11. Stan Bowman, asked if the plan is to recall Teuvo Teravainen only when he’s ready to stay for good: “If I was to write a script that’s the way it would go, but sometimes you have to adjust on the fly. It’s not the end of the world if he comes up for two weeks in November.”
12. The Blackhawks try to get contracts done early. Once they got Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews signed, it was about getting under the salary cap (Nick Leddy). Soon, Bowman will begin looking at the next players to deal with, which will be a little tricky until teams have a better idea of the 2015-16 cap number. Two on the list are Marcus Kruger and Brandon Saad, who will be restricted free agents. Kruger is arbitration eligible, Saad not yet.
13. Bowman didn’t come right out and say it, but you get the sense that the development of Chicago’s young defencemen will determine the Blackhawks’ blueline future. Only Duncan Keith, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Brent Seabrook and pleasant surprise Trevor van Riemsdyk are signed beyond this season. Adam Clendening, Klas Dahlbeck, Stephen Johns and Ville Pokka could make the decisions for him.
14. Some execs were surprised at the Leddy deal from the Chicago perspective, because the Blackhawks asked for draft picks from other teams, not players. Bowman said he wanted assets that wouldn’t hurt his cap situation right now, but Pokka (acquired in the trade) makes sense because he is a talented defender and that is where the Blackhawks will have a need. (It’s believed Calgary, Colorado, San Jose and Winnipeg were among those interested in Leddy.)
