Hate to say it, but we’d have to add to this trade. I don’t think there’s any chance the jets give away their best forward prospect and a 1st round pick that is potentially a lottery pick for just strome. Perhaps if the trade happened back in November or December, they’d do it. Strome has fallen off hard lately and I’m saying it’s permanent or that he doesn’t have value, but we all saw what waiting too long apparently did to lehner’s trade value (god I hate bowman).

Meh. I think if we are trading Strome, it needs to be for a top 4 defenseman. I think a Strome for Brodin deal makes a lot of sense for both sides.

We have a logjam of defensive players; we need to shed players not add. We need to rebuild with young wingers right now; besides Kubalik and Cat we don't have future top 6wingers in the system

If we do have a "logjam" (you can never have too many young defensemen), it's only for RHD. On the left... there really isn't much there. Maatta is going to get bought out. De Haan might not ever get back to his previous skill level, let alone ever play again. Keith won't be around for too much longer. Beaudin won't be ready for another year at least. Gilbert/Carlsson/Krys are all borderline AHLers. Defense is this team's glaring weakness, and I think fixing that needs to be the number one priority. A bunch of good wingers isn't going to help you much if the other team scores 5 goals a game.

Disagree; we have plenty of defensive players. Seeler, Gilbert, Karlsson are all more then borderline hockey players, they need improvement but they aren't bad. We need a top line LHD not a top 4 as your original comment. Let me ask you, how many games this year did the other team score 5 goals or more on us?

Yes, we need wingers especially top 6 guys to develop.

How much of not getting scored on 5+ times a game has been down to goaltending though? How many times have we been outshot this season? I agree we need top six wingers, but we also need more puck moving dmen to get it to the wingers and centers.

And how much of keeping the puck out of the net or keeping shots against at a minimum is attributed to playing a strong possession game in the neutral and offensive zone? How many times are we pinned in our own zone for 90 seconds at a time? We need bigger wingers, wingers that win board battles. While I agree defense is a problem, I also see us losing way too many board battles offensively, getting out muscled up front.

I will say this; with a healthy Keith, DeHaan, Boqvist, Mitchell, Murphy, and a 6th and 7th man inclusive of Seabs, Seeler, Gilbert, Carlsson, Koekko....we should have a capable defense and one that is puck moving. Problem is, when you have guys like Debrincat, Strome, Kampf, Kane, turning pucks over and not winning board battles and not playing defense then it won't matter. Toews has been brilliant, but after him offensively, who do we have left playing that kind of game? Saad, Carpenter...Dach is emerging and getting good defensively. I give Kane a pass because of his upside in other areas, but Strome and Cat have been hugely problematic this season without the upside like Kane. If we can trade Strome and get a mid 1st rounder and a pretty good forward prospect (Vesalainen who's not a stud prospect but he's big), then it is worth it. We go into the draft and take two bigger forwards like Holtz and Lundell, that is 3 forward prospect wingers for the future that all have size and play the boards. Outside of Saad, we don't have wingers like this and need them.

Well, I’ll grant you that the problem with the hawks is in all three zones. No puck movers or battle winners in the defensive zone, zero speed through the neutral zone, and awful puck possession in the offensive zone. It’s not a problem one, two, or even three big wingers can solve. A lot still has to change with this team to even think about consistently competing.

You could just move Dach to wing. Also, holtz and lundell are both either 6 feet or just under and neither weighs over 185, so I’m not sure these are the “big” wingers you’ve been talking about.

Holtz is 6' and 185lbs and just turned 18 late January, he will still grow
Lundell is 6'1" and 185lbs and turned 18 in October; again he will still grow

Both wingers are big boys for their age...at 22 years ago, they are going to grow another inch or two and put on 10 to 15lbs or more.

Defensively, short of a #1 LHD, the Hawks don't need more defensive players. The Hawks need to focus on possession, stop the turnovers and play the boards harder. The offense is weak in this area.

