Column: Chicago Blackhawks’ deadline trades carried a theme — get bigger or faster or bust — and it didn’t cost them much to do it

Phil Thompson, Chicago Tribune
·5 min read

When teams want to neutralize the Chicago Blackhawks, one of the best strategies is to send a heavy to separate the player from the puck.

The Hawks have relied mostly on a smallish roster with speed, effort and offensive skill, but a lot of teams have that. If they want to advance as a franchise, they need more than pluck.

Some of the moves the Hawks have made since the offseason have been unspoken confirmation that, up and down the lineup, they want to get bigger, faster or both.

Trading for 6-foot-6 defenseman Nikita Zadorov in October was Exhibit 1. Try to pick on the Hawks’ smaller forwards and blue-liners at your own risk.

That theme never was more evident than in the deals leading up to Monday’s trade deadline.

The Hawks not only decided to take on players who didn’t work out with other teams — betting on the same coaching staff that has guided this season’s group of youthful upstarts — but they were determined to acquire skaters who would add either size, speed or a higher skill level.

The newcomers include the following:

  • Brett Connolly, a 6-foot-3 veteran scorer who won the Stanley Cup with the Washington Capitals in 2018. “Big body who’s comfortable on the puck and not afraid to go into traffic,” coach Jeremy Colliton said after Connolly scored in his Hawks debut Monday. “He has a heavy shot.”

  • Riley Stillman, a 6-1, 196-pound defenseman who isn’t shy about dropping the gloves.

  • Henrik Borgström, a 6-3, 199-pound center prospect and “a big, tall kid (with) long arms, good reach” and high-end skill, Colliton said.

  • Adam Gaudette, a center who isn’t the biggest at 6-1 and 170 pounds but has a reputation for tenaciousness to get the puck and possibly untapped offensive potential.

  • Ryder Rolston, who’s around the same size as Gaudette at 6-1 and 175 pounds but at 19 has room to grow. The winger prospect also has speed and mobility.

  • Vinnie Hinostroza, who makes up for a lack of size (5-9, 177) with an abundance of speed and a pass-first mentality.

“Other than (Hinostroza), most of the guys we’ve added have an element of size to their game,” said Stan Bowman, president of hockey operations and general manager. “Even the player from Notre Dame, Ryder’s a pretty good-sized kid, a really good skater.”

Bowman has said in the past he’s not hyperfocused on players’ size.

“I don’t ever want to get a player just because he’s big,” Bowman said Monday, “but if they have other attributes that you like and they have good size, that’s something that we’re trying to slowly add to our mix.

“The players we brought in here — whether it’s Stillman, Connolly or some other guys, Gaudette in particular — those guys bring a little bit more size to our group, and that’s something that will help us as we go forward.”

Bowman collected all of those new pieces, along with AHL player Josh Dickinson, and added second-, fourth- and seventh-round picks in this year’s draft as well as a 2022 third-round pick.

And what did it cost the Hawks?

Forwards Mattias Janmark, Carl Soderberg, Matthew Highmore and Lucas Wallmark, defensemen Lucas Carlsson and Madison Bowey, prospect Brad Morrison and 2021 and ’22 fifth-round picks, while retaining 50% of Janmark’s salary.

If you would’ve told most Hawks fans that the team could flip a couple of one-year rentals, some young talents who weren’t catching on in Chicago and a pair of middle-round picks for that haul — while adding a mere $1.5 million against the salary cap, based on CapFriendly.com data — who wouldn’t have taken that deal?

Bowman has taken plenty of heat for trades that worked out better for the other team, but give him and the front office credit here.

Think back to a year ago. Remember how you felt about what the Hawks got in return for hot goalie Robin Lehner and offensive defenseman Erik Gustafsson?

If you’re like most observers, you were very underwhelmed.

Now think about the value the Hawks received (second- and third-round picks) for Janmark, who did the Hawks a solid by improving his offense and raising his stock.

Yet the Boston Bruins were able to snag Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar from the Buffalo Sabres for a 2021 second-round pick and Anders Bjork.

Go figure.

Bowman said he didn’t panic when he saw how a flat cap and a top-heavy playoff race depressed some of the trade values.

“The thing that I found out this year was the market was being set to a certain degree, but also … certain teams had a different appetite for players than others,” Bowman said.

If a team laser-locks on a particular player, market comparisons may go out the window.

“It wasn’t consistent value across the board, so that’s where you’ve really got to work it,” Bowman said. “You’ve got to try to find the best match.

“And Mattias has had a very good year for us, so there were a number of teams that were calling on him. Ultimately we found the best deal with Vegas, and that’s why we eventually moved him there.”

All these trades do is give the Hawks the opportunity to find magic with a new mix. Their trade partners tried to get the same thing out of these same players and found limited success.

But the Hawks are hoping a change of scenery for some and a change of system for others will help them and the team make a quantum leap in a year or two — or at least attract the next buyer.

Nothing’s guaranteed, but Monday marked a big step in that direction.

The operative word being “big.”