DALLAS — Brandon Saad is no stranger to big trades. His moves between Chicago and Columbus in 2015 and 2017 were huge package deals that shook the NHL world.
But they both took place in summertime. If he’s traded before Monday’s 2 p.m. CT trade deadline, it would be his first time in-season.
“You’re a hockey player, so you’re going to play hard for whoever you’re with and take it as it comes,” he said Sunday. “I’ve never dealt with it at the deadline, so that’s always a new experience. But hopefully I’m here in Chicago.”
That last sentence is what all the potential trade-chip Hawks — from Saad to Robin Lehner to Erik Gustafsson and beyond — have publicly stated, and they’re probably not lying.
After all, this is a tough week to be an NHL player.
The turnaround period to adjust to a new team, new coach and new city will be stunningly abrupt for all players traded Monday: although there’s only one game (Ottawa at Columbus) around the league Monday, there are 13 on Tuesday’s docket.
So no matter how slim the odds, every single player on the Hawks’ roster — outside of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith, with their no-trade contract clauses — doesn’t know for sure whether they’ll be playing Tuesday in the Hawks’ game in St. Louis, or somewhere else in North America.
The team was brutally reminded of that reality when Gustafsson was scratched for Friday’s game in Chicago. (He isn’t on the Hawks’ trip and will almost certainly be dealt soon.)
“It was a shock for all of us when Gus was ready to go, on the ice for warmups, then was told to stay off for the game,” said Dylan Strome, who himself has appeared occasionally in recent trade speculation. “[That’s] never happened to me before or to anyone I played with. It was a different thing we just had to put in the back of our mind.”
A better stretch run through February could’ve eased the pressure, could’ve convinced general manager Stan Bowman to acquire complementary pieces to aid a Hawks playoff push — or at least to stand pat, like he did last year.
But instead, the Hawks enter Monday in the midst of their worst month of the season, having dropped eight of 10 following Sunday’s 2-1 loss to the Stars. They’re nowhere near the Western Conference playoff bubble, even in a down year for the conference.
This slump has made the Hawks clear sellers, and although it’s possible Bowman doesn’t hear the right price for some of his movable assets and follows a quieter-than-expected route, it would be strange he doesn’t trade at least two guys currently on the roster.
After all, the suitors are out there, circling.
The Hurricanes want defensive help and, suddenly, desperately need goaltending. The Golden Knights also want defensive help, and the Avalanche also want goaltending.
The Blue Jackets and Islanders need injury replacements and have money to spend. The Penguins and GM Jim Rutherford are always busy. Joel Quenneville’s struggling Panthers need a spark.
The list goes on and on.
The players know that just as well as Bowman does. Gustafsson, in what might be his last Hawks media appearance, admitted earlier this week that avoiding the chatter has become an impossible task — for the TVs even at the practice rink are always on.
So, until 2 p.m., they will all wait.
“That’s part of the business, right?” Saad said Sunday. “I love it here in Chicago, but it is what it is. You wait for tomorrow.”
