Team: 2021-22 Chicago Blackhawks

Initial Creation Date: Jul. 23, 2021

Published: Jul. 23, 2021

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Will be exciting to see how S. Jones does in Collitons system so that he can have an even worse season than last! But in all seriousness how did Jarmo hold all the cards in this deal since every team and their mother knew Jones was walking to free agency? Bowman had all the leverage "okay we'll just wait for him in free agency" or "okay we'll just go after Hamilton". Why? Wouldnt it also be the smart decision to go after S.Jones first then his brother so that you didnt telegraph your whole strategy of trying to acquire him? Theres such a thing as playing coy.

I'm gonna miss Boqvist but I can say idk if he'll ever be good since Collitons D system is so bad and never allowed Boq to play his style and forced him to play on rails it honestly probably stunted his development. Hopefully he becomes that Karlsson type for the Jackets...Also a "rebuilding" team giving up 2 firsts and an early second? I get giving up a dman but that many picks? I guess this means that Mitchell will be our young RHD of the future now. Since we also didnt trade Strome and Center is an organizational need for CBJ then it probably means Strome is staying with us for a little while longer.

As for Jones I dont have a doubt he'll be good. He was always considered a top norris candidate had a bad year and now every cap friendly amateur on here says hes an irredeemably bad player. Everyone on here is overreacting to his bad year but what can expect from people on the internet? He plays on a middling team that cant keep its Star players and has probably been unhappy for some time. Maybe that explains his lackluster play? Sure the contract is bad but soon Toews/Kane are off the books and they wont be resigned for the same amount (they might not resign at all if Colliton and Bowman and co are still there yikes). Its not like Jones is 30 signing this deal he's 26 soon to be 27 and still in his prime. On the other hand...We get him for 1 year at 5.6 mil...why not just wait and see how he does before signing him to this deal?

Love it or hate it our Right side D is strong but uh our LHD you basically close your eyes and throw a dart at a board to see whose where on the pairs. CDH, Beaudin, C.Jones, Kalynuk, Stillman, Zadorov??? Whose it gonna be? None of those players are ideal on the top pairing. CDH is older and injury prone, Beaudin is young and still learning ideally he should be with Murphy. C.Jones playing with his brother is a front page nhl story but I doubt hes top pairing player. Kalynuk was a pleasant surprise but is he top pairing potential? Stillman is a bottom pairing guy at most. Zadorov is uh well Zadorov.

We could have had Sillinger :( I really wanted him.