Goalie Marc-Andre made 26 saves in the Blackhawks’ 6-4 loss to the Jets on Sunday. Calvin de Haan played over 19 minutes, Dylan Strome scored a goal and Dominik Kubalik had an assist.
On most nights, those statistics wouldn’t be anything too noteworthy. But this game was the final one before Monday’s trade deadline, when any number of those players could find new homes. Yet there they were, playing for a team well out of the playoff chase and years away from contending.
“Nobody’s held back. I put my phone on silent,” interim Hawks coach Derek King quipped before the game. “I haven’t heard a thing to be honest with you. You know I try to be honest with you as much as I can. I haven’t heard anything.”
Just because those players suited up Sunday doesn’t mean they’ll be Hawks after the trade deadline passes at 2 p.m. Monday. The most intrigue is around Fleury, a future Hall of Famer who could be the final piece of somebody else’s championship puzzle, but one who will only move if the Hawks find the right deal and he signs off.
Beyond Fleury, who has reportedly drawn the Wild’s interest, change is certainly coming to the Hawks. The Brandon Hagel trade wasn’t the end, but just the start of general manager Kyle Davidson’s mission to remake the roster, though it seems like cornerstones Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Seth Jones aren’t going anywhere.
“You don’t need to trade those guys either on me,” King said. “I hate seeing guys get traded because you start getting comfortable, your teammates are starting to become a team, the locker room’s tight. Everybody likes each other. There’s no hatred going on. It was starting to build right. It just happened to be this is the timing of it. All of a sudden you might lose some bodies.
“Hopefully guys like Kane, Toews and these guys – we don’t need to lose them. But again it’s a business. If trades do happen we deal with them as a staff.”