Sports with Megs

CHICAGO, IL -- Sometimes, Stan Bowman really does work wonders. This is certainly one of those instances. For those of you that may not know, Brandon Manning was the one that broke Connor McDavid's collarbone his rookie year. It seems like he may have done it on purpose, and Connor McDavid didn't like the 'classless' move . Well, now they're teammates. That'll be good. Anyways, back to the actual trade. Manning's been a healthy scratch for a couple weeks now, and I think the only reason it's a surprise is because another team actually wanted him. I know that sounds harsh, but it's not exactly wrong. Bowman's been trying to fix this one for a while, and he finally found a taker. With Manning went D Robin Norell, who has been playing in Sweden this season after playing in Rockford last year. To Chicago with Caggiula came D Jason Garrison, who I'm thinking will likely be put on waivers shortly, since the Blackhawks are a little h...

CHICAGO, IL -- I'm a little disappointed, but not surprised. The whole Nick Schmaltz trade-talks thing has been poked around on both Twitter and in the hockey media circle, so I'm not overly surprised that he was dealt around 11pm EST last night. And, honestly, I don't really mind this trade, but we'll get to that in a second because I really need to get something off my chest first. Stan Bowman is really starting to piss me off. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, and he even kind of addressed it in an interview with Scott Powers on The Athletic. But, I'm sorry--this 'win-now mentality' and 'we're 100% a playoff team as it stands' stuff the front office is spewing out is crap. See the below tweet from Mark Lazerus (The Athletic) this morning: All we've heard from Bowman (and the front office, honestly) the past year or so has just felt like lies. I hate being this person, I hate putting blame on people, but...

CHICAGO, IL -- Well, here it begins, my friends. I'm genuinely very, very upset about this. Scott Darling is one of my favorite players, and after seeing him play a great game in December (with some Save of the Year-type saves, no less), I'm really going to miss him. And, honestly, the Blackhawks got literally nothing for him--a third-round pick in this year's draft. I know Bowman is trying to get younger guys since the core is getting old, but... I don't know how much I trust this. And believe me, I hope I eat my words. Darling's played a crazy good game this year, especially having to take over for a good chunk of the season after Corey Crawford had his appendix removed. He had a .924 SV% this season, which was amazing for the 32 games he played in. He won 18 of those starts, which is also a pretty good statistic for a back-up goalie. Therein lies the problem, and the reason I knew he likely wouldn't stay. Darling is too good to be a backup anymor...

CHICAGO, IL -- JOHNNY'S BACK. Sorry for the caps. I'm so excited to see him back. And, after the recent struggles in our defense, he'll slot right in. In case the all-caps intro didn't allude you to this, Johnny Oduya has been with the Hawks. In fact, the Hawks traded him along with Patrick Sharp and Stephen Johns down to Dallas in the summer of 2015, right after winning the cup. Another cap era casualty. But, seeing as the Stars are apparently willing to trade away anyone for anything, the Hawks get another shot with Oduya. And I'm excited. Oduya is one of those quiet-but-deadly types. He doesn't really make a lot of waves at the surface, but oh, man, is he someone you want. And, since he's been here before, he'll likely fall right back into place. He's only got seven points (1-6--7) on the season, but that's also partially due to the conditions in Dallas. I don't know what went haywire down there this season, but no one seeme...

CHICAGO, IL -- Well, this one was unexpected. Only sort of, though. I at least was right in that the Hawks would look to get some sort of forward, either for the top line or bottom six, but I thought it'd be Patrick Eaves. Nope, he's headed to Anaheim (on a very *ahem* interesting trade, but that's neither here nor there). With only 15 goals in 159 games, a -8 rating over 16 games this season with no goals and a handful of healthy scratches, I think a lot of people are probably questioning him off the bat. But, I'm telling you, hang on. The Hawks eat this crap up. Remember Richard Panik last year? I'm not sure anyone really knew who he was, or knew why we got him of all forwards. But, look. He's paid dividends for the team this year and last, for that matter. Who's to say Jurco just wasn't in the right place in Detroit? He might prove himself in the last leg of the season. And, if he doesn't, he's a restricted free agent at the end...