Minnesota Wild Acquire Martin Hanzal
The Minnesota Wild are going for it this year. On Sunday afternoon, the Wild pulled the trigger on a deal to bring in veteran centers Martin Hanzal and Ryan White from Arizona.
Hanzal is in the final year of his contract. The 30-year-old has 16 goals and 10 assists with a career-low minus-15 rating in 51 games with the Coyotes this season.
ARI sends Martin Hanzal, Ryan White and 2017 4th rder to MIN.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) February 27, 2017
MIN sends 2017 1st rder, 2018 2nd rder, 2019 conditional 4th rder (conditions to follow) and minor leaguer Grayson Downing to ARI.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) February 27, 2017
Conditional pick: If MIN wins one playoff round this year, it becomes 3rd round pick; if MIN wins two rounds, it becomes 2nd round pick.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) February 27, 2017
Also, ARI retains 50 per cent of Hanzal's salary.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) February 27, 2017
The deal makes Minnesota much deeper down the middle. Hanzal has won 56 percent of his faceoffs this season, and has taken 1,064 entering Sunday (which ranks 21st in draws taken in the NHL). He joins Mikko Koivu, who has won 55.2 percent of 1,275 faceoffs (which ranks seventh in faceoffs taken this season). Eric Staal has won 50 percent of 923 draws entering Sunday.
For those wondering, Blackhawks were never a serious player on Hanzal.
— Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) February 27, 2017
Since 2012 Minnesota has sucked at drafting bottom 3 in terms of games played.. Only player they’ve drafted that has made an impact has been Dumba. So between being bad at drafting and it being a terrible draft why not? I’d worry about finding guys ice. Finding that chemistry. Offensively Hanzal hasn’t been that great. Could be a Vermette type move. Despite winning the cup Vermette struggled here and it wasn’t until the latter half of the conference final that it started to work.
Seems like they are giving up draft picks and not any of their prospects. Is he a rental or do you folks think the Wild will try and sign him long term? Obviously an all-in move for the playoffs, but is it also something beyond that?
I can believe that the Blackhawks were not serious about going after him. Good player but doesn’t seem to fit into SB’s overall plan.
Arizona is in a building phase, so stockpiling picks will help them get cost-controlled prospects. He would figure to be a rental because MIN has some significant free agent money to spend this summer (Niederreiter, Grandlund, Folin & Haula are RFA)
Do we now make an acquisition of our own, to keep pace with Minny? I say we must.
re: John B – no.
Tab, why not? Please give us your thoughts on this, thanks.
Why make a trade for the sake of keeping up with another team? Who would you like to see?
They’re a strong team that just got stronger, and we might very likely need to get past them to advance. So why not try to get better if we can?
I get that. But what move would you make? Add some substance to your statement. It’s ok to be armchair gm. Makes things interesting. I’m not sold on the Lightning being sellers. I know they traded Bishop but now was their time to get something for him.
What would you do, Ernie? Who would you try to pick up? And what might your response be to Minnesota adding Evander Kane?
John, your comment doesn’t even make sense. Minnesota got an avaerage (albeit a good face off man, but that is his only major skill) center, what are you talking about them getting Evander Kane? I for one hope bowman doesn’t sell the farm and picks in an attempt to “keep up.” Smart franchises don’t make knee jerk reactions based on other teams in their division making moves. The Hawks are humming, if a good deal comes along that doesn’t not cost a lot (a 1st, 2nd, and anywhere between a 2nd and 4th is a ton to give up) for a rental.
Since they haven’t added Kane I have no response. Personally, I wouldn’t add just because Minnesota added. If I knew Hjalmarsson’s injury like the front office does I’d be tempted to upgrade there. Wiercioch or Tyutin. I’d also be interestedin John Mitchell…depending on Kruger’s health.
So, how about you John? What move would you make? You asked, I answered. I’ve asked several times and you’ve yet to answer.
if you’re losing your mind because the Wild just picked up a 3C, I invite you to buy a television and watch the last 6 weeks of Blackhawks hockey.
Meanwhile, in Arizona….
Saw the Doan thing as well. I’d overpay for Doan the way they over paid for Kimmo if the end result is the same.
No move necessary in my opinion.
John – in years past teams have made bigger moves (Ryan Miller to StL, for example) that did not result in winning the Cup. An effective faceoff C would be a great addition (since Kruger is no longer 50%-plus), but not at that cost – I’m really glad Stan B didn’t OVERpay.
Good point, Dickie. If ANYTHING the Blackhawks will consider a center given Kruger isn’t even taking faceoffs post-injury. They love Kero, however.
re: all the talk about needing another defenseman – the Hawks just won 9 of 10 in February and we’re losing our minds… smh. Was TvR good on Sunday? No. Was Niklas Hjalmarsson in the lineup Sunday? No. If the Hawks can settle down and roll Keith-Seabrook, Hjalmarsson-Campbell + Kempny-TvR-Rozsival I think they’ll be OK.
I’m not an NHL general manager but I let the kids on this Hawk team get valuable ice time / learning time for the rest of the regular season. If we can add an Oduya for D depth, that is great. I think that this is going to be an exciting playoff run.
Doan has been more than loyal to the team and has played with Hanzal for 10 years. I can see why he’s not too thrilled with a 27 year old statistics geek.
https://youtu.be/IRsPheErBj8
Kero – what’s not to like? He’s getting better each game.
The Hawks do not need Oduya (or Sharp).