The Blackhawks are the best team in the National Hockey League right now, three games before reaching the halfway point in their regular season. They have the numbers to prove it if you care to debate the fact.
But that doesn`t mean Mike Keenan has unplugged his telephone and decided to live or die with his current group. The club`s coach and general manager admitted Thursday he is willing to make a major deal ”for a top player” if he can come to terms with another team.
Don`t consider that a signal he is on the verge of a trade. The point is, he is open to changing personnel, even though the Hawks are riding atop the NHL with 50 points going into Saturday night`s game in St. Louis. And they`re not showing glaring weaknesses at this stage.
When a team is this good, however, it`s only natural to wonder how an additional player or two would make it better. The Stanley Cup looks to be in shouting distance from here, but the right trade could make the possibility something to whisper confidently to your neighbor.
Keenan won`t publicly hand out his Christmas wish list, but sources around the league and on the Hawks claim he has been working to acquire either one of two Sutters who play center: Brent from the New York Islanders or Ron from the Philadelphia Flyers.
If Hartford wants to talk about moving wing Pat Verbeek or the Flyers care to deal winger Rick Tocchet, they should call back Keenan. He doesn`t expect either of those major players to be set loose, although these things have a way of happening in a hurry. Remember Denis Savard, suddenly gone to Montreal on a summer breeze for Chris Chelios?
Take the Buffalo Sabres as an example of a team that looks ripe for the plucking. They are off to an unexpectedly poor start. Coach Rick Dudley is in danger of being fired, and General Manager Gerry Meehan may soon be in the mood to shake up his underachieving club with a deal.
In that case, Keenan would want to know what Meehan wants for a center such as Benoit Hogue. The Sabres` fifth leading scorer with 22 points intrigues him.
Or if Montreal isn`t all that keen on winger Mike Keane, Keenan would be interested in discussing him with Canadians GM Serge Savard. The Hawks pulled a hidden gem out of Montreal last January in winger Jocelyn Lemieux.
Timing is everything in trading players. How other teams view their immediate future determines deals.
For example, Keenan sees that the Isles are 11 points away from a playoff spot in the Patrick Division basement. Already mired in contract hassles with their star scorer, Pat LaFontaine, the Isles might be persuaded by Keenan to take some of his young talent in exchange for Sutter.
Sutter has 14 goals and seven assists this year. He could help the Hawks win faceoffs and, like all Sutters, brings an intensity and emotion to games that would fit easily into the Keenan system.
Ron Sutter played for Keenan in Philadelphia and the two know each other well. Ron has 20 points this season and his defensive mind-set is just what Keenan is looking to add.
Keenan pointed out that if he does make a trade, the type of player he gets is critical.
”He`d have to fit into our work ethic,” Keenan said. ”As long as he`s a character guy with a willingness to learn, we could teach him. It`d have to be somebody who could fit into our top nine forwards and that would mean he`s capable of scoring, like any of our top nine.”
Keenan obviously still is holding his goalie card, but it`s sort of like a joker in the deck. Either of his veterans, Greg Millen or Jacques Cloutier, would appeal only to certain teams, and these may not be the ones where he identifies his ”top player.”
Chemistry is a part of the decision-making that would go into any trade, Keenan said. ”You`d want to make sure you are getting a player acceptable to the other players,” he said. ”Someone willing to work as hard as they do.” Keenan fully supports the performance he has received from his present centers. ”Jeremy Roenick and Troy Murray have had strong years so far and Adam Creighton is doing pretty good as well,” Keenan said. ”And then Jocelyn Lemieux and Mike Hudson have given us enough strength when they`ve played center.
”We felt we had enough center depth when we made the Savard trade. It`s worked out the way we expected.”
But the more centers the merrier. And Keenan is definitely in the market for another one, if he can`t get the big-time wing he wants.
