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With Kane hurt, Blackhawks need to add

With Patrick Kane out six to 10 weeks, GM Stan Bowman may have to add before Monday's deadline. Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

It was one fluke moment that could change the top of the playoff race in the Western Conference. Florida’s Alex Petrovic was called for a crosscheck on the hit that sent Patrick Kane into the boards, and Chicago Blackhawks fans into full panic mode, although replays suggest it wasn’t as egregious as that.

Regardless, it’s a hit that Blackhawks fans won’t forget for a while.

Chicago reporters have become experts at reading the tea leaves when it comes to interpreting Joel Quenneville’s postgame comments, so when Quenneville was already ready to concede that Kane would miss “some time,” as reported by ESPN Chicago’s Scott Powers and others, it doesn’t bode well for hopes that he will return to the ice quickly.

As of Wednesday morning, the report from Powers is that Kane will miss six to 10 weeks, and it certainly changes the landscape of the trade deadline for GM Stan Bowman.

First and foremost, it creates a hole in the lineup that is irreplaceable. There is no Patrick Kane on the rental market.

Bowman has a reputation of being more of a guy who tinkers at the deadline than a guy who makes wholesale changes. When we chatted recently about that strategy, he raised a good point: He has the luxury of doing that because his team already has star players.

“The fact that we haven’t made a big splash is more that we’ve been able to do the system right. We’ve been able to draft players and develop them,” Bowman said a couple weeks ago. “We haven’t made a lot of big acquisitions because we have a lot of good players. It’s about winning. It’s not about the most acquisitions or the biggest trade splash. We try to keep our main guys, the engines that drive our team. We try to keep the pistons and keep those guys happy.”

Losing one of those pistons may change that approach.

Colleague Pierre LeBrun reported that the Blackhawks' uneven play lately has already ramped up Bowman’s potential aggressiveness at the deadline, mentioning Chicago in a group of pursuers for Carolina defenseman Andrej Sekera.

Until Kane went crashing into the boards, defense was the priority at the deadline, and perhaps it should still be -- especially if the talented Teuvo Teravainen is ready to contribute offensively. The Blackhawks haven’t quite gotten over the loss of Nick Leddy (traded to the Islanders before the season), and Johnny Oduya has been surprisingly pedestrian this season after years of solid service in Chicago.

Defense remains an issue in Chicago.

Now, if Kane is out a significant amount of time, the Blackhawks will need help up front too.

The silver lining, if you can even call it that when you lose a potential Hart Trophy winner, is that the cap-strapped Blackhawks would have real financial flexibility if they placed Kane on long-term injured reserve. [Editor's note: As of Wednesday afternoon, the Blackhawks have done just that]. Kane’s big contract doesn’t kick in until next season, but his salary-cap charge this season is still a healthy $6.3 million. If he’s out for the remainder of the regular season, the Blackhawks have that additional room. Teams can exceed the salary cap in the playoffs, so if Bowman uses that space at the deadline and Kane returns in the postseason, they’re in the clear.

Chicago Tribune beat writer Chris Kuc was the first to mention Curtis Glencross as a possibility, and an NHL source confirmed Tuesday that the Flames are taking calls on him with the belief that they will move him for the right price despite battling for a playoff spot.

Calgary is still building up its core group of young players, and if moving Glencross in the short term helps achieve that long-range vision, GM Brad Treliving has to do it.

But it also must be for a return that he can defend to a group of Calgary players and coaches fighting for a playoff spot. Simply put, Glencross won’t be a cheap addition.

He also has a no-trade clause, and the Flames have the list of teams for which he’s willing to play. He’s already generating interest among those teams.

“He’s an up-and-down guy. A great net-front presence,” said one NHL coach of what Glencross brings to the table. “He plays a physical game. He’s a big body and a good skater. He moves.”

Playing a majority of his career in Calgary means that Glencross doesn’t have much playoff experience -- just six games, and zero goals.

The additional cap space would also give the Blackhawks the ability to pursue a power forward like Chris Stewart, who has been available since the moment the Sabres acquired him at the trade deadline last year.

There has been heavy speculation into what the asking price for Stewart is, with Sabres GM Tim Murray being accused of price gouging among his fellow general managers.

Some have put the asking price at a draft pick and a prospect, but according to an NHL source, the most serious negotiation in a potential Stewart deal involved just a B-plus prospect going back to Buffalo.

Thanks to Bowman’s reluctance to give up draft picks at the deadline in the past, along with deft scouting by Mark Kelley, the Blackhawks have no shortage of prospects they could ship to Buffalo to land Stewart.

The book on Stewart among some executives around the league is that he’s not necessarily a guy you want on your team locked in to a long-term contract. But if you’re looking for forward help for a couple months, he’s a strong option.

Like Glencross, his playoff record is spotty at best. Stewart was held without a goal in his last trip to the playoffs (2013, with the Blues) and has five goals in 19 playoffs games. If he’s traded to the Blackhawks, it would immediately be the most talented team for which he’s played, so his production should be expected to jump.

Jaromir Jagr is another rental option who provides offense, and it would be fascinating to see him in a Blackhawks sweater. His production has understandably dropped this season, but he’s still a guy from whom it is tough to get the puck once he starts working in the offensive zone.

When he’s on the ice at even strength, the Devils control 53.8 percent of the shot attempts, which is highest on the team.

When I asked one general manager this week if there was a player available who had the potential to make a Marian Gaborik-like impact this spring as a rental, he thought for a moment and landed on the veteran forward.

“I guess you could put Jagr in that category,” he said.

Arizona’s Antoine Vermette is an option if Bowman is prepared to pay the price (and they like him, per LeBrun). Toronto’s Daniel Winnik is another if Bowman wants to go cheap.

The Blackhawks' salary-cap issues beyond this season mean they have to look hard at the rental market unless they are sending salary back in a deal. If Buffalo and Calgary end up being potential trading partners, both have loads of cap room and have shown a willingness to take on contracts in return for more assets. So far, they have found no takers, and that might be an option for the summer when teams have a better idea of what the cap will look like.

But if Kane’s injury is significant and he is placed on LTIR, Bowman has something he rarely has this time of year -- a major need and the cap space to fill it.