{"id":26058,"date":"2016-02-29T09:00:39","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T17:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/blackhawks-load-up-for-run-at-2nd-straight-cup\/"},"modified":"2016-02-29T09:00:39","modified_gmt":"2016-02-29T17:00:39","slug":"blackhawks-load-up-for-run-at-2nd-straight-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/blackhawks-load-up-for-run-at-2nd-straight-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackhawks load up for run at 2nd straight Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO \u2014 <\/strong>The Blackhawks are going all in to win their second straight Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n

Following three trades in the last two days that brought four veteran players to Chicago, the Blackhawks seem as deep and experienced as ever as they try to capture their fourth championship in seven years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI slept a little better last night,\u201d general manager Stan Bowman said Saturday morning before his team practiced. \u201cI really like the way this team looks right now. I\u2019m excited to get on the ice and play.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday night, the Blackhawks acquired forwards Tomas Fleischmann and Dale Weise from the Montreal Canadiens for forward Phillip Danault and a second-round pick in the 2018 draft.<\/p>\n

That move will give Chicago added depth at forward below its top two lines, a pair of trios featuring marquee stars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, plus rookie sensation Artemi Panarin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the prime motivation,\u201d Bowman said of the deal with the slumping Canadiens.<\/p>\n

The trade followed the swap of veteran defensemen earlier in the day, with the Blackhawks acquiring Christian Ehrhoff from Los Angeles and sending Rob Scuderi to the Kings.<\/p>\n

On Thursday night, the Blackhawks acquired Winnipeg winger and captain Andrew Ladd, a member of Chicago\u2019s 2010 championship team, in a trade that shipped top prospect Marko Dano and two draft picks to the Jets.<\/p>\n

Ladd, Fleischmann and Weise add size and grit to Chicago\u2019s high-skilled lineup as the Blackhawks gear up for the regular-season stretch \u2014 and what they hope will be another deep postseason run.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we got bigger,\u201d coach Joel Quenneville said. \u201cI think we got a little more sandpaper in that regard.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing to the net is something we haven\u2019t been that effective at this year, and there\u2019s nothing wrong with net-front presence and having that ability.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s something the 6-foot-3, 30-year-old Ladd looks forward to contributing in his encore with Chicago. Quenneville didn\u2019t announce line combinations, but Ladd could skate with Toews when the Blackhawks, third in the NHL with 81 points, host league-leading Washington on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Toews) is one of the best two-way players in the world, so I\u2019m sure it will make my job a lot easier,\u201d Ladd said. \u201cI play a pretty simple game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll try to get in hard on the forecheck and get the back and play a strong two-way game. Let the offense come when those opportunities happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old Fleischmann isn\u2019t sure if he\u2019ll play left or right wing, but he hopes he can add a dash of scoring, while noting that Quenneville expects defensive responsibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m an offensive player, kind of learned how to play defense a lot lately, so I just focus on my energy and making sure I do the right thing on the ice,\u201d Fleischmann said.<\/p>\n

At least three of the four new players are expected to be available on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Bowman said Weise was facing immigration issues that might delay his arrival. Although Ehrhoff practiced with the Blackhawks on Saturday, Quenneville wasn\u2019t sure if the defenseman would be in Sunday\u2019s lineup.<\/p>\n

Bowman has been the NHL\u2019s busiest GM ahead of Monday\u2019s trade deadline.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just trying to do what we can to help our team win,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes the moves are there to help your team and I think this year we clearly had some pieces we thought would give us a better chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new Blackhawks are happy about joining a top contender.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime you\u2019re in the position that we were in there (in Winnipeg) and we were in the bottom of the standings, it\u2019s tough to stay at the pace that you need to stay at,\u201d Ladd said. \u201cJust coming here gives you a boost, a kick of energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blackhawks also figure to get a boost by the return of Marian Hossa, who has been out since Feb. 13 with a leg injury. Quennevillle expects the 37-year-old forward to resume skating this week but didn\u2019t specify when Hossa might return to the lineup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO \u2014 The Blackhawks are going all in to win their second straight Stanley Cup. Following three trades in the last two days that brought four veteran players to Chicago, the Blackhawks seem as deep and experienced as ever as they try to capture their fourth championship in seven years. \u201cI slept a little better […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-26058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26058\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26058"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=26058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}