UHHH THE BLACKHAWKS JUST TRADED FOR ANDREW SHAW

Well, SHIT. Both Colliton and Stan have said that the wanted to get a little tougher and a little grittier this off-season so the brought back the grittiest little shit of the Dynasty run. I love Andrew Shaw. I never stopped loving Andrew Shaw. The Blackhawks haven’t had that guy who can take a game that is going downhill and wrestle it back by playing a style that puts everyone on edge since Shaw left. Every team needs a guy like that and now the Blackhawks have one. He had 47 points in just 63 games last year. Which is obviously an outlier, but Shaw has game. He helps you in more than one way. They didn’t trade for Dan Carcillo like people on the internet are trying to say. He’s a good hockey player. I am a little worried about his ability to stay healthy because he needs to play almost reckless to be effective and in three seasons for Montreal he never played more than 68 games. Something that probably won’t get better as he gets older, BUT…trying to predict injuries is a foolish exercise for a blogger.

Having said that…it’s a steep price at the moment. Three draft picks, but only one of them is more than a lottery ticket so I don’t really care about that. The $3.9M through 2020-21 is a little scary because Debrincat and Strome need new deals next summer. With Shaw in the mix the Blackhawks don’t have much cap space left at all this summer. Which to me means that this is only the beginning. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a related deal involving Anisimov to Montreal tomorrow as soon as Anisimov’s bonus is paid. That’s pure speculation though. I just can’t imagine that the Blackhawks are going to make this move for Shaw unless they have a plan to move out more money tomorrow. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if it is Saad too. Would you trade a top 9 that has Dzingel and Shaw for one that has Anisimov and Shaw…I probably would.

So yeah, as things stand right now I am nervous. Nervous that they’re now RIGHT up against the cap and still have a roster that to me doesn’t look like a playoff team. But, I think Shaw makes them a better and tougher team. We know what he is. We know he can get 15 goals, play hard, play the right way, and be a guy you want to go to war with every night. That is a good thing. Right now though…we just wait. It’s too early to judge this move. If it’s isolated and the Hawks haven’t moved out any cash then it’ll be tough for me to sign up for this one as much as I love Shaw.