Bickell gets 2nd shot, but remains on hot seat
Bryan Bickell got through waivers and suited up when the Blackhawks faced the Dallas Stars on Saturday night.
That doesn’t mean he should get comfortable.
Bickell clearedwaivers, but he will remain with theHawks to start the season. He has a $4 million cap hit and went through waivers unclaimed, which allowed the Hawks to send him to Rockford and gain $950,000 of much-needed salary-cap space.
Despite that, they chose to keep him in the NHL and try to jump-start a career that has faltered.
“I’m just taking it as an awakening ... [a chance] to set a fire. I look at the clock [and] it’s 11:16. So I’m still here and looking to play tonight to really show them I can get that game back,” said Bickell, who officially cleared at 11 a.m. “I want to be a Blackhawk forever and [it’s a] second opportunity.”
Bickell still needs to make the most of this chance. The Hawks can send him down in the next 30 days or before he has played in 10 games without exposing him to waivers, meaning Bickell isn’t secure.
Coach Joel Quenneville said Bickell would start with the Hawks and get a chance. At Saturday’s morning skate, he was on a line with Teuvo Teravainen and Ryan Garbutt.
“Organizationally we know the player … Bicks can bring a lot to our team,” Quenneville said. “We’ll talk to him individually, like we will all the players on Monday, go over their roles and job descriptions. He can be a factor, and we need him to be.”
Bickell is in the third year of a four-year deal he signed after the 2013 playoffs. His free agency two years ago was well-timed, since he came off a postseason in which he contributed 17 points in 23 games.
Since then, Bickell’s output has tailed off — and that deal has become an albatross for the Hawks, who went through a salary-cap purge this summer. He was somewhat productive during the 2014 playoffs (10 points in 19 games), but struggled during the 2015 postseason and dealt with vertigo, adding to a regular season in which he put up 28 points in 80 games.
“It was a little bit of a shock, but we always talk about those business calls,” Bickell said. “There’s always two sides of it. Guys move and players stay. To be put on [waivers] and clear, it’s kind of deflating. But I get some spark here — and say I’m still here — and looking forward to playing tonight and proving myself.”
Bickell said he used Friday to regroup after being told he was on waivers. Clearly, it wasn’t a pleasant day.
“I’m sure it was a tough day for him yesterday,” Patrick Kane said. “He’s close with a lot of guys, so we all feel for him. I think we all hope he’s here.”