Yes, the Blackhawks have lost some ugly games in the last few weeks. But when you place those losses into context, they suddenly don’t look nearly as bad. Consider the following:

Jan. 19: 4-1 at Ottawa – This game was the Senators’ fourth win in a row; they would win 11 straight before finally losing on Saturday to the Leafs. In that stretch, the Sens would outscore their opponents 37-13 and would also beat New Jersey and Vancouver at home and Pittsburgh and Buffalo on the road.

Jan. 23: 5-1 at Vancouver- This game was also the Canucks’ fourth consecutive win at the time in the midst of a stretch of an 8-1-1 stretch. During that run, the Canucks would only lose to Ottawa and Phoenix while beating Pittsburgh and Buffalo. Vancouver would outscore opponents 35-23.

Jan. 30: 4-2 at Carolina – Again, the fourth win in a row for an opponent riding a hot streak. Yes, the Hurricanes’ record isn’t impressive, but they’re 7-3-0 in their last ten, with the victory over the Hawks in the middle of it all. In those ten games, the Canes outscored their opponents 35-23 (sound familiar?).

Feb. 5: 2-1 vs. Phoenix (SO) - This time at home, the Hawks were the Coyotes sixth consecutive victim in an 11-game stretch in which they went 9-2-0 and outscored opponents like Detroit, Calgary and Nashville 36-31. Maybe not the overwhelming numbers of the previous three opponents, but still a team that was scoring well over three goals per night. In fact, one of the two Coyotes losses was to a Washington team that hasn’t lost in 14 games.

Remembering that sprinkled among these losses were wins at Detroit, Calgary and San Jose, the Blackhawks have reasons to remain confident.

The grain of salt this laundry list of excuses comes with is that the Blackhawks could have, and should have, won all four of these games. The shootout loss to Phoenix was one of the worst efforts of the season, as the Hawks were outplayed in almost every aspect of the game. The loss in Carolina was at the end of a two-week road trip, but the Hawks had plenty of opportunities to win that game and didn’t finish. The games in Vancouver and Ottawa weren’t very good efforts from the Hawks’ goaltenders.

As we get into March, and the Hawks continue to press for the President’s Trophy, they will get their opponents’ best effort every night. Bringing a mediocre effort, like they did in the losses to Phoenix and St. Louis at home last week, will not only cost the team valuable points, but open players up to potential injury. Hopefully the win in St. Louis will help the team re-focus for a couple victories before the Olympics.

According to Joel Quenneville after practice on Monday, Antti Niemi will get another shot at starting consecutive games when the Blackhawks host the Dallas Stars on Tuesday.

This, of course, opens the door for more chatter about the Blackhawks having a goalie controversy on their hands. Cristobal Huet was in net for all three losses in the Hawks’ season-long streak that ended on Saturday in St. Louis, when Niemi returned from the flu to keep 34 of 35 shots out of the net. In the game, Niemi was spectacular throughout a physical game.

The last time the Blackhawks appeared to be close to making a shift at the top of the depth chart, Niemi made consecutive starts in Calgary and Vancouver. He was solid in Calgary on Jan. 21, allowing one goal on 20 shots to a struggling Flames team. In the subsequent start, in which he could have possibly taken the primary netminder position away from Huet, he was pulled after allowing three goals on 12 shots in the first period against the Canucks.

Niemi wasn’t schedule to start again until Feb. 3 against St. Louis, but he missed the game because of the flu.

Since the beginning of the calendar year, Huet has allowed 2.75 goals per game and has allowed at least four goals in four of his 12 appearances; his .879 save percentage is miserable. Niemi, on the other hand, has a .913 save percentage even with the bad period in Vancouver being included; he has allowed just 14 goals in seven games, including the early exit against the Canucks. Niemi has not allowed more than three goals in a game yet in 2010.

Niemi played well in relief of Huet in Dallas on Dec. 29, saving 13 of 14 shots in 37 minutes in a 5-4 Hawks loss.

Consider the following stats: Saturday was only the ninth time in 58 games the Hawks were outshot by an opponent. Niemi has started six of those and improved to to 5-1 with his win against the Blues.

