Hossa
A few days ago, Tim Sassone of Daily Herald fame wrote that someone asked Coach Quenneville if the addition of Marin Hossa would disrupt team chemistry. His response:
“Absolutely not. We welcome that addition in a lot of ways.”
There are dumb questions, and that was one.
The addition of Hossa means one thing, a better team on both ends of the ice. Hossa is about three to four weeks away from returning to action, and by then Ben Eager and Jonathan Toews should be back in the lineup.
Roster decisions will be need to be made when Eager, Toews and Hossa come off the shelf – I’m guessing in that order. So what could the forward lineup look by the time Hossa makes his debut as a Chicago Blackhawk?
Eager could come off the injured reserve as soon as this Thursday. As a result Jordan Hendry will go back to being the seventh defenseman and off the fourth line. Eager’s return should provide more depth, energy and physical presence up front that the team currently lacks.
Toews return from his head injury would mean that Andrew Ebbett or Tomas Kopecky would be the healthy scratch. Ebbett may be better pushed into the role since Kopecky would be better utilized as a fourth-liner due to his size and stature. Once Hossa returns one of the two will be forced from the Blackhawks roster.
Ebbett or Kopecky haven’t been productive for the Blackhawks, and the decision to keep one of them on the NHL roster, I believe, will boil down to how much the team is willing to spend on a player that is riding the pine. Kopecky is slated to make $2.4M over the course of his two-year contract, and Ebbett is only on the books for just under $.5M this year.
If Stan Bowman opted to reassign Ebbett, he would have to clear waivers. The Ducks would be able to pick him up and send him to their AHL affiliated team. Kopecky would also have to clear waivers, and probably wouldn’t be claimed due to size of his salary. If he were picked up, no one would shed a tear – cap-space would be freed up as well.
So here is what the forward lines could look like once Hossa returns – barring any other injuries:
Sharp – Bolland – Versteeg
Ladd – Madden – Byfuglien
Eager – Fraser – Brouwer
Ebbett
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