With all of the excitement there is for Blackhawks fans this week with the pending arrival of Anton Frondell and Sacha Boisvert joining the lineup whenever his paperwork clears, there is still a strong desire from a portion of the Blackhawks fan base for the organization to do something more significant than promote prospects this coming summer.
It’s time to see more of an incremental step forward than we’re seeing this year, and the presumption is that it would require an experienced addition to make that happen.
Since it keeps coming up on social media, in the replies and in the comments section here, I think we need to take a quick step back and ask the question so many fans and Twitter “thought leaders” have been posting lately:
Is there an unrestricted free agent — who could actually be available on the open market this summer — who can make the Blackhawks’ top six significantly better?
If you look at the list of potential UFAs this summer, the only forward who might — might — fit that criteria is Alex Tuch, who has 28 goals on the season and turns 30 on May 10. He owns two 36-goal seasons in his last four with the Sabres, which is why he is reportedly asking for north of $10M per on his next contract.
Which brings me to th next important question: is Tuch worth an eight-figure annual cap hit?
I know nobody wants to hear it, but I’m going to continue saying it because it’s very, very real: the Blackhawks rightfully want to see what Frondell and Roman Kantserov can do in the NHL. And they should want to see what the two best, highest-profile offensive prospects they’ve had since Connor Bedard can do in the NHL before investing in a player who’s going to create a deeper logjam up front for the Blackhawks that would undoubtedly mean Nick Lardis (and his fans) would have to find a way to either kill penalties or get used to 8-12 minutes per night.
And that’s in the magical world of make believe and Xbox roster management where we assume Tuch ever even hits the open market. There’s a strong likelihood he never gets to free agency. The Sabres are in a playoff spot for the first time in years and Tuch’s a big part of that roster.
Do the Blackhawks need to go sign a big veteran “enforcer” to play a Matt Rempe role here?
The Blackhawks have Boisevert and AJ Spellacy turning pro. They both find a great deal of enjoyment in hitting opponents, and have very little fear of dropping the gloves. We already have daily disagreements in the comments and on social media about who gets what ice time.
The NHL has not shared plans to expand rosters to allow teams to dress 15 forwards and 8 defenseman. It’s always going to be 18 skaters and two goalies. Adding a player whose entire role is to be a deterrent is a wasted roster spot — especially, again, when we’re complaining daily about Lardis only getting 8-10 minutes per game.
The Blackhawks immediate future
The reality is pretty simple, folks: the Chicago Blackhawks are taking another step forward in the building process in the coming days and weeks as Frondell and Boisvert join the lineup. Next year, they’ll take another step forward with more young player injected into the NHL and AHL lineups.
And, again, free agency is not the answer.
Could the Blackhawks trade for an impact player? Sure. We’ll talk about that more as we get closer to the end of the regular season and, I’m sure, spend most of the summer talking about that subject.
But we need to stop pointing to free agency as the magical ointment that puts the Blackhawks in the Western Conference Final.
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