Report Reveals Blackhawks Could Fix Stan Bowman's Mistake And Re-Acquire Former Goal Scoring Forward From Utah
According to John Bloomer of Blackhawk Up, the Blackhawks organization should make a trade with the Utah hockey club to reacquire former Blackhawks forward Nick Schmaltz to find offense.
The team has been mired in an offensive drought for the past several weeks including future budding superstar Connor Bedard who has yet to score a goal in 11 games.
Several factors are leading to this drought including troubling line decisions that have been made by head coach Luke Richardson who is trying everything he can to help the beleaguered offense.
But it's painfully clear that the Blackhawks are lacking a number 2 centerman who would help anchor the top 6 and their power play.
The Blackhawks have tried everything to find a player on the roster including Nick Foligno, Jason Dickinson, Ryan Donato and Philip Kurashev but nothing has worked thus far.
Several trade rumors have been swirling around the Blackhawks over the past couple of weeks including Philadelphia Flyers center Morgan Frost who seems to need a change of scenery after he has fallen out of favor again with head coach John Tortorella.
This brings us to Schmaltz where bloomer feels at 28 years old and a former Blackhawks forward, he will become an unrestricted free agent following next season and currently makes $5.85 million against the salary cap which the Blackhawks have sufficient money to cover the deal.
He too is looking for a change of scenery as he hasn't scored any goals this year and is on a Utah hockey club that is still trying to find its legs in its new home at the Delta Center.
Over the years, Schmaltz has been an active and productive forward who would gain significant ice time with the Blackhawks and potentially become the player he was before.
But it's safe to say that if Davidson could find a way to make a deal to bring Schmaltz back to the Blackhawks, it would give Richardson an option at second line center, and he could place his players back to where they belong.
Time will tell on what will happen next with the Blackhawks.
