Mattias Janmark gets healthy scratch treatment ahead of trade?
Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times: The trade deadline draws ever close and Mattias Janmark was scratched over the weekend in an “organizational decision”. This is to protect him from injury in lieu of a trade deadline deal. That much is obvious.
New Jersey did it with Kyle Palmieri, Buffalo did it with Taylor Hall, etc, etc, etc. This is just preservation in lieu of what happened to Detroit and Columbus before this trade deadline for example. Jeremy Colliton said as much:
“A lot of teams are dealing with stuff like this,” Colliton added. “It’s the time of year. Obviously you address it , depending on the situation. The message is focus on what you can control.”
Also, David Kampf could be a potential trade target besides Janmark. Yes, Kampf contributes little, if anything, offensively but has been strong on the penalty kill. He also has been pretty good at even-strength as far as preventing scoring chances and goals.
Scott Powers via Twitter: An important tidbit to add that a scout believed Janmark could return a second-round pick previously. That was during a hot streak. With the forward having just one point in his last ten games, the yield might be more like a middle-round draft pick now.
The Chicago Blackhawks multi-player deal for Henrik Borgstrom
Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times: It is likely that Henrik Borgstrom comes back from overseas next season. Nonetheless, this was a trade Chicago felt it needed to make. Does anyone remember Dylan Strome and his Arizona days? Exactly. He was thought to be a bust and has turned into a pretty good player. It is safe to stay Stan Bowman and Chicago see something similar.
“Henrik was a dominant college player,” Bowman said. “One of the best college players I’ve seen the last 10 years. really high-end skill. He did it all in college. He seemed destined for greatness in the NHL.”
The other parts of the deal were to absorb salary to make the deal easier (the sweetener). Yes, this was a five-player trade but Borgstrom is undoubtedly the main piece. If Chicago can find a way to harness that potential seen a few seasons ago, then it was a trade that was worth it.