Blackhawks Acquire Andrew Ladd

By Kevin Schroeder
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Updated: February 26, 2016

Today, the Blackhawks acquired forward Andrew Ladd, forward Matt Fraser, and defenseman Jay Harrison from Winnipeg in exchange for Marko Dano, a first-round pick in 2016, and a third-round pick in 2018 if the Hawks win the Stanley Cup this year. Fraser and Harrison will report to Rockford. I’m not thrilled about giving up Dano, but I’d be more upset about it if Tyler Motte wasn’t setting the world on fire in Ann Arbor this year. Ladd is probably just a rental; for the Hawks to keep him, at just a quick glance, it looks like they’d need to shed Bickell and Scuderi’s cap hits and depending on how much the cap goes up for next year, be willing to part ways with Shaw and/or Kruger.

Shayne asked me what this trade means for his cousin, forward Vinnie Hinostroza. My guess (and, again, this is just a guess, I could be way off) is not much. Hinostroza looked just okay to me at wing in the NHL this year. From what I’ve seen of him in the AHL this year (not much), he looked a lot more comfortable at center. A couple things here: 1. AHL play is not always indicative of what a player will do in the NHL. That goes both ways. Some guys’ games are just better suited to one league or another. 2. Even though he looked pretty good in the preseason, I thought going into the season that Hinostroza would need at least a year in Rockford before being ready for the NHL, so I don’t think he’s anywhere near his potential just yet. The Hawks have plenty of talent at C, but just for the sake of argument, let’s pencil Hinostroza in at 3C next year. If we do that, here’s what I’d do with the lines.

Teräväinen – Toews – Hossa

Panarin – Anisimov – Kane

Shaw – Hinostroza – Motte

Desjardins – Danault – Kruger

Now, a couple of assumptions are included there:

1. Motte plays in the NHL right away. I really hope he does. He’s been arguably the best player on the best line in #cawlidgehawkey (Hey, Bucci mane, how ya doin’?), and I’d hate for this to turn into another Kevin Hayes situation. Also, I think Motte’s game would fit really well with Hinostroza’s.

2. The Hawks re-sign Andrew Shaw. Stupid penalties aside, I like Andrew Shaw a lot. But the Hawks will need to play both Teräväinen and Panarin the following year and they have Ryan Hartman in Rockford, who I think can slide into Shaw’s spot pretty well.

I’ll talk more about this after the season. For now, let’s focus on winning another Cup. #OneGoal

Twitter: @KSchroeder2325

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com