With trade rumors swirling around the Blackhawks as we close in on the Olympic roster freeze, how Niemi plays on Tuesday could determine the team’s trade strategy moving forward.

A hot rumor swirling is that the Blackhawks have interest in Boston Bruins, and Team USA, netminder Tim Thomas. While on the surface it sounds great, reality doesn’t seem to validate the hype.

The rumors started when Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun reported that two league executives told him the Bruins were shopping Thomas. From there, speculation that the Hawks would want Thomas was created because of the inconsistent play of Cristobal Huet. Most league analysts and fans agree that Huet has not done much to build confidence that he can be the primary goaltender for a Stanley Cup contender, and Antti Niemi’s lack of experience is scaring off some people as well. So really, the Thomas-Blackhawks rumors simply putting two separate rumors together and trying to make some sense out of them.

However, where this rumor took a turn was on Sunday, when NESN’s James Murphy tweeted that Blackhawks scouts were in the press box. Between the speculation that the Bruins want to move their 35-year old netminder, who won the Vezina Trophy just last year, and the Hawks perceived interest in improving their situation between the pipes, this would appear on the surface to be something of interest.

To quote Lee Corso, not so fast my friend.

First, the on-ice numbers don’t add up. Thomas’ save percentage (.915) isn’t that much higher than Huet’s (.903), but his goals against average (2.52) is well above Huet’s (2.29). Thomas, like Huet, has four shut outs but has faced over 28.5 shots per game; Huet is facing only 22.8 per night. Huet has had moments where he’s been pretty bad, but he’s also been pretty good on other occasions. For example, Huet’s start in San Jose on the recent road trip was superb, allowing only three goals on 37 shots. But then he turned around and allowed three goals on 19 shots to the St. Louis Blues at home, and lost any confidence he may have gained with the United Center faithful.

There are reasons Thomas lost the starting job in Boston to 22-year old Tuukka Rask; he’s allowing 2.02 goals per game, second to Niemi, and he ranks third in save percentage (.929).

So the numbers, at least on the surface, wouldn’t improve very much if the Hawks made a deal for Thomas. Despite his experience, there are other reasons why Thomas won’t be coming to Chicago. Money is the biggest.

Thomas has three more years left on his contract at a $5.000 million cap number. Part of Garrioch’s assertion was that the Hawks would simply send Huet, and his $5.625 salary for the next two years to the minors to get it off the books at the NHL level. Again, on the surface, that might look great. But in reality, hockey is still a business and Huet’s salary has to come from somewhere. By adding Thomas, and considering the strength of the free agent goaltender market, it’s doubtful that the Hawks would want two big contracts for older netminders on their books, especially when the future appears to be with Niemi, who needs a new deal after this season.

Which, of course, brings up the buyout option again. Never popular, if the Hawks were to run with Garrioch’s plan and rent Thomas while sending Huet to Rockford for a Cup run only to buy out Thomas after this year, it wouldn’t help the Hawks at all. Because Thomas is over 35, his cap number would not change if the Hawks bought him out according to the CBA. As we’ve discussed before, if the Hawks kept Thomas and bought out Huet, the Hawks would be on the hook for $1.875 million for the next four years.

Again, for a team in a tight cap situation, adding Thomas is not financially responsible.

If you take the numbers, both on the ice and the payroll, out of the equation and look simply at the experience of Thomas versus Huet, there’s little question who would be a better option for a run at the Cup this spring. Unfortunately, professional sports aren’t superficial fantasy teams that can take one piece of the puzzle and not others. Why the Hawks had scouts in Boston over the weekend might have been because they’re in the market for an upgrade on the blue line, and a player like Derek Morris might be attractive. The Blackhawks making a deal for an older, expensive goalie like Thomas isn’t likely though.

For those that have been reading CommittedIndians all season, you might remember that back on Dec. 8 we wondered out loud whether or not the Blackhawks could strike a deal with Anaheim to bring back James Wisniewski. On Saturday, the Daily Herald’s Barry Rozner reported that the Hawks have inquired about doing just that.

