About an hour before last night’s game with the Edmonton Oilers the Jack Skille era with the Blackhawks came to an end. He was traded to the Florida Panthers with forwards Hugh Jessiman (AHL) and David Pacan (OHL) for forward Michael Frolik and goaltender Alexander Salak (SEL).
And the peasants rejoiced.
As the Blackhawks played themselves out the top eight in the West and the trade deadline neared, it became apparent Stan Bowman would shake-up the roster one way or another. Frolik has scored 20-plus goals in his first two seasons in the league, is top-six talent and will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season.
With the addition of the 22-year-old Czech – and subtraction of Skille – the Blackhawks are an improved squad. One step closer to being a true contender to repeat. Now Bowman will need to address the blue line – a third-pairing, penalty-killing defender at a nice price.
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