Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman crossed another potential rumored trade target off his list early Monday morning when the Montreal Canadiens and Vegas Golden Knights announced that they had completed a trade centered around 29-year-old left wing Max Pacioretty. In return for Pacioretty, the Canadiens get left wing Tomas Tatar, center Nick Suzuki, and a 2019 second round draft pick.
As reported by The-Rink’s John Jaeckel, In recent weeks the Blackhawks have been rumored to have been in talks with their ex-assistant general manager, Marc Bergevin, to acquire the former Canadiens captain. It looks, now, like they Blackhawks were not able (or willing) to offer a comparable package. Not that acquiring a left wing would fill any holes in their lineup, but a solid all-star caliber player certainly would not have hurt them.
As it appears now, the Blackhawks would have had to part with a roster player, a top prospect and an early round pick. Suzuki is a former 13th overall pick so (suffice to say) it would have taken someone of Adam Boqvist or Henri Jokiharju quality, as a conversation starter.
The second problem the Blackhawks faced is that the Canadiens desperately needed more depth at center (which they got), but the Blackhawks could not offer much help there. One would think that Nick Schmaltz was mentioned in talks, but he still has not proven he can be a full-time top six NHL center and the Hawks can hardly afford to lose him.
Artem Anisimov has also been mentioned as a possibility, which would free up salary and get Anisimov out of his Joel Quenneville purgatory between the second and third lines. Again, though, it is hard to say if the Canadiens were interested in a 30-year-old middle six center with limited mobility and a decent price tag.
No one really knows for sure if the Blackhawks were really in the running to get Pacioretty, but it is very clear that sitting on their hands is not doing them any favors as they go into training camp with a line-up full of holes and huge question marks.
Update:
Vegas announced that they signed Pacioretty to a four year, $28 million contract extension ($7M cap hit) with a limited no trade clause.
Yearly Breakdown
$10.5M
$7M
$5.25M
$5.25M