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I've heard a lot from a couple of sources in the last 24 hours—but not much that provides a lot of clarity.

The big piece of news is that the Hawks expect to hear from the league on whether it will grant LTIR status to Marian Hossa by Saturday—which, not at all coincidentally, is when free agency opens.

I was told yesterday—and I do not know all the cap permutations of it—that a confirmation of Hossa's status will confirm the Hawks' plans in free agency, one way or the other.

What I heard specifically was "it affects a lot of potential avenues."

All that said, and building off yesterday's blog, the overwhelming bulk of evidence is that the Hawks are exploring a lot of different players and approaches, through both trade and free agency. So rumors around Karl Alzner or Sam Gagner (both first reported elsewhere) or Michael Del Zotto, Christian Folin, John Moore, or Evander Kane (all reported first here) might only reflect a fraction of the potential targets the Hawks have.

One other name I heard in the last 24 hours—an "under the radar" target as a depth forward—Vancouver LW/C Joe Cramarossa, a tough to play against, versatile guy who the Hawks believe may have some offensive upside.

There's your new rumor.

So now some 'takes.'

ALZNER

I almost feel like this "rumor" is a smokescreen—something the organization put out as a bluff or diversion from their "real" targets. Alzner is likely going to get paid on Saturday and paid a lot, probably more than he's worth, and certainly more than the Hawks can afford. So while it "seems" to make sense from 30,000 feet, it's also kind of a head scratcher.

An alternate scenario is the Hawks' interest is quite real—that Alzner would be a panacea for Joel Quenneville who—allegedly—was stung over the trade of Niklas Hjalmarsson. It just seems like an expensive, long-term "make good," when the one thing we can safely predict about Connor Murphy is he is more of a defense first, shut down defenseman than anything else.

LIKELIHOOD: Very low

GAGNER

At first, this struck me as one of those Armchair GM rumors, like the TJ Oshie rumor (which was never valid). "Oh, Gagner played with Kane in junior, they had crazy numbers together, he can play left wing—Sam Gagner to Chicago!"

The other issue, one that applies to Alzner or Del Zotto, or any free agent (and their agent especially) who are looking to get paid. The Hawks are not in any position to go out and spend incrementally. If they are going to spend in free agency in any marginally significant way, they have to trade someone, and more than just Marcus Kruger. The Hawks are over the cap today. Losing Kruger's hit gets them only slightly below the cap.

So upon reflection, the Gagner rumor starts to make a lot of sense when you consider the Hawks might acquire him to play center with Kane—as he did when they were in junior together. Gagner is not a great finisher (really) or a road grader along the wall; his real gift is as a setup guy. He is also better on faceoffs than Artem Anisimov, not great in his own right, but better than AA.

Then, as a center, adding Gagner makes Anisimov expendable. And you can flip him to, say, a team like the Columbus Blue Jackets, where Anisimov's buddy and linemate Artemi Panarin now plays—and where another Russian left winger, Ilya Kovalchuk, may soon hit the depth chart—making, say, a Boone Jenner available in trade to Chicago.

Complicated? Tin foil hat-ish? Sure. But it just captures one of the possibilities out there.

LIKELIHOOD (of Gagner to Chicago): Moderate to good

Bottom line though, as I said, is I think these rumors represent just a slice of the total picture right now. They may indicate the type of thing the Hawks are trying to do, although the actual names and teams may be different.

Conservatively, I think you can safely predict that Kruger will be gone by this time next week, and a depth/budget forward (who is good on faceoffs) or defenseman may be added. Beyond that, hard to say, but any significant free agency move will likely be accompanied by another trade.

That's all I have this morning. I'll be back with news as I hear it.



JJ

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