RE the Blackhawks and tanking: They sucked this year. They are facing the impending UFA status of Kane &Toews.They traded their one remaining star in DeBrincat to avoid paying a lot of money during a period when they were going to continue to suck with or without him.
Is this tanking or just facing up to the dismal situation they find themselves in? I vote the latter.
I think it might be sort of like tanking - they know they're going to be bad and they rushed the DeBrincat deal to get an early start on it. It might even persuade Kane and Toews to accommodate a deal - that might be the purpose of moving DeBrincat early. I think they could have moved him next year for just as much and spared themselves a super-terrible season, but they probably don't want to spare themselves that with the 2023 draft approaching.
If they were trading off Kane and Toews I would agree
However they just traded away at 24 year old star who wanted to stay through the rebuild. And didn’t qualify other 26 or younger players for the sake of it. They’re not trying to find their core, and they’re not making room for young players to fill in for the older ones.
As mentioned they have almost no young talent anymore and their prospect pool consists of this years class who they just picked, and only those kids.
Yeah, they’re tanking hard. Don’t be surprised if they try to move Jones too with massive retention
I think they are trying to trade Kane and Toews, but as Friedman says they're hoping the vets go to them to accommodate the deal.
They didn't qualify Kubalik and Strome largely because they're bad players. Those players weren't helping them win. I don't think that has any relevance on tanking v not tanking. The Debrincat trade does, but not them. Same with the Dach trade, he has been abysmal for the Hawks so it isn't even moving a win now asset for a future, it's just preferring the long term bet on Nazar (which I agree with).
Their prospect pool is now Nazar, Korchinski, Rinzel + Lukas Reichel, and I think that is an important plus. He seems to be the one prospect they've developed the right way.