Blackhawks acquire Mattias Ekholm

The Chicago Blackhawks have continued there success from the start of the season till now.  The Hawks are surprising the league with there play all year long.  They sit 2nd overall in the league with 72 Points after 53 games played.

"We were hoping we would be a playoff team when I took over the team in the Summer.  But if things were to go South we were prepared to start a full rebuild.  However, I am thrilled to see this team sitting on top of the league right now and figured it was time to make a move to give the squad a better chance for a deep playoff run.  We feel we drafted really good in 2023, picking up some prospects that we think will have a good chance to make the team someday.  With that said, we felt we had some assets to move to help us win now and possibly later.  We went after Mattias Ekholm.   He is signed for 4 more years and will play a top pairing role with Evan Bouchard.   Our team chemistry has been great all year, and I didn't wanna make too many changes.  The forwards and D have been good all year long, but having another Veteran D on the back end, should be a great move for us.   It worked well when we brought in Lindgren"  Says Schurman.

The hawks moved out a 2nd, 3rd, Hutton (cap reasons), prospects Noah Warren and Tyler Kleven for Ekholm and a 5th.

"We felt we had enough Defence Prospects in our system to move these guys out and still have a good top 4 D for our Propsect positions.  Plus we have some young guys on our pro roster right now.  We hope this move will keep the team playing well and help us in the playoffs.  As deadline approaches, We'll see if there are any other moves that we could make to improve the team, but like I said, i'm very happy with chemistry on this team and I may just leave the team the way it is.  Morale is high for the club and thats a good thing"  Claims Schurman.

Some Notable stats:

Jack Campbell continues his great season with a 2.32 G.A.A. and .916 Save Percentage and Back up Schmid had done very well when he's been in net.  

Novak, Hayton and Bouchard were selected to go to the all star game this year.  Great Achievement for all 3 players.

Novak Leads the team with 30 goals and 61 Points.

Chicago PP sits 14th overall at 20%.  PK sits 13th overall at 82%.   Chicago sits 2nd overall for Goal For at 163, and 19th overall for Goals Allowed with 134