Ilya Kovalchuck has been traded to the Devils and I couldn’t be happier.  As the weeks went on in the “Rent-a-Superstar Sweepstakes” I leaned more and more toward not wanting the Hawks to pull the trigger on this deal.  They didn’t, preserved their team depth and enabled them to make a later deal if injury became an issue.

Although the dressing room was sparsely populated after an optional morning skate Friday, the two Hawks I talked to (Patrick Kane and Kris Versteeg) were glad the Hawks stood pat.  For Kane, it was the idea of keeping the depth on the team and being less of a one- or two-line show.  For Versteeg, he seemed a bit relieved that all this talk of trading young, contracted players (much like himself) appears to be over for now.

One thing I did want to get to.  “Matt” had posted on an earlier blog asking who the odd man out would be once Dave Bolland and Adam Burish got back.  While only Bolland is back playing it looks like Q is going to rotate guys in and out of the lineup.  I think that rotation is probably two, maybe three men deep.  Colin Fraser, Tomas Kopecky and Jordan Hendry are my guesses but with so man D-Men taking the morning off today, I have a hard time believing Q is dealing with a 100% healthy blue line.  That means Hendry’s less likely to be scratched.

As for whether Adam Burish fits onto that fourth line?  If healthy, absolutely.  The guy has solid speed for a fourth-line guy and a gritty mentality.  Not to mention he’s got much better hands than Tomas Kopecky has shown this year.  Plus, I saw Burish taking some face-offs with the centers today at the morning skate as well so maybe Q wants to give himself multiple options with Burish.

A few notes from the skate today: Only four defencemen were on the ice today:  Brian Campbell, Cam Barker, Brent Seabrook and Jordan Hendry.  The rest took the morning off.

Antti Niemi will be in the backup role tonight for Cristobal Huet after dealing with illness the past two days.

Colin Fraser will skate tonight after being a healthy scratch Wednesday night.  Coach Q didn’t say who will sit tonight but my money is on Tomas Kopecky.