The Chicago Blackhawks have a serious issue on their blue line, when Michal Rozsival is slated preseason to be one of the top 6 defenseman or a rookie in Jan Rutta.
This is a team with Stanley Cup aspirations, but with that kind of defense while missing Niklas Hjalmarsson, is a team that will have to outscore their opponents on a nightly basis which isn’t a lock anymore without Artemi Panarin on Patrick Kane‘s wing.
All of this makes the news that the Hawks aren’t trying to sign Will Butcher a bit strange, unless they had already scouted him a lot and thought he had Drew LeBlanc kind of talent while being a former Hobey Baker Award winner.