Blackhawks not focused on trading Keith or Seabrook
Jay Zawaski: Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman when asked if he was trying to trade defensemen Duncan Keith or Brent Seabrook.
“We’re not focused on trading those guys away. They want to get this team back on track. We know what they can do. Their experience is going to help these younger defensemen.”
Some potential free agent targets for the Blackhawks
Jay Zawaski: Have been told that the Chicago Blackhawks are interested in Anders Lee, Gustav Nyquist and Joe Pavelski.
David Pagnotta: Sounding the Blackhawks are planning on meeting/speaking to New York Islanders pending free agent Anders Lee.
Jay Zawaski: GM Bowman on free agency: “(Debrincat and Strome) need new deals a year from now, so any free agent we bring in, if it’s beyond one season, we’re going to be in that tough spot again.”
Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago: The Chicago Blackhawks may be looking for a forward.
They have been linked to Kevin Hayes before he signed with the Flyers, Anders Lee and Corey Perry, middle tier players. Artemi Panarin is a pipe dream.
They may be okay with overpaying for a short-term deal for someone like Perry or Joe Pavelski.
GM Stan Bowman on where they sit right now.
“We have a good position right now,” Bowman said. “For next season, we’re in a better place than most teams. After that, it’s hard to say, because we don’t know what the cap will be a year from now and we’ve got a couple players that are going to graduate to new contracts a year from now.
Not a lot of free agents take one-year contracts, so that’s the thing — if you’re going to sign a free agent, you’ve got to look at what’s going to be the implication two years down the road.
So from that perspective, trades might be more appealing to us than necessarily adding a top free agent. We’re going to have some new players for next year, but I don’t know if it’s going to be free agents or through trades.”