A quick refresher on the scenario: Wisniewski played for the Blackhawks for three and a half years before being dealt to the Ducks at last year’s deadline for Sami Pahlsson. Wisniewski was always a tough defenseman who loved to mix it up, but too often paid the price; he has never played more than 68 games in a season.

However, this year has been the best in Wisniewski’s career. In 53 games, he’s averaging a career-high 24:12 in average ice time and has scored 24 points (3 G, 21 A). His career high in points is 26, which he set in 2007-08 with the Hawks when he appeared in 68 games. That year he also served 103 penalty minutes, which he’s cut back in Anaheim this year to just 32 so far. In fact, Wisniewski is third on the Ducks in average ice time per game, behind only Scott Niedermayer and Ryan Whitney.

The two factors the Hawks will consider when making any deal at this point will be the quality they’re bringing back and the future financial impact on the organization. As we pointed out in December, Wisniewski is making $2.5 million this year and will be a restricted free agent this summer. Considering his production this year, Rozner estimates that Wisniewski could see a salary increase to the $4 million neighborhood after this season. While that likely means the Hawks wouldn’t bring him back, it also means Anaheim could potentially save money by bringing in Cam Barker in a deal; Barker is set to make $3 million for each of the next two years, and is two years younger than Wisniewski.

What would make this deal a home run for the Hawks would be that it would take care of three issues. First, they would be bringing back a more productive player if they dealt Barker for Wisniewski; Barker has scored just 14 points (4 G, 10 A) in 50 games this year. Second, they would be cutting $3 million off their books for next year. And third, because of his tenure with the team being as recent as it was and his popularity when he was dealt last year, re-acquiring Wisniewski would likely have a positive impact on the team’s chemistry more than anything else.

We were on board with the idea in December, and continue to hope that this rumor has some merit. If the Blackhawks dealt for Wisniewski, it would be a great move.

The Blackhawks have three more games before the Olympic break, but it’s never too early to begin lining up your lunches at work and setting your DVR to record the Chicago players that will be representing their countries at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

For those that don’t remember, the Blackhawks will be represented by six players on three teams. Patrick Kane will play for the United States, Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky will play for Slovakia, and Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook will all play for Canada. But when do these three teams play? For the complete schedule of men’s and women’s ice hockey, as well as results, you can click on the February schedule page; there is a link there to the official schedule site of the Games. However, in an effort to consolidate the schedule into what matters to Hawks fans, here’s your guide to the Games, CommittedIndians style. For your convenience, we also converted the times to Central instead of Pacific.

February 16

2:00 pm - USA vs. Switzerland

6:30 pm – Canada vs. Norway

February 17

11:00 pm – Slovakia vs. Czech Republic

February 18

2:00 pm - USA vs. Norway

6:30 pm – Canada vs. Switzerland

11:00 pm – Slovakia vs. Russia

February 20

6:30 pm – Slovakia vs. Latvia

February 21

                                        6:40 pm – USA vs. Canada

February 23

Men’s Playoffs begin

During the Olympics, we’ll update the performances of the Blackhawks throughout the Games and will update the schedule with when/where the Blackhawks will be playing in the playoff rounds.

After a rare poor performance at the United Center on Friday night, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville was clear that some things needed to change. The apathy needed to die, or the season’s longest losing streak wouldn’t.

On Saturday night, the effort was night-and-day different from Friday’s weak performance. Antti Niemi returned from the flu with a spectacular performance, and the physical play that was glaringly missing on Friday was clearly present in St. Louis.

The start of the changes came from Quenneville, who made some fairly dramatic changes to the lines. He put Patrick Sharp back with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, with whom he skated for most of last year. He also bumped Tomas Kopecky up to the second line with Dave Bolland and Marian Hossa. Troy Brouwer shifted down to the third line with John Madden and Dustin Byfuglien, and Andrew Ladd moved down to the fourth line with Kris Versteeg and Colin Fraser. Lots of changes, but clearly they worked.

