Jun 6, 2015
Thumbs up to Hawks' acquisition of Vermette
TSN's Dave Hodge extends his Saturday playoff thumbs up to the Chicago Blackhawks trade to acquire Antoine Vermette from the Arizona Coyotes on trade deadline day. Though Vermette hasn't dressed in three games during the playoffs, he has made a major impact, and maybe enough to win Chicago another Stanley Cup.
By Dave Hodge
Antoine Vermette hasn't suited up for all of Chicago's 18 playoff games, and he hasn't been happy or reluctant to speak his mind on the three occasions that Blackhawks' coach Joel Quenneville has chosen to go without him.
The Hawks didn't trade for Vermette to be one of their stars - there's no room near the top of that list - but they didn't part with a first-round draft pick and defenceman Klas Dahlbeck to put Vermette in the press box, either. So what's the verdict on Chicago's deal with Arizona? It'll be determined at the end of the season.
Deadline deals that add rental players to the lineups of contending teams should not be judged by individual performances, but rather by the team's success and of secondary importance are the contributions, big or small, made by the newcomers. If Chicago wins the Stanley Cup, it'll be said that Vermette's two game-winning goals were as important as any others.
The double-overtime winner in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final against Anaheim tied a series that the Hawks might have lost otherwise. And Vermette's goal in the Stanley Cup final opener might have similarly changed the course of games to follow.
The Hawks are saying "thumbs up" to his acquisition even if he does nothing else, as long as they do something else in the form of three more wins over Tampa Bay.
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During two off-days in the Stanley Cup Final, it figured there would be news made elsewhere in the NHL, or if not, somebody would at least try to find some. So it was that the possibility of Glen Sather's retirement as New York Rangers' president and general manager was mentioned, along with some supporting evidence involving Sather's assistant Jeff Gorton.
It is said that the Rangers will not allow Gorton to be interviewed for the vacant GM's position in Toronto, so 2+2 probably equals a promotion for Gorton in New York.
Meanwhile, why don't we stay on the Maple Leafs' watch? Is it essential that they hire a general manager to succeed Dave Nonis? Only if they couldn't bear to trim down a front office that seemingly needs as many executives as possible, perhaps.
The Leafs would be capably served by Brendan Shanahan, Mark Hunter and Kyle Dubas (yes, among others), and it might be that prospective managerial candidates would wonder what they'd be doing if they joined that group. In the same vein, the search for the new super boss at MLSE has produced nothing more than a request to delay Tim Leiweke's departure by a few months. It may be that MLSE isn't about to pay top dollar for someone to water Leiweke's plants, and qualified candidates would want to do their own work and be paid more for doing it.
None of this suggests there is no money left after Mike Babcock signed his contract, but there you go, for what it's worth. "Thumbs up" to some Leaf news, even if there isn't any.