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Chicago Blackhawks Should Not Trade Nick Leddy

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By @seansarcu

Nick Leddy Chicago Blackhawks Trade

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Still above the NHL‘s salary-cap ceiling, the Chicago Blackhawks have until Tuesday to trade at least one player to get back in compliance with the cap heading into the season. All signs are pointing to that player being Nick Leddy. Leddy was a healthy scratch for Chicago’s last two preseason games — presumably to keep him from getting injured, which would nix any potential trade — and Joel Quenneville simply said “we’ll see” when queried on Friday as to his expectations of whether or not Leddy would be in Chicago this year.

The Blackhawks are moving the wrong player. Leddy’s improvement has stagnated since his second season in the league, but he still has tantalizing potential. His speed and puck-moving skill are perfect fits for Chicago’s high-tempo puck possession system; he is a lot like Brian Campbell in this respect. Nobody will argue that Leddy is good in his own zone, but one must also remember that he is just 23. When Duncan Keith was 23 in 2006-07, he was a disaster in the defensive zone and plenty of fans wanted him traded. Nowadays, Chicago’s patience with him is viewed as if it was the obvious correct choice all along.

Michal Rozsival, meanwhile, has had a predictably terrible preseason and has been gifting scoring chances to the opposition with regularity. The Blackhawks caught lightning in a bottle with him in 2012-13, but it’s clear at this point that that was Rozsival’s final season with the ability to be a productive mainstay. He can still be effective in spurts and is suited best as a seventh defenseman, a position that does have some value in the league. It’s hard to imagine that no team is willing to offer a late-round pick for the Czech blueliner. With a bit of creative management, Stan Bowman could put together a cap-compliant roster if he got rid of Rozsival.

In what is clearly a go-for-it-all year, it appears that the Blackhawks are nevertheless prepared to give away one of the players who fits their system best. Confidence in your roster is a good trait to have, but Quenneville, Bowman and company are toeing the line on this one.

Sean Sarcu is a Chicago Blackhawks writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter or add him to your network on Google.

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