Toews placed himself at the forefront of the accountability list, as any good captain should, and he responded with an incredibly strong first period. He pushed a rebound back in front of the net where Sharp was able to score the first goal of the night early in the first period, and then received a gorgeous pass from Kane to score the second goal. In the first, Toews had two points, was (obviously) +2, and won six of his seven faceoffs.

Niemi received a significantly better effort from the defensemen in front of him on Saturday than Huet had in at least the last two, if not four, games. Niklas Hjalmarsson and Brent Seabrook were especially impressive, blocking shots at key times throughout the game and both taking, and giving, big hits all night. Seabrook was credited with three blocks and Hjalmarsson was credited with only two, and neither number feels adequate for the work the two did against the Blues. Seabrook was credited with five hits to lead a physical attack from the Hawks as well.

The story of the game has to center around the Number One Star: Niemi. Having not played since being removed after one period in Vancouver two weeks ago and then missing his last start because of the flu, Niemi returned in magnificent fashion to earn a very important victory for the Hawks. He stopped 34 of 35 shots, and the one goal he did allow was during a six-on-three rush with under two minutes left in the game.

He did get a little help from the zebras, though, as a quick whistle took a goal away from the Blues early in the second period. That doesn’t take away from a stellar performance that will undoubtedly re-open the controversy between the pipes in Chicago. Coming into Saturday night’s game, and including the three-goal, one-period performance in Vancouver, Niemi’s road numbers were ridiculous: 7-2-1 with a .943 save percentage and a 1.53 goals against average.

The Blackhawks PK was tested a lot on Saturday night, and was thankfully up to the task. The Hawks had to kill eight penalties in the game, and were up to the task until the final two minutes when St. Louis pulled Chris Mason out of the net to have a three-skater advantage. Even then, the Hawks did a good job of keeping active sticks in the passing lanes and clearing any rebounds Niemi left on the ice, but couldn’t keep the puck out of the net for any longer.

The power play offense for the Hawks remains a point of frustration, as the unit was unable to score in five chances on Saturday night. The effort was clearly better on the road than the home fans received just a day before, though, and the Hawks held their early lead though the final horn to get back into the win column.

The Detroit Red Wings traded forward Ville Leino to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday for defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen and a fifth round draft pick in the 2011 draft.

Detroit then immediately placed Tollefsen on waivers.

Leino, 26, had disappointed the Red Wings this year by only scoring seven points and earning a -10 rating in 42 games. This move was simply a player dump to make room for some of the returning veterans that Detroit has had on the injured reserve, including Johan Franzen. In 55 games over two seasons with Detroit, Leino scored nine goals and seven assists.

Detroit enters Saturday in ninth place in the Western Conference, and has been bouncing back and forth with Calgary for the eighth and final playoff spot. The Red Wings haven’t been healthy all year, though, and should be near 100 percent after the Olympic break.

For Philadelphia, they receive an underachieving forward in exchange for Tollefsen, 25, who has missed a total of 30 games because of concussion and MCL injuries. Tollefsen signed with Philadelphia in July after spending three seasons in Columbus. If he clears waivers, he’ll be assigned to Grand Rapids.

For a lot of Blackhawks fans, Jack Skille is a four-letter word. He’s a guy who’s been the next-best-thing for long enough that many feel his time has past, and yet his time might still be coming. Why do we seem to hate Skille so much, and what should the Hawks do with him? Let’s get to know Skille a little better.

First, the case for why Blackhawks fans don’t like Skille.

The Blackhawks draft Skille with the seventh overall pick in the 2005 draft, a class that was headlined by the top pick, Sidney Crosby. There was a lot of good talent off the board by the time the Hawks got to pick (Crosby, Bobby Ryan, Jack Johnson, Benoit Pouliot, Carey Price and Gilbert Brule were the top six), but the problem the Hawks have is the classic Chicago “What If” game with names that followed Skille’s selection at seven.

