A couple of days after the Chicago Blackhawks let Corey Crawford walk in free agency to the New Jersey Devils and one day after trading well-liked and productive forward Brandon Saad to the Colorado Avalanche, the Chicago Blackhawks’ veteran core – Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, and Brent Seabrook – are hinting they’ve had enough. According to The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus, the most important pieces on the team are “pissed” and the GM Stan Bowman could have an issue on his hands.
Related: Blackhawks Trade Saad and Gilbert to Avs for Zadorov and Lindholm
Once source said, “The core guys have had enough.” Specifically, Toews told Lazerus it seems clear the team is showing it doesn’t have a desire to be competitive. “Bottom line is, I want to win,” Toews said. And, he’s a apparently choked because he was never told by management this team was planning to undergo a rebuild.
Toews said:
“The expectation for the other leaders on this team and myself is to come ready to training camp every year to be a playoff team. We prepare ourselves to win a Cup for our fans.
“I’ve never been told that we were going through a rebuild. That has never been communicated to me, for that matter. A lot of this comes as a shock because it’s a completely different direction than we expected.”
The team did sneak into the play-in rounds thanks to a expansion of the postseason tournament. But, they also showed they have some jam as they knocked off the heavily-favorited Edmonton Oilers to advance. None of that appears to matter to management who is offloading assets.
Outside of the fact the team moved Saad and basically dared Crawford to leave, they chose not to extend qualifying offers to in Drake Caggiula and Slater Koekkoek. It’s likely both of those players will leave as well. As for what the team has done so far in this free agency period… it’s been limited to re-signing two of their own players in Malcom Subban and Dominik Kubalik.
Are the Blackhawks Trying to Send a Message?
Some are wondering the team is trying to send a message to the veterans, many of whom have no-move and no-trade clauses. That message: ‘Don’t like it? Waive your trade protection so we can move you.’. After all, trading these players is the only way Chicago gets out of their years-long cap problem.
The question now is whether or not that message is starting to work? By the looks of Toews reaction, it just might be.
Next: G Corey Crawford Signs With Devils for 2 Years
