Re: Hawks' Offseason Transactions/Rumors
If true, interesting that the Hawks are shopping Soup right now given the issues with defensemen we are seeing. Right now, the biggest question mark i have about this team is depth at defense.
Yes, we have the best top four blueliners in the league, but if one goes down (as we see right now) all we have are guys that really can not play top four minutes. As i have pointed out, these are all guys who make the league minimum (Cullimore, Scott, boynton, Hendry).
We can only afford to pay the league minimum to the bottom guys because of the salary cap, and the fact that Soup, Kane, Toews, hossa, and Keith are all mega cap hits.
Although Soup is a good defenseman and eats up minutes, that cap his is brutal. If we can dump it, great, but we will have to pick up a number 4 and 5 defenseman as a result who can play 15-20 minutes. Adding Gomez's cap hit wont allow that.
I really question whether this team needs another good forward, especially when the issue with blue line depth is obvious. So why trade one of your good defenseman for a good forward, when you should be thinking about trading one of your forwards for a defenseman (or two)?
but of course i do realize the need to dump Soup's cap hit if at all possible, then make the necessary moves after that to fill holes. Or Maybe Gomez and Soup would be part of a three-team deal? For the record, im good with our crew of forwards, and would think about getting a left wing before a center.
My thinking has been, the Hawks would love to dump Soup, but that "pick 7 teams" trade thing makes it hard. But they have been trying (including last fall and over the summer). At the latest, when Leddy is ready for 20 minutes a night in the NHL, Soup and that brutal cap hit are gone, even if it requires Stan to play some hard ball.
-5Minutes
