Photo: chicagonow.com

Monday it was announced that Chicago Blackhawks’ rookie Jeremy Morin was being re-assigned to the Rockford Ice Hogs of the AHL. I’m still more than a little surprised with this move, and while I have great respect for Blackhawks’ Head Coach Joel Quenneville and understand that he has a reason for everything he does, it would be great to know what the reason is.

Because this looks just plain butt-stupid.

First, let’s dispense with the non-issue: Morin was re-assigned to make cap room. In the words of the immortal Sherman T. Potter, mule muffins. When they officially assign Brian Campbell to the injured reserve list, which they will inevitably do, his replacement’s salary doesn’t count against the cap. The Hawks will designate Nick Leddy as Campbell’s replacement, leaving plenty of cap space to keep Morin in the lineup. So forget that, the issue isn’t relevant.

Which brings us to the *real* reasons they might have assigned him.

Go ahead, let’s hear them.

I’m waiting.

Come on, anybody. Just blurt it out, don’t bother raising your hand.

Yeah, that’s what I thought. NUFFIN. The kid’s got what it takes. He’s fast, he’s composed, he’s got the kind of drive and persistence that you want in a forward, he seems to be adapting to the speed of the big leagues just fine, he needs to learn the system, but that won’t be a problem in two weeks: what, EXACTLY, is the problem here?

And the answer becomes even more convoluted when you look at who might be taking that slot on the second line with Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp. Troy Brouwer has done a fine job up there before, but that means he won’t be taking one of the wings on the third line, where he is *best* suited. So assuming you do put Brouwer up with Kane and Sharp, who takes Brouwer’s spot on the third line wing? Bryan Bickell? Jack Skille? Ryan Potunly? Jake Dowell? Fucking Viktor Stalberg? No on all counts.

The problem here is that with the Morin demotion we have our first line set (Tomas Kopecky, Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa), two second-line forwards (Kane, Sharp), two third-line forwards (Dave Bolland, Fernando Pisani), one swing man (Brouwer) and a flotilla of fourth-line detritus and otherwise underwhelming reserves. We have two important open slots and one guy capable of filling them. Either way Coach Q goes with Brouwer, we have a gaping hole that will be filled by an insufficient resource.

And once again I will reiterate that Viktor Stalberg has done precisely nothing to earn himself a roster slot with this team. He’s ill-suited for the third or fourth lines, and he hasn’t got what it takes for the top two. If it were my call, Stalberg would be the one looking at apartment listings in the Rockford area right now.

Barring a trade or free-agent signing that’s already in the pipeline, we’re screwing ourselves by demoting Morin. He’s shown himself capable of handling the task being given to him, and keeping him on the Hawks has zero down-side. There’s no benefit to Morin spending the next six weeks outrunning the drooling goons in the WWF — err, AHL: I hope the Blackhawks’ coaches realize that quickly, and get him back in a Hawks uniform before the curtain comes up on Thursday in Denver.

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