Brent Seabrook tries, and fails, to walk back comments implying he wants a trade.

The play of Chicago Blackhawks veteran defenseman Brent Seabrook has been a source of frustration for fans in Chicago for quite some time now and last week Seabrook took things to an entirely new level. Seabrook of course will now try and claim that he never meant to say what was very clearly implied in his comments, but there was no doubt last week that after another healthy scratch Seabrook was very much suggesting that he would like to play somewhere else other than Chicago. 

For those of you who missed the initial comments from Seabrook that sparked all of the media coverage, here is what the 3 time Stanley Cup Champion said as per NBC's Charlie Roumeliotis last week:

"I don't think I need rest. I think I feel great, I'm 34, you guys seem to want to write articles about my age and my speed. I feel like I still got a lot to offer in this league and still be a good player for somebody." 

It was the "fore somebody" part of those comments that raised a ton of eyebrows around the National Hockey League and for good reason. Say what you will but I am entirely unwilling to believe that a player with over a decade of media training and a ton of experience on championship level teams would make that kind of a slip up simply by accident, and the fact that it was coming off the heels of a frustrating time in Seabrook's career makes the likelihood of this being accidently seem like an absurd proposition. Seabrook of course has earned plenty of good will from the Blackhawks fan base for all he has accomplished during his career there, but there was simply no pretending that this was anything other than an unhappy player suggesting he would like to be playing for another NHL organization.

On Friday Seabrook attempted to walk back the comments he had made earlier in the week by implying that he was talking about Chicago all along. I'm sorry to say but his response was not the least bit convincing and did nothing to dispel the reality of what he had said earlier in the week.

"I think I got a lot to offer this team," Seabrook said as per Chicago Blackhawks insider Scott Powers of The Athletic. "I want to be in Chicago, help this team. I think I still got a lot in the tank. It’s obviously frustrating when you’re not playing. Like I said, I feel like I got lots to offer this group, and I want to be here in Chicago."

The reality of the situation is that at a cap hit of $6,875,000, one that runs all the way through the 2023 - 2024 NHL season no less, there would simpyl be no demand for Seabrook's services around the league. It would take a miracle on the part of Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman to orchestrate a trade for a player of Seabrook's age and showing the signs of decline that Seabrook has already shown at this stage of his career. Seabrook may be willing to waive his no trade clause at this point but it seems unlikely that he will find a home outside of Chicago, and his comments on Friday may have merely been a reflection of the fact that he knows this to be the case as well.