Rumor: Stanley Cup Champion hits rock bottom, about to be benched by his team.

A former multiple time Stanley Cup Champion may have just hit a low point in his career and it's very bad news for his current team, and for the general manager who made a very questionable move when he acquired him

As fans of the Chicago Blackhawks are likely well aware of by now the second stint for veteran forward Brandon Saad with the Chicago Blackhawks has proven to be considerably less successful than his first and on Monday it hit a new low point. A report from Blackhawks pregame and postgame host Chris Boden has revealed that Saad has now been spotted wearing a white jersey at practice, a jersey that is reserved for players who are either injured or who are expected to be healthy scratches in the upcoming games. 

Saad has not been injured, at least not as far as the public is aware of, and it seems far more likely that his very underwhelming performances for the Blackhawks as of late have resulted in a total lack of faith from head coach Joel Quenneville. It's a damning condemnation of Saad's decline as a forward in the National Hockey League and it is also starting to look like arguably one of the worst moves of general manager Stan Bowman's entire career as an NHL executive. 

Saad was demoted to the fourth line during the Blackhawks match up against the St. Louis Blues over the week-end and if that wasn't a sign that Quenneville was losing faith in him, the fact that he never once left the bench during the overtime period certainly was. Over the last full season worth of games played Saad has just 29 points to his name and when you compare his numbers to the player he was traded for things begin to look even uglier. 

In order to acquire Saad for the second stint of his Blackhawks career Bowman had to give him dynamic forward Artemi Panarin to the Blue Jackets. Perhaps Bowman had some indication that Panarin would not accept to sign a long term contract extension, something the Blue Jackets themselves are now dealing with, but even with that in mind this still looks like one of the worst trades in recent memory. Sure you could argue that the Blackhawks also got backup goaltender Anton Forsberg as part of the deal but you would be hard pressed to argue that this tips the scales in Chicago's favor, or even that it merely balances them. 

Panarin has continued to demonstrate that he is one of the league's truly elite forwards and additionally the trade itself had rubbed members of the Blackhawks organization the wrong way. Both head coach Joel Quenneville as well as Chicago Blackhawks superstar Patrick Kane were reportedly unhappy with the move and you have to believe that they were right to be angry at this stage of things. Kane especially had developed some rather spectacular chemistry with Panarin, seemingly almost immediately after Panarin joined the team, and it's very easy to see why he was not happy to see his former teammate go. 

The Blackhawks are clearly trying to light a fire under Saad here, but I have a feeling that it may not produce the desired outcome. 

[pub]