Credit: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

The shift in leverage for Chris Campoliwith the Chicago Blackhawks has been pretty dramatic in a little more than a week.

When Stan Bowman dealt Brian Campbell to Florida on draft night, it seemed Campoli had the ‘Hawks by the babymaker. No other defensemen within the organization to promote worthy of a second-pairing spot and, hell, none seemingly even ready to make the jump to the big club. It looked as if Campoli would be able to demand a significant raise and get it, given the lack of NHL-ready defensive depth.

Then came July 1, followed by a salary abitration filing Tuesday. With plenty of defensive personnel now signed, what’s next for the man whose nuts are surprisingly still attached after committing The Turnover in Game 7?

Looking beyond that horrible, horrible, horrible, heartbreaking incident, Campoli came in at the trade deadline and played well, though he didn’t do anything great. He showed us the puck-moving defenseman game, then stumbled back with recklessness by leaving people hung out to dry by skating 4,000 m.p.h. while leaving everyone else to cover for him.

Campoli was serviceable on the penalty kill and power play, though I can’t say I ever felt extrememly comfortable with him on either unit. With most everyone clamoring for a big defenseman, we got an undersized Campoli who could barely push me out of the crease.

When we wanted him to take his time, he rushed (See: Game 7), and when he needed to be crisp and quick, he waited a split second too long. Not all the time, but it happened a noticable amount.

With all that being said, Campoli’s spot in Chicago right now is in flux. Maybe the ‘Hawks presented an offer increasing last season’s $1.4 million salary, and maybe they didn’t. We don’t know. But Bowman proved he wasn’t about to wait around.

The price of a second-round pick and Ryan Polunty wasn’t so big to start rushing on overpaying someone like Campoli. So Bowman went out and signed Steve Montador and Sean O’Donnell to fill out a defensive corpse consisting of Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Nick Leddy and the imortal John Scott.

Not including Campoli, the Blackhawks have seven defensmen under contract for next season. We’re hoping the gods shine down on us so Scott sits in press box all damn season, leaving six. For what Campoli would be awarded in arbitration, let alone what he may already have demanded, is going to be too much to pay for a possible healthy scratch.

We already know Leddy is Bowman’s and Coach Q’s little project, so he’ll be manning a spot in the lineup whenever healthy. The only real chance is that O’Donnell and his low contract spends most of his time as the scratch with Campoli playing with Leddy on the third pairing. I have a feeling, though, O’Donnell wasn’t simply a depth move and is being looked at to play a decent role on this team.

There’s always the chance Bowman waits for the arbirtation hearing a la Antti Niemi, then makes his decision based on the judge’s award. If it’s not a big hike in salary, maybe Campoli comes back. Too much for Bowman, and he’ll be singing U2′s “Walk On.”

It’ll be interesting to see how everything plays out.