Chicago Blackhawks forward Bryan Bickell is on waivers according to Elliotte Friedman.
Brian Bickell is on waivers today
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) October 2, 2015
Friedman also added that Sportsnet discussed a deal between Chicago and Edmonton where the Oilers would send Nikita Nikitin to the Blackhawks for Bryan Bickell, “but that fell through.”
Back in June, Bickell complained about issues with vertigo and dizziness during the 2015 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune theorizes that’s the reason for the waivers, that the Blackhawks might try to place him on long term injury reserve.
Bickell, 29, was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, a few spots after the Blackhawks selected Dave Bolland. The 6’4” native of Orono, Ontario had his first full season with the Blackhawks in 2010-11, scoring 17 goals, 20 assists and 37 points in 78 games. His playoff performance in 2012-13, scoring 9 goals and 17 points in 23 games en route to a Stanley Cup prompted the Blackhawks to sign Bickell to a four year, $16 million contract despite criticism from the media. Often finding himself scratched or moved around the lines, Bickell still scored 14 goals in 80 games last season. Despite seeing his Blackhawks hoist the Stanley Cup, Bickell had a disappointing five points, all assists, in 18 games in their Stanley Cup run in 2015.
This is the second surprising move by the Blackhawks today, as earlier they announced that forward Marko Dano would be going to the Rockford IceHogs.
Dano, 20, was involved in the trade that sent Brandon Saad, Alex Broadhearst and Michael Paliotta to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Dano, Artem Anisimov, Corey Tropp and Jeremy Morin. Dano had an impressive showing in his first half season in the NHL with 19 points in 31 games with the Blue Jackets. Despite this, the Blackhawks sent him down to the AHL. Dano was one of the final cuts by the Blackhawks. According to Tracey Myers of Comcast Sportsnet, head coach Joel Quenneville would addressed the media today about the decision.
Dano was the 27th overall selection of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.
