We are just ten days away from the NHL Entry Draft and 13 days until the opening of NHL Free Agency, and as we have talked about here before, this is going to be an interesting time for the Hawks as they look to take the next step in their rebuild. With that in mind, over on the WCBPodcast, we had Blackhawks Beat writer Ben Pope on the show to discuss what the Hawks could be thinking at two and what fans can realistically expect going into free agency. The full episode is linked below, but I wanted to share a few interesting takeaways from this interview.
The Hawks are still undecided about who to take at two, but don’t expect anyone other than Demidov or Levshunov
The Hawks seem to be leaning towards the MSU defender, and Pope bases that solely on the fact that they have had much more access to Levshunov. They have been able to watch his season more closely and were impressed with him at these combined meetings. Pope does say this could all change again as the team is set to meet with Demidov and his agent this week. Long story short, we won't know until it gets announced on the 28th.
Don't expect long-term deals
The Hawks have been linked to a ton of pending free agents, but from what Pope is hearing, don’t expect any long-term deals to be signed. While KD states that this team needs to take the next step, the sense is that the preferred deals the team wants to sign are two-year deals. The team will no doubt be pitching to any player that will listen, and the big selling point will be that they can get overpaid for two years. KD will be looking for quality guys, so think more in terms of guys like Mantha, Zucker, Arvidsson, etc.
Don't rule out Guentzel
While the team isn’t going out to look for long-term deals, Pope gave an interesting note that, when talking to KD about the rumors of Guentzel, KD didn’t completely shut down the idea. He mentioned how when asked about Kane coming back, it was an instant shut-down, where this was a not saying yes but not saying no type of response. If they can get a deal done, that won't affect the team's cap space, and when it's time to re-sign the rookie trio, you have to imagine it getting signed.
Those were just a few interesting moments from the interview. We also discussed the thought process behind trading up to 18, a player to keep an eye on after the first round, and his start in sports journalism and getting the job with the Hawks. I hope you guys enjoy it if you check it out!
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