REPORT: Blackhawks Pursued Best Available Free Agent
Well, that's a breath of fresh air.
The beginning of the season brings many things: comparisons to last season, dreams of winning the Stanley Cup, and new beginnings.
According to one of the league's most prominent insiders, the Chicago Blackhawks could have made an even more significant addition than they did.
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The Blackhawks acquired a lot of talent over the summer. Tyler Bertuzzi, Teuvo Teravainen, and Ilya Mikheyev were added to the forward group. But according to Elliotte Friedman, the team was in on a big-ticket player.
In his written 32 Thoughts published last night, Friedman said, "Like the Ducks, Chicago also took some big swings this summer -- making googly eyes at Jake Guentzel, who ultimately chose Tampa Bay. They found different help for Bedard, and it's a deeper roster."
Having Guentzel riding shotgun to Connor Bedard would have been a sight to behold.
The eight-year NHL veteran is a consistent goal scorer. Only in his rookie season has he scored less than 20 goals. Four of those years he has scored more than 30 goals. In his last three seasons, he has scored 40, 36, and 30 goals (respectively).
This information should encourage Blackhawks fans. It means that the team is getting serious about turning the page from a bottom-of-the-barrel team to one pushing for a playoff position.
Unfortunately, that doesn't happen overnight.
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Acquiring free agents who push the needle is one way to move that boulder up the mountain. Another is through drafting and developing, which is another avenue the team has driven down.
A team needs to pursue every option that it can to be a better team, and the Blackhawks certainly did that this past summer. Now it's up to the players to step up to the plate and give it their best.
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