• 8. San Jose – Devin Setoguchi
• 11. Los Angeles – Anze Kopitar
• 12. NY Rangers – Marc Staal
• 17. Phoenix – Martin Hanzal
• 19. Detroit – Jakub Kindl
• 21. Toronto – Tuuka Rask
• 23. New Jersey – Niclas Bergfors
• 23. St. Louis – TJ Oshie
• 25. Edmonton – Andrew Cogliano

And that’s just the names from the first round. Mac-Edouard Vlasic, Justin Abdelkader, Paul Stastny, Guillaume Latendresse and Mason Raymond all went in the second round. Kris Letang, Kris Russell, Evan Brophey, Jonathan Quick, Jared Boll, Keith Yandle, Darren Helm, Matt D’Agostini, Sergei Kostitsyn and Patric Hornqvist were all selected after the second round in that class. Heck, the Blackhawks drafted my favorite young player on the current roster, Niklas Hjalmarsson, in the fourth round that year.

Because so many quality players were picked after Skille in 2005, the fact that we’ve only seen limited action with moderate productivity from Skille, the knee-jerk reaction to his “career” has been that he’s a bust. And there’s still a good chance that Skille is exactly that.

But let’s pause for a moment and consider what the Hawks have in Skille, and why we haven’t seen much from the young winger.

Look at some of the guys that have broken into the NHL roster in the last four years. Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Kris Versteeg and Dave Bolland have all broken into the lineup as puck-moving, scoring, skating forwards on the top two lines.

These guys have been complimented by additions through trades or free agency by Marian Hossa, Andrew Ladd and John Madden to fill out a lot of the top three lines. When you add home-grown Dustin Byfuglien’s transition from defense to the front lines, where is the room for Skille to fit with the NHL roster?

He isn’t a center, so somehow he would need to crack the top-six wings on the roster to break in. Skille isn’t going to be a glove-dropping wing, either, so taking the spot of Ben Eager, Adam Burish or Colin Fraser hasn’t happened, either.

Skille’s been solid for a few years in the minors. This year, Skille’s having agruably his best season as a professional in Rockford, too. In 42 games, he has 35 points (16 G, 19 A) and was an AHL All Star. Last year, Skille had 45 points (20 G, 25 A) in just 58 games. He’s been a productive forward in Rockford who just happens to have a concrete ceiling over his head because of the talented roster in Chicago.

Oh, and he’s still only 22 (he’ll turn 23 in May).

And yet because he hasn’t produced instant offense when he’s had the chance in Chicago (eight points, -5 in 30 career NHL games), the jury appears to have pushed him into the “Bust” category for good.

As the 2009-10 season progresses, the options for Skille will likely remain in Rockford. Because of where he was drafted, he has a cap number of over $1 million, which is higher than some of the names that have been in Chicago more often this year. But Bryan Bickell and Jake Dowell haven’t put up nearly the same production in Rockford that Skille has, and likely wouldn’t be expected to at the next level. A lot of the reason that those two were called up earlier this year over Skille was because the Hawks needed more size on the fourth line when Eager was out, too. Skille’s listed at 6′1 and 205 pounds, so while he has decent size (a giant next to Kane and Versteeg), he isn’t big enough and doesn’t play a rough enough game to replace Eager in the lineup.

Most talent evaluators have moved on past Skille as well. Hockey’s Future, one of the top prospect rating sites, ranks Skille as the Blackhawks #6 prospect behind Kyle Beach, Akim Aliu, Dylan Olsen, Shawn LaLonde and Billy Sweatt. However, this evaluation is on long-term potential, not on more immediate production capability. Skille is the most NHL-ready player in the Hawks system.

Let’s jump to the here and now. Despite that concrete ceiling, Skille still has value to the Blackhawks. Because of his production in Rockford and age, and his restricted free agent status after this year, Skille will be a popular trade chip between now and the deadline. He could step into the lineup for a lot of NHL teams on their third line and be a productive player right now.

However, between now and the trade deadline, the Blackhawks’ tinkering and likely look toward bolstering the blue line will likely involve moving salary off next year’s payroll, though. Versteeg, Byfuglien and Patrick Sharp are NHL players that have a track record that makes them attractive to other teams while their price tage (all over $3 million) mean their likely to be moved to create the necessary cap flexibility for next year.