I think you could move Dach to the wing but are we doing that to fit in Strome? If so, makes zero sense IMO. Dach is already a better player then Strome so shouldn't Dach play the 2C going into next year? Then where does that leave strome? He's a terrible winger and relegating him to the 3C spot IMO is not letting him grow and wasting cap space. I'd trade Strome for a team needing a 2C and get back a couple bigger winger prospects.

Hawks need to start focusing on long term and not these short term stop gaps to try to make the playoffs like Bowman has been doing.

First off, you and I are completely on the same page with bowman. Definitely need to think long term. Bowman is too worried about his job to think like that it seems.

Having said that, strome is really like a double edged sword. Firstly, under no circumstances would I play strome without both cat and Kane between him. We’ve seen how well that line played last year, and it has been good this year. However, of course, where does that leave Dach? This is part of the reason I didn’t want Dach in the first place. Originally, I said we didn’t need a center, to which many said you never have too much of a good thing (strange how we never mention that with our defense). When we picked him, the inevitability was that Dach and strome couldn’t both be retained. So what is it? Did we need a center? Or do we need to find a way to play both? Do they just not both have a place together? The second edge is that if we are actually treating strome like the black sheep due to Dach, then I genuinely don’t think anyone should give us the type of value this jets trade entails. That’s just my two cents.

I don’t disagree with the wingers winning board battles. Just a very cruel reminder of how good hossa was.

As for holtz and lundell, I hope your right. The one thing I’ve noticed the last few years is that many European players don’t actually tack on the extra size as often. Pettersson is isnt much heavier than when he was drafted. Kucherov is a perfect example as he was about 165 at draft time and is not even 180 now.

Cat - Strome - Kane is a defensive nightmare for us and exactly the type of line which puts way too much pressure on the 2 defensive players on the ice and the goalie. If you look at the advanced stats, that line, as much as they have had offensive production had the most goals against and then everyone complains about defensive issues which for this line is not the problem...it's the 3 forwards on that line together. Every line should have a defensive forward playing on it not 3 bad defensive forwards which is what they are.

The long term projection for Dach is to take over Toews's job. Strome is not that guy. That is why we drafted Dach and honestly, last year's draft was center heavy so it makes sense to find a guy that has the potential to replace Toews in 4 or 5 years. I'm sure the thinking was Dach and Strome can be the future 1C and 2C, but Toews is still playing incredibly well and Dach has surpassed expectations so this makes Strome expendable.

Holtz and Lundell are both 6' plus and 185lbs right now at the young age of 18. Surely they will put on 10lbs to 15 lbs and both should grow another inch. Kucherov is not a perfect example as both these kids are bigger then he was and frankly, I would love Kucherov on our team. That said, Holtz and Lundell both play a heavy game like Hossa.

I don’t what it is, but I see that 3 players on the same line needing one to be a defensive forward as kind of a split thinking. I only say that because there are teams in the last 5 years that have won cups sporting lines that were all out offense. Pittsburgh immediately comes to mind. For that matter, isn’t ironic that Pittsburgh started to regress when they sold speed guys for big guys?

Dach is obviously suppose to take over for toews. For the sake of not digging a rabbit hole this debate can’t escape, I’ll just say people know how I feel about that happening. In no way do I think he’s the one to succeed toews nor is he a cup winner in the making.

I think your definitely spot with your assessments of holtz and lundell’s games. I will say, again, I hope your right and they do grow, cuz no one knows right? I do think with bowman in charge by the draft, he will probably draft another center and pull the swerve on all of us cuz he’s flat out nuts. Who knows anymore, so much faith is lost in this not so much due to the players but the people putting the players together.

I think we can pick up Holtz in the draft with our spot, I don't think we will be able to get Lundell but I do like the thinking as unless we can get a top LHD we don't need another D man for the sake of it. If we could get a solid LHD and a top wing prospect I would be open to that also.

Yeah, and Strome and Debrincat's possession numbers aren't good unlike Pitsburgh. In regards to size, I think you'd have a hard time on that argument given Boston and St. Louis.

Holtz and Lundell, despite being 6' and 6'1" should grow another inch or two but even if they don't, I don't mind that size given our best player is 5'9"...and don't believe the hype that Kane is 5'10", I've hung out with him before and he's 5'9" on a good day.