As I said...

Morin is not a good match for the Blackhawks. While I have not seen ALL the details it looks like a straight up trade for D-man Tim Erixon of the Blue Jackets. While we wait for TVR to return to the line-up the Hawks have continued to look for the right 3rd defensive pair. Erixon will be the latest in the rotation.This trade will have two net effects.

First, it will add $200,000 of cap space for the Hawks to play with. Tim hits the cap this year at $600k while Morin weighed in at $800k.

Second, this will help with next years player/cap problem. Morin would have hit us at $800k again next year. Erixson has only a one year contract and either will be gone or will replace one of our higher salaried D-men that will need to be removed due to cap issues.

What I am not sure about are the terms of the contract with Erixon. But from what I can tell it is a two way contract meaning that he can be sent to the Icehogs without having to go through waivers. Again this will help Q and Stan figure out a right mix to 1) win the cup this year and 2) align a team for next season.

So, no surprise to me. We will likely get to see Jeremy when we play the Jackets this Saturday in Columbus.

P.S. Dahlbach, who has been benched when the times got tough, will go back to Rockford for the time being.

What's in a name? And (No?) More Morin

Would a Zemgus Girgensons smell any different with a different name? Maybe the question to ask is would a Zemgus Girgensons get as many votes with a different name? Earlier today it was reported that Latvian native Zemgus has over 800,000 votes. Compare that to the next two players, Kane and Toews, with 375,753 and 367,962 respectively. As a centerman in his rookie year last season Zemgus scored 8 goals and ended the season with 22 points. This years he is at 8 goals and 14 points to date. So how does he get so many votes? It has been reported that his country of origin is so excited that they are taking the Chicago approach of voting early and often. Latest census data shows Latvia with a population of just over 2 million people. It was estimated that the same number of people participated in the Blackhawks victory parade in 2013. Over 8 million people watch the games where Patrick Kane scored an overtime winner to clinch the Stanley cup and again when the Hawks beat Boston in 17 seconds. Assume about 4 million of those were Chicago fans. With those numbers you have to really wonder if the Latvian government has hacked into the NHL voting system. OK, that was a joke, but has someone in Latvia written a program to perform repeat voting to run the numbers up that high? Should we really allow unlimited voting for our Allstars? Is the whole idea of having the general population vote wrong? But even if we went with hockey insiders conducting the vote we have the problem with the eastern heavy population as we have seen with the NHLs individual achievement awards. What ever the case, this ridiculousness is an indication of a broken system.

Sharpie returns to the Hawks line-up tonight to take on the devils. Nortrom returns to Rockford, no surprise, as does Morin. The Hawks use a little known rule of a "conditioning assignment" to move Morin without putting him through waivers where he would likely get snatched up. Typically this is used for a player coming back from an injury. The NHL has indicated that they will not investigate this move. Bowman would be happier to trade Morin, take his salary off our cap and get a good draft pick. (My opinion) So this will buy Bowman about 14 days to find a suitor willing to add to their offense. I really think Morin could work on another team but he just does not fit in Chicago. Barring any major injuries to the Hawks offense, everyone knock on wood now, if Morin is not traded during his conditioning assignment he will be put on waivers and likely find himself in a Panthers uniform. I think Dale would like to have him in Florida.