Blackhawks Make Another Blockbuster

Just over a week after making a very sizeable trade to land Jared Cowen, the Chicago Blackhawks swung another major deal sending defenceman Jack Johnson, forward Jamie Langenbrunner, and prospects Ryan Martindale and Louie Caporusso to Phoenix in exchange for Kris Letang, Andrei Kostitsyn and prospect Nicolas Deschamps.

Johnson's name had been often mentioned in trade rumours over the past season, so it is not entirely surprising the team shipped the promising defenceman out. In return the Hawks landed a blueliner who is likely to enter the Norris conversation in the near future. GM Semonick promised a major shakeup after an abysmal playoff performance, and bolstering the blueline with a player of Letang's calibre certainly qualifies. While the Hawks were hesitant to move coveted prospects Ryan Martindale and Louie Caporusso, management felt the opportunity to add a building block defenceman was too good to pass up.

Letang will bring another dominant 2-way presence to an already stacked blueline, the top-6 as it stands includes Duncan Keith, Alex Edler, Letang, Ryan Suter, Jay Bouwmeester and Braydon Coburn.

In addition to the Letang the Hawks also picked up winger Andrei Kostitsyn, and center Nicolas Deschamps. Kostitsyn to this point has been somewhat of a dissapointment, however his raw skill set indicates he has untapped upside. He has the speed, offensive ability and edge to be a very succesful player at the big league level. In Deschamps the Hawks add another quality prospect who brings a mature 2-way game to the table. He is coming off a promising rookie-pro campaign and could certainly fit into the team's long term plans.

It remains to be seen whether the Hawks will shuffle the deck further. GM Semonick has been actively looking to turn his 2nd and 3rd round picks into a higher volume of later picks, and is also rumoured to be poking around about a pick in the 20-range.

Without any other trades or free agent additions the team figures to look like this next season:

Morrow-Staal-Iginla

Stafford-Richards-Carter

Couture-Dubinsky-Eberle

Kostitsyn-Sutter-Macarthur

Keith-Edler

Suter-Letang

Bouwmeester-Coburn

Luongo

Rask

It is believed the team is pursuing retaining free agent winger Martin Erat, who could fill the vacant spot up front and push someone else down the depth chart. In lieu of that young forwards Jack Skille, Matt Beleskey, Kevin Porter, and Matt Martin are expected to have every opportunity to make the team out of camp.

One piece the Hawks are believed to be actively after is a veteran forward to replace the experience lost with the retirements of Mark Recchi and Kris Draper, and the recent trade of Jamie Langenbrunner.