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[Cleared Waivers] Blackhawks D David Rundblad to AHL


Mackcanuck

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Just now, Dazzle said:

It's not that Rundblad doesn't have experience. He has over 100 NHL games worth of experience, but three AHL seasons adding up to around 90 games. His AHL numbers are very good. His NHL numbers are not.

Rundblad has had trouble staying in an NHL lineup, much like Weber has.

I don't see your point on this one. This is probably Rundblad's last hurrah before he goes to Europe. It's 'abundantly clear' that his game doesn't translate into the NHL. Weber is at least a marginal NHLer.

Well we will have to disgaree on this one, as I don't consider Weber a marginal NHLer.  Rundblad is at least young enough that there's some hope he could be taught how not to be a total liability in his own zone.

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3 minutes ago, Dazzle said:

Weber's underperformed severely, by contrast to last season. I have not denied that at all. Yet, Weber HAS done some good things in the defensive zone - even if it's unreliable. He has rushed to break up sticks just in time, but he hasn't done it consistently enough. Weber HAS proven in the past that he has an offensive game. Rundblad has yet to do so, despite only being two years younger. 

Rundblad also isn't very physical.

I really fail to see how Rundblad is 'that' much better than having Weber in. People want Rundblad mostly because he was a 1st round pick and he 'could' be a better option than Weber. Problem is, people forget that Rundblad has already been given up by a number of teams. I'm not being negative. I'm being realistic.

Rundblad's game has failed to impress many in the past. Unless he somehow finds an offensive game that he hasn't yet shown, he's not really an upgrade on anyone, including Weber, despite Weber performing as badly as he has this season.

Weber's performance this season has for the most part been in situations that otherwise are far from ideal.

A group of young centers without Sutter (although the wingers have been providing better puck support down low of late imo) - a depleted blueline with three regulars out, including his partner - it's probably safe to say that it hasn't really fed into him producing at an optimal level.  Not much separating Rundblad and Weber's objective outcomes - aside from the contexts.

He's just the latest whipping boy, that's all.  Surely he should provide 11 goals every year for third pairing/7th man money.

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1 minute ago, DeNiro said:

We need to be developing young D-men between the age of 21-25 right now. He fits that criteria.

Giving ice time to an overpaid player who has clearly peaked, and is playing out of his depth doesn't do much for the future.

My point is this team can afford to take a look at players like this and see if they can get more out of them. Maybe having the Sedins and Edler take him under their wing is all he needs. You don't know if you don't try.

There's a hope that Rundblad will turn it around. Lots of Hawk fans and others certainly hoped so. They thought they stole a great player in that trade involving him. That was more than one year ago. See here. This is a time capsule.

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=135318

Rundblad's a very frustrating player to watch. He HAS some skills, as shown by his AHL numbers. He just, for some reason, can't translate his game to the NHL. Chicago LOST a 2nd round pick to get this guy.

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8 minutes ago, King Heffy said:

Well we will have to disgaree on this one, as I don't consider Weber a marginal NHLer.  Rundblad is at least young enough that there's some hope he could be taught how not to be a total liability in his own zone.

He sounds A LOT like a poor man's Weber. If you thought Weber wasn't an NHLer, Rundblad is even less so. He's soft and he's bad with his giveaways.

As I said in another post, Chicago gave up a 2nd rounder to get him. People question the Vey transaction - as well as Baertschi's. Chicago is now giving away Rundblad for free... hmm...

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1 minute ago, Dazzle said:

Rundblad's a very frustrating player to watch. He HAS some skills, as shown by his AHL numbers. He just, for some reason, can't translate his game to the NHL. Chicago LOST a 2nd round pick to get this guy.

And we could get him for free, take a look at him and see if he's a fit here. There's really not much risk to it considering our rash of injuries on D.

Sometimes players get that wake up call and never look back. It wouldn't be the first time a player has found their game on a new team.

We know what we get with Weber, which is exactly why we should be looking at other options right now.

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I think part of the problem for Rundblad is also a result of the Hawks wealth - they just graduated a guy who is looking like he could be a mainstay in their top 4 (TVR) - they've recalled another young D they appear to like more - Erik Gustafsson - and perhaps even more determinant - they have a hell of a young RHD on the way in Pokka.  They also have that giant - Svedberg - whose NHL readiness they've also tested.  Realistically, he's probably in pretty tough there - and the Hawks haven't in general tended to depend on their bottom 4 for production.

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2 minutes ago, DeNiro said:

And we could get him for free, take a look at him and see if he's a fit here. There's really not much risk to it considering our rash of injuries on D.

