, and no one in Ottawa would expect him to be that, but he does have value. I might be a little biased here, but I would value Anisimov as a 2nd rounder in value if Ottawa were to trade him to another contending team. Murphy doesn’t fit in our system very well at all, and for that reason he has struggled, but he is still a top 4 defenseman on a team that can use him properly, again I would say he is worth a 2nd round pick to a contending team. That along with the other picks which have conditions on them to lower their value gives Ottawa a bounty of reasons to take this trade. People know they have to sell off Duchene as they knew they had to sell off Karlsson. Ottawa has no leverage and so that severely reduces the value they get back in any trade with a contending team.

Your second point about Duchene being a vacuum for team chemistry has no basis and is not fair to Duchene. It’s impossible to know anything about the locker room presence, except for what players will tell you and that’s very limited at least. He has been on teams that have not had guys like Kane, Toews, Seabrook and Keith, and I think they hawks would do well with him. Would he push us over the central powerhouses? No, but he would bring us way closer to that threshold while we wait for Boqvist and company.

Your third point is In reference to his contract, and I have to say that I agree that guys shouldn’t be paid like that for teams they haven’t contributed to, but I also understand that that’s how the league works now a days. Duchene is in his prime, he deserves to get a big payday and will subsequently get one. If I’m acquiring an asset like Duchene I’m going to lock him up for long term under the guise that he might leave if we don’t offer him that contract. Keith and Seabrook get criticized because their paydays came long after they were in their prime and they are a burden to the team now because of it. What has Jack Eichel done to make as much as Toews and Kane? He’s a good player, and good players don’t need to have championship level success anymore to get paid.

This move is reactionary by nature, and is fueled by the fact that the Blackhawks are falling behind in an conference that keeps getting stronger. Toews isn’t a number 1 guy, and we can’t count on him to play that role much longer at his current pace. Trading for a center, like Duchene helps our retool at a cost that is worth paying.


You don’t have to like it, hell in 3 weeks I might not even like it, but right now I think it’s a fine idea that makes sense for each party involved.

For the record I recently put the trade through NHL 19 franchise mode and Ottawa accepted, if that makes any difference to your opinion.


Thanks for the feedback, less thanks for the one star. I’m proud of this trade.