Brandon Saad hopes 'to do more damage' with Jonathan Toews

Brandon Saad hopes ‘to do more damage’ with Jonathan Toews

By Mark Lazerus

Brandon Saad (left) and Jonathan Toews won two Stanley Cups together. (Getty Images)

Brandon Saad said it was a “shock” when he found out he was traded back to the Blackhawks on Friday morning. It was certainly less of a shock that one of the first calls he received was from Jonathan Toews.

Nobody on the roster has missed Saad more than Toews, who has played with more than a dozen left wings since Saad was dealt to Columbus two years ago. And while it’s ultimately up to coach Joel Quenneville whether Saad and Toews are reunited on the top line, the once-and-future dynamic dual-threat duo certainly are hoping it happens.

“He’s an incredible player and his resume speaks for itself,” Saad said. “He’s someone I had early success with in my career and that’s something I look forward to trying to rekindle. It can only grow from both of us getting better as players the last couple of years. Being able to do more damage and to be reunited would definitely be a lot of fun.”

The Saad that was traded away two years ago was a two-time Stanley Cup champion and a two-way force on the ice, but just a 22-year-old kid.

The Saad that was traded back to the Hawks is an even more potent offensive weapon who went from a secondary threat to a top guy with a Columbus squad that had the third-best record in the league last season. He had 31 goals in 2015-16, and 24 this past season, racking up 53 points each season while maintaining his stellar defensive play.

General manager Stan Bowman characterized his call to Saad on Friday as having “a much different tone” than the one he made to him two years ago, when a brief contract dispute led to the restricted free agent being traded away in a deal that brought Artem Anisimov to Chicago. Saad was surprised — and disappointed — by the 2015 trade, and admitted during his first season that it was a difficult transition to a then-struggling franchise.

But even after a highly successful 2016-17 campaign, Saad always held out some hope that he’d be back.

“It was definitely a thought in my mind that I could end up one day back in Chicago,” he said. “I didn’t think it would happen this soon, but that’s just the way it happened.”

And unlike previous getting-the-band-back-together moves such as Andrew Ladd, Brian Campbell and Johnny Oduya, Saad is still young, turning 25 in October, with his prime years ahead of him.

Toews was clearly thrown by the whirlwind week — losing Hossa, Hjalmarsson and Panarin in a three-day span, saying it “was tough to process right now” — but was excited about Saad’s return and the chance to rekindle that chemistry.

“That caliber [of player], you just worry about your own game,” Toews said. “Go out there and have fun. Be prepared, be ready to roll and it shouldn’t take long for things to happen out there.’’

The deal came together quickly over the last few days, perhaps fueled in part by the loss of Marian Hossa to a skin disorder. While Hossa is a one-of-a-kind Hall of Famer, Saad is a pretty good carbon copy of him in his size, strength on the puck, and commitment to defense.

Follow me on Twitter @MarkLazerus.

Email: mlazerus@suntimes.com