NHL Trade Rumors: Blackhawks shopping Marcus Kruger
A few months after giving Marcus Kruger an extension, the Chicago Blackhawks are reportedly shopping the young center.
The Chicago Blackhawks will once again have some tough decisions to make this offseason as they hope to get under the 2016-17 salary cap ceiling of $73 million while upgrading their team. Needing to re-sign Andrew Shaw and hoping to sign someone like Brian Campbell to help their blue line, the Blackhawks might have to trade somebody to clear cap space. According to Pierre LeBrun, that somebody could be center Marcus Kruger.
Hearing Marcus Kruger's name out there. Blackhawks still need to move space of course...
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) June 23, 2016
Kruger was signed to an extension earlier this year with a cap hit of just over $3.083 million per season through the 2018-19 NHL season. While Kruger is a valuable asset to the Blackhawks because of his ability to handle tough competition and tons of defensive zone starts, they also need to upgrade their team. Kruger could be a casualty since he has a hefty price tag for a third or fourth line center. It is believed the Blackhawks would be forced to retain some salary should they move Kruger.
In any Marcus Kruger trade talks, teams will likely ask #Blackhawks to retain some of center's salary.
— Chris Kuc (@ChrisKuc) June 23, 2016
An injury riddled 2015-16 season certainly doesn’t help Kruger’s chances of staying in Chicago. In 41 games for the Blackhawks, Kruger only had four assists and was unable to replicate the success he had during the 2014-15 season, when he had 17 points in 81 games. He added one assist in the Blackhawks’ first round loss to the St. Louis Blues. Kruger also struggled at face-offs as he only won 49.2 percent of his face-offs during the 2015-16 regular season, down from 53.3 percent during the 2014-15 regular season.
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