from Tim Baffoe of CBS Chicago,

Little wiggle room exists for Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman, for sure. But, immediacy considered, so what? Panarin is more valuable than the potential losses of a Marcus Kruger or Brent Seabrook (shut up with that Crawford trade noise — the Hawks are a contender because of the always-a-goal-away-from-Jay-Cutler-fan-treatment goalie, and Bowman knows what Scott Darling isn’t). And we’ve seen this movie from Bowman before. His entire Blackhawks existence has been shipping off popular players to the vocal chagrin of the Griswold sweater base between the lesser accomplishments of winning Stanley Cups and being a contender every damn year while somehow giving away your latest crush. (Note: Mine is Artemi Panarin.)

Yeah, that means losing young studs like Brandon Saad and Teuvo Teravainen or comfortable veterans like Patrick Sharp and Johnny Oduya, but — say it with me — the Blackhawks are still good. Without those guys.

And the Blackhawks will be good next season, salary cap Jenga looking however it will then and costing them a solid player from the current roster. Plus, the Las Vegas expansion team will probably nab someone like a Trevor van Riemsdyk. You can’t fight City Hall when it comes to NHL finances, so why bother worrying when you have a fully functional contender anyway?

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