This is where Skille fits in.

As the Hawks look to make next year’s team affordable under the cap, Skille could become a player Chicago fans get to watch more. There’s a very good chance that next year, the then-23-year old Skille could be a contributing member of the Hawks’ third line, and could be around for a few years to come. Given his success in Rockford, and the Hawks need to move salary, it certainly isn’t time to write off Skille as an NHL player.

Kris Versteeg is still here... for now...

If only Stan Bowman had advised Adam and Eve.

The Hawks had a great opportunity in the last week to acquire an elite scorer in a trade, but ended up not pulling the trigger. The Atlanta Thrashers instead dealt Ilya Kovalchuk to the New Jersey Devils for defenseman Johnny Oduya, forward Niclas Bergfors, prospect Patrice Cormier and the Devils 2010 first round draft pick. The teams also swapped their 2010 second round picks in the deal. (Side Note: Cormier is indeed the player recently suspended for the rest of his minor league season for throwing an awful elbow into the head of an opposing player. You have likely heard his name in the last month, and will again; he’s a pretty good prospect.) This is a nice haul for the Thrashers, but it likely could have been better if Bowman had wanted in.

Not making this deal is the right thing to do, though, and I applaud Bowman’s patience. Though some of my colleagues (John Jaekel for one) might have been at the head of the bandwagon to pull the trigger, my excitement over adding another all star was restrained by the reality that there’s only one puck on the ice at any time, and making a good team even better in once aspect of the game at the expense of others likely wouldn’t have solved the bigger issues for the Hawks, and ultimately not helped achieve the ultimate goal of a championship.

The Blackhawks are fourth in the NHL in scoring at 3.16 goals per game entering Friday’s action, and only San Jose and Vancouver are ahead of them among Western Conference teams. Three goals a night should be good enough to win, but the knee jerk reaction of many casual fans after a couple lazy losses is that something needs to change. Every team goes through stretches where the offense struggles; we’ve all forgotten the Blackhawks scored 43 goals in their first nine games after Christmas (4.78 per night). The Blackhawks offense is as deep as any in the NHL, and adding a player like Kovalchuk would almost be too many weapons.

In fact, if you watched Bowman’s appearance between the first and second period on Wednesday night, or listened to owner Rocky Wirtz’s appearance on ESPN 1000’s “Waddle and Silvy” on Thursday, it because pretty clear that the Hawks were looking to bolster their defense. Wirtz was asked point-blank whether or not the Hawks were in the mix on Kovalchuk, and while he didn’t dismiss the idea he did say the Hawks, if they made a move, would look to add players that added to the team’s overall mold of solid two-way players. The Cliff Notes: Kovalchuk doesn’t play defense, so we don’t want him.

There is little doubt that the Hawks will make a move at some point between now and the March 3 deadline, but the reasonable and logical move would be to bolster the blue line. Ecklund, who spins as many rumors as TMZ with less documentation, has picked up a rumor that claims the Blackhawks stepped away from the bidding for Kovalchuk to keep pieces, presumably Kris Versteeg and Cam Barker, available for a trade to acquire Scott Niedermayer. Niedermayer, who is the captain of Canada’s Olympic team (which will have three Blackhawks in uniform I might add), would likely mean more to the Blackhawks on the ice than Kovalchuk could have because of his experience and ability. He isn’t the only name being linked to the Hawks, though.

Dreger has the Hawks interested in Andrzej Mezsaros, Spector says Sean O’Donnell, and the rest of the blogosphere has pretty much any experience defenseman with an expiring contract coming to Chicago in exchange for Versteeg, Barker, Andrew Ladd, Patrick Sharp and/or Dustin Byfuglien. Reality is that the Blackhawks have players hypothetically available that every NHL team would want, and can afford to make a deal or two to improve the team.

