The Chicago Blackhawks‘ roster isn’t without flaws, but general manager Stan Bowman doesn’t plan on addressing any of them via trade. “I would never rule things out, but I don’t know if we’re going to be a really active player,” Bowman told ESPN’s Scott Powers Wednesday of the team’s position entering the trade deadline.
Bowman pointed out that given the Blackhawks’ current salary cap structure, adding any kind of significant talent would likely require shipping out players to match salary. ” So if you’re going to be adding players, unless you’re trading players away, I’m not sure we’re in that spot,” Bowman said.
He also said the team doesn’t have any unsavory contracts it’s trying to get rid of. That sounds like good news for Michal Rozsival’s chances of sticking around all season, and also makes it harder to picture the team freeing up enough cap space to make a major move.
“Sometimes you have a guy or two who is underperforming or whose contract you’re trying to get rid of, but we don’t really have anyone like that,” Bowman told Powers. “We like our guys. They’re all contributing. Certainly they have slumps and they play well and struggle at times but, in general, it’s not like we have to get rid of this guy. If you were to trade one of those, you create one hole to fill another.”
Bowman will surely field calls and consider some possibilities over the next few weeks, but this is an indication of the team’s conservative strategy entering the second half of the season. With the best goal differential in the NHL thus far, it’s not hard to see why Bowman would rather not stir things up too much.