Sometimes players get that wake up call and never look back. It wouldn't be the first time a player has found their game on a new team.

We know what we get with Weber, which is exactly why we should be looking at other options right now.

Exactly.  We don't know what Rundblad would do in this system.  Granted, it's more likely going to be a failure than a success, but we might as well take a flyer on him for free.  Continuing to let Weber waste minutes is completely unacceptable at this point.

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7 minutes ago, DeNiro said:

And we could get him for free, take a look at him and see if he's a fit here. There's really not much risk to it considering our rash of injuries on D.

Sometimes players get that wake up call and never look back. It wouldn't be the first time a player has found their game on a new team.

We know what we get with Weber, which is exactly why we should be looking at other options right now.

I'm very impressed with our call-ups, as a matter of fact. There's a reason these players are still in the system - and why Rundblad has yet to find his home. Clendenning was also a massive disappointment.

Here's a very recent article that echos a lot of what has been said about Rundblad.

http://blackhawkup.com/2015/12/28/chicago-blackhawks-david-rundblad-placed-on-waivers/

Chicago Blackhawks General Manager Stan Bowman doesn’t always know how to immediately part ways with his on-ice signing mistakes, but he made a very wise decision Monday afternoon.

The team placed defenseman David Rundblad on waivers, at least temporarily ending a rough start to the 2015-16 season for the blueliner. Rundblad has been in coach Joel Quenneville‘s doghouse for most of the Blackhawks’ 37 games, playing in just nine of them and drawing scorn from around the interwebs in the process.

Rundblad was the product of a trade with Arizona during the 2013-14 season that saw Bowman give the Coyotes a second-round pick. Rundblad was given five regular-season games with the Blackhawks in that campaign and 49 more in the following season before playing in five postseason contests in the 2015 Stanley Cup run after Michal Rozsival‘s injury. In that span of games, Rundblad recorded three goals and 13 assists, with all but two of those points coming in the 2014-15 regular season.

Rundblad, 25, was inexplicably given a two-year, $1.05 million/year contract by Bowman after the 2015 Cup win despite Coach Q hardly using Rundblad, who is an offensive-minded defenseman without a great amount of ability or on-ice awareness. It was a product of the Blackhawks being cap strapped and losing Johnny Oduya in the offseason, as Bowman tried to shore up the defense with guys who at least knew Q’s system.

The move didn’t pay off, and now the Blackhawks are clearing $950,000 in cap space by ending the commitment. If Rundblad isn’t taken off waivers in the next 24 hours, he’d report to the Rockford IceHogs. I’m not sure what the chances are that Rundblad gets claimed by another team, but he isn’t the Blackhawks’ problem now, regardless.

This move happened almost simultaneously with a pair of additional moves by the Blackhawks earlier today. Defenseman Erik Gustafsson was recalled from the AHL, while center Marcus Kruger was finally placed on long-term injured reserve after having surgery on a dislocated wrist a few weeks ago. Kruger is expected out until April.

Gustafsson showed some promise with the Blackhawks in his initial stint with the club earlier this season, amassing three assists and a plus-5 rating in six games with the team. He’ll provide a little speed and better positioning than what guys like Trevor van Riemsdyk, Rozsival and Rob Scuderi are currently able to offer. The guess (and hope) is Gustafsson stays in the lineup full time while Rozsival and Scuderi rotate in and out.

With Kruger’s $1.5 million temporarily coming off the books and Rundblad’s departure clearing $950,000 in cap space, and with Gustafsson adding another $592,137 to the Blackhawks’ cap hit, the Blackhawks are looking at just shy of $2.4 million in cap space, according to spotrac.com (and some math by me). While the Blackhawks are struggling to score at this point, their main concern is still on the defensive side, as evidenced by the Blackhawks calling up Gustafsson instead of adding one of their numerous young forwards who have spent time with the club this season.

Of course, the Blackhawks are currently playing with 22 men instead of 23, so they could call up a young forward (Marko Dano, Vincent Hinostroza, Ryan Hartman) to attempt to spark the offense, even while Bowman continues (hopefully) to work out a deal for a capable fourth/fifth defenseman.

What do you think about the Blackhawks’ trio of moves today? Let us know in the comments section.

He's been scratched 17 games in Chicago this year. His cap hit is not much, yet Chicago can't find ANYONE to trade with - or even get a low pick for him.

He's not cancerous to the locker room per se, but he has literally no value. Honestly, i think Rundblad is AHL material. At least the Comets get someone they can use.

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1 minute ago, oldnews said:

Weber's performance this season has for the most part been in situations that otherwise are far from ideal.

