Blackhawks Trade Nick Schmaltz To Arizona For Dylan Strome And Brendan Perlini...What That Means

Well this was quite the Sunday night BOMB dropped by Stan Bowman and the Coyotes. Something was a brewing because Stan was watching the Colorado-Coyotes game in person a couple nights ago, per sources

So let’s talk about it.

First off…I was officially #done with Nick Schmaltz on November 12th

I won’t sit here and pretend that this is a bad trade just to jam into my narrative that Stan is a completely imcompentent fool. I wanted Nick Schmaltz gone. I was TERRIFIED that Stan was going to commit to Schmaltz long term and that the Blackhawks would be tied to a guy who historically just doesn’t give a fuck. That’s been the knock on Schmaltz since he was like 14. He’s UNBELIEVABLY talented, but he’s not a good teammate and he doesn’t put the work in. I’ve had people with the Mission tell me that, I’ve had people with the USHL tell me that, and I’ve had people with the USA Hockey tell me that. I don’t know anyone at North Dakota, but I would guess that Nick Schmaltz would be 0 for 4. Basically a golden sombrero of former teams before the Blackhawks drafted him. This might be a situation where the team gets better simply by removing a guy like him because then everyone can pull in the same direction. You won’t have a guy bringing his suitcase into the locker room because he’s mentally already in Mexico before an 11am national tv game vs Detroit. That unprofessionalism and sense of entitlement is gone. And that better be the case because the Blackhawks did NOT get better from an on-ice talent perspective.

Perhaps it’s a simplistic view, but generally whoever gets the best player in a trade “won” the trade. Nick Schmaltz is EASILY the most talented player in this trade. Easily. He never realized that talent, but he is the best player. All that talk about John McDonough believing this is a playoff team…this doesn’t feel like a move for a team trying to make the playoffs. It feels like Stan got a package of players that he can sell to his bosses. “Yeah, Mr. McDonough, I got a former 3rd overall pick and a former 12th overall pick for a Nick Schmaltz who we all now hate. Aren’t I great?”. No, Stanley, you’re not. This trade doesn’t make the team better and I think there would probably be a better return out there for Schmaltz later in the year after he got hot for a minute at some point and when teams are more desperate leading up to the deadline. It’s a weird situation because we didn’t want Stan to fuck up and give $6m a year and a no-movement clause to Schmaltz because you don’t trust Schmaltz to be a leader on the team. So on that hand…good work? That’s how low the bar is for Stan right now. We are celebrating a bad trade just because we want to avoid a bad contract.

And now there’s another disturbing fact that John McDonough and Rocky should be looking at…the Blackhawks NEVER have first round picks make it to their second contract under Stan Bowman’s watch

2009: Dylan Olsen

2011: Phillip Danault

2012: Teuvo Teravainen

2013: Ryan Hartman

2014: Nick Schmaltz

Not to mention that they traded Brandon Saad and Artemi Panarin before they played a game under their second contracts too. Draft picks and cheap players are the LIFE BLOOD of an organization in the salary cap era. This has been a MAJOR flop by Stan Bowman. You want to talk about why the team has no depth outside of the core, well look no further than this stat. He’s mismanaged his assets and failed to surround guys. He has John McDonough convinced that the Blackhawks got bit by the salary cap, but that is only partially true. A failure to draft/develope/properly evaluate your own guys internally is the real reason why the Blackhawks in the shape they’re in. Add Danault, Teravainen, Hartman, and Hinostroza to this current roster and the Blackhawks are right in the mix for the playoffs. Maybe even more.

This trade reminds me of the deal Stan made with Arizona last year. Stan had to deal Dick Panik because he signed him to a bad contract and the Blackhawks took back Anthony Duclair in return. I said that trade was a win just because it removed Panik’s $2.8M cap hit alone. It removed one fuck up. But then when Stan opted to sign a 39 year-old Chris Kunitz and let Duclair walk into CBJ for $650k, that deal became a loss becuase the light came on for Duclair in a BIG way this year. Duclair has 12 points in 23 games. And also…Ryan Hartman and Vinnie Hinostroza each have 10 points. Meanwhile Kruger, Martinsen, and Kunitz have combined for 5 points.

Speaking of guys who have under-produced this year…Dylan Strome and Brendan Perlini!

People will see that Strome is still very young and was who 3rd overall pick just a few years ago and they’ll get excited. However, I am not overly optimistic about him. Strome hasn’t been able to perform in the NHL despite putting up MONSTER numbers in the OHL playing with McDavid and Debrincat. The reason he hasn’t been able to produce…lack of skating. You have to be able to skate in today’s NHL. There are certain minimums for talent in that area and Strome simply doesn’t have enough burst to be an impactful offensive player. The Coyotes DESPERATELY wanted him to be their #1 and that is a bad team who gives young players every chance in the world…Strome couldn’t seize it.

Coming to Chicago might be a nice reset for him because hopefully expectations are realistic for him. He’s a big body, with a good shot, and he’s smart. He might just be a nice bottom 6 replacement for Anisimov. Strome has made himself into an ELITE face-off guy this year. If you’re building out your bottom 6 for the future, it’s plausible that Strome can develope into a piece that can help you there. The problem is that the Blackhawks just traded a guy who has #1C potential for a guy who likely maxes out as a 3C. Again, long term maybe this works out because I don’t think Schmaltz is a guy you can win with and maybe Strome, in the right setting, can actually help you win

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Brendan Perlini excites me a bit. He is a middle 6 winger. Probably a 3rd line guy on a good team, but he has size, speed, and a really good shot. His production is down a bit this year, but that could be a bit of bad luck since he’s shooting at a career low 5% on the season so far.

The most frustrating thing is that Stan continues to just seemingly throw darts. After that Panik-Duclair trade he took a victory lap with the media saying how he took a roster(that he built) which was old and slow and turned it into a roster that was young and fast with guys like Schmaltz, Hinostroza, Debrincat, Hartman, and Duclair. He said in April that he was committed to those guys. Now only Debrincat is left and the team is older and slower again overall with the summer free agency additions while the guys he gave up on are having nice years for better teams across the league. No plan, no ability to properly evaluate in-house talent, bad contracts given out for years, struggles at the top of the draft(where Stan in theory would have the most say), being on the losing end of trades for 3 years, and outside of the playoff picture again. How much more does McDonough have to see? How can he sit there and say “this is a playoff team. I believe in Stan and I believe in this roster”? If that’s the case then he hasn’t been paying attention. If it’s not the case then he’s lying. McDonough was at the IceHogs-Wolves AHL game last night…for what reason I don’t know but it makes me uneasy. I don’t want McDonough evaluating or pretending to evaluate players. Don’t worry about the guys in the minors, John. Come up with a new slogan to sell tickets because “One Goal” clearly doesn’t apply anymore.