Blackhawks goalie Anton Forsberg was stretching in a hallway a short distance from the Blackhawks dressing room less than an hour before Wednesday night’s game against the Wild when he saw, literally, news that Richard Panik had been traded to the Coyotes.
“Did you see this?” Forsberg asked a teammate as a picture of Panik stared back at him from a television hanging from the wall at the United Center. “Holy crap.”
Panik also was listed as a healthy scratch on the official lineup sheet before the Hawks 2-1 loss to the Wild.
Word of the trade might not have traveled fast inside the United Center, but the message the team sent in shipping Panik and Laurent Dauphin to the desert for forward Anthony Duclair, 24, and defenseman Adam Clendening, 25, was clear: The Hawks are on a youth and speed movement.
Fighting to make the playoffs for the 10th straight season, the Hawks have 13 players on their roster 25 or younger, compared with four at this time last year. They began the day in the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference by virtue of an 8-2 victory over the Senators on Tuesday.
“That element of speed and youth was something that was really important to us,” Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman said. “(Duclair) is the sort of player that embodies what the NHL is about now in terms of his speed and ability to put the puck in the net.”
The Hawks cleared $1.8 million in cap space in moving Panik, who is in the first year of a two-year, $5.6 million contract. According to capfriendly.com, the Hawks now have a touch above $2.8 million of cap room remaining that could be used to acquire some more players.
Duclair, who signed a one-year, $1.2 million deal before this season, had his best season in 2015-16, posting career highs in goals (20), assists (24) and points (44) in 81 games. Last season he played in only 58 games and scored five goals with 10 assists. This season he has nine goals and six assists in 33 games.
“We’ll be patient with him,” Bowman said. “But that element of speed and youth is something that was really important to us.”
Panik had three goals and two assists in the first three games of the season but had gone more than 2½ months without a score until he had one Tuesday against the Senators.
Bowman called the cap space the trade created “a nice added bonus” but said it “wasn’t really the motivation for the trade.”
“The way the game is today, I don’t think you can look backward at what was with a contract,” Bowman said. “You have to look at where you’re at and if you can make your team better. You can’t be stuck on things.”
Panik told the Tribune before Tuesday’s victory that he was concentrating on the mental part of his game and he was confident he could return to the player he had shown he could be last season, when he had 22 goals and 22 assists.
“I know I can play at this level,” he said. “I know I can play on top lines. But now it’s just more confidence, just kind of bringing it back during practices.
“I don’t try to think about it too much.”
The recent promotion of the speedy Vinnie Hinostroza to the top line has produced results. Jordan Oesterle has meshed well with Duncan Keith on the top defensive pairing. David Kampf has proved himself worthy of playing time.
The Blackhawks also placed veteran defenseman Cody Franson on waivers Monday, then assigned him to Rockford on Tuesday after he cleared. They sat veteran defenseman Brent Seabrook for the first time in his career Tuesday but returned him to the lineup Wednesday.
Bowman said he doesn’t anticipate making any more major moves before the trade deadline, saying the rash of recent moves need to be given time to settle.
Clendening, who was picked by the Blackhawks in the second round of the 2014 draft and had a goal and an assist in four games with them in 2014-15, will report to Rockford. He appeared in only five games for the Coyotes this season.
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