The Blackhawks trade for Weise and Fleischmann
steve laidlaw
2016-02-26
Fantasy Impact: The Blackhawks acquire Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann from the Canadiens in exchange for Phillip Danault and a second round pick.
The Blackhawks get: More wing depth for a team already pretty loaded at the position after the Andrew Ladd acquisition yesterday.
The Canadiens get: A young power forward who will be under team control far longer than Weise or Fleischmann would have been. The pick they acquired is a 2018 second round pick, which won’t help them for a few years.
Fantasy Players Impacted: Are the Blackhawks attempting to buy all the rental options available so none of their competition can make additions? It sure seems like it. A team that just acquired Ladd and has Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane, Artemi Panarin, Andrew Shaw and Teuvo Teravainen just added two more wingers. Do they even have enough roster slots for these guys?
Weise and Fleischmann are unlikely to see top-six roles in Chicago. Weise will likely be on the third line, while Fleischmann may not even get a regular lineup spot and when he does he’ll be in a depth role. Weise is another option as a net-front presence so it will be interesting to see if he pushes Shaw for the spot on the top power-play unit. It’s unlikely, especially with Ladd around as well but he’s another option. Weise would have similar upside as Shaw if used in that role. Ultimately, both Weise and Fleischmann will see reduce roles from where they were in Montreal. That team may have been slumping but there is less opportunity here.
These additions further drown Teravainen who is a likely fourth liner at this point. They also provide the Blackhawks with the kind of depth necessary to roll their lines so the difference between the third and fourth line is debatable.
The absence of Fleischmann and Weise in Montreal will be filled in by Danault who comes over in this deal. He is a good fit for Montreal’s system with his speed and offers enough jam to replace Weise though he isn’t quite as skilled as a scorer at this point. We may see Weise’s top-six roll grabbed by Sven Andrighetto who plays a different sort of game as a diminutive scorer but has real upside as a fantasy asset. Other candidates include Daniel Carr and Devante Smith-Pely but they should be considered farther out options.
Canadiens fans will be pleased to see Michael McCarron has been called up after seeing a couple of games earlier this season. He could do some things if given the opportunity, though his AHL numbers aren’t outstanding. Read more on McCarron here.
Players this helps, in order:
Michael McCarron
Phillip Danault
Players this hurts, in order:
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Steve Laidlaw is the Managing Editor of DobberHockey. You can follow him @SteveLaidlaw.