A group of young centers without Sutter (although the wingers have been providing better puck support down low of late imo) - a depleted blueline with three regulars out, including his partner - it's probably safe to say that it hasn't really fed into him producing at an optimal level.  Not much separating Rundblad and Weber's objective outcomes - aside from the contexts.

He's just the latest whipping boy, that's all.  Surely he should provide 11 goals every year for third pairing/7th man money.

Essentially agree with this.

Injuries decimated this line up forcing several players up the depth chart and into unfavorable minutes/roles and all of a sudden people are all over certain players' performances like they have complete control over that.

Weber,Biega, BoHo, Bart, Hutton.......all forced into roles of much more responsibility than they should be imo.  

If Weber was playing limited/protected minutes with cherry-picked PP time like he should be this is a non-issue. Or if BoHo wasn't forced to be the teams #1 shut down center he probably wouldn't be in a mini-slump.  

Injuries cause ripple effects throughout the line up unfortunately. 

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8 minutes ago, Dazzle said:

I'm very impressed with our call-ups, as a matter of fact. There's a reason these players are still in the system - and why Rundblad has yet to find his home. Clendenning was also a massive disappointment.

Here's a very recent article that echos a lot of what has been said about Rundblad.

http://blackhawkup.com/2015/12/28/chicago-blackhawks-david-rundblad-placed-on-waivers/

He's been scratched 17 games in Chicago this year. His cap hit is not much, yet Chicago can't find ANYONE to trade with - or even get a low pick for him.

He's not cancerous to the locker room per se, but he has literally no value. Honestly, i think Rundblad is AHL material. At least the Comets get someone they can use.

The difference is we gave up an asset for Clendening. This would cost us nothing, that's the biggest factor.

Weber would likely be on waivers if he was in Chicago too, so that doesn't necessarily mean much for us. We literally have 4 AHL defensemen on our team right now. I don't see the harm in trying out a 25 year old former 17th overall pick during this time.

Stan Bowman obviously thought he was worth a 2nd round pick, and he's one of the best GM's in the league. Just because Quennville couldn't get the most out of him, doesn't mean he's a write off. Look at Dale Weise in Montreal. Sometimes the right coach on a new team can make all the difference.

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29 minutes ago, chilliwiggins said:

isn't he a left handed shot that predominatly plays the right side?

 I don't know for sure so I checked some youtube videos of him and he is in fact a right handed shot.

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7 minutes ago, Hutton Wink said:

Yup, before the first game is over it'll be, "Why is this guy so slow?  He's a pylon out there.  JB you idiot."

If he's that bad he can be waived again.  We aren't going to contend this year anyway.  Would you rather let Weber continue suit up for us or start looking for guys who are capable of playing defense in the NHL?

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7 hours ago, c00kies said:

I remember having to correct someone when they thought there was a "free send down" period, where you could send down waiver-eligible players without having to put them on waivers. I'm not sure why EA put that in their games anyway...maybe to deal with some flaws that they couldn't correct.

Oh sure, from a programming standpoint it just makes things massively easier in some cases like that, and in some cases it's about game play. But yeah, messes up a lot of people.

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1 hour ago, oldnews said:

My money would be on this all being a mute point regardless.

CBJ have their top scoring D David Savard out - a RHD  - and third pairing featuring Justin Falk.

Carolina have Wisniewski out and Slavin playing the right side on their third pairing.

Colorado could consider him a better option than Zach Redmond...

Would be a bit surprised if Rundblad makes it past the bottom 10

I at first thought he'd be a good bet for us to claim, but then I looked at the teams ahead of us in the waiver list and there are a few that could claim him. Some may have some roster limits or cap space issues, but someone will be bound to pick him up.

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2 hours ago, DeNiro said:

The difference is we gave up an asset for Clendening. This would cost us nothing, that's the biggest factor.

Weber would likely be on waivers if he was in Chicago too, so that doesn't necessarily mean much for us. We literally have 4 AHL defensemen on our team right now. I don't see the harm in trying out a 25 year old former 17th overall pick during this time.

Stan Bowman obviously thought he was worth a 2nd round pick, and he's one of the best GM's in the league. Just because Quennville couldn't get the most out of him, doesn't mean he's a write off. Look at Dale Weise in Montreal. Sometimes the right coach on a new team can make all the difference.

Stan Bowman now thinks hes worth nothing hence why he's on waivers. Quennville is also one of the best coaches in the league if he couldn't get the most out of him most likely he's a write off rather than not. He isn't anybody special and if he was on our team it would only mean at least for now pedan (as much as you want it to be weber) will get sent down to the farm again instead of getting valuable experience in the NHL.

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