And so we arrive at the article I never thought I would write, that I would have to write, an article that I don’t want to write. If you’re not a fan of Andrew Shaw, of Joel Quenneville, if you’re a fan of Stan Bowman, turn back now. There’s other articles in which I feel less passionate, less angry, simply less emotional. This is the article that will most pain me in my short experience writing, that shows who I am as a writer, where I stand in terms of hockey, and what it means to cover a sport I feel passionate about.

Before I continue, I would just like to say that I’m glad I’m becoming more of a national writer. There will be a lot more Montreal articles now.

I would also like to acknowledge that I was right about Kruger. Had I known that being right about that would cost the team Shaw, I would happily be wrong.

So we come to the point of the Shaw trade. Andrew Shaw is gone, in his wake the team has taken a puck moving defenseman, and an undersized scoring forward. We’ll get to this.

Andrew Shaw has been one of the better players on the Chicago Blackhawks roster over the past three years. A perennial 30+ point player, a fixture on the power play, and he appeared to be Toews’ best friend on the team, the guy that could get Captain Serious to crack a smile, and for all this, and more he will be missed.

Shaw’s camp and Bowman were just too far away on salary. Had Shaw started out at something like 3.75, an actual hometown discount, instead of 4.5, we may be dealing with a different story right now. Maybe he’s already re-signed. He and Bowman have both said they were close.

Shaw will join a Montreal team that could use his help, as they are in need of depth offensively and what Shaw provides on the power play. Having a screen, an unmovable rock in front of the netminder, will help the Habs, who desperately lacked scoring last year.

Turning our attention back to the Blackhawks, to me, this is a member of the Justice League of the Blackhawks – Toews, Hossa, Kane, Keith, Seabrook, Crawford, and Shaw. Toews is the uber serious Batman, the guy who scores because he’s Toews. Kane is Superman – no, not the gloomy one of recent, the one with a sense of humor a la Reeves. Keith is Cyborg, not fully human. Seabrook is Green Lantern – no, not the bad one (again) – a guy who gets things done through sheer will power. Hossa is the intellectual leader, the guy on page with everyone – the criminally underrated Martian Manhunter. Crawford is Aquaman, another underrated guy, who you think does nothing but then you watch him in action and you’re like “holy shit, that’s Aquaman? I thought he only talked to fish/fell at Rise Against concerts”. Shaw was Flash. The one with the personality, the one that glues the team together, the one everyone sees and hears and laughs, the one who’s got one singular power but that power is so useful, the one radiating energy. Chicago has lost it’s Flash, and it feels like Bowman has become the Joker, mad on power, just wanting to see the world in chaos, who killed Flash and made him into a Black Lantern where he will come back and bite the Justice League in the ass. And yes, Montreal is the Black Lanterns. Sorry, nerd-out over. (And for those wondering, Hjammer is Green Arrow, doing the background work, Panarin is Booster Gold, the erratic new guy, and Q is Commissioner Gordon).

So Bowman’s mad on power – or, from a less passionate part of me, thinking business wise and knows he needs a fourth defenseman and players besides Shaw and Kruger on the bottom 6 – but also, come on dude, where’s our depth? (We’ll return to this).

First, the return for Shaw. Two second round picks, and when the Blackhawks first drafted Shaw (notably at the prompting of the guy who just traded for Shaw, Marc Bergevin – I love that connection), I don’t think anybody besides Bergevin saw this return coming. Shaw was a guy twice skipped over, who had just become 20, undersized, who took dumb penalties, and he rose and became the player he is today, still undersized, still taking some dumb penalties, but significantly more valuable than a sixth round pick ought to be.

These two seconds – Pick 39 Alexander Debrincat and Pick 45 Chad Krys, are two undersized guys, guys who may not fit with the Blackhawks system. Debrincat is a guy modeled after Johnny Gaudreau – the fast, skilled, small forward, talented in every way but height, who has played with both Dylan Strome and Connor McDavid. Looking at a highlight reel, this does not inflate his numbers too much. He looks to be a complement to Toews offensively, something Toews very much needs after last season, but as an undersized guy, he will have to prove himself work ethic wise to Q, who just lost his jack knife, someone he said was irreplaceable. I believe Bowman is deliberately not playing into Q’s strengths, but we’ll come to that later. The other, Krys, is a Trevor Daley type, and we all know how that turned out. A smaller offensive defenseman, he is reminiscent of Erik Gustaffson as well, but maybe he’ll get an opportunity to develop in his own zone a little more.

Second, depth without Shaw. Besides Kruger and Desjardins, they are surrounded by a bunch of kids, including Rasmussen, Schmaltz, Motte, and Hartman, and that’s if Panik is on the first line – a bad move production wise, as I can’t see him doing much better than Shaw, especially not goal wise. The comparison of Panik to what Bryan Bickell should have been has always attracted me, but he’s still a Bryan Bickell type, and that isn’t a productive goal scorer necessary now in this league.

Bowman is relying upon three kids – discounting Rasmussen, we have seen what he can do and he is a fine depth center – who have never played a long time in the pros, two of whom have yet to meet players on the team, three guys beaten out by the likes of Brandon Mashinter. Bowman has yet to put forward why he thinks we should believe in this team, and besides the skill level these players seem to have, I have seen nothing presented that makes me, a natural optimist, inclined to follow my instincts. Besides, not a small part of me wants to see Hartman fail miserably, and to see Bowman recognize this trade as a mistake. In other words, Bowman is putting full faith in Motte and Schmaltz to be amazing players, and they haven’t touched professional ice. In Rocky I Trust, but he better realize this is a high risk/high reward situation, and if it’s all risk, it should cost Bowman his job. Instead of fighting for a proven thing, a dynamic spark plug, a great locker room guy, Bowman is betting what should be his career on these three. If we were going to trade Shaw, we should have kept Teuvo.

In simpler words, just when it was proven offensive depth wins championships, Stan Bowman is un-investing. Another stat I like – no player Bowman has drafted remains on the team. Oh, if you haven’t figured it out yet, I will be calling out Bowman throughout the entire article, after this move, he certainly deserves it.

And finally, why I believe Bowman is not playing into Q’s strengths – because he’s not giving him what Q needs. Q needs the Shaw type player – the willing soldier who can play anywhere and fulfill that role, who will bring consistent and constant energy into the lineup, who Q called irreplaceable. Bowman is trying to replace that player, and it may be a failed experiment. Q thrives off the type of play Shaw provides, and now it is only Hartman who could potentially provide that play. The power play will certainly suffer. And I see ulterior motives in the eyes of Bowman. There has always existed a rift between him and Q, and while they’ve won three cups together, I believe this will re-open or widen that rift, and there’s a small chance Bowman wants that.

In hindsight, I saw this trade coming when other fans started gossiping about Hartman being a cheap replacement for Shaw. Whenever it is felt someone has become expendable, that person usually leaves. I saw it coming when Shaw wasn’t signed before Rasmussen, before Schmaltz, before Panik. I saw hope when Teuvo was instead traded with Bickell, and when Bickell’s contract was moved, but that was proven false.

We better bring in a good fourth defenseman. And to Shaw – this isn’t good bye, this is good luck. Have some fun with Gallagher. Hopefully we’ll see you in red and black again once the cap rises significantly.