As first reported by, well, himself, via twitter, the Hawks have signed Brandon Segal to a one year deal, whose terms were not disclosed. The signing was later confirmed by other Hawks media outlets. One would have to imagine that the NHL level salary and cap hit would be at or just a hair above the minimum; the only mystery is whether or not it’s a one-way or two-way deal.
In yet another “can’t hurt, could help” move, GM Stan Bowman has added more rugged depth to his forward corps, which ran out of NHL roster spots a long time ago. While it appears that Jamal Mayers and Dan Carcillo are penciled in as forwards 12 and 13, Segal shouldn’t be ruled out for making the roster outright breaking camp. Though Mayers does possess Bowman’s beloved versatility with his ability to take the occasional draw and kill penalties, Segal does have quite a few less miles on him, and is willing to play a physical game and initiate contact, something the Hawks lack, at least on paper And even if Segal is at The Rock, he’ll provide some NHL experience and size that that team is sorely lacking at the moment.
The Fifth Feather seems to be of the opinion that Ben Smith‘s seat just got a little warmer, which would certainly fly in the face of all of the ridiculous prognostications (*cough* Jesse *cough*) that Smith is not to be ruled out as the second line center. While I personally disagree with that notion, even though I don’t think Smith is top 6 material in the least, he’s already shown to be a favorite of Coach Q, which would lead one to believe that he’d have to completely fill his diaper to not be at the adult table on October 7th. But, as is their M.O., the Feather astutely observes that the signing almost assures that we’ll never, ever, ever, ever have to endure John Scott skating at forward again, and that can only be a good thing.