Frozen Fantasy: Blackhawks Go All In

Andrew Ladd. Christian Ehrhoff. Who's next, Dale Weise? Yep. My Blackhawks are playing like they're pushing all their chips to the middle of the table and making their run.

All hail, Stan Bowman. Fantasy manager extraordinaire.

Listen to sports talk radio or podcasts everywhere and you'll hear hosts criticize callers for suggesting fantasy-style trades for their on-ice team.

Criticize no more. Stan Bowman is loading his team like a fantasy roster. Can anyone in the West keep up?

Better yet, will fantasy-style trades become commonplace in the NHL?

Sure, NHL teams aren't built like your typical fantasy squads. But I ask you to find a squad deeper than Chicago. Bowman is going for broke, just like keeper owners.

Andrew Ladd – Jonathan Toews – Marian Hossa (when healthy).

Artemi Panarin – Artem Anisimov – Patrick Kane.

Andrew Shaw – Teuvo Teravainen – Dale Weise (who might fill Hossa's boots for a while).

Marko Dano is a fine player. But he's a former first-rounder who's in his third system by age 21. Gulp. And Philip Danault? Strong leader, but he's not expected to produce points in the NHL.

So, what lessons are to be learned from Stan the man Bowman? Seems pretty simple.

Invest in an elite core. Toews. Kane. Duncan Keith. Brent Seabrook.

Surround them with great veteran investments. Hossa. Corey Crawford. Trade for some more. Ladd. Ehrhoff. Weise. Build assets through offseason trades. Anisimov. Dano. Draft and nurture. Teravainen. Shaw. Leverage assets and picks to make a run.

You get the point. Stan's tricks are smart fantasy tricks. I wonder who'll be the next NHL general manager to do the same?

Doug Armstrong of the Blues? Jim Nill of the Stars? Dale Tallon of the Floridian kitties?

Maybe there will actually be some real fun this weekend and/or Monday.

Now let's look at who caught my eye this week.

Joel Armia, RW, Winnipeg (0 percent Yahoo! owned) - I've never been a fan of Armia. Nothing against the guy -- I just don't have a lot of time for slow-growing power forwards in fantasy. But Armia's three-point performance Thursday night was a show of skill and brute strength. It was an impressive show. The guy only has eight points (four goals, four assists) in 29 games this season, but five have come in the last four games, including that three-pointer. Armia has great hands and excellent size, and he should get a boost playing alongside the buzz saw that is Marko Dano. Give him a sniff.

Matt Beleskey, LW, Boston (17 percent) - Holy shite, Batman -- who is this masked man? Beleskey flat-out exploded this week with three, two-point games, making this his best stretch as a Bruin ... and perhaps of his career. His two goals Friday night tied his career point mark (32), and he's on pace to come close to 45 this season. Add in 196 hits -- top-10 in the NHL -- solid PIMs and some power-play production, and you have a much (MUCH) cheaper Milan Lucic. Yep, sometimes the store brand really is just as good as the brand name. Just wait until Beleskey gets extra power-play time when the Bruins jettison Loui Eriksson.

Reid Boucher, LW, New Jersey (0 percent) - Boucher still feels like a Quad-A player to me -- productive in the minors, but just can't show up with consistency in the NHL. His shot is sharp, but he's been slow to take the next step because his skating is barely passable. Still, he knows what to do with the puck when it's on his stick and he has five points (two goals, three assists) in his last six games. The Devils have a lot of left-wingers on the shelf, so it's Boucher's chance to shine. He could be worth the roll of the dice.

Kevin Connauton, D, Arizona (2 percent) - Connauton has never had problems with offense, but a man cannot live on offense alone, despite the wishes of fantasy owners. He recently put up six points in a six-game span and that was enough for me to drop him onto my roster. I can always dump his sorry arse in a week or so.

Derek Dorsett, RW, Vancouver (4 percent) - I'm neither drunk nor stoned -- I think Dorsett has some sneaky value DESPITE a 23-game goal slump. He has a helper in each of his last two heading into Saturday, but the real value lies in his snarl. Dorsett has 24 PIMs in his last four games.

Curtis McElhinney, G, Columbus (1 percent) - McElhinney recently came back after missing 17 games with an ankle injury. He's nothing special, but Bob the Goalie still has a cramped groin. And 21-year-old rookie goalie Joonas Korpisalo will be hard-pressed to continue the magic. After all, this is just his first year on North American ice. A platoon could soon be the offing.

Joe Morrow, D, Boston (0 percent) - Morrow's work on the power play in junior made him a first-round pick. But that prowess overshadowed some inconsistent play in other situations and that's what has kept him in the AHL and press box for much of this season. Morrow is an odd fit with a defensive-minded squad like the Bs. The Bruins are desperately seeking a good, young defenseman to rise from the ranks. Wait -- they had one. Sorry to rub salt in your wound, Dougie Hamilton fans. Morrow isn't that guy, but he'll do for now, especially if he gets power-play time. He has four points in his last four games; half are on the PP.

Jason Pominville, RW, Minnesota (23 percent) - Thanks for finally showing up, Pomy. I thought the game had actually passed this 33-year-old by this season, but something has changed in the post-Mike Yeo era. Hmmmmm ... I wonder what THAT might be. He has eight points, including three goals, in his last six games. Pominville's shooting percentage is almost half his career mark (5.7 vs. 10.9), so there's plenty of room for reversion back up to the mean. He's worth the chance, even if he's old and in Minny.

Dale Weise, RW, Chicago (9 percent) - Go get him. NOW. Worst-case scenario, the Dutch Gretzky skates with Teuvo Teravainen. Best case? He fills Marian Hossa's boots beside Jonathan Toews and Andrew Ladd. Yum, yum, YUM. I never thought I'd say that about the hero of the Tilburg Trappers (48 points in 19 games -- no kidding). Wow.

Back to Stan Bowman.

He and the Hawks are all in. They're making their run. And all it cost was a couple of picks -- a first in 2016 and a second in 2018 -- and a couple of third-line prospects that aren't expected to be super-productive in the NHL.

Stan really is THE man.

I need to file this article quickly. It'll leave me more time to yank out my Blackhawks jerseys (yes, jerseys) and decide which one I'm going to wear.

But not before I copyright a new fantasy move. The Stan. It's not rocket science by any means. We've both seen it before. Just go all in if you think you can win. Push all your chips to the center of the table and watch your leaguemates shrivel. And I'm not talking about brew droop.

Now, maybe Stan will go out and grab Dan Hamhuis ...

Until next week.