Blackhawks GM: 'I don't expect us to be a buyer this year'
The Chicago Blackhawks won't be loading up prior to the trade deadline.
With his team sitting last in the Central Division heading into Thursday's game against Dallas, Chicago general manager Stan Bowman shed some light on how he'll be approaching the deadline this time around.
"I don't expect us to be a buyer this year," Bowman said before puck drop on NBC Sports Chicago, per The Athletic's Scott Powers. "It has nothing to do with where we are in the standings. It's just that each season is a little bit different. Your team is different.
"I think the strength of our team is we're trying to build some young players we're going to have. We have a lot of new players this year relative to last year. I think it's hard when you bring in 11, 12 new players every year."
The Blackhawks' challenge over the last several years has been fitting a supporting cast around its core, and it's even more difficult now that Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane carry cap hits of $10.5 million.
Players such as Nick Schmaltz and Alex DeBrincat - 21 and 20 years old, respectively - have taken on bigger roles and sit second and third in team scoring, but the team has certainly been set back by an injury suffered to goaltender Corey Crawford.
As such, Bowman is taking a bigger-picture view in the midst of a down year.
"You look at some of the young guys, we're expecting them to take that next step," he said. "Bringing somebody in to sort of bump them from the lineup probably doesn't make much sense right now. I wouldn't expect us to be in that rental mode, bringing in a veteran player."
Not making the playoffs is not where this team wants to be though, so expect some measure of change.
More Bowman: "I think next year's team is going to look very similar to this year's team, not identical. We're going to have some changes."
- Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) February 9, 2018
Copyright (C) 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.