PASS on Maatta. WAAAY too much and he'd be their 7th dman OR next to Seabrook...$11M on bottom pair defense is a recipe for disaster. BOTH Gus (I know in this post you traded him away) and Forsling are ahead of Maatta for LD slots.

Yes, bringing in Maatta is a really bad move. Murphy is better and then giving one of our top prospects up on the left D side too??? A cap dump and Sikura won’t get a 3rd round pick. Panarin and Kane will play on the same line with Dutch. Cozens is a Center and we need a Center. Perlini hasn’t shown anything to deserve a raise. Debrincat and Kahun need to switch sides.

I love the idea of bringing in Dutch and Panarin as it will literally change the offense but the rest of what you have here is questionable at best.

If Chicago really wanted to wheel and deal to facilitate change within the organization, I would have to imagine Stan Bowman giving some serious consideration to trading Duncan Keith. He may not be the defender he was when he was a Stanley Cup champion or Norris trophy winner, but he's still a solid defender on a decent contract (considering some of the more expensive Blackhawk contracts). I could see a team like Edmonton, for example, desperate come trade deadline time trying to find a defender to stabilize their defensive unit. I am not entirely sure what the Blackhawks could get for Keith, but I imagine it would help in this rebuild, retool, restructure...ah, whatever it is you want to call what the Blackhawks are trying to do.

Maatta is playing nearly 20 min for PIT and is +8. He must not be so bad. The idea is to add some size. I really like the potential of Jokiharju, Boqvist, Beaudin, Mitchell, Forsling, Gus, krys, etc. but they are all 6' or less and average 175 lbs. We need someone to clear the crease when Blake Wheeler, Ryan Getzlaf, Jamie benn or Ryan Johansen have their big asses in front of Crawford… Is Muzzin a better fit?

Keith is 35 and his contract expires when he'll be 39. He's kinda tough to sell… Unfortunately, the Hawks are stuck with both him and Seabrook unless they offer 1st rounders to sweeten the pot. I'm not sure it's a good idea...

Muzzin definitely a better fit, but also...Maatta is NOT a bruiser. He is supposed to be a puck moving scoring Dman, but he's just sooo slow. Muzzin will cost more, but worth it.

While I would highly agree that is the case with Brent Seabrook, I would strongly disagree that is the case of Duncan Keith. He still has value - he's a good skater that plays big minutes - that's worth something. Age is less of a factor with those that keep in good shape and have good routines. Although there are a ton of examples to the contrary, I would point you directly at Patrick Marleau.

I forgot to mention the NMC but I also remember a pretty solid D from the Red Wings who did play at a high level until he was 42 years old...

Like I said, age is just a number if these athletes take care of their body, and their mind, for that matter. There are a lot of wonderful examples. I would include Joe Thornton in that group (had a great bounce back game yesterday) even though he's unfortunately battled injuries the last few years. The one thing going for Chicago and older players that have no move clauses, is that these players have all won cups. What's left to accomplish? I am sure moving to a new, younger team, with a better chance of winning (than the Blackhawks) might rejuvenate them.