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The Blackhawks suffered a loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night. While the Hawks had a ton of shots – 41 to be exact – the BJs came out on top in a big way.

The two Russian question marks for Columbus, Bobrovsky and Panarin were great and on the other side Patrick Kane factored in on both Hawks goals.

Below is the first edition of predictions leading up to the NHL trade deadline. I will look at conversation starters in the form of headlines of some “Bold” predictions from the Blackhawks corner. The next will be the “No-So-Bold” predictions which will be out mid-week.

These 5 bold predictions are things that could happen, however, are lower on the realm of possibilities.

I will remind you that these are just for fun and in no way can you hold me to these… well, that is unless they come true.

To set the stage, the Chicago Blackhawks currently sit 3 points out of the last Wild Card spot with 57 points. They are in a 3-way tie with Colorado and Arizona. Vancouver is also above them with 59 points. Therefore, the Hawks have 4 teams they would need to leap to get themselves into the playoffs.

The tricky part about all of this is that the Hawks, Avs, ‘Yotes, Canucks and others in the postseason hunt will likely not know for certain until the final weeks of the season if they are going to be completely for Lord Stanley. That means there are very difficult decisions ahead of the February 25th trade deadline – one week from today.

I have heard that the Hawks are wrestling with the optics of having a renewed interest from fans vs. the team they actually are and would be if they entered a playoff series in round 1.

Here are some bold predictions as we stand today:

Stan Bowman sells at the deadline, yet Blackhawks still make the playoffs

* The boldest part here would be the Hawks make the postseason. I do think Stan will sell what he can and there is a good chance that Colliton could replace the Hayden’s, Anisimov’s and Kruger’s on his current roster and squeeze out more wins with help from his Rockford posse.

Blackhawks trade future HOFer Duncan Keith, claims they are not rebuilding

* There have been rumours out there about Keith and whether he has been asked to waive his no-trade clause. Personally, I think he stays, but it would be a very bold move by Bowman to move him to a true contending team. If the returning haul was significant enough and Keith obviously agreed to it, then maybe it’s not as bold as we think.

Erik Gustafsson is traded for a big return

* Another move that has a low percentage of happening, however, if the Hawks think Adam Boqvist can be ready by next year, he's essentially the same style as Gustafsson. Can they co-exist on the same team? Do the Hawks sell high on the Erik who has been great offensively this year?

Corey Crawford is healthy just in time to be moved

* Crawford says he’s healthy but hasn’t played a game since December 16th, 2018. The Hawks play 4 games from now until the Feb 25th TDL. Could Crawford get into a couple of those, play lights and get moved to a team like Calgary or the Islanders? Sure. It wouldn’t be crazy to think that the Hawks are moving on from Corey after the Delia signing. Crawford has this year and next still on the books (@ $6M per) so it wouldn’t be a high-risk move for a team like those listed above, I just don’t think CHI gets the return they would want in such short notice.

Chicago acquires Matt Duchene and sign him long-term

* The Hawks aren’t likely to be buyers at the deadline, but nothing would indicate that Bowman wouldn’t make a “hockey” trade that helps Chicago for the now and for the future. If Ottawa isn’t getting the offers they would like for Duchene, maybe the Hawks could tempt them with a package of players like Saad, Gustafsson, Murphy, Sikura, etc. (not all together, a combination of some in a creatively structured deal).

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I will reiterate these are just conversation starters for a winter Monday. I am not advocating for any of these things to happen.

The next blog will be on more plausible and “Not-So-Bold” prediction that I think the Hawks will make leading up to the deadline.

See ya out there,

JL

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