NEWSLETTER
So how about that Monday, eh? Kyle from Sudbury got busy filling his roster with veterans and spending money wisely. After a downpour of announcements in the middle of the day, he rallied for one more around dinner time veteran defenseman TJ Brodie coming on board for two years. Brodie and Alec Martinez will give the Blackhawks’ blue line a much more balanced look — and will be much better at blocking shots and killing penalties. General manager Kyle Davidson added 324 blocked shots on Monday with his two veteran additions (the Blackhawks blocked 1,340 as an entire team last year).
The Hawks effectively replaced Jarred Tinordi, Jaycob Megna and Nikita Zaitsev with two good veterans. Brodie averaged over 21 minutes per game last year.
That got my attention, though.
The Blackhawks have already signed Alex Vlasic to an extension this summer. They have Seth Jones for the next half decade. They gave Kevin Korchinski a full season of NHL run as a teenager last year. They have Connor Murphy under contract for a couple more years. And they have Ethan Del Mastro, Wyatt Kaiser and Nolan Allan seemingly knocking at the door… that’s too many bodies for six available spots. And I haven’t mentioned Artyom Levshunov, yet.
Are the Blackhawks working on a trade to add something else to their roster that involves one of their younger defensemen?
Or are there some larger concerns about the future with Murphy after he missed a big portion of this past season because of injury?
Both Brodie and Martinez can play both sides of the blue line. If the Blackhawks wanted to integrate younger defensemen into a situation where they have stable veterans with them, Brodie and Martinez are enormous upgrades from Zaitsev and Tinordi (respectfully, of course). And the fact that they’re both in their mid-30s and play both sides means they’re more comfortable doing it.
Here’s what Richardson said about Martinez when he spoke with the media on Monday (well before the Brodie deal was announced):
He can play either side. I saw him obviously lots in Vegas, we played against him when I was with Montreal in the playoffs. He played with Theodore as a younger guy that likes to go and he settles things down with him. He’s a competitor who blocks shots and does all the integral parts in the game that you have to do to win. I think he’s going to bring that leadership from his Stanley Cup-winning days, both in LA and Vegas, and that’s invaluable as well. It’s that winning mentality and doing whatever it takes to be calm out there. He’s a guy that seems to be calm out there but he moves the puck well, he’s efficient. That’s going to be great for us to have back there, whether he plays on the left with a Seth or on the right with Vlasic or someone like that. He’s going to be really big with that and helping us out on special teams as well.
That comment got my attention when he said it, but now it resonates even more with Brodie coming in as well. Richardson was already floating the idea of potentially splitting up Jones and Vlasic hours before Brodie was on board. Both Brodie (21:43) and Martinez (19:03) averaged top-four minutes this past season and are capable of doing that again. But bringing them both in at this juncture is intriguing.
My gut leans more to the Blackhawks using their depth both at forward and on the blue line to make a deal to strengthen their roster again somehow via trade. We’ll see as the coming days play out.
