The Blackhawks acquired Craig Muni in a Monday trade and will officially suspend him Thursday. Now, that’s a reversal of fortune.
Muni is a 30-year-old defenseman obtained from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for center Mike Hudson to be one of the Hawks’ top four defensemen. Instead, he is balking at coming to Chicago unless the Hawks meet his unexpected financial demands.
Although he had three years after this one remaining on a contract that pays him $425,000 next year, Muni is asking for a renegotiation that would elevate his salary to $600,000 a year next season. He also wants compensation for a van commercial on TV in Edmonton that pays him $75,000 for three years.
His agent is Rich Winter, who has been a burr to Hawks General Manager Bob Pulford in the past.
“He might retire,” Pulford said about Muni. “Anything’s possible. But he’s suspended as of Thursday, so he’s no longer paid.”
Muni couldn’t be reached for comment on the matter Wednesday night. But Winter said: “They told him he’ll be suspended and Craig said he’ll stay in Edmonton. He can stay here and forgo his income the rest of the year.
“It’s not like he’s retiring. He will report next season and go to training camp.”.
How this greedy grab for cash will play with the other players is a question, and one reason Hawks coach Darryl Sutter’s temper was exceedingly short Wednesday.
“We are going to have to be patient and work it out,” Sutter snapped. “I don’t know when he’ll report.”
Muni owns a travel agency and housing development business in Edmonton that he said he couldn’t leave in his wife’s hands.
“I don’t know when I’ll get there,” Muni said. “I don’t even know if I’ll be there by the weekend. I want everything organized. These aren’t things I can just drop and let Wendy do by herself.”
If Muni never shows up, Bryan Marchment and Cam Russell would never care. Defensive partners all year, his arrival is likely to break them up.
This is the first season Russell has avoided a reassignment to the minors and the first season Marchment has reduced the amount of criticism leveled at him since Winnipeg made him the 16th player taken in the 1987 draft.
Sutter doesn’t have a job where he can issue guarantees, but he complimented Marchment and Russell Wednesday for their efforts all year and reiterated he is toying with the idea of switching Muni from his usual right-side position on defense to the left. That could pair Muni with Keith Brown and keep Marchment and Russell together.
But Sutter also is intrigued by the idea of playing Muni alongside Marchment. “Muni likes to come across and make a hit like Marchment,” he noted. “They’d have to put up a yellow light in neutral ice if they were together.”
“The biggest thing Cammie and I bring to the game is a physical presence,” said Marchment. “We try to spark the team with a hit, a fight or a defensive play.”
Marchment has left the fighting to Russell, not wanting to test a shoulder where the joint pops out. Although the Hawks didn’t publicize the fact, Marchment suffered that problem a little more than a month ago.
The Hawks called it a sore shoulder and he missed one game. But it was the same problem that flared up in training camp two years ago and had some people wondering if Marchment wouldn’t need an operation that may put him on the sidelines for months. He didn’t consent to surgery, however, and still won’t.