The Eastern Conference has now become a three horse race it appears, with the Devils joining the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals at the elite level. This could certainly help the Blackhawks to make a deal into the East as teams will undoubtedly react to this bold move by New Jersey by trying to add players to combat Kovalchuk’s presence. After all, the Flyers brought in Chris Pronger specifically because of the big forwards in the East like Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby in Pittsburgh and Alexander Ovechkin in Washington, so seeing another move forced by reaction to Kovalchuk going to New Jersey isn’t far from happening.

So while the sexy move might have been nice, it wouldn’t have been the right move for the Blackhawks at this point. Yes, there are still some questions between the pipes, and the depth on the blue line could use some help, but the offense isn’t the issue. So before you throw your coffee mug across the room, be thankful Versteeg and Company will still be playing together against Phoenix on Friday night.

I’m going to begin this piece by directly quoting Bob McKenzie’s latest blog from TSN:

Chicago: There is some real question as to whether Chicago should even be included in the group of interested teams.

There is every reason to believe that general manager Stan Bowman has no interest whatsoever in disrupting the chemistry of his high-flying Cup contending Blackhawks for Kovalchuk and they’re totally out of these sweepstakes. That’s the word on the street.

But there are two reasons to at least still mention Chicago as an outside possibility.

One, team president John McDonough is the type of hands-on executive who lives to make a splash and has the “wants” every time a big-name player comes available. There are few bigger than Kovalchuk. McDonough is involved enough that he may try to influence proceedings, even though from a hockey perspective, the interest in Kovalchuk is limited at best.

Two, the Blackhawks know they are going to have to divest some players in the off-season for cap reasons next season. The names most often mentioned are defenceman Cam Barker and forwards Kris Versteeg and Patrick Sharp. An offer of Barker and Versteeg would be entirely in the strata of what Waddell would love to get for Kovalchuk, but given the cap situation in Chicago, Kovalchuk would be virtually impossible to sign long term. The Hawks could stock their cupboard in the off season trading those players for prospects or picks, so when you add it all up, it doesn’t compute that Chicago is in hard on Kovalchuk.

As we talked about yesterdayand did in early January, the Blackhawks have been penciled in as the darkhorse, “logical” trade partner for Atlanta in the chase to acquire Ilya Kovalchuk. What has kept the Blackhawks on the outside of the discussion for most of the past month is what McKenzie talks about early in his notes on the Blackhawks. Stan Bowman isn’t ready to compromise the depth of the roster as it presently stands for the sake of the “big splash” move. The team is near the top of the NHL in scoring, and has been effective enough scoring the puck so far this year to be in the hunt for the President’s Trophy.

McKenzie posted on Twitter during the game tonight that there was a perceived disagreement brewing between “upper management” and the “hockey heads” for the Blackhawks. If John McDonough steps into the mix, with his admittedly-limited hockey knowledge, and influences Stan Bowman to make a deal here, the future of the Blackhawks could have a dark shadow cast over it quickly.

The unfortunate reality of McDonough’s resume is that, while he is arguably the best at selling a professional sports product in the United States, his tenure at Wrigley Field raised jersey and ticket sales, not championship banners. A lot of that has to do with the marketing department being located too close to the talent evaluation department.

We are sitting at the heart of one of the great times in the history of the Blackhawks. I know that’s an incredibly bold statement, but I’m confident that the numbers bear witness to the great team we’re watching this year. This team is not perfect; Wednesday night certainly pointed out a few flaws. But two areas where this Hawks team does not have problems are depth and scoring.

Would Kovalchuk be a great player for the Blackhawks? Possibly. Could he be the guy to get the franchise over the hump and bring the Cup to Chicago? Not alone he can’t. He might bring an added dimension to the roster and solve a few financial headaches in the process, but one man doesn’t win the Stanley Cup for a city. A team does. The fact that McKenzie, a much more respected source than Ecklund or Spector, would bring this issue up is cause for concern because of McDonough’s history on Chicago’s North Side.

There hasn’t been an empty seat at the United Center in two years, so the marketing department isn’t hurting for commission these days. If the Blackhawks make any trades during the season, it needs to happen because it makes good hockey sense first, sound salary cap sense second, and good business sense third.